We've all been there: had a great idea; thought it out in your head. Perhaps scribbled some notes down. Slept on it. Set up a new project and started doing coding. Beginning goes fine. You code a bit more. You start to unpack some game mechanics. Code some more. Now it's getting complicated. There are exceptions you didn't think about. You persist. Your clean code is starting to be less clean. You source some images because changing out place-holder grfx will fix it. You play-test what you have. It's kinda not fun and you're not sure why. You go to add a new feature but your code is a mess. Bugs that weren't there before are starting to surface and you can't find the source. You could refactor it but the game isn't fun anyway. You sleep on it knowing that project is dead.
Well that's NOT my current project.
I think this is the first time in a year and a half I have a solid idea that is actually fun to play. The code is clean and extensible. The game looks and feels better each day. Progress is at a blistering speed and I'm actually having fun coding this one. Whoot. Hope yu's all enjoying Love and LUA too!
Glad to hear your current project is going well. I'd say that's a relatable feeling, finding out that an idea just isn't fun while the tech is getting gnarly... I think that's why "failing fast" is so important!
BrotSagtMist wrote: ↑Fri Jul 22, 2022 10:11 am
Sometimes making game is like taking pictures of the sunset.
In the head its that and then on the screen its uhrg.
BrotSagtMist wrote: ↑Fri Jul 22, 2022 10:11 am
Sometimes making game is like taking pictures of the sunset.
In the head its that and then on the screen its uhrg.
Exactly
The risk I took was calculated,
but man, am I bad at math.
Sounds familiar. Yes, exactly this is how it goes. Despite all the effort I put in to make sure my code is clean and tidy, there is alway something I didn't consider at which point I begin to apply some nice spaghetti sauce to fix things and then rapidly everything goes south. When things doesn't work no longer surprise me but the opposite. I usually give up when things actually work but I have no idea why is it working. Then it is time to take a break and re-consider my life choices.
With my current project I try to avoid these mistakes, I have refactored everything only 4 times so far.
marclurr wrote: ↑Fri Jul 22, 2022 7:52 am
You've not given anything away there so now I'm looking forward to seeing what you publish soon!
I'm very happy with the way the game turned out. It means my level of pro-ness is rising and more importantly, I'm learning things and my "tool kit" is growing. I'm getting braver with each project and I'm doing things now I couldn't do 18 months ago. I'm also happy to say that I'm beginning to know box2d intimately - native - no libraries. I sense myself getting more proficient with each project meaning higher productivity and more output.
What all this experience CAN'T do for me: spot a sucky project before it starts!! lol. I'll no doubt have more dumb projects in the future that will need to be abandoned but for now, I'm thinking of making Box2D physics games my little niche that few people dare to go.
