So after the coupling issue I’ve been looking at Object Factories and inventories. Now something I learn to love more and more is Data-Driven development. I cannot express my love for it highly enough.

Also thanks to the amazing work of Shawn Hargreaves and all the XNA folks we have automated reflection and xml processing. Which let me tell you is just MAGIC!

The problem I’ve been battling with the last few hours (other than sheer amazement at how awesome the XNA system is) is defining the data structure and whether the class itself should be spat out or a data format, or settings style system is more appropriate.

So the solution as I have come to found a lot recently is use case. Before you build the system, write a scenario, set of rules, or list of items. Then use those to drive the devolpment.

As I often have said to the team on our new project at work, which is on a very tight schedule, make a choice and be definite. It’s okay to be wrong, but imprecise and fluffy is unforgivable.