What does it take to build on alt:V?
This post is not about gatekeeping development and stopping people from becoming a developer who writes scripts, and game modes on the alt:V platform. Instead this is just going to give some general advice about what I believe is required to actually begin working with this platform.
The Stack
The stack is referring to the technical stack required to use all of alt:V's services in an efficient way.
Google / Problem Solving
If you are not a person who does not excessively search for a solution, determine their own solution, or is not a critical thinker you are going to have a rough time building on the alt:V Platform. Not a lot of scripts / examples exist to hold your hand or to simply copy and paste from for this platform.
This means you actually really do have to think and sometimes think really hard about how to solve a problem that will be unique to your game mode.
Here's an example question you can think about; can you answer the following question?
Let's say you have a command in the server that spawns a vehicle for the player. You want to ensure that a player can only spawn one vehicle at a time and you need a way to keep track of that.
How will you keep track of their previous vehicle, and remove their previous vehicle when they spawn a new vehicle?JavaScript
No matter what you do on the alt:V platform whether that be server-side, client-side, or even working on interfaces you are likely going to have to know JavaScript. Now your knowledge of JavaScript can be pretty basic but when it comes down to the general syntax and fundamentals of JavaScript you cannot avoid learning them.
You should absolutely learn a little bit of JavaScript before jumping into development with this platform. Most developers who have learned a language besides JavaScript can usually stumble their way around and eventually become proficient developers.
Databases
You will likely need a database for your game mode unless it's something like... team death match, capture the flag, etc.
While there are a ton of different databases out there it seems that most developers that come to this platform have never really written their own CRUD operation(s) for working with a database. Meaning they have no idea how to Create, Read, Update, and Delete data from a database without someone else providing a resource for them.
Which leads to a question that you should see if you can answer yourself.
Can you create your own CRUD operation(s) for working with a database?Server Management
More often than not a majority of people that come into the platform do not have any experience actually working with or managing a server. Meaning are you able to perform basic CLI operations on a Linux server.
Not only is this something that is mandatory, it is something that every developer will eventually need to know. Especially if you are building an efficient long-term server that has complex programming and micro-services attached to it.
Basically if you can't figure out how to use a command line interface you are going to have a bad time.
Ask yourself the following question:
How do I successfully add files to a server, move files, rename files, and perform NodeJS operation(s) on a linux server.