New years resolution

First, I would like to mention what I have learned since starting this blog. It seems that I have fallen for the mistake that makes many people fail at game development: Being too ambitious.

Apparently, having 2 years of Computer science in highschool doesn't qualify a person to be able to make games. General programming knowledge is not enough for this field. You must study A LOT before you can make polished games with little bugs. I am glad I learned this sooner, rather than a year from now, or I may have quit trying.


Now then, for my new years resolution(Things I hope to get done before the end of the year, more idealistic than realistic):*

-Complete at least 1 of each project:
--A polished java app.
--A polished flash app.
--A Jedi Academy mod, wrapped up and published(I play Jedi Academy, BTW).
--A website hosting all of my polished projects. My goal here is to start building a resumé for SMU.

*I often find that making lists helps organize things to get done. Now if only I weren't so darn lazy!

All projects canceled.

These renovations will take a long time, so all projects are canceled until I am more organized... and more experienced.

Also, here is a good website from an experienced game developer that I have been reading recently:
http://www.sloperama.com/index.html

There are about 71 articles on game development and business on that site, so far they have been helpful to me.

Renovations

The way my workspace and methodology is set up at the moment is inadequate for me to successfully complete any projects with the quality that I have in mind. So before I continue with any of my projects I will be doing renovations. I will report back when I have made significant progress from this point.

Also, I will not be posting as often about my own career, to save myself the embarrassment of visibly moving back and forth in my thinking. If I find good articles that would help those who are breaking in to the industry, however, I will post them here.

Working with sub-standard materials...

I will say one word: Planning.... I will say it again: Planning...

Know it, follow it.

Why am I pushing this so fervently? Because a lack of it has pushed me into a corner, and behind schedule*.

Nearly completing my "oh-so-versatile" engine has brought to light a far more efficient design possibility. Far too deep in my project to back up, I have no choice but to press on with, what I consider to be, an obsolete design. I have enough of my engine working to create the game that I was planning, so I will press on.

Now, to the game. As I said before, it is basically a sliding puzzle involving a penguin. There will be a few variations to make the game more...eccentric... but the basics will be the same, use WASD or the arrow keys to move in one direction. If you move, you will continue moving until you hit an obstacle. Some obstacles will hurt you, others are more superficial.(rocks)

Well, I'm signing off... an undead horde is attacking my house and I haven't had much time to fight it off...until now...later!**



* I'm always behind schedule, but this is different. Good thing I am not working for someone. o.O
**Because when the undead apocalypse comes, I will be too busy updating my blog to save myself.

"Please pass the butter, I have too much traction"

*Cough* Setting the horrible programmer humor* to the side, I am here to discuss the next project, along with a few interesting tidbits of information.

First, lets get to the project. The engine is being reworked to be as versatile and as user friendly as possible. The essential goal is to reduce Developer-time as much as possible while keeping a decent run time. As I recently learned, developer time is a very important consideration when dealing with efficiency**. Anyways, the project is centered around a lost penguin who wants to go home. Directly from my design document:

"In this game, you play a penguin named Bob. Bob is sad, because he can't find his way home. This is due to the fact that whenever he moves, he slides. When he slides, he can't change directions. Not only this, but the ice on the way home is very fragile, so when he slides upon it, it will break."

I know the grammar sucks, I wasn't planning on it being made public. XD(That is doubtfully going to be the actual cannon.)


An interesting fact that I learned recently that I plan to implement as soon as possible: you don't have to PAY to be a flash developer(I know it's a bit late for me, since I have the $700 software on my hard drive right now***) Basically you download the Flex SDK (Adobe - Adobe Flex: Download Adobe Flex 3.4 SDK ) and an IDE to develop with.You will have to do some research yourself because I only just recently learned about it. From what I can tell, though, you will have to use pure code, which means you will have to be educated about the inner workings of flash.

I know that MMO game development is a popular idea, so I will throw this article out for my fellow noobies who have that idea in their head: Jeff Strain:How to Create a Successful MMO
(One of the best articles on the subject I have ever found)

I've got to go now, my Pacifistic Army of Darkness is starting a brawl, it is becoming rather bloody****.


*That's just an excuse for my generally bad humor.
**When speaking about efficiency, be sure to specify whether it is Run-time efficiency or developer-time efficiency. Not specifying could confuse someone.
***If it was my money, rather than my dad's, I would be pulling my hair out.(Good thing my dad doesn't know, yet =O)
****Darn pacifists, always fighting >.< (Heh, I am actually one myself)

Hello imaginary audience.

Today I finished the TTT engine 2.0. Although I have doubts about how efficient it is compared to the old engine for this game specifically, I feel that this is the best way to quickly make future projects.

Right now, the new engine features a lot more than it did before. Most of this is not usable for a game as simple as Tic tac Toe.(I would say the game only uses about a Third of the engine's features) The engine will allow me to:

-Create a level of any size.
-May add only one object at a time, but is capable of filling a level with objects.
-Clears the level at will.
- Supports multiple levels.
-Is portable, meaning I can use it for multiple projects.
- Can be easily altered to support new features.
-The engine can send current state of the level to the main applet, where features specific to the game could be added.(Minimal changes to the engine itself, which adds to it's "interchangeability.")

Baby steps.

After fleshing out the details of my robot game, I have come to realize that this is a rather ambitious project for a noob, so I am taking baby steps. First I will reformat the Tic Tac Toe engine in order to make it more universal, then I will make several projects just to gain practice. After which I will begin making my robot game.

I think I am talking to myself now, so I will withdraw posting here until I can get more followers.