I want to develop a game and am considering collaborating with others, potentially even making it open-source.
To make this process smoother, I need to establish an easy-to-replicate development environment—one that can be set up by non-programmers (such as artists) but is also simple for me to configure so I can focus on actual development.
I’ve explored various options (Docker, Podman, Anaconda, NixOS, VMs), but the choices are overwhelming, and I’m unsure which one is best for my needs.
I’ve had partial success with a Fedora+i3wm virtual environment (VM), creating a plug-and-play experience. However, this setup requires extra space (~3GB for the OS) and includes software already installed on the host system. It also requires users to learn i3wm and possibly use the command line, which may not be ideal for everyone.
I would appreciate any advice on how to approach this effectively.
Edit: An example of things to setup:
- The right .Net Sdks version
- Git
- Git LFS
- Format Checks
- VScode (+ extensions)
- Godot (+ extensions)
Final: I have read your recommendations, researched your suggestions, and looked at what other projects use (Luanti uses docker). And I have finally decided that at least for now this might be a bit overboard. I will start with a simple setup script and setup files (such as for vscode) with instructions. And if I need to in the future I will most likely use Docker.
You should be fine with just Godot for now. Don't over-engineer things until you need to, or you'll just scare away potential contributors.
If you need to test portability, try spinning up a VM or a second system and getting the project running on that new system. You can work out the issues from there.
A final thought: one method for open sourcing commercial games you may want to consider is separating the assets and engine into multiple repositories, with a restrictive (paid) license for the former. The engine can then be openly developed by owners of the game.
Of course, I'm gonna support anyone who open-sources the FULL game but it's worth considering if you're thinking of this as a hobby project or a commercial venture.