I’ve had a rather productive weekend! Implemented a handful of new art assets from Adam, finished some more gameplay code, optimized a bit, and even released a new build to testers tonight. It wasn’t a smooth process, but when is it ever? I was having an issue with loading the assets of the game at app launch and it caused the game to crash if it ever took more than 20 seconds to load the assets....
Tangible goals are key to any project. Without them I feel like I’m peddling up a steep hill just so I can peddle up some more. Scheduling and time logs showing time spent are great for statistical and historical purposes, but in the scheme of things can do little to save a project if you and your team lack that motivation needed to push the last mile. Countless indie games die from loss of interest....
When it comes to gui coding I don’t typically find it the most glamorous things to do. Particularly when dealing with games. You are left with writing a lot of boiler plate GUI code that is tightly integrated with your rendering pipeline. And even when I do find gui libraries for games they tend to try to emulate the OS in look and feel. When you want something lightweight and very interactive/animated you typically have to write it and integrate it yourself....
I’m currently working on an editor for the next iteration of Gunstyle on the weekends. I find it’s a nice break from iPhone development and lets me start the week with renewed energy to work on Tilt To Live again. I’m using wxMax to develop the UI for the actual editor. It’s not much at the moment but it’s coming together slowly. The editor code architecture is taking a page from the Unreal engine mentality of having your engine and editor be pretty much one in the same....