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Best Laid Plans . . . etc.

Name:	Hallam Lowmass
Date Posted:	Dec 29, 2006
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Blog post

Well, in my last blog post i layed out my big plans for a little game i planned to do. i even set myself some goals that weren't unreasonable, that was all back in october.

on oct 25 i set myself the task of doing a few things for my planned scrolling shooter. these were the goals . . .

Next Goals: Write Mission Briefings, Create Art Asset List for Level 1, Concept Sketches for all 3 Player Ships
Goals to be completed by: Sunday Morning, 29th of October

i actually got fairly close to completing them too, by the 29th i had written mission briefings for 10 of the 15 missions, created an art asset list for level 1 and done a concept of 1 of the player ships. and since then, i've done not much, i have played with code in TGB which was fun, i managed to sort out some paths and spawning and GUIs, scoring and timing too.

so the question is, do i push on with the game? maybe i should because now it's just really a matter of making the graphics for it and plugging it into the code i've made. it's just there's other projects that are interesting me aswell. My major one is i'd like to look at making a multiplayer version of uplink, man i love that game, it's cool fun.

anyway, i'll try and make a decision on what i should do in the next couple of days and then stick to it and continue to set myself goals, and reach them too.

Recent Blog Posts

List:	05/28/07 - Time to get motivated. 12/29/06 - Best Laid Plans . . . etc. 10/24/06 - A New Start

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J Sears (Dec 29, 2006 at 14:45 GMT)

finish off this game first, the more you code and create for one game the better the next one will be with your experience. So make this one as good as you can make a list of what to do differently and apply it on the next one and pretty soon you'll be at your dream game

Chris \"C2\" Byars (Dec 29, 2006 at 15:27 GMT)

Speaking of "Best Laid Plans," that's my absolute FAVORITE Red vs. Blue episode, ever.

Jonathon Stevens (Dec 29, 2006 at 15:48 GMT)

Stick with the first game. J Sears brought up good points, but the main reason to finish off the game you already started is discipline. It is so easy to jump from project to project as an Indie developer. The ONLY time I'd recommend switching projects mid-stream is to downsize the project (like from an MMO to an FPS or an FPS to a 2D shooter).

Finishing the game will give you the discipline you'll need on larger, more complex projects. It'll also build your credibility with the community and give yourself a sense of accomplishment so you don't burn out.

J Sears (Dec 29, 2006 at 22:56 GMT)

man who didn't enjoy red vs blue I stop following it at some point along the way but I wouldn' tmind getting all the originals on dvd or cd

Matt Troup (Dec 30, 2006 at 22:39 GMT)

There's a much bigger road ahead of you.

It sounds like there's still some thought left as to what's going to be in in the game itself ("10 of 15 mission briefings"). I'm not sure what exactly you mean by mission briefings, but the scope sounds pretty big nonetheless. Those last 5 missions are going to wear your mind down. They'll take time, but they'll come to you and everything will be just as you wanted.

One great quote I wrote down from last years IGDC is "You can't schedule creativity". It certainly wasn't going to be 4 days you would get those missions down. Don't let that ruin your development. Chalk it up to learning experience.

Like Jonathan Stevens recommended, switch only if you need a change in scope. Otherwise - keep trying.

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