How you guys keep a track on things?

Hi,

How you guys keep a track on things on bigger projects. I'm finding that If I wont finish what I wanted to in max one day, when I'm going back to the next day I don't exactly remember how I was going about certain things or I feel like changing them. I do make notes but maybe there is a better way to keep the track of the development progress?

It definitely depends on, if you�re working alone or as a team.

We use dropbox including a development log and a to-do-list, which can be edited by everyone.

This really helps to get new ideas and don�t get lost in details....

I had this issue when I started out with C2 and had it for a few days straight, seeing as I made quite a few buggy events daily, hehe.

Eventually I had to use groups for some approach and realized these things really put your entire project in a straight forward clear overview.

at some point I started focussing on getting groups done.

ie, usercontrols, menus, spawning etc etc

this made way for easily remembering what I was doing.

I had this issue when I started out with C2 and had it for a few days straight, seeing as I made quite a few buggy events daily, hehe.

Eventually I had to use groups for some approach and realized these things really put your entire project in a straight forward clear overview.

at some point I started focussing on getting groups done.

ie, usercontrols, menus, spawning etc etc

this made way for easily remembering what I was doing.

Yeah, that's how I work, thought still getting bit lost >.>

Beaverlicious Cool, I'm working by myself, but will be useful if doing any future projects with others.

I believe the readability and maintainability this a major downside of C2.

Coming back to a large project to make changes, fix bugs or extend code can be a major chore. The code is often hard to follow, especially when bugs are caused due to some odd C2 behaviour.

On larger projects I find it very important to shift code into separate units. I try to use functions as much as possible and I have them in units that make sense. e.g., all my maths functions in "MathsUnit" all my other useful function in "CommonUnits"

Organise code so that sections that deal with similar things are grouped together, i.e. use groups. I also try to break up the code using clear easy to follow comments.

I discovered that it you add a comment and use "shift return" you can actually have multiple lines. This can readability of your code immensely by putting a bit of white space between sections of your program.

In my comments I often have to include why I did certain things. Sometimes due to weird restrictions/behaviours of C2 or sometimes because the code looks convoluted.

Going back to a "proper" program really highlights how dense and hard to follow C2 can become if you don't take steps to improve the readability of your code and organisation of it.

czar

really nice tipps :)

i guess the key in making a project editable in the future without searchin years is commenting.

A well documented project is everything!

Great question... probably something every game designer needs to think about.

I use a notebook most of the time. Track what I'm doing, write down where I left off, sketch ideas, etc... one notebook per project and crapton of pencils, just in case.

Within C2, I use a lot of groups and comments. It takes some extra work, but if you're diligent, C2 isn't too tough to organize. I've found a love for Functions in regard to organization. Break up tasks into widgets that can be called or altered without having too re-write larger pieces of game logic. Never be afraid to use multiple event sheets, either--all variables on one, all sub-functions on another (organized into groups), and several others for different layers or mechanics.

I guess there's no one method, huh?

A lot of it is just strong focus and not being afraid to change your plans. I have a lot of stuff written/drawn out on paper, though. I also have made a private wiki for my game for reference (it's an RPG, so it isn't really small).

Great question... probably something every game designer needs to think about.

I use a notebook most of the time. Track what I'm doing, write down where I left off, sketch ideas, etc... one notebook per project and crapton of pencils, just in case.

Within C2, I use a lot of groups and comments. It takes some extra work, but if you're diligent, C2 isn't too tough to organize. I've found a love for Functions in regard to organization. Break up tasks into widgets that can be called or altered without having too re-write larger pieces of game logic. Never be afraid to use multiple event sheets, either--all variables on one, all sub-functions on another (organized into groups), and several others for different layers or mechanics.

I guess there's no one method, huh?This is pretty much what I'm used to do, too.

I want to stress that using multiple event sheets is a key for organization, even more than using functions and groups. While the latter might steal some ms, event sheets are merged to one big event sheet on export (if I recall correctly), so basically there is no disadvantage in using them. Oh, and the comment option is there: Use it, everywhere, anytime.

I often thought: "Bah, that's a too easy solution for the problem. Don't need to make notices."

And just 2 days later I thought: "How the heck does this work, what did I do here?"

In general, it is all just about visual organization. The less text at once, the easier for us to follow. Imagine the book "The lord of the rings" without being seperated into parts, chapters, sections, breaks and indentation. Would anyone have read it?

Yo, It's all sounds good. I'm actually using all of those techniques, but maybe I should push them even further! Atm I've decided I will keep on working the current way, as even thought I have almost whole engine done, everything is working fine even thought the code is bit messy. I want to push the game out of the door asap since my license is ending in two or three weeks and I don't have any money to extend it. :/

tulamide I didn't know that groups cause bit of delay! I suspected functions, but not groups. SO you're saying its best to just have pure event sheets? This is mine called root. Should I be even more detailed in your opinion?

<img src="http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/28/odah.jpg" border="0" />

No, you shouldn't. I would be glad to work on an event sheet structured so detailed.

The delay thing: I wouldn't say they are causing a delay (not in the true meaning of the word). Also, I talked of milliseconds, and even that might be too much. It's just that groups are active elements, they can be set on or off. This needs a check for every group on every tick (Imagine something like "For each group, if group is active then execute") and this adds to the length of a tick. But I really can't tell how much these checks cost. Might as well just be 2 microseconds... <img src="smileys/smiley1.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

Thanks

You will feel the latency from 11ms up.

I use event sheets and groups heavily. I like to think of it as a bit of OOP to an extent. For instance, I'll have one event sheet only for player controls. In that event sheets I heavily comment and organize things into groups (Eg. Group collisions together, group turning, group shooting stuff, etc...) It makes organization a lot easier.

I found very useful to divide the work in micro release that I plan in advance, but no more than 5 releases per time. The reason for this is that you should see the whole big plan, but pay close attention just to the next few steps, in order to focus your strenght and energy.

At the moment I'm in a bit of rush... I'll be back later if I haven't explained myself :)

Cool guys :) I've started a little side project last weekend, and since I've knew it was going to be small I've didn't really gave much thought to organisation. Aaaand it was a mistake! After finishing the whole code will have to restructure it on the new event sheet for the clarity and optimization.