Going to be honest here: I am having a difficult week. The idea of trying to write code right now is absurd. There are things i can do right now but they probably aren’t that. Either I’ll recover soon or I’ll move on to another part of the project while I wait for that part of my brain to start working again. This is not a disaster but will require some evaluation.
This is actually a good opportunity to see where we’re at with this whole project though. I wanted to go over this last week, since the 10th DevBlog update makes such a good milestone, but I was physically exhausted at the time rather than just, as now, simply weighed down by accumulated and customary brain crust.
So a break down of where i estimate we are on each front:
Programming: 45%
Art: 1%
Music: 15%
Level Design: 0%
Ugh, not as good as I’d hoped. Granted, I’m taking classes and all that jazz now, but i’m really going to have to pick this shit up if I’m going to finish this by 2013. Anyway, obviously and as expected, most of the gains are in the programming elements. Most of the tools necessary to complete the game are pretty far along, in the range of 80-90% complete, and I’ve begun digging into rendering optimization.
Also notable is that I actually rolled the music completion back from 25% to 15%. After listening to what I have so far some more, I’ve decided that individually several of the pieces could use some improvement, and generally speaking I want to achieve a more unified sound for the project. Basically, I’m going to start from the point of the couple of tracks I’m sure I’m keeping in a form more or less like what they sound like now, build an instrument list and a few composing principles around them, expand these components for each area to make each part of the game distinct, and then either compose new pieces or rewrite suitable older ones into the new paradigms. Kind of a lot of work, but hopefully it will pay dividends when it comes to creating a compelling experience.
So: What’s next?
Well, again, it depends on whether I can get my brain back in such a place that programming is feasible. If so, there’s still plenty to be done on that front including harnessing AIR’s 3d rendering pipeline and creating a detail editor as well as putting the finishing touches on the map and level editors. There’s enough code down at this point that I could also start either concepting the levels out or work on the art assets. I’m not really set up for music yet, though, so that one’s out until I get enough space to get that worked out.
Taking those circumstances into account, here’s the plan(s):
Plan A: Get my programming brains back in order, get detail editor started and learn the 3d pipeline on the side since it’s low priority
Plan B: Put coding on the backburner and create art assets, starting with a concept design of Lucifer and test idle and run animations for Eve
Plan C: Create a mockup screen of the first area to establish art design
Whichever one I choose, I’ll try to have that done by next DevBlog update. DevBlog 20 is fast approaching, and I want to have something good to show for the next milestone check. After all, once I get to 52 I’m going to start getting pretty damn antsy if Eve isn’t getting close to completion…