Designing a game
Author
How do you design a game?
I am learning UML, but it seems that UML doesnt fit to describe a game?
What sort of UseCases I will have?
Perhaps if we take some commercial game is an example and maybe you can explain how would you write the requirements, analasys and design of this game then I and many others will benefit from this?
So lets take a look at the game battlefield 1942.
How would you write the UML diagrams of this game?
Thanks in advance
if you want to learn how to to this id recomend making a game from start to finish by yourself,
it dosent have to be a big game and you can use something like gamemaker but game design is such a broad area in my mind the best way is to just experiance for yourself what it takes to go from idea to game
it dosent have to be a big game and you can use something like gamemaker but game design is such a broad area in my mind the best way is to just experiance for yourself what it takes to go from idea to game
Quote:Original post by The C modest god
How do you design a game?
I am learning UML, but it seems that UML doesnt fit to describe a game?
I'm an old-school proponent of the GDD. You can find templates here on GameDev, and I have one on my website too (FAQ 2).
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/specs.htm
http://www.gamedev.net/reference/list.asp?categoryid=23#21
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19970912/design_doc.htm
Good luck, The.
Tom
When I was growing up, before I had gained the ability to really create the ideas in my head, I wrote pages and pages of game design documents. The best way to design in my opinion, is to pick the best model of recording how you think. If you are working with a team, you will need to adjust that model to a way that other members on the team can understand it. UML really doesn't work that well in my experience for anything except class diagrams. If you are list oriented, you can make a lot of lists. If you are a visual sort of person, draw maps and visual diagrams. If you are wordy you can write paragraphs. Using a template is nice to know what kinds of things to keep in mind, but you should format it in a way that can help you think the best.
Since I have gotten into programming, I haven't done much designing, other than fairly general things or fleshing out a system that needs some detail work, as I have found if I do too much top-down design I find out later that some things just dont work in the game as I thought they would, and I have to backtrack a lot. Sometimes its really hard to think around a problem when I have already done extensive design work on it, its harder to get the old idea out of my head if it's been put to the page. So i do a lot of designing in my head, and then I prototype it, and if it fails its out of my head instantly :)
Since I have gotten into programming, I haven't done much designing, other than fairly general things or fleshing out a system that needs some detail work, as I have found if I do too much top-down design I find out later that some things just dont work in the game as I thought they would, and I have to backtrack a lot. Sometimes its really hard to think around a problem when I have already done extensive design work on it, its harder to get the old idea out of my head if it's been put to the page. So i do a lot of designing in my head, and then I prototype it, and if it fails its out of my head instantly :)
Author
I just wanted to see some UML diagrams.
UML diagrams are a standard that every person who have learned UML can understand in some level.
Also, a diagram is usually more comprehensible then some 100 pages text document.
Maybe I was missing something, but I didnt see any UML design techniques used in the links you gave me. Maybe just for the requirements.
I don't want to read how someone have invented a specific method to design a game, I just wanted to see some UML diagrams for games or graphic engines.
Or do you claim that UML is not currently the best method to design a software and that some one else has inveted a better way to do it?
UML diagrams are a standard that every person who have learned UML can understand in some level.
Also, a diagram is usually more comprehensible then some 100 pages text document.
Maybe I was missing something, but I didnt see any UML design techniques used in the links you gave me. Maybe just for the requirements.
I don't want to read how someone have invented a specific method to design a game, I just wanted to see some UML diagrams for games or graphic engines.
Or do you claim that UML is not currently the best method to design a software and that some one else has inveted a better way to do it?
UML Tutorial: http://pigseye.kennesaw.edu/~dbraun/csis4650/A&D/UML_tutorial/what_is_uml.htm
Webpage about UML diagrams: http://bdn.borland.com/article/0,1410,31863,00.html
Diagrams: http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/umlDiagrams.htm
How did I find all these? I don't know UML. I typed "UML diagram" into Google.
Webpage about UML diagrams: http://bdn.borland.com/article/0,1410,31863,00.html
Diagrams: http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/umlDiagrams.htm
How did I find all these? I don't know UML. I typed "UML diagram" into Google.
UML is really just a way to visualize a design - it's not a design method itself. Besides, those diagrams change on a regular base when the code itself is written.
A better approach would be to get experience writing games, because that really gives you the insight you need when designing a game. Without such experience, UML is pretty useless, I'd say. You won't understand why a designer made a specific decision by simply looking at the diagram only, you would have to know the real-life implications of the design.
A better approach would be to get experience writing games, because that really gives you the insight you need when designing a game. Without such experience, UML is pretty useless, I'd say. You won't understand why a designer made a specific decision by simply looking at the diagram only, you would have to know the real-life implications of the design.
I think the aspects of a videogame that are fit to be described in UML diagrams are boring and not very interesting or important: the use cases are very simple combinations of obvious commands like new game, save, load, quit, edit options and the like; state and interaction diagrams can describe simple game loops and network protocols; class and object diagrams are mostly irrelevant to the low level performance and algorithmic problems, and weakly connected to game rules.
Developing some UML diagrams can be useful for developer orientation documents or as an aid for the design of specific complex mechanisms, but most game code is much more sophisticated than UML diagrams of reasonable complexity.
For example, suppose you make an object oriented Pacman clone. How would you describe, in UML, critical features like the movement strategies of the four ghosts or the timing of Pacman and ghost movements? How could a clever card castle of OCL, annotations and contrived classes be more readable, useful and easy to produce than a simple text document with explanations and tables of figures?
Developing some UML diagrams can be useful for developer orientation documents or as an aid for the design of specific complex mechanisms, but most game code is much more sophisticated than UML diagrams of reasonable complexity.
For example, suppose you make an object oriented Pacman clone. How would you describe, in UML, critical features like the movement strategies of the four ghosts or the timing of Pacman and ghost movements? How could a clever card castle of OCL, annotations and contrived classes be more readable, useful and easy to produce than a simple text document with explanations and tables of figures?
Quote:Original post by ellis1138
UML Tutorial: http://pigseye.kennesaw.edu/~dbraun/csis4650/A&D/UML_tutorial/what_is_uml.htm
Webpage about UML diagrams: http://bdn.borland.com/article/0,1410,31863,00.html
Diagrams: http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/umlDiagrams.htm
How did I find all these? I don't know UML. I typed "UML diagram" into Google.
Apparently you havnt read what I wrote.
I know UML, I just wanted to see an example of a game in UML diagrams.
Quote:Original post by LorenzoGatti
I think the aspects of a videogame that are fit to be described in UML diagrams are boring and not very interesting or important: the use cases are very simple combinations of obvious commands like new game, save, load, quit, edit options and the like; state and interaction diagrams can describe simple game loops and network protocols; class and object diagrams are mostly irrelevant to the low level performance and algorithmic problems, and weakly connected to game rules.
Developing some UML diagrams can be useful for developer orientation documents or as an aid for the design of specific complex mechanisms, but most game code is much more sophisticated than UML diagrams of reasonable complexity.
For example, suppose you make an object oriented Pacman clone. How would you describe, in UML, critical features like the movement strategies of the four ghosts or the timing of Pacman and ghost movements? How could a clever card castle of OCL, annotations and contrived classes be more readable, useful and easy to produce than a simple text document with explanations and tables of figures?
Ok, how would I make a pacman use case.
I think I will have two actors: pacman and ghost.
The use cases would be:
* Move character
That would be connected both to pacman and ghost actors.
* Eat pacman
That would be connected both to pacman and ghost and will include mpve character
* Select direction
That would be connected both to pacman and ghost
* Eat super dot
* Eat dot
and etc...
Class diagram:
* Pacman
Connected to controler
* Ghost
Connceted to controler
* Maze
Connnected to controler
* Controller
Connceted to Maze, Pacman, Ghost.
What do you think of this design?
Its also a simple way to convey an idea
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