Hi!

My game became bigger than I expected and one of the things that slow me down is the mess with the code. It is working but is different for different objects (I am using Gamemakerstudio, objects mean GMS objects). When I start to clean it it becomes a huge mess because it is hard to see all connections between objects in the game. Also it is not my job but a hobby and I am working when it is possible so sometimes I forgot what did yesterday and what have for today.

The research I made for mindmaps had no result, all of them are somehow not for me and I started to make maps with Serif Pageplus, it has such ability and I found it more effective for me but not enough. Then I discovered it is possible to do that with tables but... Still total mess.

Is there any software for gamedesign and coding that can help me organize this mess and is not very complicated? I am trying to avoid heavy and complicated software for such things. Had the idea to make everything on paper but it is technically impossible for some reasons - sometimes I am forgetting my stuff at home and cant use it in my job and vice versa. Also my cats will totally sabotage this idea.

It is hard to explain because I cant yet find the formula to organize the stuff. Will try that with example.

FactoryA produces > TankA > shoots with shellA

production is related to mineralsA, B, C, upgrades, other buildings > TankA is dependant on terrain, trees, etc, other machines, upgrades > shellA is dependant on...

mineralA is related with FactoryA production of TankA; trees are related with TankA, InfantryB, mineralC;

Building that net is not so complicated but it becomes hard to read, so many connections. I want to see also that TankA has

shield X......................(in progress)

speed Y.....................not implemented yet (or not finished)

detection_radius Z.....errors here, related to machines A and B.

drawing functions related to its parent Battle_Machines - not finished.

Maybe tables are better to do that. The problems are:

1. I cant see the whole picture clear;

2. I forgot what was doing yesterday and what have to do today/tommorow.

3. When I change a name of something or delete it errors are becoming - missing this, missing that... Sometimes in the middle of the game errors crashed the game and said cant find objectX (it was renamed to objectNewTank for example and other objects will bring that error too, but what objects? I must play the game to the point where it appears or checking the whole code of some objects, takes a lot of time and I forget what was about to do).

4. Artificial Inteligence - eventA causes eventA1 and is related to objectA, B... I want to put some code there. Had a succes with table, made it similar to a diagram, but it becomes huge and that is for one object only.

What you suggest is not applicable to my game because instead of regular upgrades it depends on relationships and terrain positions more.

Looks like I need some combination of tables and diagram/mindmap but I am not sure it exists - and not shure even how it should looks.

(Sorry for my bad English.)