I’ve got new found respect for designers. What they do is not easy at all. Same pretty much goes for artists. I am trying really hard to learn how to design by studying, reading, and practicing, but I know it’s not going to happen overnight. Tapping into my imagination, learning to listen to my unconscious self, creating a game from scratch…These things are not really my forte. I’m not going to stop of course, and it’s learning process after all, but I’m even more impressed with successful game designers now.
The sense of not making progress is a concern to me. The last time I felt this worried was when I was struggling with my core tech, trying to get it to work and unable to figure out the final piece of the solution. I also remember the brief elation I felt when it finally all came together and I knew I had overcome a major obstacle. I am trying to keep my focus on that moment.
Speaking of talented designers, I would like to direct your attention to Edmund McMillen’s site. Edmund’s an indie developer who has put 10 years of his work on a CD and is selling it for $10. This includes dozens of his games, comics, sketches, animations and movies. It’s a real treasure trove and an absolute bargain.
Work Done Last Week
It was a rough week in terms of progress. I spent a lot of time brainstorming and designing, and I feel I’ve made progress on that front, but I still haven’t had that breakthrough moment where everything just clicks. In fact I’m even sure if that’s how it works.
I barely did any programming this week. In fact, I didn’t open Visual Studio until Thursday, which, as a programmer was surreal for me. I did add texture support (using the tiny yet excellent SOIL library for image loading – thanks again to Andy for the link). I also fixed up a few bugs, some random memory leaks, and one long-standing annoying case of NaN infiltration (thank you Dave for the tips).
Work Planned This Week
I’m continuing my focus on designing, but this week with more emphasis on rapid prototyping. I want to experiment with the most promising ideas and get a test version working quickly to see how each idea “feels”. The goal is try a different one every day.
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