Writing Tools Faster - Design Decisions to Accelerate Tool Development

Explore strategies for accelerating tool development in this 1-hour GDC Tools Summit Virtual Talk from 2020. Delve into Niklas Gray's insights from Our Machinery as he examines processes to streamline and expedite tool creation. Learn about design decisions that address common challenges in tool development, including performance issues, multi-threading, undo functionality, and user interface design. Discover the pros and cons of different frameworks and approaches, such as lock-free multithreading, prefabs, and IMGUI. Gain practical knowledge on topics like 2D drawing libraries, custom controls, and property panels. Benefit from Gray's experience and post-mortem analysis to enhance your own tool development practices and create more efficient workflows.

Intro
In This Talk
Bitsquid/Stingray Problems
Why Change Frameworks?
Why Did Writing Tools Take So Long?
Why Did We Have Performance Problems?
How Do We Fix it?
Lock-Free Multithread Access
Undo
Prefabs/Prototypes
The Truth: Pros & Cons
Our Stack
Draw 2D: 2D Drawing Library For UI
Draw 2D: Clipping
Draw 2D: Overlays
IMGUI: Pros & Cons
IMGUI Gotchas Example: Overlap
Layouting
Custom Controls
In Summary
Motivation
Example: Properties Panel
Custom Properties
Conclusion/Post-Mortem II