Writing it all down

Two weeks in, the project had built up a lot of hard-won knowledge that only lived in memory. This change started a notes file in the repository to keep it:

• Animation: how the original skeletons are laid out, which bone the hips really are, the traps in converting old clips to modern humanoid rigs, and a checklist for spotting a bad conversion before it costs an evening.
• Weapons: how weapon slots drive the animation sets, and what every new weapon needs set up.
• Menus: how to fit the original 640x480 interface art onto modern screens, how the button art is named, and how to line buttons up with the backgrounds they were drawn for.

It’s been updated with almost every change since.