Hmm

Game 4 is going to be developed on a medium length scale. Meaning, it will be short, but I'm not going to die working on it. I still have to get done with school, so I'll work on it when I can. But I should have it done within a month or two.

I'm still deciding on what tech to use. The easy way would just to continue to use XNA, but I think I should try something new, to get some more technical practice. I was thinking of SDL. It would be nice to have my game work on different platforms. Does anyone have SDL experience? Is it easy to get stuff done?

Also, I think I'm going to reformat my computer right now, and install Windows 7, so brb.

New game!

Work on Game 4 has begun! (Game 3 is on hiatus)

It's a kind of crazy game. I'll post more details when I have some progress.

Development on Hold

Well, the deadline for the GameStop contest (and IGF) is this weekend. I'm sorry to disappoint you guys, but I'm going to be putting development for my project on hold. I'll still work on it, but I won't have it submitted in time for the contests.

I decided this about a week and a half ago. The primary reason is that I would not be able to finish the project in a way that I'd be satisfied. I underestimated how much schoolwork I still had to deal with; the only way I could finish it in time is if I went into super-crunch mode in the last few weeks and work 16 hour days, like I did with Storm. I was planning on doing this, but I realized it really wasn't in my best interest to push myself like that. It took a big physical toll on me when I did that for Storm (I still have a recurring cough that originated during that time period).

I think right now I should be focusing on passing my classes and enjoying my last quarter of college. I've got a lot of time ahead of me, so I shouldn't overwork myself this soon. Also, with Storm getting published, I will be spending more time with that. I'll talk about how far I got on this project in a future post. I did make some good progress.

I'm not done yet though; I'm planning on doing another quick game (2-3 weeks long) fairly soon, so keep an eye out for that! The game will be more of a study in innovative game mechanics than in rapid development, so it should be interesting.

I came back from the GameX in Philly this weekend, with the 2BeeGames crew. I'll have more on that soon.

Publishing deal for Storm

So... Storm is getting published. Zoo Publishing, the company behind 2BeeGames, talked to me a few months ago about it. The game will get a huge facelift; there are a lot of features to add and a lot of polish to apply.

Here is a Joystiq article about it: http://www.joystiq.com/2009/10/05/indie-game-storm-strikes-xbla-psn-wiiware-iphone/

Also, I'm excited!

Crunch Mode

Crunch mode has been activated until November 1st.

All games have been uninstalled, and all fun websites have been blocked.

No fun for me for 5 weeks.

Extension!

Well, apparently the contest got extended a month, till Halloween. This is great news, because I'm falling a bit behind schedule. Unfortunately, these extra 30 days overlap with the beginning of school and some other events, but whatever extra time it adds is welcome.

Anyways, I made some good progress in this past week. I'm still working on the editor, which is worrisome, since I haven't actually gotten to the actual game yet. Of course, the editor and game have a great deal of overlapping code, but there's still a long way to go before I have anything resembling a game. I should have the most basic game structure by the end of this week.

I'm adding actual models now. Here are some basic catwalks to get me started, provided by Chris. Ignore the terrible FPS; I'm in the process of fixing that :(

WinForms!

Woo, I stuck my editor inside a WinForm form and now it looks great. New features include unlimited undo/redo! And also saving/opening. I'm making some good progress, but I'm still nowhere near complete.

Implementing undo/redo was a pretty fun and frustrating exercise. The frustrating part is making sure your redos are perfect mirrors of your undos.