Debugging tools are all great, but I am a HUGE fan of having QA/QC tools up front and hand. Here are just a few that I though of that might be useful.
- A template checklist that could be applied on both blueprints and functions. Add a button to the blueprint editor window (or in a drop down) that when click iterates through the checklist for each function, and reports back what has been ticked off as QC’d, or more importantly, what hasn’t. Basically, it would just need to be a list of booleans that QA’s could tick off when completed so that it could be tracked internally. Ideally, it would be stripped out in the final package.
- Better handling of Blueprint function names. Right now, the function name displayed does not match the actual function name, which can cause confusion and therefore bugs. While the true function name is visible with a mouseover, it would be better to have it showing in the blueprint properties constantly. In that same thread, it would be nice if when the user presses F2(or rightclick>rename) on a function, the text defaulted back to the real function name and not the display name. This causes a lot of unnecessary typing with updating function names.
- Output ‘watched’ variables to a sidebar in the play window, without the need for additional ‘print string’ nodes. Not only does it create redundant nodes, but it also means a LOT of extra work when trying to debug a complex function. GameMakerPro does a really nice job with that.