Where am I now, compared to 8 months ago? I’ve been so focused on the demo for the last two months, that it’s been difficult to see the bigger picture. The reality now is that I need to take this game from a demo to a finished product. Writing games is great, but I have to make sure I can continue to support myself doing so.
Up to now, I’ve been primarily focused on a console strategy. I’ve always seen the PC version as a backup plan to explore after the console route failed (if it failed), but I haven’t invested too much thought into it. While I am still heavily pursuing it the console route, I believe I need to prepare the alternative options. The most important goal is completing the game, regardless of the platform. Even if/when I become a licensed developer, the work required to complete the game doesn’t simply disappear. I have been so focused on producing a solid demo that I have lost sight of this point.
The demo has helped me concretize the direction of the game. Actually, it forced me to pick one, and I think it’s turned out well. I am happy with the choice; it offers me lots of options, and I believe I can build an interesting game around the core concepts.
In August, it will have been a year since I quit my job. I promised myself that by then I would have a clear picture of whether I can continue to pursue this path. I.e. whether I can earn a living. The next 3-4 months will be my biggest test yet. Now it is time to focus on the end-game for this project
Work Done Last Week
I spent a day or two recovering then turned my attention to refining the PAX demo for the IndieCade submission. I improved the level, cleaned up some texture, tweaked the camera system some more.
The camera system is going to be replaced by a better system using triggers to allow a better framing of the view I want to present to the gamer at any given time. I thought I could get away with free-form system I have now, but it’s not very intelligent and doesn’t guide the player properly. Using a more designer-controlled system will allow me to better guide the player. I wanted this new system in the demo but I couldn’t find enough time to implement it and setup all the appropriate triggers.
I started cleaning up a lot of the hacks that were put in during the demo rush. I also improved the build process, adding a master build, and automating the generation of new test builds. It gets tiring rolling everything by hand 20 times in the same evening.
Finally, I submitted the IndieCade demo late Friday evening.
Work Planned This Week
I will review my plans for the game and my development schedule. I will also strip down the current design ideas to a core set and estimate the backlog of work left to do. I will attempt to balance this against my August target.
I’m also beginning the hunt for a dedicated artist. I will discuss this further next week.
I’m doing various cleanup activities in the code, adding some polish, and looking into some performance issues I have run into. My demo level is three to four times larger than anything I’ve tested up to this point, and I encountered some interesting performance bottlenecks which I need to address ASAP. As physics-based game, the “feel” of the game starts to change as soon as the frame rate drops below 60 Hz. Since I may release this game on the PC, I also need to find a way to elegantly deal with a drop in frame rate without affecting the game play.
