First published at What Could Possibly Go Wrong.
Should you be using version control?
I love this graphic that sums it up perfectly:
So let's talk about version control. It's something you have to use, right? When you work with code, especially on a team, it's a necessity. As a professional developer in most cases when you join a software company you won't even have a choice, you must use their choice of version control system in order to contribute to the team. However I would say that even for an amateur or hobbyist developer that version control is invaluable.
In this article I'll argue the benefits of version control. I'll help you understand the problems it solves and I'll show you how to use version control more effectively. I'll also expose the problems it can cause. I'll lay bare the unresolved problems with version control for the games industry.
I'll cover the particular software packages that I have used. My own experience goes way back to Microsoft Visual SourceSafe at my first programming job. It was almost enough to put one off version control! However since then I've battle-tested a number of other packages from both the traditional model and the newer distributed model. They all have their strengths and weaknesses and none are perfect.
Version control is important for your sanity on anything more than the most simple projects. However there's a world of pain and problems waiting for the uninitiated.
In addition there's an important choice you have to make. Which version control system should I use? There's no easy answer to that question, indeed there is no correct answer. You will have to accept something based on your needs. You must then learn to workaround the inadequacies of the system you have adopted (or choose a different system and accept its inadequacies instead).
I can help you understand why you should use version control and how you can make better use of it. Which software you use is far less important than the fact that you do use version control!
Contents
Table of Contents
What is version control?
Do I need to explain what version control is? Maybe not. Many others have already written extensively on this.
Here's a great visual guide that will help you understand exactly what version control is. Here's the visual guide to distributed version control.
Here's another good introduction that explains version control concepts.
Put briefly... version control allows you to manage changes over time. It is most commonly used to track revisions to source code. For game development we also track projects (eg Unity projects) and revisions to assets. It is like an undo system on steroids. Made a mistake? No problem, roll back to a previous revision or backout the offending change.
Changes are contributed to a version control repository by a team of developers. At any point you can get the current state of the entire repository, that's the sum of all changes. That's what you use to build the current version of your game.
I'm new to development, should I use version control?
Maybe. Consider that you'll need to learn it eventually.
However be careful that you don't get overwhelmed with the learning process. Before learning version control you should focus on being comfortable with writing code and making games.
If you are working on a team however... then they might mandate the use of version control. Or you might all decide it's worth learning version control together because it is simply the best way to coordinate a development team.
I'm working alone or on a small project, is it worth using version control?
Yes, definitely.
I use it even on small experimental or hobby projects. If I spend more than, say, an hour on any project. I version control it. It only takes a few minutes to set up a repository on your existing code. If the project becomes important or I want to share with the team, then I clone it and put it on the server. This takes another few minutes.
Of course the bigger the project and the team the more you will get out of version control. Small projects are great for learning new technologies like version control. Small projects are easier to manage and there is less pressure. Any use of new tech will inevitably lead to mistakes and you must plan for that and be ready to pay the cost. When the project is small we can afford to make mistakes because in this situation they are easier to rectify.
Modern version control is easy to start using. There's no excuse not to use it.
Should I convince my team mates to use it?
Yes.
Well, maybe. If your team is against using version control it might not be worth the battle, in that case save your energy for better things. It might even be easier to change your team than to convince them to use version control.
If your team mates are reluctant it could be simply that they just need to experience the pain of collaborative development without
