1.6 KiB
Naming convention
Glossary of names to use when talking about the technicals of the game or decompiling the project.
Player
The playable character that can be controlled.
Avoid using names like Alucard or Richter if variables or functions are shared between the two. Use player when in doubt.
Entity
An object that has its own logic and life-span. An example of entity is the Player, breakable objects like the candle, the item dropped by the foes or the foes themselves.
Name discarded:
- Actor: it did not feel right to call Actor a game object that is completely passive like an invisible trigger.
- Object: ambiguous when used in the context of object oriented programming.
State machine
Each entity has its own state machine with a switch/case that performs different tasks based on its step value. The function of the entity Foo that handles its state machine follows the name schema EntityFoo.
The name step is found in the debugging strings of the game.
Avoid using names such as AI or logic.
The name convention UpdateFoo is being evaluated as strong candidate to replace the existing one.
Stage
The game is split into stages (eg. ST0, NO3, NZ0). The name was decided due to the structure of the game disc ST/{stageName}. It is assumed ST stands for Stage.
Avoid using names such as zone, level, area or map.
Room
Each stage contains a series of rooms. A room is where the player can roam around and it is confined within the camera borders. When the player reaches the border of the screen, the room is changed with a different layout and set of entities.
Avoid using names such as area or map.