Tag Archives for design patterns

Design patterns in game development: parsing OBJ files

Today we will take a look at a common task in game development: parsing asset files – from a code design standpoint.

Using the example of Wavefront OBJ files, we will explore the usefulness of thinking about our code using design patterns.

Our goal will not be to use design patterns to create code. Instead, I would like to highlight how much of our code is full of such patterns – whether we think about them or not – and how realising this can help us communicate more efficiently with other programmers.

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Linking shader programs using the builder pattern

This post is the first in a series on design patterns in game programming.

Design patterns play an important role in computer programming. Not every problem can be solved with a pattern, and not every pattern is useful in all circumstances. However, they can be powerful thinking tools when applied to the right kinds of problem and help us understand and design solutions quickly and without reinventing the wheel every time. Similarly, they can aid us in communicating our ideas efficiently to others.

Today, I would like to take a look at the builder pattern.

I will not go into the formal definition of the pattern itself – there are enough other sources for that. Instead we will look at just one example where I use the builder pattern in my C# OpenGL graphics library.

I will first show how I solved the problem in question previously, point out what I did not like about that solution, and then show how we can apply the builder pattern to a much nicer way of doing ultimately the same thing.

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