Planning for a Large Project...

[TokenHerbz]

So before I right into Coding, I Have jotted down notes and have a really great idea for how the game will work, and how to create it, along with all the knowledge toboot WOOT WOOT..

So why am i posting?

This isn't no "simple" project, its going to be rather massive. And i have many of many of things i need to do, and i need to be extra careful not to screw anything up (even accidently hardcoding something ill cry)

So for the people who have under gone such projects, Whats the format or layout, or rather the "BEFORE WORK" you finish before going into the project?

I sat down and decided mostly on vars i need, how my class's with work, thought hard on functions and things to minimize repetitive tasks, And yet i've already re written a section as i started this twice, each time getting better, but i still feel like, im getting many many more ideas on it and that maybe i missed some steps of planning....

So, from start to finish, whats the steps you do before you start to program your "LARGE" project.

[Tony]

Have you been learning about the waterfall modeling? Bad news.

Break the project up into smaller parts. Refactor and evolve as you go along; you will undoubtedly think of better approaches once you actually implement something. Software development is typically an organic process, not a follow-the-assembly-instructions type of an activity.

[TokenHerbz]

gotchah!

[2goto1]

Like Tony said, small, manageable chunks is the way to go. If it's your own personal project, that approach may also help to keep you motivated as well, since you will have a lot of smaller tangible milestones that are easier to complete rather than spinning your wheels for weeks or months without a sense of having any one particular thing completed.

From an organizing perspective, your notes are obviously very useful to you since they're your requirements and some design as well. All those ideas that you're getting in your head for the game as you write out the vars you need etc. should probably be captured in your notes, since those are going to be your game's requirements / functionality.

Speaking of requirements, there are some great and easy to use todo list type tracking tools that allow you to jot your requirements / scope, and capture your progress with each of them. It might sound like overkill but if you are spending months on your project, having a todo list type of tool to track what needs to be done and what has been done can be handy when you've taken a week or two off and need to get back up to speed on where you were last at.There are lots of free, simple desktop tools such as http://www.abstractspoon.com/, or online tools such as basecamp, that offer free (albeit very watered down) accounts, which can be useful for personal projects.

Unit testing and integration testing can also come in handy, especially for the non-visual parts of your game, depending on the complexity of your project.