Game Development Tools & Workflows
Development Tool Stack
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ GAME DEV TOOL STACK │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ ENGINE: Unity / Unreal / Godot │
│ │
│ IDE: Visual Studio / Rider / VS Code │
│ │
│ VERSION CONTROL: │
│ Git + LFS (indie) / Perforce (large teams) │
│ │
│ ART TOOLS: │
│ Blender / Maya / Substance Painter / Photoshop │
│ │
│ AUDIO: │
│ Wwise / FMOD / Reaper / Audacity │
│ │
│ PROJECT MANAGEMENT: │
│ Jira / Notion / Trello / Linear │
│ │
│ COMMUNICATION: │
│ Slack / Discord / Teams │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Git Workflow for Games
GIT BRANCHING STRATEGY:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ main ─────●─────────●─────────●─────────● (releases) │
│ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ │
│ develop ──●──●──●───●──●──●───●──●──●───● (integration) │
│ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ │
│ feature/X─●──● ●──● │
│ │
│ BRANCH TYPES: │
│ main: Production releases only │
│ develop: Integration branch, daily builds │
│ feature/*: New features, short-lived │
│ fix/*: Bug fixes │
│ release/*: Release preparation │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
GIT LFS CONFIGURATION:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ .gitattributes: │
│ *.psd filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text │
│ *.fbx filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text │
│ *.wav filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text │
│ *.mp3 filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text │
│ *.png filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text │
│ *.tga filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text │
│ *.zip filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Commit Convention
COMMIT MESSAGE FORMAT:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ PREFIX: Description (max 50 chars) │
│ │
│ PREFIXES: │
│ feat: New feature │
│ fix: Bug fix │
│ art: Art/visual changes │
│ audio: Sound/music changes │
│ level: Level design changes │
│ refactor: Code restructuring │
│ perf: Performance improvements │
│ test: Test additions/changes │
│ ci: CI/CD changes │
│ docs: Documentation │
│ │
│ EXAMPLES: │
│ feat: Add double jump ability │
│ fix: Resolve player falling through floor │
│ art: Update hero character textures │
│ perf: Optimize enemy spawning system │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Build Automation
# ✅ Production-Ready: Build Script
import subprocess
import os
from datetime import datetime
class GameBuilder:
def __init__(self, project_path: str, unity_path: str):
self.project_path = project_path
self.unity_path = unity_path
self.build_number = self._get_build_number()
def build(self, platform: str, config: str = "Release"):
build_path = f"Builds/{platform}/{self.build_number}"
args = [
self.unity_path,
"-quit",
"-batchmode",
"-projectPath", self.project_path,
"-executeMethod", "BuildScript.Build",
f"-buildTarget", platform,
f"-buildPath", build_path,
f"-buildConfig", config,
"-logFile", f"Logs/build_{platform}.log"
]
result = subprocess.run(args, capture_output=True)
if result.returncode != 0:
raise Exception(f"Build failed: {result.stderr}")
return build_path
def _get_build_number(self) -> str:
return datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d.%H%M")
Team Workflow
AGILE SPRINT WORKFLOW:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ DAY 1: Sprint Planning │
│ • Review backlog │
│ • Commit to sprint goals │
│ • Break into tasks │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ DAILY: Standup (15 min) │
│ • What did you do? │
│ • What will you do? │
│ • Any blockers? │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ CONTINUOUS: Development │
│ • Work on tasks │
│ • Daily builds/tests │
│ • Code reviews │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ PLAYTEST: Mid-sprint │
│ • Team plays current build │
│ • Gather feedback │
│ • Adjust priorities │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ END: Sprint Review + Retro │
│ • Demo completed work │
│ • What went well/poorly? │
│ • Improvements for next sprint │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
🔧 Troubleshooting
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ PROBLEM: Merge conflicts in scene files │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ SOLUTIONS: │
│ → Use prefabs instead of scene objects │
│ → Smart merge tools (Unity Smart Merge) │
│ → Coordinate who works on which scenes │
│ → Use scene additivity │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ PROBLEM: Repository growing too large │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ SOLUTIONS: │
│ → Configure Git LFS properly │
│ → Clean up old branches │
│ → Don't commit generated files (Library/) │
│ → Use .gitignore templates for game engines │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ PROBLEM: Builds breaking frequently │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ SOLUTIONS: │
│ → Add CI build on every PR │
│ → Implement smoke tests │
│ → Require passing builds before merge │
│ → Add pre-commit hooks for validation │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Essential .gitignore
# Unity
Library/
Temp/
Obj/
Build/
*.csproj
*.unityproj
*.sln
# Unreal
Intermediate/
Saved/
DerivedDataCache/
*.sln
# Common
*.log
*.tmp
.DS_Store
Thumbs.db
Use this skill: When setting up pipelines, managing assets, or automating builds.