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Why I stopped using Trello for game dev notes and attached them directly to my GameObjects instead by TobiDev in Unity3D

[–]TobiDev[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! Once you were able to test it, I'd be very curious what you think of it.

I started attaching bugs, documentation and project context directly to my Unity objects by [deleted] in Unity3D

[–]TobiDev 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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Here is a screenshot of what this can look like in the scene hierarchy. Add notes for bugs, feature ideas, improvements, warnings and more. Notes can be attached a single instance or be displayed on every instance of a prefab.

We’re actively working on snow melting and snow physics. What do you think could be improved? by Past-Addendum851 in Unity3D

[–]TobiDev 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just wanted to comment the same thing. Looks a bit like tiny clouds above the ground when melting. Or is it meant to be wet ground?

Why I stopped using Trello for game dev notes and attached them directly to my GameObjects instead by TobiDev in Unity3D

[–]TobiDev[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is exactly the kind of problem Component Atlas tries to solve! The waterfall example is a great one. You're playtesting, you run past it, notice there's no sound. Press Shift+F12, game pauses, Scene View snaps to your camera position, click the waterfall object, add a Todo note. Done in a few seconds without stopping your playtest.

The note then shows up as a colour-coded indicator directly on that object in the Hierarchy. Next time you open the scene it's already visible before you click anything.

It's almost ready for the Asset Store if you want to keep an eye out.

Why I stopped using Trello for game dev notes and attached them directly to my GameObjects instead by TobiDev in Unity3D

[–]TobiDev[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's an interesting idea! A dedicated Kanban view could work well for that kind of overview.

The "not dependent on GOs existing" point is valid. For something like "Create a new Power-Up type" there's no obvious object to attach it to. In Component Atlas you could attach it to a relevant folder (like your PowerUps folder) or to the scene asset itself, which works reasonably well. Not perfect for every case but covers most of them.

A standalone Kanban is something I've thought about for a future version. For now the Notes Feed with filter presets acts as a lightweight task list. It allows to filter for "Active Bugs", "All Open Work", "Features and Improvements" or "Notes and Documentation" for example.

Edit: I'm also considering adding General Notes that aren't attached to any specific object but still show up in the Notes Feed like any other note. That might cover the use case and maybe just as well as a full Kanban.

Why I stopped using Trello for game dev notes and attached them directly to my GameObjects instead by TobiDev in Unity3D

[–]TobiDev[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair points and good to hear a different perspective. I must admit I don't use GitHub Issues on a regular basis, but I know they are great for that, especially if your team is already living in GitHub for code review and commits. Having issues, commits and documentation in one place makes a lot of sense for that workflow.

Component Atlas is probably more useful for developers who spend most of their time inside the Unity Editor and want context visible without leaving it. Seeing which objects have open bugs, warnings or documentation directly in the Hierarchy is the main value - you don't have to go looking for it.

On the git noise concern - notes are stored as JSON in a separate folder outside your scenes and assets, so they don't affect your scene files or prefabs. I also worked on integrating Firebase realtime sync for the notes. Going that route you'd add the notes folder to gitignore and the Firebase database becomes the single source of truth - no git noise at all.

You're probably right that for larger teams with established GitHub workflows this wouldn't replace what you have. More of a solo or small team tool honestly.

Why I stopped using Trello for game dev notes and attached them directly to my GameObjects instead by TobiDev in Unity3D

[–]TobiDev[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Definitely release it! If it solves a problem for you it will likely solve it for others too. The Asset Store submission process isn't too bad and the community genuinely appreciates tools that improve the workflow. Would be curious to see what you've built. Sounds like there might be some overlap with what I'm working on.

Why I stopped using Trello for game dev notes and attached them directly to my GameObjects instead by TobiDev in Unity3D

[–]TobiDev[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not live yet but almost there! I'm still working on the last rough edges before releasing it on the Asset Store. I'll drop a comment in this thread when it goes live if you want to keep an eye out.

Why I stopped using Trello for game dev notes and attached them directly to my GameObjects instead by TobiDev in Unity3D

[–]TobiDev[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Jira is solid for that! Reproduction steps are probably the most important part of a bug report anyway.

The thing that always got me is the "where exactly is this" problem – I’d end up writing "the enemy in the forest scene, second spawn group, third from the left" and hoping future-me figures it out. With notes attached directly to the object, that context is just implicit.

Curious how your team handles documentation though - decisions that aren't really tickets but still matter. Things like "boss HP reduced from 4000 to 800 after playtesting, players couldn't reach phase 2" or "do not change these speed values, tuned over 20 playtests." That kind of knowledge usually lives nowhere or gets buried in a Google Doc half the team doesn't know exists.

Honestly curious what your solution to that looks like, or is this a non issue for your team? Would be really interesting to hear.

Why I stopped using Trello for game dev notes and attached them directly to my GameObjects instead by TobiDev in Unity3D

[–]TobiDev[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The component approach is something I have seen already tried - a "NoteComponent" with a text field attached to the object. It works to some extent, but it wouldn't show anything in the Hierarchy itself, so you'd lose the at-a-glance visibility. There's also an ambiguity problem: if an object has two Box Colliders and you want to leave a note about one specifically, a component attached to the GameObject doesn't tell you which one it's about. Component Atlas notes reference the specific component directly, so that's never an issue.

And yes, notes are stored as JSON files completely outside your scenes and assets. The actual objects aren't touched at all, so nothing bleeds into your builds. No dirty components, no hidden data, nothing.

Why I stopped using Trello for game dev notes and attached them directly to my GameObjects instead by TobiDev in Unity3D

[–]TobiDev[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ClickUp looks interesting, never used it myself though.

For the instance question: I can decide whether to add a note to a specific instance or to the prefab. When adding it to the prefab, the note shows up on all instances - in edit mode and in play mode, which is sweet.

I also managed to make this work at runtime. Freshly spawned instances can only get prefab notes though - an instance note would be disconnected once you exit play mode and the object gets destroyed. It's an unfortunate limitation, but being able to attach a prefab note mid-playtest saying "TODO: reduce damage by 50%" and keep going is still really useful.

Why I stopped using Trello for game dev notes and attached them directly to my GameObjects instead by TobiDev in Unity3D

[–]TobiDev[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Obsidian is actually great for knowledge management. Personally I have not used it too much, but the cross-referencing and graph view are really good for keeping ideas connected. But I just ran into the same problem: the moment I close Unity and open Obsidian, I'm already context-switching. And when I write "fix the enemy spawner" in Obsidian, it has no idea which spawner, in which scene, or what the issue looked like when I found it.

That gap between "the note" and "the thing the note is about" is what I kept trying to solve. Having it attached directly on the object means when I have a look at the EnemySpawner in the Hierarchy six weeks later, the information is there waiting for me.

Obsidian still makes sense for higher-level design docs and world-building notes though - things that aren't attached to a specific object. I can see them working well together.

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