Monthly Archives: October 2010
If you’re going to procrastinate, at least get something useful done
Making THE OCTOBER GAME: Things to do when ideas are simmering When your subconscious is still working on a problem, it’s a good idea to have other things to do. I’m still not ready to integrate the enemy handling code … Continue reading
Posted in creative, process, tools
Tagged sound, THE OCTOBER GAME, useful procrastination
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Data Management Puzzles
Making THE OCTOBER GAME: Levels Here’s a screenshot testing the enemy spawning mechanism. I’m still trying to wrap my head around isolating the game entities so I can package game objects into levels, but also let me freeze the game … Continue reading
Supporting Structures
Making THE OCTOBER GAME: Scaffolding It’s surprising how much of this project isn’t gameplay but the supporting structures around the game. These bits all have to be worked out, though, because most are connected to the underlying game data. That … Continue reading
Development Cycles Growing
Making THE OCTOBER GAME: Rehersal If there’s some programming structure or technique that I’m unsure about, I’ll write a quick app to test it. As the development process goes on, this becomes harder since I need to test more complex … Continue reading
Not Waving, Drowning
Making THE OCTOBER GAME: Workflows There are so many moving parts in even the simplest game, that you’ll drown in complexity if you don’t have a good system. The design method I’m using looks like a set of nested rings: … Continue reading
Playing the Mental Game
Making THE OCTOBER GAME: Abstraction I’m thinking through the interactions of the game. How players score against the enemy, now the enemy moves, what the background looks like. There’s no need for code yet, so I’m visualizing the game in … Continue reading
Using Tracer Bullet Projects for Rapid Research
Making THE OCTOBER GAME: A Short Research App, but a Loooong Post Before starting to build the final game, I spent the last few days working on a tracer bullet project. It’s not the same as a prototype. Prototypes have … Continue reading
Posted in process, programming, test, traps
Tagged exploration, THE OCTOBER GAME, tracer bullets
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Development Strategy
Making THE OCTOBER GAME: Inching Forward My development strategy is to code the core game mechanic. It’s an abomination, chock full of magic numbers and hard-coded values. When that’s working, I refactor away the ugly. Then I do another pass, … Continue reading
Capture ideas to keep them from distracting you
Making THE OCTOBER GAME: Resisting Distraction I have so many ideas, it’s hard to focus long enough to actually finish one. Result: Nothing gets done. To counteract this, I capture and store all non-project ideas. This could be in the … Continue reading
Posted in Ideas, creative, process, traps
Tagged distractions, THE OCTOBER GAME, ubiquitous capture
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