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Game Dev Monthly? 1
4 years ago
Time for another post about game development. Will try and do these once a month.
Last month I wanted to make a breakout game to relearn the basics and cover some topics I've been putting off. And I did. But it stalled was me putting finishing touches like level transitions, game over screens, and sound effects. I have watched some tutorials on sounds, but getting up and actually doing it is the problem.
My excuse is that I get sore neck and shoulders when I use my computer for an extended period. I think the problem is my desk is too short. I'm thinking of raising it, or getting a new one. We'll see.
Recently, the topic of is living in the present, caring about the immediate project and not long term growth or sequels has come up a few times.
I've been reflecting on what I want to achieve, as well as my one game development success. A mod for Half-Life called XT Tower.
XT Tower was inspired by mods like Going Down and The Whole Half-Life Tower, where each map has to be made to fit in a certain small size, and each map doesn't have a connection to any other aside from the base premise of being floors in a tower. I forget my self imposed time limit, but I know I overshot it. Still. This kind of "X amount of time and Y amount of space" worked well, perhaps because there was no extended goal. I remember two maps were scrapped. One I forget the reason, the other was a big wave based shoot out on a rooftop mall that would trash the place. The mall was scrapped due to technical limiations of the engine. Hence why the final level was a thrown together fight with 3 guys on a helipad.
In looking at the making of popular games. They had intent, but no end goal. Resident Evil was originally a FPS. Halo was a strategy game, then a squad game, then a FPS. My dream Resident Evil clone project repeatedly fails. Maybe it's because I go in with a specific end result in mind, but get frustrated when some element doesn't come together the way I want it.
This has got me thinking about what I'll do when I finish Breakout. I have a few ideas.
-Make Half-Life maps again. (I don't have VR or I'd consider making Half-Life: Alyx levels.)
-Make more small games like Flappy Bird, just to get used to finishing games.
-Revive an old project. Gun Maidens was the working title for a cop themed co-op FPS intended as a hodgepodge of different ideas. I never attempted it due to the technical hurdles and lack of a solid design idea. I'm not even sure if arresting people will be a feature or not. Krystal FPS was a small StarFox fan game that I get the basics working in, before stalling out for some reason or another.
Last month I wanted to make a breakout game to relearn the basics and cover some topics I've been putting off. And I did. But it stalled was me putting finishing touches like level transitions, game over screens, and sound effects. I have watched some tutorials on sounds, but getting up and actually doing it is the problem.
My excuse is that I get sore neck and shoulders when I use my computer for an extended period. I think the problem is my desk is too short. I'm thinking of raising it, or getting a new one. We'll see.
Recently, the topic of is living in the present, caring about the immediate project and not long term growth or sequels has come up a few times.
I've been reflecting on what I want to achieve, as well as my one game development success. A mod for Half-Life called XT Tower.
XT Tower was inspired by mods like Going Down and The Whole Half-Life Tower, where each map has to be made to fit in a certain small size, and each map doesn't have a connection to any other aside from the base premise of being floors in a tower. I forget my self imposed time limit, but I know I overshot it. Still. This kind of "X amount of time and Y amount of space" worked well, perhaps because there was no extended goal. I remember two maps were scrapped. One I forget the reason, the other was a big wave based shoot out on a rooftop mall that would trash the place. The mall was scrapped due to technical limiations of the engine. Hence why the final level was a thrown together fight with 3 guys on a helipad.
In looking at the making of popular games. They had intent, but no end goal. Resident Evil was originally a FPS. Halo was a strategy game, then a squad game, then a FPS. My dream Resident Evil clone project repeatedly fails. Maybe it's because I go in with a specific end result in mind, but get frustrated when some element doesn't come together the way I want it.
This has got me thinking about what I'll do when I finish Breakout. I have a few ideas.
-Make Half-Life maps again. (I don't have VR or I'd consider making Half-Life: Alyx levels.)
-Make more small games like Flappy Bird, just to get used to finishing games.
-Revive an old project. Gun Maidens was the working title for a cop themed co-op FPS intended as a hodgepodge of different ideas. I never attempted it due to the technical hurdles and lack of a solid design idea. I'm not even sure if arresting people will be a feature or not. Krystal FPS was a small StarFox fan game that I get the basics working in, before stalling out for some reason or another.
