How do you manage your game data?

[callmedan]

As said in title. How do you manage your game data?

 

[Nutty171]

What do you mean by "game data?" I keep all of my credits in the notes of the first map, if that's what you're asking about.

 

[callmedan]

Oops, my bad. The game data includes credits, character profiles, item infos, dialogues, etc.

 

[Faherya]

Well, the credits I write, so I decide to use some feature to avoid forgetting. Similarly, I forgot to remove the name of someone whose resource I ended up not using, but it is better than a name left over from what is missing.

The complete sketch - plot, dialogues and etc - I write in the script format to facilitate future modifications. About character profiles, luckily I've never had any problems. I do not even need to write down anything about them. In fact, some of my characters do not even have a predetermined profile, I leave it to the player.

For information on items, equipment, classes and etc. I use the notes boxes of them. As for location information, I use the map note boxes.

I even get confused with skills and enemies, so I do the same thing in their notebooks. "This one will be dealt at level X, when the player will receive the ability Y ..."

 

[Tai_MT]

I tend to keep all that information in separate word documents as well as in a physical notebook I sometimes carry around with me. The physical notebook is for further backing up my important data that is stored on my PC, in case my PC ever gets wiped or something... The notebook is also for writing down ideas I have for other games, or for the current game, especially when I'm not at home near my PC. I also have sticky notes that I use when I'm out running errands and such.

Otherwise, it's all in word documents. Labeled things like "Game Name Credits" and "Game Name Skills" and "Game Name Script" and "Game Name Characters". I don't worry about highly specific things like weapons/armors, because that stuff will end up being tweaked all the way up until the end of the game. Including tweaking names and flavor text.

 

[Andar]

Mixture of textfiles, excel files (for comparing and calculating balance data), textbooks (physically writing with pen), articy:draft (a program for managing story data) and notebox in the database, depending on what a given information is about.

I strongly suggest everyone should start enemy and actor data in an spreadsheet table and use functions to calculate them to a basic balance.
If you start with guesswork numbers, later game balancing will require more work.

 

[Tai_MT]

I strongly suggest everyone should start enemy and actor data in an spreadsheet table and use functions to calculate them to a basic balance. If you start with guesswork numbers, later game balancing will require more work.

I think this is helpful, but not always for everyone. I, for one, do balancing not based on "raw numbers", but based on, "how many hits can this enemy kill the party in?" and "how many hits does it take for the party to kill this enemy?". A few errant numbers here or there doesn't really affect my balancing of characters or monsters all that much. Balancing equipment is much more difficult, as it can quickly change either of those balancing methods (how many hits I want an enemy to go down in and how many I want the party to go down in).

Though, to also be quite honest, most of my damage formulas are additive/subtractive without multiplication or division in them what-so-ever. Plus, I'm rolling with very low stat numbers. It makes most regular balancing fairly easy. At least, for me it does.

 

[TCRegan]

I have a specific folder for my project that I divide into certain things - stuff I've extracted from the RTP and recolored, things I've snagged from resource sites, every artist gets their own folder and I keep a notepad file of credits for the stuff I know is definitely going in the game.

Items, Skills, States, etc, are handled in-game. I don't feel the need to create a separate folder for them. But I do have folders for characters I've created - faces, minis, and any animations or battlers I've made. I keep a spreadsheet of enemies up and troops just to track how many times the player gets smacked with a random encounter so I can adjust accordingly after I've averaged it across a couple of playthroughs.

Then I have a notebook for bug fixes. I'll play through a certain area and see a spelling issue or an event that doesn't trigger properly and write it down, then fix everything, then retest it until I'm satisfied.

Honestly I think it's just about what works for you personally. Everyone's going to have a different style.

 

[Henryetha]

As for credits I have a simple editor file directly in the game's folder.

As for planning (be it characters, items, skills, mechanics, maps, w/e) I'm using Wikidpad.
I actually wanted to try articy:draft 2 aswell and got it just yesterday when there was an offer in bundlestars (else it's rly expensive), but still have to get into it.

Anyway, for now Wikidpad has proven as quite practical. The wordlinking really helps with the organization.

unused files (images, music, sounds, plugins, ...) I have stored in simple folders sorted by type of resource and then the name of the artist. In the folder which is named after the artist, I use to create an editor file, saving basic information as the name to credit and a link to the website where the resource is from.