what IDE do you recommend?
If you want artists to get in and get there hands dirty, your going to need something
approaching the simplicity of quake army knife.
download --> decompile -> code -> compile
but with everything all lumped in one app,
(not that this is what blender developers should be coding)
but it would be handy.
For my own presonal preference, I’d recommend QtCreator on Linux, quite a few Blender devs use this and it works well,
see: http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Doc/IDE_Configuration/Linux_CMake_QtCreator
Noted common IDE’s for other platforms, though am just noting whats in common use and known to work well, I’m not advocating them. http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Ideasman42/Reply_Id_Like_To_Develop_Blender#Setup_a_development_environment
For Windows, if you have access to it, I’d recommend Visual Studio. There is a free “Community” edition for small teams that will get you up and running.
That said, you need a computer for that. I thought you were going to be using all the time you had on the computer over the next week and a half getting your game up and running… or was that all a bunch of hooey?
I have visual studio,
someone told me a ide was what highlighted functions, and I could then right click the function to find it’s source
So when I run into stuff, I can see where it is in other modules,
[sub]removed off topic BGE reply @ideasman42.[/sub]
someone told me a ide was what highlighted functions, and I could then right click the function to find it’s source
IDE means Integrated Development Environment. A collection of tools with which you can write code and develop software, and compile it then. Everything needed is integrated into this development environment.
I live offtopic, and the systems used in the game are 100% modular, from the weapons, to the parts, and systems used to move them
Me and a artist are finishing the demo for greenlight, then working the game,
I am not polishing a turd,
this is my dream game.
I can replace the weapon model, change clipsize, and projectile type etc in minutes
I can add a new component type just by pasting a new line in 1 script
if 'Type' = NewPart:
Do stuff
I can duplicate the actor rig, change the armature and actions, add have another actor to swap to,
really I designed this to make any game, not just my own.
@BluePrintRandom, removed your last comment, it had nothing todo with IDE’s or developer tools.
Please stay on topic.
Right, if that doesn’t work then you better lookup docs & info on how to use MSVC.
In my experience it works out of the box without any configuration.
Get Visual Studio 2013 Community edition. You can download it from this page. Make sure you get the 2013 version. Here is a direct download link to it:
https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=532495&clcid=0x409
Get cmake. Use the installer:
http://www.cmake.org/files/v3.3/cmake-3.3.0-win32-x86.exe
Follow the instructions on the wiki to create a Visual Studio project. When you click configure, make sure to choose “Visual Studio 12.0 Win64”. (Visual Studio 12.0 is Visual Studio 2013)
When you have done everything right (you probably won’t, for the first couple of times), you will have a Blender.sln file that you can open with Visual Studio. You will be able to navigate the code and (hopefully) build and debug.
If you run into problems, absolutely ignore any advice to install another compiler such as MinGW, another build system (scons) or another IDE such as QtCreator or even another OS such as Linux. You really do want Visual Studio - at least for code navigation and debugging. It also has acceptable profiler tools.
Thanks Beer Baron 
While I would phrase it differently, @BeerBaron’s advice is good.
It boils down to this -
“For the platform you’re using, find the most-common / widely-supported development tools, and use them!”
For Windows its fairly straightforward since we only support MSVC2013. Though you can use MSVC compiler with other IDE’s if you want to (Eclipse, QtCreator, Netbeans… others too). Though I wouldn’t recommend that as a first step.
Once you’ve been using it for a while you may want to try alternatives… but at least get the defacto standard up and running first.
Then if you try some other tools, at least you have something to fallback on - if they don’t work so well.
Hi. I think visual studio for windows is a good choice (noob opinion) because when you’ve got a compilation error, you just have to click on the error and it opens the file concerned and points the error, you edit, and then you generate build again. But the MSVC window is too overloaded (it should be configurable) and complex for me. I used to code in notepad++, so I continue to code in notepad++(I had to configure one or 2 options to make it simpler) and I use MSVC just to compile and find errors 
@youle, am not on windows, but know what you mean… regarding some IDE’s being overloaded.
I still compile in the terminal often, use Vim for Python development & writing docs… Cycles is mostly written by devs using Vim and Emacs…
And while I use QtCreator since its nice to navigate source, I use vim-emulation for various edits too.
Mostly use git from the command line too.
Not to promote those tools especially, only to say that active Blender devs are using tools besides typical IDE’s too.
One of the things I like about CMake on Linux, is You can setup multiple development environments to point to the same build & source directories. So you’re not locked into one way of doing things.
might as well toss it out here
" Vi"
just vi
or the middle of the road “Swiss army knife” of a ide
Eclipse
mostly i use the terminal so
set up a config.options file for the build environment
great for building the nightly Gimp dev source
or for building NASA Ames VisualWorkbench