3 Underrated Game Journaling Tools You Should Try
3 Underrated Game Journaling Tools You Should Try
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Game development, especially for indie devs, is a complex beast. It’s a blend of creativity, technical skill, and project management. Many indie developers struggle with disorganized notes, losing sight of their initial goals, and failing to learn from past development mistakes. This is where game journaling, or a game development log, comes in. Think of it as your personal commit history for your game – a record of every decision, experiment, and breakthrough.
The best way to improve decision-making in game development is to keep a journal that reflects on past experiences. This article will help you track your game development progress and offer concrete tools to help you organize your creative process.
Goal-Setting Framework: Treating Your Journal Like a Commit History
Forget vague notions and broad strokes. Structure your game journal like a Git commit history or changelog. This helps you stay focused and provides invaluable context later on.
Defining a Commit Message Structure
Break down your goals into smaller, more manageable chunks. This avoids the common pitfall of overwhelming, unfocused entries. Create a structure:
- Goal: What specific task are you tackling? Make it SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound).
- Explanation: Why are you doing this? What problem are you trying to solve, or what opportunity are you pursuing?
- Context: What is the current state of the game relevant to this goal? What are the prerequisites, or what happened previously that led you to this point?
This structure forces clarity and provides crucial context for future reflection.
Tool #1: Trello
Trello, while popular for project management, is surprisingly powerful for game journaling. Its visual nature and ease of use make it excellent for brainstorming and organizing ideas.
How to Use It
Create a Trello board specifically for your game journal. Use lists to represent different stages of development (e.g., “Design,” “Programming,” “Art,” “Testing”) or types of tasks (e.g., “Bug Fixes,” “New Features,” “Experiments”).
Commit Format: Goal - Explanation - Context
Each Trello card becomes a “commit.” The card title is your Goal. The card description becomes your Explanation and Context. Use checklists within the card to track progress on the goal.
Examples
- Card Title (Goal): Implement Player Jump
- Card Description (Explanation/Context): Need to allow the player to jump to traverse gaps and reach higher platforms. Currently, the player can only move horizontally. This is crucial for level design.
- Checklist:
- [ ] Implement jump physics.
- [ ] Add jump animation.
- [ ] Test jump height and distance.
- [ ] Adjust camera to follow jump.
Actionable Tip
Use Trello to track level design iterations. Create a card for each level, detailing the goal for the level (e.g., “Introduce the player to new mechanics”) and the specific changes you’re making. This helps you see how your level design evolves over time.
Tool #2: Notion
Notion is a versatile workspace that shines when it comes to detailed documentation and data analysis. It’s a step up in complexity from Trello, but the added power is worth it.
How to Use It
Create a Notion database for your game journal. Each entry is a page in the database. Use properties (columns) to track key information, such as date, category (e.g., “Design,” “Programming,” “Art”), status (e.g., “To Do,” “In Progress,” “Completed”), and estimated time.
Commit Format: Adapt for Notion’s Features
Use the page title as your Goal. The page content is your Explanation and Context. Use properties to add tags, categories, and status updates.
Examples
- Page Title (Goal): Fix Enemy AI Pathfinding Bug
- Page Content (Explanation/Context): Enemies are getting stuck on corners and not following the player correctly. This breaks immersion and makes the game too easy. Identified that the A* algorithm is not handling concave corners properly.
- Properties:
- Date: 2024-01-26
- Category: Programming
- Status: In Progress
- Estimated Time: 2 hours
Actionable Tip
Use Notion to track bug fixes. Create a page for each bug, detailing the goal (fixing the bug), the explanation (what causes the bug), and the steps you took to resolve it. This creates a valuable database of known issues and solutions.
Tool #3: Obsidian
Obsidian is a powerful note-taking app that uses a Markdown-based system and emphasizes linking between notes. This makes it ideal for connecting different aspects of your game development and seeing the bigger picture.
How to Use It
Create a folder for your game journal in Obsidian. Each entry is a Markdown file. Use internal links ([[Page Title]]) to connect related entries.
Commit Format: Focus on Linking Context
The filename is your Goal. The content of the file is your Explanation and Context. Emphasize linking to other relevant files to build a network of knowledge.
Examples
- Filename (Goal): Refactor Player Movement Script
- Content (Explanation/Context): The current player movement script is messy and difficult to maintain. Refactoring it will improve code readability and make it easier to add new features. This relates to [[Implement Player Jump]] and [[Add New Movement Abilities]].
Actionable Tip
Use Obsidian to document your game’s lore and worldbuilding. Create a file for each character, location, and event. Link these files together to create a comprehensive and interconnected world.
Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them
- Inconsistent Logging: Commit to a regular schedule for journaling. Even short entries are better than nothing.
- Vague Entries: Be specific and provide enough context. Imagine you’re reading this entry a year from now – would you understand what you were trying to achieve?
- Ignoring Past Entries: Regularly review your journal to identify patterns, recurring problems, and successful strategies. This is where the real learning happens.
- Treating it like a chore: Integrate journaling into your workflow so it doesn’t feel tedious or tacked on at the end of your game development session.
Making it Work For You
Choosing the right tool depends on your personal preferences and the specific needs of your project. Experiment with different tools and techniques to find what works best for you. The key is to be consistent, detailed, and reflective.
By treating your game journal like a Git commit history, you’ll not only track your progress but also gain valuable insights into your development process. These insights will inform better decision-making, leading to a more manageable and successful game development journey.
Ready to take your game development journaling to the next level? Start organizing your ideas and progress today with our powerful and intuitive game dev journal template.