It's official, I've folded my blog, MrPhil Makes Games, into my computer games website Mr. Phil Games. I'll be adding all new content there. For now, all my old posts here will remain here, but I'll eventually move them all over. Go check it out, it looks great!
Mr. Phil Games
got an update on Friday. It is a little less than I was aiming for but the "Featured"
game section isn't quite ready for prime time. I was able to save myself a ton of
work on the Privacy Policy by adapting Creative
Common’s privacy policy. Sadly they didn’t have a Terms of Use document
and I had to write that one from scratch and it probably shows. I just can’t bring
myself to hire a lawyer to take my money to give me a simple customized boiler plate
document. That aside it does improves the site’s professional image.
I had fun upgrading the site, and will probably continue work on the “Featured” section this week. Lately I’ve been procrastinating work on Alien Sovereign. I think it is probably because I have programmers block which is writers block for programmers. My rendering system is causing me headaches and I probably just need more sub-conscious mulling time before I can solve it.
I recently got my hands on Game Architecture and Design. So far I’ve been impressed with it and I’m going to try and follow it chapter by chapter and apply it to my game Alien Sovereign. I’ve been working on a document for a couple years now catching all my ideas and refining things, which is a cross between the Treatment that the book describes in Chapter 2 and a first pass at the Game Spec described in chapter 2. It is causing me problems in structure department, oh well.
I think, I hope, this book has kicked it into my head that I’m really lacking on the details for my game. I’ve come across the idea in other books, but until now I keep thinking that somehow I’d work out the details while I was coding. Instead it has been a big barrier to coding because I get lost as to what to do next, which leads to procrastination via tinkering with new technology and the like.
I’ve also been playing with the new Alpha 4 release of T2D and some of the new tutorials up on TDN.
Hello, welcome to Mr.Phil's group therapy session.
Hi, my name is Mr.Phil. I have a problem. It's a complicated problem, a
mix of "do-it-all-yourself-itous" and always "biting off more than
I can chew."
I've probably started and scrapped more projects than most people have funny t-shirts in there wardrobe. So my struggle continues. Since March I've learned python, and played with PyTorque, I also put some more work into my C# game engine and then got depressed by my lack of progress and went to the beach and drank beer, for several weekends.
So, now I'm feeling better and I've decided in order to make myself stick to a project and finish it I need to write out in detail what I am doing, and why it makes the most sense to do.
What is the game?
I'm still 100% commitment to my space empire builder game. That hasn't changed,
but now I've pared the concept down to a much simpler starting point. I'm envisioning
simple game play like Diplomacy or Risk, with ever so slightly more unit types.
Then down the road after it is done I can make new versions that expands things
until over time the full vision is realized.
This is a good idea because it small, simply and not overly complex. It shouldn't take me a long time to get the general game play working, and then I can polish it up. It's also good because it is a visible step towards the total vision of the game and my motivation to make the game is very high and what has kept me at this over the years. I know trying to doing anything else would be fool hardy.
Why I'm going to use T2D?
It comes down to two important things: priorities and the scarcity of time. I would
love to build everything from the ground up, the game, the engine, the blogging
tools, and cms you name I want to make it from scratch.
Going that route is fine if I just wanted to program cool stuff. I know it would be fun, and I would learn a lot. But it is going to take a really long time, because I have a day job, friends and need to make time to mow the lawn and take a shower at least once a week.
Too long for me, I'm desperate to make this game, publish something and make my vision a reality. My number two priority is to make this game a reality and I just don't want to wait forever. (Number one is my health I need to get healthier.) So it is more important to me to publish the game than do it all myself. So I must find the best tools possible and accept there limitations, even if I would "do it so much better."
I'm sure I'm not the only person that has this problem I wish there was a vaccine!