Thursday, April 28, 2005

Game Developers using XP

I was checking an indie game development web site and came across an article by someone who is using ExtremeProgramming techinques to create their game engine. Here's the link, and here's a quote:
I started using XP (ExtremeProgramming) today for the first time, on the first class of the LudiEngine and within the first 15 minutes I think I have already become hooked.

Essentially what I am starting off with under the XP principles is the TestFirstDesign which means that you program your tests first and you use these tests to determine what you want your class to do.

The immediate advantages I see and felt here are that I am only designing for functionality, so the class ends up being simpler than if I designed it’s code and data structures first. I may have been tempted to code more cases than I really need, but since I am only programming to satisfy the tests I have written, then I don’t do this.
This comes after getting back from the Game Developer's Conference where I heard several people speak on how messed up the project scheduling and business practices in game development really are. Maybe they could learn a bit from Asynchrony!

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