30 Day Project
Kail:
So, I've been poking around writing video games as a hobby for a while, but typically they don't get finished. I generally get sidetracked on to some weird tangent ("I'll need three parry animations for each direction, so twenty four in total, so I should probably get that done before I get bogged down with anything like basic combat physics or enemy objects") which is fun but I figured it would be nice to have something I can show someone someday. So here's an attempt to finish something for once.
The idea is that I've noticed that when I'm not making something for a schedule, I generally screw around and waste a lot of time with pointless stuff, while when I AM working for a schedule (even if it's self imposed) I'll generally get way better results. So the point here is to put together a schedule, and make a small, fairly simple game in a month. The point of this post specifically is to add a bit of pressure, so there's a public record of me saying "yup, thirty days" so that I don't just go "meh" and turf the whole thing when I miss the first milestone and pretend it never happened.
The game concept I'm thinking of is doing a 2D platformer. Original, I know, but at least it should be A) simple enough that I can get something basic done in a month (unlike just about anything in 3D), and B) complex enough that I can mess around with things like physics and control (unlike something like a shooter or puzzle game).
So, hopefully, one month. Project due: March 19.
Estimated weekly breakdown looks like this:
Coding:
Feb. 18: Basic physics and movementFeb. 25: Combat and AIMarch 4: Level designMarch 11: Flex
Graphics:
Feb. 18: Main characterFeb. 25: Map tilesMarch 4: EnemiesMarch 11: UI, effects
Estimated Finish: March 19.
The plan is to make a post every week with an update on how I'm doing and if I've hit the goal for this week or how far behind I am.
Breakdown for the upcoming week:
Code:
Basic sprite display and animationCamera and mob movementCollision detectionBasic movement physics
Graphics:
Standing animationRuning animationJumping animationAttacking animation maybe? Might just animate a weapon instead of the character moving.
So, we'll see how it goes next week.
apocrypha:
Cool plan, good luck with it :-)
How about trying to add something simple to distinguish it from other 2D platformers? Something like, making sound an important part of the game play, or some way to interact with the background image? Just a 'quirk'.
Kail:
A quirk would be good, but I'm kind of short on fresh ideas there. What I'm thinking of so far is just making it as crazy acrobatic as possible, like Dusforce or Mirror's Edge, to just make moving around as fun as I can. I don't know if that will be enough, though.
Everything else I've come up with has been used or is really similar to something else. Sound as an important part of game play sounds good, but I'm horrible with sound design and would probably have to bring someone on board for that. Interacting with the background could work, I'll have to think if I can come up with anything new.
Kind of wavering on if I should go for a "retro" look or not. Probably be easier if I did, but limits design a bit, too.
Xuri:
Good stuff! Looking forward to seeing your progress :)
cironian:
Seems like a good idea, just take care not to burn yourself out.
Since you only have a month, maybe start out using stock graphics only for the month? Then, if the gameplay ends up fun after the month is over, do a month 2 followup where you only do the art and are not allowed to touch a line of code (except where needed to insert your art). That way you won't have coding and art competing for the same limited time budget.
Good luck and keep us updated!
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