How to put a game together?

[mrkfc]

I have coded a game with graphics and everything that is required, but the problem is i dont know how to put all these files together to make a single program.

I am currently using code blocks and i have all the source files saved in a folder.

I would appreciate any help with this as i am relatively new to programming and I dont really understand how to make a program work after it is coded

Thanks

[bernt]

How d'ye mean?

You want to pack all the picture files in the executable?
Or are you asking how to compile and link a program?

[mrkfc]

how to pack them all into an executable

[bernt]

It largely depends on the system you're using.
In linux: Embedding a File in an Executable
(This will likely work in MinGW if you switch out the elf32 flag in objcopy with pe32.)

(Which means Code::Blocks is fair game)

[jeffcobb]

i am curious how you 'coded the graphics and everything' yet none of it is in an executable program. Either you DID code it and its in an executable or at least a library in which case you would not be asking this or you coded nothing.

[Brafil]

Looking at his last post think he means packing everything (audio, video etc.) into one executable.

[VirtualAce]

Well that would be a very bad idea in the first place. Data should be kept separate from the executable. The 'graphics' portion should most likely be a DLL or a LIB. The game using the graphics should be the only executable.

I would pack all data into one binary file but I would not pack it into an executable. To pack it into a binary file in your own format is quite simple. You could preface the file with some basic header information and then use blocks prefaced with a block header for each resource.

- File header (possible block offset information for random access into the file)
- Resource block header
-- Raw data
- Resource block header
-- Raw data
...

[Brafil]

Or use tarballs. You don't have to reinvent the wheel if you don't want to (I'd like to do this).

[Oldman47]

Bubba's suggestion is the most professional, I'd say. If your game is complex with plenty of needed resources, I'd say go with that & create a loader class to deal with it. Otherwise, if it's just a handful of graphics & a few audio clips, I'd create separate folders for audio & graphics n' load your resources from file.