next »

[randomThrowAway]

I've looked around a bit already but can't decide what's best for me.

I'm looking for an as-unified-as-possible solution for writing content ideas down to later implement, with content ideas I mean enemies, skills and items. Currently I have a whiteboard, a notebook and use Trello.

Ideally I'd like something akin to a personal wiki but a cursory search told me those aren't very convenient to use.

Even more ideally there would be a hosted solution where I can define data objects (with only Strings as values) and arrange them in containers / lists, for example make an object definition "Enemy" with the fields "Name" "Description" "skills", then make a couple of different enemy objects and put them into a List<Enemy>, where the List looks and acts like a Trello List and the EnemyObjects acting like a Trello card. So basically Trello with custom definable card types and lists that can only hold selected card types?

Over-ideally, EnemyObjects could not only hold strings, but also List<DesignObject> too, so I could link and swap skills from / to specific enemies.

Does something like this, or similar exist? Or do you know an even better solution? I guess I could code it myself, doesn't seem so hard, but would really like to avoid that.

Or am I going about this the completely wrong way and should just continue my current workflow which is basically having a short (like 5) list of ideas and mostly implementing any new skill idea directly? The reason I want to move away from that is that I'd like to differentiate coding and design time, and get meaningful design done even when I'm not at the computer.

[randomThrowAway]

Well, I really hoped for a "Doh, just use xyz like everyone else" 
Going to continue as before for now, if I come up with a nice solution I'll post it here for posterity.

[starsrift]

I use packages and packages of post-its on the walls of my home. It lets me make quick changes, replacements, and I don't have to pull up textfiles to make a quick reference. They do contain references into more detailed design documents on the computers, though, spreadsheets and plaintext files.

[Necdilzor]

You could use something like Simplenote. I'm writing down my ideas using that app, although maybe it's too simple for your needs. I was going to suggest a wiki too but you don't seem to like that idea too much.

[randomThrowAway]

Currently I mostly use hacknplan which I found here in the forums, it's basically trello but it has editable "categories" (the pre-inserted ones are "Programming", "Design"...), it works pretty well for me as long as I misuse their categories, e.g. I have a category "Skills", a cat "Enemies" and so on.

They actually have a feature that I guess they thought would be useful for this, where you can enter your game's systems, but it's not for me; I really like the kanban / cards system.

Still looking for the perfect solution though, so I'm all ears for any suggestions.

[Necdilzor]

I've never heard before of hacknplan, looks really interesting. I'll give it a better look.

[randomThrowAway]

I'm now using http://jwbs-blog.blogspot.de/2010/09/ema-personal-wiki-for-android-and.html?m=1
Which is super barebones but really has everything I need for jotting down ideas in a structured, interlinked way.

It's synched via dropbox between android and pc and uses simple markdown langauge
(It's simply creating text files).

I've tried quite a few wiki approaches, it's funny how this one seems to be the best for me.

[JWK5]

MS Paint forever!





Seriously, though, MS Paint is awesome for super-quick brainstorming or creating flowcharts and layouts. My design documents are probably horrific for others to follow along with but they work great for me.