Two Week Game: Day 1

If you haven't yet, please go read this post so you know what the Two Week Game is.

Off to a good start! I've got some of game logic done, mostly the basic stuff that I'll need throughout the entire game, such as player lives and the level timer. I've got some extremely poor, programmer-style graphics in place to help me build levels. One level is already mapped out, with two more designed and waiting to be mapped. I'm intending there to be about sixteen levels. The early levels will be smaller and very simple, introducing the concepts and the rules of the game. They should get more complex as time goes on, which means it's going to be a challenge to find the balance between big-enough-to-be-a-level and damn-it-isn't-it-done-yet.

Only one day in, I'm beginning to remember the headache some of the little tidbits of game development can be. It's remembering when to set off this timer, when to change that variable, and why that event isn't taking place when it's supposed to be. The little things are currently kicking my ass in making things take a bit longer than I think they should. I honestly thought I would have a lot more of the logic done by now, at the very least. Ah well, live and learn, right? Besides, I still believe designing and testing all the levels is going to take the most amount of time, especially as the levels and the things to test get more complex.

Having spent several hours staring at the computer screen today on this project, I'm going to put it away for today. Come back tomorrow, where I'll likely be talking about how horrible games look and feel in their early stages, and showing off some truly tragic screenshots to prove my point. (And probably hoping with everything I've got that the finished game looks better than it does right now.)