1 / 11

XNA DEBUG TERMINAL

XNA DEBUG TERMINAL. http://www.protohacks.net/xna_debug_terminal. From Concept to Release By: Kevin Cherry Co-Owner: Timothy Wright. Choose a Concept. In General Find a “hole” in the market Make sure it fills a need that is not already well taken care of by other software

sabine
Download Presentation

XNA DEBUG TERMINAL

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. XNA DEBUG TERMINAL http://www.protohacks.net/xna_debug_terminal From Concept to Release By: Kevin Cherry Co-Owner: Timothy Wright

  2. Choose a Concept • In General • Find a “hole” in the market • Make sure it fills a need that is not already well taken care of by other software • Get inspiration from other projects and technologies you like • XDT • Good visual and easy-to-use XNA debugger • Visual Studio’s built-in debugger not suited for games. Very few popular alternatives • Electro’s1in-game console and .Net reflection2

  3. Decide on a Feature Set • In General: • Figure out all features initial release will have • Implement simple casesof each to ensure feasibility • XDT: • v1.0 • Basic C# language expressions including literals, object member access, method invocation, and some assignment • Basic UI for entering expressions and receiving results • Customizable appearance • Generic, catch-all error messages • Special commands for extra power

  4. Decide on a Feature Set • XDT: • v1.1 • Further support for basic C# expressions • New special commands • Bug fixes • Unit test project • v2.0 • More C# expression support • Better parsing system • More accurate error messages • Better UI • More unit tests

  5. Implement • Don’t get carried away and stray from your original concept/feature set • Some deviations are normal, but keep to a minimum • Get it working first, then optimize • Try using test-driven, agile, or another form of software development that is well known • Try using well known design patterns where appropriate • Use a form of version control such as svn or cvsand commit often • Set a deadline and try to stick to it • After your feature set is complete, only fix bugs (known as a “feature freeze”3) • After bug fixing is complete/at a satisfactory level, stop coding for that version (known as a “code freeze”3)

  6. Write Tests • In General: • Create a set of unit tests and design a way to automate them • Create sufficient tests for every feature • Do not allow a feature to be released if it performs poorly on its tests • XDT: • v1.1 has 137 unit tests • v2.0 has 478 unit tests

  7. Document • In General: • Often lacking in other projects • Ensure it is throughout, clear, and organized • Never underestimate the power of good documentation • Allow users to ask questions • Forum • FAQ • Email support • XDT: • Webpage explaining, in detail, how to setup and use • Screenshots, sample uses, and a downloadable sample project • Downloadable chm document for entire interface • Pulls from xml comments found in every type, method, property, and field in code • Google group for questions/comments • Email given on website

  8. Market • Make a website with your documentation, downloads, reasons to use your project, etc. • Find ways to announce your project and website online: • Forums • Wikis • Emailing bloggers • Tell your friends/classmates/co-workers about it

  9. Points to Remember • Occam’s Razor4 • If you think part of your documentation is unclear, assumes too much previous knowledge, overuses acronyms, etc., get feedback and rewrite it. • Decide when enough is enough for a particular release • Your project should be able to be downloaded from a maximum of 3 links from your home page. Don’t make users work for it. • Don’t make your advertisement links bigger than your download links • Take bug reports seriously and try to offer workarounds until you can fix it • For open source projects, don’t assume everyone is a programmer and has the time to fix your bugs • Asking for help is ok. Expecting it is not.

  10. Website: http://www.protohacks.net/xna_debug_terminal

  11. References • http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/f7ykdhsy.aspx • http://www.evl.uic.edu/rlk/electro/electro.html • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_freeze • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor

More Related