C# Code Style Guide For Game Creator

Unified code for the Game Creator framework and Unity

The documentation has moved to: https://mitschmr-studios.io/documentation/codestyle/codestyle.html

This version will no longer be updated and maintained.

Introduction

Seeing how many programming languages there are and how many companies use their own coding conventions, it is favorable for the developers to have a certain standard they can refer to. The same goes for the Unity assetstore, where a developer of an asset has written code that may be or may not be readable. This code style guide is designed to give you an overview of how code may be structured within the Game Creator eco system. It is based on these two coding style guides:

The target Unity version for this code style guide is Unity 2020.3 LTS with support for the C# 8 language features. Reference: https://docs.unity3d.com/2020.3/Documentation/Manual/CSharpCompiler.html

Organization

Source Files

  • One class per file (except classes in a class)

  • The class name must match the file name (e.g. class name is Test then the file name is Test.cs)

Ordering

The structure of a script is as follows:

  • using statements

  • namespace statements

  • Class and Interface declarations

Layout

  • Indentation is four spaces long (equals one tab)

  • Only one statement per line

  • Only one declaration per line

  • If continuation lines are not indented automatically, indent them one tab stop (four spaces)

  • Add at least one blank line between method definitions and property definitions

Wrapping lines

When an expression does not fit on a single line, follow these breaking rules:

  • Break after an operator

  • Break after a comma

  • Indent once after a break (see 4th point in Layout)

Comments

  • Place the comment on a separate line, not at the end of a line of code

  • Begin comment text with an uppercase letter

  • End comment text with a period

  • Insert one space between the comment delimiter (//) and the comment text, as shown in the following example:

// The following declaration creates a query. It does not run
// the query.

Language

Declaration security

Declaration

Notes

Fields

First protected, then public, then private

Properties

First protected, then public, then private

Methods

First protected, then public, then private

In order to not need to change a script of a module of Game Creator, the fields etc. have the protected security flag as default, so they can be accessed and changed by scripts that derive of the other.

Method declaration

Methods are generally written with the virtual keyword, so they can be overridden by other scripts. 

// Script 1.
public virtual float GetFloat() => floatValue;

// Script 2.
public override float GetFloat() => floatValue2;

Naming

Identifier Type

Naming Rules

Examples

Namespaces

A noun in Pascal case. When the word consists of two or less characters, it is written in capital case. Avoid acronyms and abbreviations when possible.

GameCreator.Core;

UnityEngine.UI;

Classes

A noun written in Pascal case, avoid acronyms and abbreviations when possible.

class ActionHit;

class ConditionX;

Interfaces

A word in Pascal case, starting with the letter "I".

interface IAction;

Methods

Active verb/noun forms written in Pascal case.

GetLetter();

UpdateHierarchy();

Instance Fields

Meaningful names written in camel case. Underscores should not be used for private or protected variables.

protected string name;

public int age;

Enum Types / Values

Words written in Pascal case. Do not use the Enum suffix on Enum type names. When more than two values, it is recommended to write each value on its own line.

enum State {On, Off};

enum World

{

Curved, Round, AroundTheCorner

}

Events

Written in Pascal case.

EventActivation onActivate;

Attributes

Custom attributes are in Pascal case and have the suffix "Attribute".

SingleSkillAttribute;

Properties

Properties are written in Pascal case. They should directly reflect the underlying attribute (field).

public string Name;

public int Age;

Local Variables

These are written in camel case. Avoid using acronyms and abbreviations.

int age = 6;

Order order = new Order();

Constants

Constants are written in Pascal Case, but may also be written in all uppercase.

const int NumDaysInWeek = 4;

const int NUM_DAYS_IN_WEEK = 4

Strings

String interpolation should be used to concatenate string:

string displayName = $"{nameList[n].LastName}, {nameList[n].FirstName}";

Local Variables

  • Implicit typing for local variables may be used when the type of the variable is obvious from the right side of the assignment or when the precise type is not important

var var1 = "This is clearly a string.";
var var2 = 27;

  • var should not be used when the type is not apparent from the right side of the assignment

int var3 = Convert.ToInt32(Console.ReadLine());
int var4 = ExampleClass.ResultSoFar();

  • Do not rely on the variable name to specify the type of the variable, it might not be correct

Arrays

Use the concise syntax when you initialize arrays on the declaration line:

// Preferred syntax. Note that you cannot use var here instead of string[].
string[] vowels1 = { "a", "e", "i", "o", "u" };

// If you use explicit instantiation, you can use var.
var vowels2 = new string[] { "a", "e", "i", "o", "u" };

// If you specify an array size, you must initialize the elements one at a time.
var vowels3 = new string[5];
vowels3[0] = "a";
vowels3[1] = "e";

Conditional logical operators

Use && as well as || for comparisons in order to avoid exceptions and increased performance due to skipped unnecessary comparisons.

Null propagation

Unity overrides the null comparison operator for Unity objects and therefore the C# null propagation feature is incompatible.

public GameObject test = null;

// Set in the inspector.
public Transform test2;

private void Update()
{
    // Should not be done.
    test?.transform = test2;
    
    // Correct comparison.
    if (test != null)
    {
        test.transform = test2;
    }
    
    // Shortened version is also possible.
    if (test != null) test.transform = test2;
}

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