Tools and engines
Learning paths through this topic
Check how big the world save will get before players find out the hard way
Browser games can only keep so much data, and a save that grows with every block can fill it in a week of play. This entry gives the AI a size estimate per piece of land, with a cheaper way to store plain areas and a warning that names the heaviest pieces.
Measure how big a save really is and find which part makes it grow
Browser storage has a hard limit, and a long adventure with many notes, maps and visited places can hit it without warning. This entry shows how to measure a save honestly, warn the player in time, and point at what to shrink first.
Load a settings file that is old, edited by hand or full of wrong values
Players edit settings files, old versions leave odd values behind, and one empty field can turn the volume to zero or the fullscreen switch to on. This entry shows how to load only what you know, fix what is out of range, and tell the player what was changed.
Repair a settings file that holds nonsense instead of crashing on it
Players edit their settings by hand, copy them from forums, or lose half the file. A volume of minus five or a sensitivity of nothing at all must not break the game. This entry gives the AI a rule for each kind of wrong value and a report of what it fixed.
Fix things that shake or jitter when the player is far from the world's start
Far from where the world began, the player may see shivering walls, a shaking camera and tiny steps that do not register. Nothing is wrong with the art. This entry shows the AI how much precision is left at a distance and how to move the world instead of the player.
Catch speech lines that would show a raw placeholder or break on a stray brace
Dialogue that fills in the hero's name or gold is easy to break: a misspelled name shows up as code in the box, a missing closing bracket eats the rest of the line, and a story line that wants a real bracket cannot print one. This entry shows how to scan lines and how to write a real bracket.
Cut a huge world-lore text into pieces the AI can take without losing the thread
Your world, characters and history have grown into a file too long to paste into one message, and cutting it at a random place splits a character in half. This entry shows how to cut at natural breaks, keep every piece under a size limit, and still handle one gigantic paragraph.
Check that animation frames really sit where the sprite sheet says they do
A character that flickers, shows half of the next frame or points to an empty square is often a sheet whose border and gaps were counted wrong. This entry shows how to get the frame positions right and catch frame numbers that do not exist.
Check that a map's tile list is the right length and uses only tiles that exist
A map whose rows slide sideways, or that shows odd tiles in one corner, usually has a tile list one or two entries too short or long. This entry shows how to catch that when the map is made and how to read the report to find which row broke.
Spot ground tiles that are one pixel off before they leave thin gaps
AI-made pictures for ground and walls often come out a tiny bit too big or too small, and you only notice later as flickering lines between tiles that you cannot find. This entry gives the AI a check on picture sizes that names the exact slip.
Let crops grow while the player is away without letting them starve
When a player comes back after a night or a month, the game must decide how much time to count. This entry shows the AI how to catch up the world fairly, what to do when the device clock is wrong, and why hunger needs a floor.
Cap the number of creatures in the world without removing the wrong ones
Hundreds of wandering animals slow a game down, but a cap that simply deletes the newest ones can wipe out the pet the player tamed an hour ago. This entry shows the AI how to choose who goes first and who must never go.