Plan for Bil Simser
by Bil Simser · 08/07/2004 (10:38 am) · 1 comments
Game in a Day is almost upon us again.
When I say gearing up, I really mean it. I'm going to be programming for 24 hours straight, no sleep. Of course this means that builds will be buggier as all hell as we get into the wee hours however I will not give up and complete the app. I'm using a TDD (Test Driven Development) approach to the game so all the logic will have full Unit tests associated with it which should shield me from the 20th hour screw-up. I'll be building the app in C++ with my own CDX library as it's quick to get a nice 2D game up and running (I started a different project today that took about 4 hours to build the whole app framework which I just plug my game objects into it now).
Personally I take things differently with GID. The guys running and participating in it over the past few GIDs never really looked at it as an Iron Chef type event which is how I see it. While I don't see it as a competition I do see it as "build a game and release it". What I'm prepared to produce is a fully working (free) game that is not a technology spike or test app but a full blown game (as much as someone can cram in with 24 hours and 1 person) that people can enjoy. My goal is to produce something that rivals the PopCap style games and quality. I think it's doable in 24 hours. I don't know what the One Million theme is about but I'll be able to adapt as I find out.
So watch my .plan next week as I update it with the launch of GID. I'll provide a link to my vanity site where I'll have hourly (yes hourly, this is iterative development at it's eXtreme) downloads of the game. I'll follow up with a .plan after the event (and some much needed sleep) with screenshots and a final download (I won't include the installer as my GID time spent, so after the event I'll build a proper installer using something like Inno Setup).
When I say gearing up, I really mean it. I'm going to be programming for 24 hours straight, no sleep. Of course this means that builds will be buggier as all hell as we get into the wee hours however I will not give up and complete the app. I'm using a TDD (Test Driven Development) approach to the game so all the logic will have full Unit tests associated with it which should shield me from the 20th hour screw-up. I'll be building the app in C++ with my own CDX library as it's quick to get a nice 2D game up and running (I started a different project today that took about 4 hours to build the whole app framework which I just plug my game objects into it now).
Personally I take things differently with GID. The guys running and participating in it over the past few GIDs never really looked at it as an Iron Chef type event which is how I see it. While I don't see it as a competition I do see it as "build a game and release it". What I'm prepared to produce is a fully working (free) game that is not a technology spike or test app but a full blown game (as much as someone can cram in with 24 hours and 1 person) that people can enjoy. My goal is to produce something that rivals the PopCap style games and quality. I think it's doable in 24 hours. I don't know what the One Million theme is about but I'll be able to adapt as I find out.
So watch my .plan next week as I update it with the launch of GID. I'll provide a link to my vanity site where I'll have hourly (yes hourly, this is iterative development at it's eXtreme) downloads of the game. I'll follow up with a .plan after the event (and some much needed sleep) with screenshots and a final download (I won't include the installer as my GID time spent, so after the event I'll build a proper installer using something like Inno Setup).
About the author
Torque 3D Owner Tom Bampton
Nice to hear you will be taking part after all ;)
I would warn you a bit about trying to bite off too much. We all aim to get a finished, playable game done. That's more then doable. However, something polished is going to be much harder. Still, you never know :) I have a feeling you'll get fed up with unit tests half way through and stop writing them in order to get something finished.
Best advice for actually finishing a GID is to strip your idea back to the very bare bones and get that running. If there's still time, then add nifty features.
As for the 1 million thing, I know I told you on IRC but I'll repeat it here in case others are wondering ...
GID themes are just there to give people ideas. "1 million" is meant to be an open ended theme that gives rise to many different possibilities. The aim is to get people thinking out of the box. It is what you make of it.
Good luck :)
Tom.