Pre-planning your project

[Makeii Runoru]

I think in my view of programming with Play Basic since Day 1, I have learned that everything I make should represent an object, as it is implied in Object-Oriented Design. Very rarely will I have a lone variable that is outside of a type or function.

Generally, I organize my project into appropriate tabs:
-- Startup
-- Images
-- Sounds
-- Objects
-- Object Events
-- Loop


Startup:
-- Defines the game's protocols (window length/width, framerate, max image quantity, #include, etc)

Images:
-- Holds all the images that is used for the project. However, I DO NOT refer to images by their image index. Instead, I create my own function for loading images and grabbing new images from loaded ones.
example:
CONSTANT COLOR_TRANS = RGB(253,0,253)
blue_flag = Load_T_Image("blueflag.bmp", COLOR_TRANS)
^: Now, if I ever need to refer to the image, I will use blue_flag instead of the number.

Sounds:
-- Same as images, sort of...

Objects:
-- Holds the types and Dimmed objects of the game.
example:
type t_character
  active
  x
  y
  dir
  .....
endtype
Dim Character as t_character

Object Events:
-- Holds the FUNCTIONS that are associated with the objects respectively
example:
Function Character_Move(amt_x, amt_y, dir)
  Character.x = Character.x + amt_x
  Character.y = Character.y + amt_y
  Character.dir = dir
endfunction

Function Character_Draw()
  drawimage my_character, Character.x, Character.y, on
endfunction
(( Realistically, I would stick Character_Draw() in a do loop ))


Loop:
-- Holds the Initial functions required to start the same (usually functions I have created for loading maps, initiating characters, and whatnot). Then followed by the do loop which holds functions that alter the behavior of the objects (Object Events).