Milestone (5th Jan -> 29 Mar) - "Assets, Resources and UI"

[Dandielo]

The next milestone starting with iteration Oceania (5'th January)

Milestone: https://github.com/iceshard-engine/engine/milestone/3

Topic: Assets, Resources and UI

• Refactoring the current API and implementation.
• Implementing the first version of "pack" files.
• Implementing UI with a basic asset definition.

Resulting version change: [major, minor + 1, patch = 0]

Scope

So far this will be focused on the following things (by priority):

• [tech-debt] Refactor of the Resource System.
• [tech-debt] Refactor of the Asset System.
• [feature] Very basic Font rendering.
• [feature] Very basic UI Rendering.
• [feature] Definition of a UI asset.
• [feature] Very basic asset compiler tool.
• [feature] Async access to resources.
• [feature] Async access to assets.
• [enhancement] Implement dynamic library loading on linux.
• [enhancement] Implement synchronization primitives on linux.

Complexity estimations (1, 2, 3, 5, 8)

• [3] Refactor of the Resource System.
  • Complexity is in the middle due to the number of changes required for an async ready API.
  • Can be higher if we also stumble upon problems with URI or URL representations.
• [5] Refactor of the Asset System.
  • Complexity is in the middle due to the number of changes required for an async ready API.
  • Depending on the design it might get more complex if we also need to support LOD levels and similar meta information.
• [3] Very basic Font rendering.
  • The topic is new to me and might result in more work than expected.
• [5] Very basic UI Rendering.
  • The topic is new to me and might result in more work than expected.
• [2] Definition of a UI asset.
  • Once a UI is rendered, we can extract data that needs to be part of an asset.
  • Will resemble a XAML file.
• [3] Very basic asset compiler tool. Needs more thought after the refactors are finished.
  • This shouldn't be complex on the Asset API side due to refactor but can get messy when it comes to compiler like behavior.
  • We would compiler like behavior to be able to use FastBuild to track and build assets.
• [2] Async access to resources.
• [2] Async access to assets.
• [1] Implement dynamic library loading on linux.
• [1] Implement synchronization primitives on linux.

Time estimations (rough values in hours)

• [3] Refactor of the Resource System. (24h) [included]
  • Designing the new resource system and API (6h)
  • Implementation (18h)
• [5] Refactor of the Asset System. (24h) [included]
  • Designing the new resource system and API (6h)
  • Implementation (18h)
• [3] Very basic Font rendering. (20h) [included]
  • Research how to properly render fonts (4h)
  • Design a crude "trait" and API (4h)
  • Implementing font rendering (12h)
• [5] Very basic UI Rendering. (32h) [included]
  • Design a crude "trait" and API for the UI. (8h)
  • Implement the trait and API along with with an action to open an UI element. (24h)
• [2] Definition of a UI asset. (14h) [excluded]
  • Define what information can be stored in an asset, and what can be 'created' from it at runtime. (2h)
  • Implement an Asset Pipeline and add loading support in the UI Trait. (12h)
• [2] Async access to resources. (12h) [excluded]
• [2] Async access to assets. (8h) [excluded]
• [1] Implement dynamic library loading on linux. (4h) [excluded]
• [1] Implement synchronization primitives on linux. (4h) [excluded]

Total time for included tasks: 100h (I swear this was by accident)

Final list of issues in this milestone

• Refactor of the Resource System.
  • Design: Resource system refactor. #61
  • Implementation: Resource system refactor. #61
• Refactor of the Asset System.
  • Design: Asset system refactor. #62
  • Implementation: Asset system refactor. #62
• Very basic Font rendering.
  • Research: Research what approaches are used for text rendering with different fonts. #99
  • Design: Design an API that allows for easy text rendering. #100
  • Implementation: Implement text rendering with selected fonts. #101
• Very basic UI Rendering. [Creation of a UI system for IceShard. #76]
  • Design: Create a design for the UI feature. #97
  • Implementation: Implement basic UI systems / traits. #98

[Dandielo]

Tracking issue #95. Milestone ready to start.

[Dandielo]

Created milestone branch: https://github.com/iceshard-engine/engine/tree/milestone-0501290322

[Dandielo]

The Resource System refactor (#61) was finished within the estimated time, changes are:

• The API stayed mostly the same, there was a try to simplify it.
• Made a clear distinction of how URI and URN are defined.
• Added support for "resources" having multiple various versions attached to a single name.
  • This can be used for providing different content depending on Quality, Target device / platform / holidays / etc.
  • This might even simplify how event-like resources (downloaded by a specific Tracker) can be used automatically without changing other locations. (if prepared properly).
• Added support for loading resources asynchronously using coroutines.
  • After a load coroutine is awaited on, it will resume the function when the load succeeds.
  • Unless the tracker is not using threaded loading, you should not assume the thread context, and move the coroutine to another thread context asap to not stall the I/O thread.
  • Resources how now a rudimentary ref-count to not unload resources currently in use. It requires, however, people to also release resources properly after loading them.

[Dandielo]

Due to loads of work in daily life, I was not able to do much on this project.
I will get back to it as soon as possible.

[Dandielo]

The milestone will be moved by one additional iteration. Ending on 12 April.
It will only include Resource and Asset system refactors.

[Dandielo]

Font rendering (#99, #100, #101) and UI rendering (#97, #98) will be moved to the next milestone.

[Dandielo]

New issues spawned:

• Research the MSVC tail call issue related to coroutines. #111
• Create more platform specific helpers to aid with resource management. #112
• Implement a simple command line API. #113
• Revive the mesh loader / oven after the resource and asset API refactor. #114

[Dandielo]

Closing thread.