How to structure Project Libraries?

Game Engine Game Engine Support and Discussion
1

Hey guys,

I´m working on a project for over 2 month now on a fulltime basis.

The structure of my project looks like this at the moment and maybe some of you guys have some input for me.

EDIT:

The latest version of the Projectflowchart can be found here
https://bubbl.us/?h=170a76/2ca874/15SdTWXdb/vsg

I´m interested in what you would change or what ideas you got to make the setup more, let´s say professional.

The size of the project is close to 2 Gig at the moment so i can´t really upload it.
It contains close to 2000 objects with textures, equipmentparts for characters, full constructions, creatures etc.

You can find some information about the conversion on my blog, wich is linked in my signature.

I´m just curious, would anyone consider donating for such a package?
At the moment i´m looking for freelancer jobs everywhere but it´s hard to gain a foothold in the branch.

greets from Austria

2

If you place it into a tree structure it might be easier to read.

I guess the arrows mean he “from” file is linked to the “to” file.

The “Object libraries” seems a bit redundant as it does not provide any further classification (like characters, environment, etc.)

I do not think you do not need to name the files “* Library.blend” or “* Libraries.blend” (inconsistent naming). Usually there are less blend files that are supposed to be started rather from than files acting as library. I suggest to name your start-up file, just “startup.blend” or give it the name of your game/application.

A good way of organization is to use folders. So you can get:


myGame
- startGame.blend
+ Levels
   levelA.blend
   levelB.blend
+ Characters
   + Player
      + Actions
      + Sounds
      + Textures
      + Python
      ...
   + UglyFrog
      + Actions
      + Sounds
      + Python
      ...
   ...
+ Environment
   + Terrains
   + Houses
   + Plants
      + Trees
         ...
+ Python
+ Sounds
+ Movies
+ Shaders

and so on

You can decide from case to case how many data you want to store in a blend file.
My experience is:

  • if you use a versioning system (and I strongly recommend to use one) better have a lot of small rather than a few large files.
  • save actions into separate blends as they can become quite large files
  • store data in a format that fits most e.g. textures as image file.
  • use consistent naming
  • consider the names of the folder and parent folders. This allows much shorter names (characters/beast/rig.blend vs. characters/beast/beastCharacterRig.blend)
  • add tests to your folders or even blend files to ensure the libraries are correct. You need this for developing anyway. If you assemble the levels it is to late.
  • when using python it is important to avoid ambiguous names in Python search path. So it might be worth to have all Python code based in one folder. E.g. Python. Be aware you still can have packages in there.
3

I´m currently redoing the mindmap for a better overview.

Thanks for the fast answer monster.
I should have made things more clear from the beginning, that was my fault.
I already have a folderstructure and the files aren´t named “library.blend” or anything else like that, they have a naming convention.
:smiley: Sorry i will make things more clear.

4

No, problem. These were just my thoughts. They do not necessarily mean to fit your situation.

5

Mindmap is now updated.

6

At first glance, it looks fairly well decomposed to me. I suspect that your mindmap looks more messy than your folder structure.

7

My folderstructure is pretty simple… :slight_smile:
What do you think?

The bpp subfolder here is just a temp for encrypton, but yeah it´s work in progress.


8

The folder structure looks nice. But sorry the new mind-map confuses me even more.

Maybe it is better when you add a description to each folder, what content you expect.

Btw.
Shouldn’t be “Monsters” are characters too?
What is the difference between “stuff” and “items”?
“AssetLib” is a strange name. More common is “libraries” or “assets” :wink:
Why “bgui_0.08”? This seems to create a dependency on the version (in name). I guess you will never have more than one version of BGUI in your project.

“Bpp” should be “bpp” ;). As it is temporary it might be better placed under a folder: temp/bpp
A strong separation, between static (content) and dynamic files (saved games, persistent cache, generated files, screen shots) is always a good idea. Especially as you do not need to deliver temporary files.

I do not like the term “scripts”. This is as it quickly creates the illusion it contains “scripts” when it contains packages and modules. I suggest to use the term “python” then it is obvious what the folder contains. This is my taste and not that serious.

“menu” (why singular?) should be under a folder “gui” or similar. As menu alone is nothing. It is usually a part of a complete GUI.

Just my thoughts (as usual :D)