Progress Report 2 - Reworked Development Plan

[kaos78414]

So generally I have a pretty rough outline of what I want, then I get to work on the very first alpha (pretty much just the framework) for my projects. I've never done a game before so there were a lot of things I really didn't know coming into this:

Firstly, I had no idea how inept I was at creating graphics. My graphics (maps and sprites were created using a combination of Mappy and Gimp) are pretty poor, but not only that, it took me about 3 hours just to figure out Mappy and finish with the single map I have so far.

So, I've decided to do a text-only version first, this way I don't have to worry about graphics or the presentation of them, I get to stick with what I'm used to.

Secondly, I have had no real experience playing text-based PBBG's, so I wasn't sure how fun they could be, until I played Urban Dead. That game did have its flaws (for instance, the lack of a tutorial, I spent awhile trying to break a barricade and wasted about 15 action points before giving up on that endeavor), but it was pretty neat. It did give me a feeling of being immersed in a zombie infested city, and I didn't need pretty graphics to help me figure out what was going on.

Now if I can create a game that gives the same feeling, but with my feature-set, storyline, environment, and a good, easy-to-understand tutorial I'll be on my way to a decent PBBG. I'm excited!

[hallsofvallhalla]

[quote="kaos78414"
So, I've decided to do a text-only version first, this way I don't have to worry about graphics or the presentation of them, I get to stick with what I'm used to.

[/quote]
that is the best way to start. Get it all done in text then come back and add graphics where you want at a pace you want. You will also more understand the style pf graphics you want once the game has taken form.

[kaos78414]

Yeah. I'm getting maps done a lot faster this way. I'm using placeholder images for now, for instance: a green bullet icon for friendly npc's, a bed icon for inns, etc. I'm also able to find lots of different icons online so maps still appear somewhat interesting (like a campfire icon for a physical campfire). After I switched to this method it was easier to get my map system fixed up.

I'm excited!

[kaos78414]

Minor update: After getting overly excited and jumping right into the map system, and everything else that was going on, I realized I should go back, and jot down some notes on how I want things to be communicating between the app and the database. It's just that things got WAY too complex, and I was getting lost with all the number values everywhere.

So I'm going to go in and make some flowcharts of how I want the different tables to connect, and take into account more features that I wanted from the get-go. (My join queries were getting ridiculous, and the amount of exploding columns to avoid having to make different columns was getting bad as well)

[Callan S.]

Good to hear your excited - when I first encountered urban dead about five years ago, I too went 'wow, I wanna make that!' (but had no idea until Halls was kind enough to share some knowledge)

But just remember some of making the game is not really a creative process and is more like data entry. Remember that that bit wont feel creatively rewarding because it isn't, it's the grunt work