Well, this week went by. Not quickly, per se, but it went. I spent a lot of time this week at the keyboard, whether jotting down notes or coding, but it sure felt like stuff happened.
Where I’m at
I am almost complete on the second prototype for my game idea, after a successful (and very simple) first prototype. I’m at the point where I’m starting to consider what the third prototype may explore, or if it’s already time to start developing this as a whole game.
What I Planned
Prototype my new puzzle game, quickly, to determine whether the idea has merit to continue as a game or simply get relegated to the pile of forgotten ideas.
What Actually Happened
To set the scene, my new idea was a puzzle game, where you had to connect input and outputs with conveyors, to deliver coloured boxes from one side to the other. The trick that the grid would be pretty small and conveyors couldn’t cross, so you’d have to use verticality to go over and under.
On Monday, I make a quick and messy prototype. The result was actually pretty satisfying to watch, but puzzle games aren’t my thing and I immediately complicated things by thinking “what if they conveyors weren’t free?” And so, we ended up with making outputs pay per 10 boxes delivered.
So, a successful prototype proving that the most basic version I could do wasn’t boring. That’s a win. What if I made it a simulator game instead?
My reasoning was simple: I like simulator games, and I don’t like puzzle games so much. Plus I don’t have to design 30 levels this way.
The rest of the week went on developing this system some more. Instead of crates just moving from the start of the conveyor to the end (which made corners quite interesting), each conveyor has several positions in it, which can be occupied by the items travelling on them. Then making the crates occupy these positions, I can make them queue up one behind the other, instead of all bunching together at the end point.
Downside to making it a simulation game. Take out every level and replace each with an extra mechanic. It started off as a simple puzzle game and now the scope has exploded to include money, different item types, missions for moving the items and that’s just scratching the surface.
With that, I couldn’t realistically expect to have much to show for it by the end of the week. So, I’ve given myself an extension of a couple of days to get the core gameplay loop in. That’s Tuesday. Not a whole lot longer, but I’m feeling pretty positive about it!
Of course, there were little ideas of inspiration along the way. Feature ideas, altogether different game ideas – they all get noted down for the days when ideas aren’t flowing.
What Went Wrong
So, I might have fallen into the old trap of spending too much time building the foundations of this. I spent most of the week developing the core structure of the game without much to show for it. It wasn’t until yesterday that I even had conveyors working again.
While important to set up a good base for code to build from, the point of prototyping is to test specific questions about the idea. Most importantly, is the idea a viable game. Messy code will get there quicker. Spending a day and a half working out conveyor input/output signatures in a single byte for quick comparisons probably wasn’t a worthwhile use of time when the idea still isn’t proven. Nor was the following half a day debugging it.
And of course the big issue is that I missed my initial deadline of the end of the week. By all accounts, I had the basic version done on Monday, before I completely changed the nature of the game. I didn’t really stop to consider how that would affect the deadline, other than “I suspect I don’t have enough time now” – but under the rules of follow the fun, I changed course and this is where I ended up.
By extending the deadline, you could argue that I haven’t technically missed it. That’s a scary path to go down, because it doesn’t take many escalations before you justify an extra month or two by saying “I didn’t miss it if I moved it” – so instead, I’ll just say this. In full context of the week, I’m not upset that I didn’t hit my original target timeframe, but I would anticipate getting it done very soon instead.
What Went Right
While it may have taken a while to build the core foundations for the game’s systems, that part is done. I went from an empty scene that theoretically had items in it, to conveyors and resources that queue up down a line pretty quick. I have a list of things to complete in order to tick off this prototype and I feel like they should all fall into place relatively smoothly now.
What Next?
I need to complete the second prototype – ideally in the first half of the week. From that, I should be able to determine whether or not the simulation branch is a good idea to try. I’m feeling hopeful (and a bit excited), but it should become fairly obvious once this prototype is done.
I don’t know what my steps after that will be yet, so it’s hard to plan for that – but once I get there, I’ll figure it out.