Too Many Configs
One of the things that I've been working a lot on lately is how to make games and tools easy to configure from users. It's something that I've been dealing with extensively in my contract work and my day job.
The goal? Balance coding hassle versus ease of client usage. Sure, I could create a graphic interface that makes it so all sorts of non-technical people could use it. But that could take hours, and having to update it as clients' wishes change... The hours could really build up! So unless my client is willing to pay me extra for those hours, the next best thing is to create a document that's formatted well enough that my client can still use it with relative ease.
So what are the options? So far, I've worked in XML and JSON. From what I've seen, XML is the least user-friendly both for clients and devs. So, I had to choose between JSON and YAML. I ended up going with JSON because of the easy-to-use libraries that have already been created by other wonderful developers. The formatting is very intuitive, and I would recommend it. Some of my clients still prefer XML, so I've already created a Unity package that I use frequently for contracted games. However, as far as I'm concerned, I'll be going JSON over XML whenever I can!
