LibGDX is a cross-platform game development framework. It is a well known framework by game developers: https://libgdx.badlogicgames.com/.
Xtext is a framework for development of programming languages and domain-specific languages: http://www.eclipse.org/Xtext/.
ModelDrivenGames wants to combine the two technologies, enabling a game developer to use DSL language to create large parts of the game by the Xtext code generator. The final goal of this project is that nothing has to be coded manually after the inferrer/generator process. No boiler-plate code any more. I just love the two frameworks.
I started to use Intellij CE 2017.3 as IDE, but failed for several reasons. JetBrains stopped supporting Xtext with version 2.10. But Intellij in this version was so buggy that I reverted to version CE 2016.3. Starting a second instance to test Xtext artifacts failed from different reasons.
So I remorseful returned to the Eclipse IDE with Oxygen 3a in spite of the fact that Google stopped to support Eclipse for Android. But it works. You can install "IDE for DSL developers" or you must install all Xtext stuff later. Download Eclipse here: http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/packages/eclipse-ide-java-and-dsl-developers/oxygen2.
Hint: be careful with the launch sequence of equinox bundles for the 2.IDE - the Eclipse guys didn’t change the default setting to correct order. - you must change the Run-configuration to use: plug-ins selected below only - change the start order for org.eclipse.equinox. simpleconfigurator start-level 1 auto-start true ds start-level 2 auto-start true common start-level 2 auto-start true
For using Android you must install ADT - http://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/.
You’ll need Java version 1.7 if using Android SDK 23 and below. See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37902840/got-unsupported-class-file-version-52-0-after-including-a-module-to-a-project
At this time the current version of Xtext 2.13 is used. The grammar is developed in a "first" IDE and you must start a "second" IDE (runtime-Game) from the first one, to be able to check the grammar changes on the fly. Grammar changes must be "compiled" by right clicking on the .mwe2 file and selecting Run as… MWE2 workflow. More information can be found in the Xtext documentation.
I used version 1.9.8. for the project. Because OSGi is my favourite approach and due to the architecture of Xtext, a plugin-project was made from the libGDX jars. Together with android version 4.2.2 they form a plugin called "com.badlogic.gdx-all" including all jars. Perhaps other people will find a more nifty solution for this.
There is a book for free download "Learning libGDX Game Development" which is very good to understand the basics of game development with LibGDX. You can download it here: http://freepdf-books.com/learning-libgdx-game-development-2nd-edition/. An excellent tutorial is this one from Brent Aureli: LibGDX Game Development with Android Studio - Creating Super Mario Bros https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8MPxzkwBwo
Get the latest version of Android Studio from https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html. Although you don’t use Android Studio, you’ll need it because you must enter the sdk path in Eclipse preferences for Android. Then you have to install the needed Android api level using the "Android SDK Manager" which is reachable from Eclipse IDE as well.
There is a problem when working with 2 IDEs and the DDMS (Dalvik Debug Monitor Server). It is already started by the 1.IDE using a batch file (ddms.bat) for Windows (wonder how it works for IOS) which is located in a directory "tools" in the SDK directory of Android. For the start of the first IDE you should rename this file so it cannot be started. Before launching the 2.IDE you must name it back. You will need the debugger in the 2. IDE. If it is already started by the 1. IDE you won’t be able to use it in the 2. IDE. There should be a fancy solution for this later on.
As soon as an Android project is created, you can connect a suitable Android device to your USB port, enable debugging on that device, right click the Android project and select Debug as… A deployable *.apk is generated and installed on your connected device.
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