Effectively Organize Switches and Variables?

How do you track all of Switches and Variables when it reaches 100 or more? Do you write down all of them on the notebook Google doc or Microsoft office? Do you write some on map note or flow control: comment? I really want to see how your Switches and Variables organize and the pictures would be nice.:kaothx:

I hope the question is not too vague, again, then I have to close the thread.

Personally I try to do something like switch from 0-20 = core functions (night/activate menu stuff/etc.), 21-100 = dungeon stuff, 101+ = side quests.

Honestly sometimes you need more switch and you just pick some random switch id. I remember about every switch I created and I have like 200 of them. Of course I can't name them by heart, I remember them enough to know where to look for with every switch.

try to plan ahead and presort them if possible, but usually you will run short and have to add unplanned switches or variables sooner or later.
That is why you must ever and always name your switches and variables in a way that tells you where and what for it is used.
It's the only way to make sure you aren't double using them.

I would say the most important thing is clear & concise naming of your variables & switches, so that you know exactly which ones are which, & when you are looking over your more complex events an incorrect placement stands out like a neon sign.

As Andar has already pointed out, organization is all well & good, but inevitably you will think of so other variable or switch you need, that should have been integrated into a preexisting group. But you will have to place further "down the line" because you don't want to rework all of the events effected by a variable or switch position shift.

@MushroomCake28 nice to see you again and thank you feedback.

@Andar, thank you for your feedbacks. Could you explain further on your preplane and you presort, please. However, I thought the switch and variable name can only write in a one long line. Do you think that could enough clear and easy to review when I came back in a later date ?Please show me some of your naming of switch or variable, so I could get exactly from what you are trying to help me learn.

@XIIIthHarbinger, thank you for your feedbacks. Could you please show me some of your switches or variables naming? , so I get an idea and learn from you.

Sure,


Switches 1-7 are about my time system that control my internal clock, day & night cycle, etcetera. "Game Start", turns the clock on. While 2-6 turn on the various things tied to those times of day.

While 8-20 are tied to parameter growth system of my characters. With odd & even referring to the "Odd" & "Even" numbered levels.


While variables 21-40, are variables that are altered by what kind of skill the character is using. Is it a physical skill "22" or a magical one "23". Are they wearing Heavy "24", Light "25", or Arcane armor "26". Etcetera.

@XIIIthHarbinger ,sorry that for that one question led to another question.
How to you use switches to create time of the day and day & night? I just am wondering because I found orange time system plugin and Nic0405 have a tutorial for day/night events.

Why do you have used switches to alter odd and even in the stat and the levels parameters? I thought you could just go to the class and character database can change the curve.

Thank you again for sacrificing your time.

As far as time of day & all of that I wrote a Steam guide explaining my whole system here, https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1341167707 ; however, you might not be able to see the screenshots that go with the guide because I am banned again. So, you might have to wait another two weeks before you can use the guide to its full extent.

As for the level switches, they are a part of more complicated system that evaluates the players playstyle for each of the respective characters through tracking variables, & then adjust the characters parameter curves based on those variables as they level.

That one I haven't written a guide for yet, & would take a while to explain.

@XIIthHarbinget, thank your for your tutorials which helps the RPG maker community becomes less stressful.:LZSsmile:
I can view your streamcommunity :LZSangel:webpage, that looks really good.
Ok, I will wait for your guide then.:guffaw:

bumping, please.

This is exactly what I do. I also try to give them some sort of naming conventions so I know what they affect: something like a q for quest...

I use grouping, myself, but also my own Hungarian Notation because I've been using such things for decades... (all xs stand in for numbers)
so, I use a prefix for maps like "mxxx_", events use "evxxx_", common events "cevxxx_", and so on. So if I use a variable in event five on map ten, it would have this prefix: "vx_m005ev010_" and then a description. It's a mnemonic system, so I use it the way I'm used to. Coming up with your own system is the thing to do.

Hope this helps!

Mostly I just really give them names that pertain to what they are used for. I also tend to use the first few of them for things that will span the whole game (like normally, my variable for counting Story progress is variable 1)

Realistically, I dont use a lot of Game Switches and Game Variables. For most of my eventing concerns, self switches and my story progress variable is enough for control. Almost all other things I do is via scripting so I dont really touch the switches and variables that much.

I don't. I resort script when everything gets complicated, so eventing for a system is a nay.

However, I can give you a slight advice. You can start by increasing the switch/variable limit up to maximum (5000 in VX Ace, idk about MV). Then you tried to work with it using ID as a code. Following MushroomCake's guide, 1-20 is for system. Keep it that way. And if you want more switches and variable for system, use 101 - 120, then 201 - 220. For cutscene for example, use 21 - 40, then 121 - 140, 221 - 240, etc. So you know the code, you know how to track.

Don't feel bad about leaving empty switches / variables. They won't take a hit in your game performance (unless it does, idk how MV optimize it)

Thank you @Lonewulf123 , @consolcwby , @Engr. Adiktuzmiko , and @TheoAllen for your inputs and nice meet you.
The reason, I ask because some of us sometimes abandon our game developing for a long time then, came back and have totally no clue what are you have finished or what you will need to do now.

If that was the case, then I usually put notes of text file somewhere explaining what I'm trying to do. It could be text files, or actual notes in database notebox. For me, it's easier that way. Knowing what I'm trying to do, then I could learn better what I've done on my project.

A few of the others made good points, but I'll take one a step further. If you have a good idea of how many switches and variables you think you'll use and can eyeball that, multiply it by 4 then decide how you want to organize them. You'll always need far more than you think.

I've never had to write stuff like that down for my games (except in the Playstation RPG Makers where you couldn't name switches or variables).

What I do is I give the switches and variables very clear and descriptive names (such as "Icicle Cave: # Torches Lit" or "Rose Town: Orc Rescue Quest Avail"), and I organize them into sets of 20 based on their location in the game.

For example, if there's a region of the game that I expect to have 6-8 dungeons, I'll set aside an entire block of 200 switches and 200 variables for that region (perhaps #401 through #600). Then, I'll set aside 20 switches & variables from this block for each dungeon in this region, even if I expect a dungeon might only need, for example, 5 switches and 1 variable. Icicle Cave might have Switches #441 through #460 and Variables #441 through #460 (always the same, to keep things organized). This way, each page of Switch/Var's represents one dungeon. I know where to find it and I don't have to go hunting and pecking. If I decide to add a 9th dungeon to this region, I still have room for it (#561 through #580), so things stay pretty organized.

• For global game functions, I usually group them into pages of 20 like "Parallax Mapping stuff", "Skills & Magic stuff", "Visual UI stuff", etc., in the first 100-200 Switches and Variables.

This is all referring to RPG Maker, of course. In other game engines, things are organized differently and I just come up with a system that works better for that engine. In GameMaker Studio 2, for example, I usually create all object-level variables at the top of my Create event for that object type, using Comments to describe them lest I forget what they do, and for global variables I create them the same way in a single invisible "Party" object that's instantiated at the beginning of the game.

Guess what, now since my next game database is getting bigger, I think I've come up with some sort of trick, granted, it's not switch, but animation. I figured that having a "section break" helps you to skim up the database, maybe you can also apply this in your switch organization.

By I mean section break, it is like one slot of database that is deliberately leave it empty.

I used to have a dense packed database, but then it's getting harder to track and getting the ID of the correct animation I want. So I came up with this.

I would kill (and hide the body) for a feature that allowed for dynamic sorting of switches/variables, and even other aspects like items/skillsanimations/enemies/etc. Until we do, I just kind of plan ahead a bit.

So like, switches 0-10 for temporary switches for various things (mainly dungeon interactivity that gets reset on exit), 11-20 for world teleporters, 21-70 for snarky once-off comments during combat, etc. In reality though, it ends up a big jumbled mess.

Edit: Similar to the above poster, I like to add breaks to divide things, but I use labeling instead of blank spaces. Note that I do the same with switches/variables, but am too lazy to bring that list up and my current variable/switch sorting is kind of bad at the moment.



Unfortunately, the plan-ahead method would kind of collapse if I decided to add, say, 3 more fishing poles.