[Design patterns] are a relatively well known formalisation of useful solutions that appear when designing programs. The aim is to create a commonly understood language with which developers can communicate to one another at a higher level of abstraction. Of these, the [singleton] pattern is perhaps the most well known.

The singleton pattern is devised to solve a few problems:

1. It ensures that there can only be one instance of a particular [class] or resource
2. It gives a global access point to that one instance
3. It ensures that the object exists upon usage, by creating it if it being accessed for the first time

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I have already made my mind up on creating the editor in [C#]. So far it has been a fantastic language to use, particularly for [GUIs]. Its syntax is similar enough to C++ that I found the transfer straightforward. Its XML parsing ability is nice, and the features such as automatic garbage collection, lack of pointers, and the "foreach" keyword alone as well as not requiring [header files] are worth so much. And there is a huge amount of C# expertise and custom controls and source already out there on the internet - and I mean huge. C# is a success and is a useful skill for me to have. In a development environment it is widespread enough that to hire developers will be easy.

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While trying to investigate some other RPG style products I came across a few sites today, which might be of use.

• Homepage of [RPG Maker XP]
• Playable demo of [Aveyond] PC RPG
• Playable demo of [Ahriman's Prophecy] PC RPG
• Playable [Flash] game based on [The Legend of Zelda], called [The Seeds of Darkness]
• Playable demo of [Wonderland Secret Worlds]

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The requirement is for an editor for a top-down [RPG] game. While there is so much design still to be done on the game, there are enough requirements at this early stage to allow the editor to be built.

Examining the Competition

The following are three arcade adventure style game creation systems I have come across.

• [RPG Maker]
• [RPG Toolkit]
• [ZZT]

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The documentation generator I am examining uses the actual source code of a project. It processes the source for user-added tags and notes (hidden in code comments) which it can apply to contextual information from the source structure to create a detailed view on the codebase.

[Wikipedia] has a good comparison chart of available [code documentation tools]. This is one of those cases where I don't feel much investigation on my part is required before choosing [Doxygen]; the brief comparison shows that Doxygen ticks all the right boxes: its free, widely supported on different operating systems, and covers the main languages. In my experience I've never heard of any other application mentioned; an indication that Doxygen is a good, well-respected choice. The real question is not "Which is the best automatic code documentation software?" but "Is automatic code documentation worthwhile?".

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One of the better games I made on the [Net Yaroze] was called 'Adventure Game'. I was being post-modern and ironic so I kidded myself it was a good name, bearing in mind I had also already written 'Race Game' and 'Race Game 2' for university.

This game was written over 3 intense weeks in order to be ready for the [Scottish Games Alliance's] yearly competition for amateur developers (back when it was open to all the UK), now called [Dare to be Digital]. This game also ended up appearing on the front cover of [The Official PlayStation Magazine] which was very gratifying. (Several times apparently, which I only recently found out about.) The competition was held on November 5th, 1998.

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There are plenty of practices and applications I want to investigate. The following have been on my mind in that they all have potential to help standardise and improve game development. Some of them are already in use but I have felt like pushing my knowledge and their case strongly.

• [Doxygen]
• [UML]
• [C#] (for tools)
• an interpreted language (possibly [Python] or [LUA])
• mature development practices (automated testing / unit testing etc)
• significant pre-programming planning and research

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...with this site? In no particular order...

Personal Incentive

For too long I've been thinking about doing extra-curricular work to help me learn. Lately at work there is an attitude change mostly brought about by new hires with new ideas, and there Is an opportunity to keep this momentum going. As its at the end of my first lead programmer job, now seems a convenient time to start investigating anything that can help games development, particularly from examining "regular" IT development. This LJ could help structure my learning in a productive manner.

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I've always been interested in computing, but never touched anything more than Basic in a variety of formats until going to university. There I picked up on C and C++ and found the university level quite easy. This led to an early over-estimation of my own ability which would stick with me for many years. During my 3rd year at university I became bored with the course and spent my time playing around with the [Net Yaroze] which was great fun. After university I spent time messing around with the Net Yaroze - I even entered a UK wide competition and got to the finals. Sony were sponsors and I met again with the same people who worked there that I had been chasing for a job ever since I met them in the 3rd year of university. Several months of temping later they finally offered me a junior programmer role. I had worn them down and won!

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