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gccl Command Line Tool

gccl is the GamerCade Command Line Interface tool. It provides a few useful tools for working with Gamercade, especially those who prefer a terminal or command line driven development environment.

Note When downloading releases, the tool if often named something like gccl-[PLATFORM]. You will need to rename this (or adjust the commands you enter) in order to invoke them properly.

How to Use

Run the cli with gccl. Invoke one of the following commands:

  • help - Provides the help text.
  • bundle - Bundle mode. You must provide code -c, an output file path -o, and optionally an asset provider -a.
  • console - Console mode, see the section below which explains the different usages of this mode.

Bundle Mode

This is how you can bundle and package game code and assets via command line. Usable by the gccl bundle command. The usable parameters are:

  • --code or -c - a code provider. Can be a .wasm file or an already bundled .gcrom.
  • --output or -o - an output file. The path where you want to output the bundled .gcrom.
  • --assets or -a - an optional asset provider. Can be a .gce file, or an already bundled .gcrom.

For example, gccl -w bundle -c [PATH TO CODE] -a [PATH TO ASSETS] -o my_game.gcrom will load code, assets, bundle them together, and output it into my_game.gcrom

Console Mode

This is how you can run the console, and optionally bundle files, via the command line. Usable by the gccl console command. Has a few different modes:

  • rom mode. For quickly launching a single player game with the target rom. Must provide a path to the .gcrom file.
  • bundle mode. For quickly bundling and launching a single player game with the target code and asset providers. Must provide code via -c, and optionally an assets source via -a.

For example, gccl console rom [PATH TO ROM] will open the console and load the passed in .gcrom if possible.

File Watching

You can also "watch" for file changes, and automatically run commands. This is done by adding the -w or --watch flag before entering the command. For example:

gccl -w bundle -c [PATH TO CODE] -o my_game.gcrom

This will use the default value for assets (since -a is not provided), and will bundle it with code provided to -c, into the output file my_game.gcrom

Alternatively, if you want to bundle and run the console for fast development, you can do:

gccl -w console rom [PATH TO ROM]

This will automatically launch and continue to re-launch the game should the rom file change.

Many other commands and modes are watchable, not only these two listed above.