Engineering Domain-Specific Languages for Games - Game Development Tool Essentials - page 172

Media List
In cooperation with Arthur from the art department, Tobey and David figure out that the media list will be a simplified
version of a “weapon program,” a simple to-do list, so to speak. Every weapon type needs a 2D icon for the in-game
menu, every weapon a 3D model. The idea is that whenever a designer comes up with a new weapon type or weapon,
the art department gets an updated to-do list to create a first draft of the necessary asset. In the case of the weapon
type language, the art department specifies that they need to know the name of the type (e.g., Dagger ) and whether
it is a one-handed or two-handed weapon type. In case of the weapon description language, they also need the
name-attribute (e.g., Needle ) and the corresponding type of that weapon. In order to allow an iterative development
process, additions to the weapon program must not override already checked items on the artists' to-do list. The
corresponding reference output created by your stakeholders looks like Table 13-2 (the third column is meant to be
edited by the artists manually).

Table 13-2. Reference Output for Art Department

Weapon Type One- or Two-handed? 2D Icon Done

Halberd Two-handed Yes

Axe One-handed No

Dagger One-handed No

. . . . . . . . .

Weapon Type 3D Model Done

Splitter Axe Yes

Needle Dagger Yes

Toothpick Halberd No

Statistics
The statistics for the weapon types and weapons are something that game designers should benefit from. They should
help decide which weapons are going to make it into the final game and what kinds of weapons with which properties
are missing to finally balance the game's “weapons inventory.” Hence, this view should enable the designers to display
and compare the already defined weapon types and weapons in terms of their abilities. The information for this view
can be directly derived from created weapon programs by parsing the abstract syntax tree. Hence, Tobey and David
decide to create an interpreter that displays the statistics for the weapon types using three pie charts. Thereby, the
weapon types are counted and compared in terms of their handling (one-handed vs. two-handed), their range (short-,
mid-, and long-range) and their velocity (slow, medium, and fast). Moreover, the statistics for weapons should allow
designers to ask for the expectable durability of weapons given by their durability properties. Figure 13-5 shows a draft
for the statistics view.