26k.dev

Friggin crickets around these parts. Instant Crickets even.

So the deadline for the latest TIGSource Compo has come and gone and my entry never really got off the ground. About 2 weeks in, I realized there was no way in the world I could finish it on time while juggling other projects so I decided to put it on the slow track and make it a longer term schedule. For all the raving I did about making a schedule and sticking to it with ERH, none of that could be said for this project. I realized yesterday I hadn’t even figured out my checklist and that was a month after I came up with the idea. Granted, this game is a bit more technically complex then ERH so a lot of my time was spent trying to figure out a workable system for procedurally generated levels. Regardless, having a framework timeline in place is crucial, so it’s the thing I’m working on right now. Well, right after this post…

I promised to start posting screens more often, so here’s some work in progress from about 2 weeks ago:

Image 1
Image 2

A lot has changed since then but that’s basically the look I’m going for. I’ve fixed some of the alignment problems for the 3D tiles and made a few tweaks but there’s plenty to get working stil. One thing I didn’t do with ERH that I’m going to have to do with this game is release an Alpha version for playtest. I’m not 100% confident in the control scheme so far so I want to hear what other people think. My goal is to have something resembling a Beta by the end of this month, so the Alpha version needs to happen relatively soon. I have to keep reminding myself to keep this game small and the scope limited for the time being, otherwise my imagination starts spiraling out of control and nothing ever gets finished.

Looks like the next TIGSource competition has been announced, this time it’s for procedurally generated games. I’m really excited about the theme, as I think it would be perfect for a shooter idea I’ve had for awhile but honestly time is going to be a major concern. With ERH, I put some stuff on hold and while I was able to catch up to some extent, it puts an incredible strain on my workload to toss another project on the burner.

Without going into the psychological reasons why, one of my ultimate hatreds and frustrations in games stem from gameplay that heavily requires extensive memorized or predictable routines to be performed. I can tolerate it of course, but the old school gamer in me still craves pure, twitch action. The appeal of procedural content to me is creating a game experience that forces a player to always be on their toes. With most games, no matter how hard a section may get, you can always break down the fourth wall and remember that a game designer somewhere created this challenge with a specific solution in mind. Conversely, I would love to provide an experience where a player can go into a battle and honestly not know whether or not they can survive the challenge. There’s something to be said about fighting valiantly against inescapable odds and not backing down against certain death, something that doesn’t really exist in modern games today. If nothing else, I would want to create a game that provided that exact opportunity, while wrapping the player in pure, unhinged action.