There are a few things that get me thinking about the solitary kind of work.. I wonder how close to the reality they are, and what other developers think about them, but anyway i think im in the good path ..
As a modest developer, i've never neglected the learning part of the process, so i took the most significant bits i could from every indie developer known to me, from their public domain knowledge, being one of my main inspirations this good man, who does exactly what i plan to be doing in a not too far future: http://positech.co.uk/cliffsblog/ !
So, after taking all these relevant ideas and experiences from the other people, i tried to build my own way of doing this, putting all together in the most consistent way i can..
So, here go a few loose words about the process of making games:
I found that it IS a good idea to build a small library to support the game development, it will only get more mature with time, nothing to lose here if you only put in it the things you WILL use for sure.
In my case, i actually added my foundation library to a bunch of USEFUL third party libraries and made a layer on top of it to put all together, and Parabola Engine was born, but thats another story.
To help the focus, i usually think its better to make feature by feature, breaking through the code to make it work FAST, once your eyes are pleased with a 'cool' result, its a good time to look again at the code, maybe in another day, and refactor anything left behind and then move on to the next!
Also, i really came to notice that i can make good features really fast IF my base foundation code is solid enough to provide a little-high-level code and IF the design of the code is clear in my head. Why is this? Because if there isnt a good design in your head, the fast-feature-making thing won't work, as you probably end up changing everything again. To solve this, when i code and i get to a place i am not sure which path i should take, i just go away from it and relax. Normally, in the next day during the time i can't code, i take on a piece of paper, and start sketching ideas. It is indeed usual that I will be ready to make a great progress when i put my hands on the code!
So, my advice is, when you are building such a complex puzzle, first picture it done and what pieces compose it, then put it together!
Another idea I try to follow, and that seems to be working just fine, is that Side-Projects are GREAT! To make it greater, my bet was to make my side-project part of my main project. This means that i work on the game as far as i can, then while inspiration comes back, i just code a totally different thing that can be made part of the game itself. This could be a little mini-game, a little feature here and there. An extra menu, an extra setting, who knows! So far, i usually work in making the engine a little funnier and good to use, sometimes coding really important parts of it, others just making things that could be useful, but are actually fun to make!
Sure there would be more to say, but lets skip the talk for today!
No comments:
Post a Comment