Project: Space Game (Untitled)
Code Budget: 120 Hours, 93 Spent
Media Budget: 200 Hours, 50 Spent
Other Time: 13 Hours Spent
Day Breakdown: 24 Hours Media (Over 2 Days)
Well, it seems I had to go back and relearn how to model and skin a bit. It's been about six months since I've done any heavy model production, skinning, and painting textures. It is amazing the pace at which skills are lost when you do not use them, but it's also equally amazing how quickly they come back once you dive back in.
This delay has put me slightly behind. I'm still one or two small ships short, the first two bosses, and all three player ships. I am making about 2 models per day now so models should be finished Saturday or Monday for the first 5 levels. At that point it should only take me a day or two to finalize the first playable demo!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Day 15: The Stage is Set!
Project: Space Game (Untitled)
Code Budget: 120 Hours, 93 Spent
Media Budget: 200 Hours, 26 Spent
Other Time: 13 Hours Spent
Day Breakdown: 3 Hours of Code, 3 Hours Media
Well, just about everything that needs to be in place for the game is now in place. I still need to code in the actual splash screen and main menu, but with the framework in place that is trivial to do. The problem I'm facing now is that I have all the coding parts in for a working game, but there is only test media. I actually started drawing the story board for the game today and will finish that up tomorrow and start work on production level media and levels.
It will likely take me until Friday to have the first official level to show off, and Saturday before the first two levels are produced. My main goal right now is to have the first 5 levels of the game done a week from Friday (1/16/09), at which point I'll release a playable demo. In order to do that I'll need to design the 3 primary player ships (there are 5 in total, but you have to unlock 2 of them), at least 10 small enemy ships along with the first two bosses, and a bit of coding for background object type effects, fog, and some other small bits of code. That's a lot to get done in a week, and we'll see if I'm up to the task!
Goals For Tomorrow: Finish up Story Board, Mesh for "The Eagle" Ship
Code Budget: 120 Hours, 93 Spent
Media Budget: 200 Hours, 26 Spent
Other Time: 13 Hours Spent
Day Breakdown: 3 Hours of Code, 3 Hours Media
Well, just about everything that needs to be in place for the game is now in place. I still need to code in the actual splash screen and main menu, but with the framework in place that is trivial to do. The problem I'm facing now is that I have all the coding parts in for a working game, but there is only test media. I actually started drawing the story board for the game today and will finish that up tomorrow and start work on production level media and levels.
It will likely take me until Friday to have the first official level to show off, and Saturday before the first two levels are produced. My main goal right now is to have the first 5 levels of the game done a week from Friday (1/16/09), at which point I'll release a playable demo. In order to do that I'll need to design the 3 primary player ships (there are 5 in total, but you have to unlock 2 of them), at least 10 small enemy ships along with the first two bosses, and a bit of coding for background object type effects, fog, and some other small bits of code. That's a lot to get done in a week, and we'll see if I'm up to the task!
Goals For Tomorrow: Finish up Story Board, Mesh for "The Eagle" Ship
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Day 14: Another Day with Nothing to Show
Project: Space Game (Untitled)
Code Budget: 120 Hours, 90 Spent
Media Budget: 200 Hours, 23 Spent
Other Time: 13 Hours Spent
Day Breakdown: 10 Hours of Code
My code time budget is quickly running dry and I'm starting to think I would have just been better of hand coding the forms vs. trying to make a system, but it's too late now. All the basic text elements are working fine and the function calls are hooked into the game. I just need to add in images and models into the system and I'll be able to create as many menus and interface gadgets as I want with little extra coding effort.
I should have something to show off tomorrow! Funny how I can do a whole particle system in a single day, but it is going to take me three day to build the menu/state system. However, the menu is one of those fit and finish thing that many independent game developers over look and a frustrating menu system can put a player off from a game right away.
Goals for Tomorrow: Finish the Menu/Forms
Code Budget: 120 Hours, 90 Spent
Media Budget: 200 Hours, 23 Spent
Other Time: 13 Hours Spent
Day Breakdown: 10 Hours of Code
My code time budget is quickly running dry and I'm starting to think I would have just been better of hand coding the forms vs. trying to make a system, but it's too late now. All the basic text elements are working fine and the function calls are hooked into the game. I just need to add in images and models into the system and I'll be able to create as many menus and interface gadgets as I want with little extra coding effort.
I should have something to show off tomorrow! Funny how I can do a whole particle system in a single day, but it is going to take me three day to build the menu/state system. However, the menu is one of those fit and finish thing that many independent game developers over look and a frustrating menu system can put a player off from a game right away.
Goals for Tomorrow: Finish the Menu/Forms
Monday, January 5, 2009
Day 13: Long Day and Nothing to Show
Project: Space Game (Untitled)
Code Budget: 120 Hours, 80 Spent
Media Budget: 200 Hours, 23 Spent
Other Time: 13 Hours Spent
Day Breakdown: 11 Hours of Code
Well it was a long day and I have nothing in the way of screen shots or movies to show off what I did, mainly because it really isn't all that exciting. I laid a very nice groundwork for my menu system, but it still has a ways to go and I'll need to figure out some of the sticker aspects of things still. However, on the whole I'm happy with the framework and it should work out nicely.
I'm doing my best to hard code as little form/menu interaction into the game as possible, instead I'm using a framework that reads form files and allows the user to interact with the forms while providing function based hocks for the required action in the game itself. Basically I'm creating a form system that is more in line with how you would build a form inside an IDE. From a coding perspective it is turning out to be a beautiful piece of work, but it takes time. In the end I do think that the extra work will be worth it.
Goals For Tomorrow: More Forms and Menus
Code Budget: 120 Hours, 80 Spent
Media Budget: 200 Hours, 23 Spent
Other Time: 13 Hours Spent
Day Breakdown: 11 Hours of Code
Well it was a long day and I have nothing in the way of screen shots or movies to show off what I did, mainly because it really isn't all that exciting. I laid a very nice groundwork for my menu system, but it still has a ways to go and I'll need to figure out some of the sticker aspects of things still. However, on the whole I'm happy with the framework and it should work out nicely.
I'm doing my best to hard code as little form/menu interaction into the game as possible, instead I'm using a framework that reads form files and allows the user to interact with the forms while providing function based hocks for the required action in the game itself. Basically I'm creating a form system that is more in line with how you would build a form inside an IDE. From a coding perspective it is turning out to be a beautiful piece of work, but it takes time. In the end I do think that the extra work will be worth it.
Goals For Tomorrow: More Forms and Menus
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Day 12: Today Had to be Done
Project: Space Game (Untitled)
Code Budget: 120 Hours, 69 Spent
Media Budget: 200 Hours, 23 Spent
Other Time: 13 Hours Spent
Day Breakdown: 3 Hours of Code, 1 Media, 6
Well, days like today aren't exactly the most enjoyable to spend in the programming world, but they have to be done. I spent much of today looking through the code that has been so quickly brought together and made sure everything was well commented and easy to understand. I added those hours spent into the new label of other time as the time spent wasn't directly designed to push the game forward as my code budget time is. Most everything was commented well to begin with, only a few section needed clarification and I actually found a couple of bugs at the code level without ever noticing them in game (and they could have gone unnoticed for quite some time and been real head scratches when they did pop up).
On the actual coding side I managed to tie up a number of lose ends that have been on my TODO list. This includes things like getting weapons to fire from points on the, adding ship level effect emitters and a number of smaller changes to ensure game play remains unchanged at any resolution, aspect ratio, and tile safe percentage. You can see some of the changes in the screen shot for the day.
Goals For Tomorrow: None, I'm taking Sunday off. Monday will bring the menu system.
Code Budget: 120 Hours, 69 Spent
Media Budget: 200 Hours, 23 Spent
Other Time: 13 Hours Spent
Day Breakdown: 3 Hours of Code, 1 Media, 6
Well, days like today aren't exactly the most enjoyable to spend in the programming world, but they have to be done. I spent much of today looking through the code that has been so quickly brought together and made sure everything was well commented and easy to understand. I added those hours spent into the new label of other time as the time spent wasn't directly designed to push the game forward as my code budget time is. Most everything was commented well to begin with, only a few section needed clarification and I actually found a couple of bugs at the code level without ever noticing them in game (and they could have gone unnoticed for quite some time and been real head scratches when they did pop up).
On the actual coding side I managed to tie up a number of lose ends that have been on my TODO list. This includes things like getting weapons to fire from points on the, adding ship level effect emitters and a number of smaller changes to ensure game play remains unchanged at any resolution, aspect ratio, and tile safe percentage. You can see some of the changes in the screen shot for the day.
Goals For Tomorrow: None, I'm taking Sunday off. Monday will bring the menu system.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Day 11: Wow that's a Big Ship!
Project: Space Game (Untitled)
Code Budget: 120 Hours, 66 Spent
Media Budget: 200 Hours, 22 Spent
Day Breakdown: 7 Hours of Code, 3 Media
And the bigger they are the harder they fall! I really didn't feel very good today and I spent most of the morning doing thing other than programming. I really didn't think I would manage to get the game logic for boss fights coded in, but I plugged away at it and got everything working. There is still a lot of AI based programming to do, but the logic for the boss fights is all present.
The boss fight that I created to test the coding was a simple play on damage types. The missile turrets don't hit shields very hard, but they will tear through armor. The giant thrusters will tear through your shields, but mostly leave your armor untouched. Trying to take out the thrusters while the turrets are still up results in a quick death, but do things the other way (as the video shows) and the fight is simple.
Goals for Tomorrow: Menu System/Logic (feeling well) or Lose Ends (not feeling well)
Code Budget: 120 Hours, 66 Spent
Media Budget: 200 Hours, 22 Spent
Day Breakdown: 7 Hours of Code, 3 Media
And the bigger they are the harder they fall! I really didn't feel very good today and I spent most of the morning doing thing other than programming. I really didn't think I would manage to get the game logic for boss fights coded in, but I plugged away at it and got everything working. There is still a lot of AI based programming to do, but the logic for the boss fights is all present.
The boss fight that I created to test the coding was a simple play on damage types. The missile turrets don't hit shields very hard, but they will tear through armor. The giant thrusters will tear through your shields, but mostly leave your armor untouched. Trying to take out the thrusters while the turrets are still up results in a quick death, but do things the other way (as the video shows) and the fight is simple.
Goals for Tomorrow: Menu System/Logic (feeling well) or Lose Ends (not feeling well)
Direct YouTube Link (Higher Quality)
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Day 10: How Far Things Have Come!
Project: Space Game (Untitled)
Code Budget: 120 Hours, 59 Spent
Media Budget: 200 Hours, 19 Spent
Day Breakdown: 3 Hours of Code, 11 Media
Today is much less about words, as much more about the video. Sounds are now in the game and playing on various events. I didn't have time to normalize all the sound files and tune them to their importance, but I did do a few tweaks so more important sounds are easier to hear. The hardest part of the day was the music system, I create a system that dynamically puts various pieces of the music together as the level is being played so it can dynamically adapt to the intensity of the level. You can't really hear it in the movie and I really didn't have time to make a top quality audio tract, but that's what the huge media time budget is for. Without any further ado, here is the video!
Goals for Tomorrow: Boss Fights!
Code Budget: 120 Hours, 59 Spent
Media Budget: 200 Hours, 19 Spent
Day Breakdown: 3 Hours of Code, 11 Media
Today is much less about words, as much more about the video. Sounds are now in the game and playing on various events. I didn't have time to normalize all the sound files and tune them to their importance, but I did do a few tweaks so more important sounds are easier to hear. The hardest part of the day was the music system, I create a system that dynamically puts various pieces of the music together as the level is being played so it can dynamically adapt to the intensity of the level. You can't really hear it in the movie and I really didn't have time to make a top quality audio tract, but that's what the huge media time budget is for. Without any further ado, here is the video!
Goals for Tomorrow: Boss Fights!
Direct YouTube Link (Higher Quality)
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