8 replies to this topic

[Barn]

Hi,

Recently I started making my 2nd game, and it got a little bit complicated because of multiplayer feature. I hit the wall, and stopped for a couple of days. And now I'm starting again, with plans involving UML design. And I was wondering, do any of you guys use UML when designing your applications? Or do you just sit down and start coding?

[Kyan]

Technically, no, because I don't adhere to "true" UML forms or conventions, nor do I have a rabid obsession with keeping them up to date with the actual codebase. However, I'm a frequent user of diagrams in their myriad of forms for "sketching" problems and potential solutions and believe it is a very powerful tool for development when used intelligently.

If you were referring to UML in the capacity as an all-purpose code generation tool, which was was extremely popular a few years back for reasons I've never quite understood, I've never used it as such, no.

[Barn]

Basically I was asking if UML is the tool that helps you organise things while working on projects. Because sometimes, when you're in the middle of the whole project, you can encounter some unplanned things that prevents you from going further. You have to rewrite the code, and that takes time. Plus, you will probably get into trouble again very soon.

[FLeBlanc]

UML is probably overkill for a hobbyist project.

[glhf]

sounds like you need to make a game design document so you know what to do instead of just going with the flow.

[Barn]

Game design document? Are there any standards for those documents? Or any sites regarding that topic?

[Tom Sloper]

Game design document? Are there any standards for those documents? Or any sites regarding that topic?

http://sloperama.com/advice/specs.htm
http://sloperama.com/advice/lesson13.htm

See links at bottom of those pages too.

[Ashaman73]

Yes, I use UML at work and at home for my game project. At work we use MDA (model driven architecture) to generate code from UML diagrams, for my game project I use UML to generate state machines and class description. Even when not using the UML diagrams to generate some stuff from it, it helps a lot to visualise and organise your application. Generating some useful artefacts from UML further helps you to keep your UML diagram clean and in sync with your application.

[Tribad]

I use UML for all my projects at home and some at work.
I let generate the code, makefiles and solution files from the UML model. It helps in re-organizing software as well. And you have a documentation of your ideas as well. I think it is OK to use UML for planning and development.