Game Update
As we work through adding all the new spells to the game we realized that one of the bottle necks was being able to iterate quickly on the model we were using in combat as well as adding the spell effect. We used to have to make a bunch of spreadsheet changes, then wipe out the save data, and then reload and hope that our new changes took. After making the changes we would have to set up the squad and then save the data and finally go to the combat screen and load in the correct squads for combat to see the spells and troop animations to match.
We shortened this iteration cycle by directly changing the troop and their spell in code. We now only have to change 2 hard coded values in order to get the same effect which should speed up spell creation considerably. This took a lot less time then I thought that it would which is pretty exciting.
I mentioned this last week but it’s always a trade off when making a new tool or learning a new tool. Those activities have to make the development process more efficient in order to have real value. In this case I think that we made the right choice and I’m very happy to have this option available to me now.
Personal Update
Time marches on and my work situation has changed a bit which is kind of a good thing as it’s an indicator that we may be moving away from Covid restrictions and towards normalcy again. I think that a lot of people are tired of it at this point. There has to be some time when we say to ourselves, “I understand the risks, and I will make my own choice.”
My girl friend keeps impressing me more and more each day. I’m very happy that I met her. On top of all the things she does for me, she helps me focus and take care of business. I thought about it and maybe I would have been a lot happier if I had tried working with previous girlfriends to see if we made a good team first. Who knows maybe I’ll write a book on it someday.
Last week was the last week for the new third section “Answered Questions for an Aspiring Game Developer”, and I rather liked it. I’ve decided to convert that section to “Game Development Insight” which will probably just be me giving my take on Game Development industry news etc… I’ll be staying away from any sensitive topics however.
Game Development Insight
Speed running video games has become quite the phenomenon over the past decade or so. I tried to put a couple of things in the game to help speed runners out. Maybe I’ll add an on-screen timer to help out too. I could only be so lucky to have people like the game so much that they want to speed run it.
Moreover I’m intrigued to see the glitches that have to do with memory replacement lately. Ones like the Mario 3 World 7 glitch that moves from the stage to the end of the game, and the one in Ocarina of Time which teleport Link from the starting area to face down Ganon as child Link. It’s interesting to see what kind of memory replacement glitches that teleport the player are out there.
Again it makes me wonder what kind of memory replacement glitches could pop up in my game to teleport the player. That said the amount of scene loading and unloading is only for stages which is different from the games mentioned above. Still I’m curious to see what the public will find and break in the game. It’s not like I have a whole QA department to look for things like that.