I finally got rid of the stupid… “ld: warning in .so, file is not of required architecture.” …warning when using iSimulate. If you’re not using iSimulate or a similar technology you’re losing valuable time even if you don’t use the accelerometer or GPS functions. Then again, I might not be the best spokesperson on time since I spent the weekend re-inventing the wheel. I have this need to make sure my projects compile w/o warnings....
It’s getting around that time when I’m spending more time working on the game as I realize how many little things need to be fixed, added, tweaked. I’ve recently given up most of my weekends now in an effort to get more hours in. I’m currently working 6 out of the 7 days a week on the game in some way. It’s mostly game programming, sometimes graphics, web development, emailing, phone calls, or getting business forms and other legal stuff squared away....
Every now and then I come across a game that is rather inspiring. Strangely, a lot of them come from the flash community. I really like it when someone can take a game mechanic that is so utterly constrained and create something so enjoyable out of it. The epitome of these design challenges might be the ‘One-Button’ games. I just recently came across Canabalt, and it had me playing for a while despite the need for sleep....
I’ve had a rather productive weekend! Implemented a handful of new art assets from Adam, finished some more gameplay code, optimized a bit, and even released a new build to testers tonight. It wasn’t a smooth process, but when is it ever? I was having an issue with loading the assets of the game at app launch and it caused the game to crash if it ever took more than 20 seconds to load the assets....
Last week was a busy week as I spent most of it implementing and tweaking the really basic tutorial system I had in mind for Tilt To Live. From my gameplay experiences I feel tutorials have gotten pretty good at being integrated into the game themselves and not being ridiculously wordy/boring. I’m not sure if it’s that I tend to grok how most genre game mechanics work from many years of playing, or understand the basic ‘standards’ across games in the same genre, or that the tutorials are really getting better....
Tangible goals are key to any project. Without them I feel like I’m peddling up a steep hill just so I can peddle up some more. Scheduling and time logs showing time spent are great for statistical and historical purposes, but in the scheme of things can do little to save a project if you and your team lack that motivation needed to push the last mile. Countless indie games die from loss of interest....
When it comes to gui coding I don’t typically find it the most glamorous things to do. Particularly when dealing with games. You are left with writing a lot of boiler plate GUI code that is tightly integrated with your rendering pipeline. And even when I do find gui libraries for games they tend to try to emulate the OS in look and feel. When you want something lightweight and very interactive/animated you typically have to write it and integrate it yourself....
I had planned to put up more of a tutorial post on rendering adaptive 2D grids for things like editors and such, since it was something I recently implemented. I got it working in my editor but then when I tried to conjure up a more “simplified” version in Blitzmax without any of the abstractions of a scenegraph, camera, and other numerous things I found I was tripping up over Blitzmax’s own graphics commands O_o....
One thing I’ve learned from working on games along side a day job is it takes a very strong commitment otherwise it will grind to a halt shortly after starting. You have to plan for the long haul as any game worth playing, or better yet paying for, requires much more time than you think. Especially if it’s your first ‘commercial’ endeavor. Planning is paramount if you wish to have any chance in succeeding....
I’m currently working on an editor for the next iteration of Gunstyle on the weekends. I find it’s a nice break from iPhone development and lets me start the week with renewed energy to work on Tilt To Live again. I’m using wxMax to develop the UI for the actual editor. It’s not much at the moment but it’s coming together slowly. The editor code architecture is taking a page from the Unreal engine mentality of having your engine and editor be pretty much one in the same....