avgdl_perl/documentation/game_structure

intro

	a game structure file describes how the data of a video game is structured.
	this should only be useful for someone wishing to write a compiler
	that compiles an abstract video game into an actual game in another language.

example

	here is an example file to understand what a game structure looks like

	.game
	@scene ~	# scenes in game

	.scene
	^		# name
	@object ~	# scene objects

	.object
	$ ~		# object shape
	$ ~		# object color
	$ 16		# object matrix

	this basically describes a game with an unspecified amount of scenes,
	considering that every game has different scenes.
	each scene has an unspecified number of objects, and each object has a shape (described in vertices)
	a color (for each vertex) and a 4x4 matrix.

symbols

	the first symbol declares a structure, used for grouping data

	. create a new structure of data

	these symbols describe data types that belong to a structure

	$ number
	^ string
	@ structure

	after that, an optional symbol can appear, showing quantity of the data

	[1-9] amount of data
	~ arbitrary amount of data, until '~' is encountered

	comments

	# comment until end of line

syntax

	the first symbol of any file must be a dot (.) to create a new structure.
	then, either dots (.) or other data-types can be followed.
	after a data-type an optional quantity can follow, the default is "1".
	the structure "game" is the top-level one, and should always be active.
	
	note that everything after the # is a comment, it is only there to make it human-readable
	data-types can describe anything the developer wants, for example to include the game's title:

	.game
	^	# game's title

	it is possible to describe multiple data-types:

	.vector
	$ 3	# vector has 3 numbers for x y and z

	this says there are 3 numbers inside a vector. if the number of data-types is different
	for each game, use the tilde array (~):

	.object
	$ ~	# object's shape - every object has different amount of vertices

	it is possible to create new data structures and add them in another:

	.game
	@vector		# a vector that is stored inside the game

	.vector		# describe the vector structure
	$ 3		# it has 3 numbers for x y z