Project Style Guide
In game development, project style guides play a crucial role in ensuring consistency and clarity throughout the design and development processes. These guides can be divided into two main categories: art style guides, which define the visual direction and aesthetic elements of the project, and technical style guides, which reference the scripting and coding standards to be followed. The primary goal of all style guides is to ensure that every team member adheres to established standards, facilitating a cohesive vision for the project.
Naming Importance
A well-documented style guide will typically define naming conventions for assets, file structures, and other organizational elements. For instance, it is essential to avoid spaces in any folder or file names, as many systems cannot process paths that contain them. Instead, adopting clear and explicit naming conventions ensures that there is no ambiguity regarding what an item refers to. To balance clarity with practicality, file names should be kept as short as possible, especially considering Windows' file name length limitations.
Example Naming Conventions
While there are various methods for setting up your project folder structure, here are some example methods to implement:
- PascalCase: The first letter of each compound word is capitalized.
- camelCase: The first word is in lowercase, and each subsequent word begins with an uppercase letter.
- snake_case: Words are separated by underscores, and all letters are typically in lowercase.
- kebab-case: Words are separated by hyphens, and all letters are typically in lowercase.
- UPPER_SNAKE_CASE: All letters are capitalized and words are separated by underscores.
By establishing and adhering to these guidelines, game development teams can streamline their workflows, reduce confusion, and foster a more organized and efficient working environment.