How I Untangled My Spaghetti Code

In which I describe how my code got into a mess, figuring out what needs to be fixed, and how I used better coding techniques to avoid getting into these tangled messes in the first place.
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[@luckyknot]

thanks for taking the effort to pull this cautionary tale for game devs out Jim!

[@straybasilisk2689]

Congratulations on the de-spaghettification of your code! Commiserations on the loss of your corporeal body.

[@TheRetu81]

If you de-spaghettify your code, is it now macaroni code?

[@JimMakesGames]

Thank you! It was getting annoying anyway. No more backaches!

[@sqaxomonophonen5998]

It sounds to me like you're doing it right :) It can be frustrating when you have to rewrite code, but I've been programming since 1989 and it's still something I do frequently. The road to good code is paved with rewrites of bad code :) Also, I think it's good that you apply principles like "one responsibility" when needed instead of preventively, because it's rarely clear what the scope of "one" even is to begin with (one game? one tiny action?), and you can easily overapply the principle which may cause its own kind of bad pasta ("ravioli code"), but when you're facing a real problem, you have the luxury of seeing if it works. As for game logic architecture,.. it might sound a bit silly, but I think I'd try to gather inspiration from tabletop game manuals and cards. So the main rules (manual) should be easy to read, and probably not be separated into classes anymore than you would separate a manual into chapters/sections. Cards benefit from brevity/writability, even to the point of sacrificing readability a bit (it's ok you have to read a page or two of the manual to understand what the card does).

[@paulsgcross]

Very cool and insightful. I'm on a similar journey myself -- wishing you all the best on the journey that is software architecting. Something that might also reduce spaghettification is having a mediator component. Instead of grabbing refs to objects direction thru Unity's GetComponent/Service-Locator, you could instead only ever reference to this middle-man component and pass messages through it to other components.

[@JimMakesGames]

Thank you! Yeah I've looked into the mediator pattern and I am sure it will be useful somewhere. That's basically having something in a higher mediate communication between two other layers right? So they don't need to refer to each other at all. It seems like a lot to set up, but I'm sure worth it for some use cases.

[@vissenekku]

Yeeeah, right now that I've been just doing "practice projects" or experimental things, I've completely neglected the spaghetti. 😄 I've been thinking that if it ever starts to look like a real game, I'd just have to remake it from scratch. Otherwise it's just too much. It's hard to avoid when you go into a project without knowing what you're making.

[@JimMakesGames]

Oh yeah for prototyping none of this matters. And for small projects too. Shitty Quest and The Day The Earth Got Mooned were entirely feasible without worrying about layering or software architecture. But Guildmaster could absolutely have benefited from it, which is part of why it took so long. I would recommend making a complete but very small game first, and then a slightly bigger one. Don't just to something too big too soon. Each game should be a stepping stone where you learn enough to make the next one easier.

[@gaz-a-reno8891]

I’m not a game designer. But I find this fascinating stuff Jim. I’ve got lots of idea for games, but it’s just the business end of all this annoying coding nonsense that gets in the way! 😂. Congratulations on your “Breakthrough” though Jim! 👍. What was your old self doing?… 😤. Does this now make approaching making a game MUCH simpler now? Or just a LITTLE simpler?!… 🤔. Anyway. Good luck to you on finishing this project! 😊

[@JimMakesGames]

Thank you! I'd say it makes it much more practical. It's never simple, but now it's at least doable. If you want to make a game and don't want to code, consider looking into engines that don't require coding and use visual scripting or some other approach.

[@AlfredRusselWallace]

omg I love the fish aliens

[@JimMakesGames]

Thanks! They were created by Julia Minamata, creator of The Crimson Diamond, in glorious 16 Colour EGA!

[@jamesbateson5054]

Hi. Can you explain what you've done to get that cool "debug mode" view of your card states in the scene view (at kzbin.info/www/bejne/joW0en6Vh9CZgZY )?

[@JimMakesGames]

So that's just a zoomed out scene view, which shows stuff that exists beyond the scope of the canvas. The boxes that are labelled Player Deck and so on are just transforms with layout groups that the cards are parented to. I basically just made the rest of the "gaming table" that this game would be played at, but kept the game view constricted.

[@jamesbateson5054]

Ah. I see. Good idea.

[@Garfield_Minecraft]

0:30 wait nerd? so random

[@JimPlaysGames]

It's the angry video game nerd. Thought everyone knew him lol

[@Dollyhandle]

@dbd

[@namcos]

So you got too close to the black hole of the OO paradigm that your code got spaghettified? Sounds legit! :P

[@JimMakesGames]

Exactly!

[@pacbilly]

Hehehehe, that book title!

[@alvarohenrique1309]

This video is so high quality and easy to follow, thank you man!

[@JimMakesGames]

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it 😁

[@LastofAvari]

Mmm... Tasty code!