![\"cogmind_data_files\"](\"https:\/\/www.gridsagegames.com\/blog\/gsg-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/cogmind_data_files.png\" "\\"Cogmind")
<\/a>Current contents of the “data\/objects\/” directory--still all prototype\/testing data, but the main categories are there.<\/p><\/div>\n
There are other data directories, but a majority of the interesting contents that make up the “game” are currently found in the objects directory: Cells (terrain), props (terrain objects like machines), entities (robots), and items (parts) are the four basic types of objects used to subdivide the world in pretty much every game I’ve ever made. At the most basic level it’s easy to tweak the parameters of a specific weapon or change a given robot’s loadout, but the data files are far more powerful than that, allowing complete control of sound effects, particle effects, and even the animated interface (the appearance of which is mostly scripted, not hard coded).<\/p>\n
Aside from objects, another important candidate for externalization is mechanics. Mechanics are often based on formulas, and these formulas in turn contain static values (e.g. Damage = Strength x “2.0”). Source code that leaves these values peppered throughout is a pain to deal with, and makes tweaking for balance difficult. To streamline the iterative design process these static values are always given names instead (e.g. Damage = Strength x “DAMAGE_MULTIPLIER”), and in code I keep almost all<\/em> of them in a single file. (That file is literally 17% of the project’s code, by line count…) When it comes time to release, it’s pretty trivial to move them all to external files, thereby partially exposing a lot of mechanics.<\/p>\n Although theoretically any text editor will do, I use Notepad++ for multi-row editing (a huge time-saver), syntax highlighting (I maintain a highlighting scheme for Cogmind’s .xt data files), and the ability to be in more than one place in a single file at the same time (plus synchronized scrolling).<\/p>\n Because xml\/json require annoying markup that gets in the way of what’s important (data) no matter how nicely you format it, Cogmind .xt files use a clean tab-delimited chart format. We like our data pure<\/em>. After all, the game knows what kind of data to expect and comes with a fairly robust error checker that points out any unexpected\/incorrect data when parsing the files, so why bother with all that unnecessary syntax?<\/p>\n Robot data from the 7DRL prototype (click for full size). Soon enough they’ll be sharing company with a new cast of friends.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a>