[tsc-devel] Binary versus XML for the levels...

datahead | Thu, 29 Oct 2015 17:32:29 UTC

Post via forum by datahead <…9@x…>:
Grimshaw|lap, a friend of mine from the SFML chat room suggested that we use XML for our level format only during development and that binary (representing the in game objects) be used for production purposes.

Thus, for campaign levels, we would use our usual XML format if developing and if we need to debug or research trouble points.  We would then convert it all to binary such that we can mass load data to construct C++ objects at runtime for the final version.

For level editing for users, it would produce XML that they are able to see.  The first time they run the level, it would run slower, as it caches this into binary.  It would then load this binary every time they play, unless they make changes again, in which case they would take a performance hit the first time it deals with the XML again.

He pointed out this is a standard practice in many production game companies and that he would expect out level loading to be slow without this.

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