DevLog #1: Failing Upwards

After three years of developing a text based RPG I decided to do something I should have done somewhat earlier: I estimated how long it would take to finish. The answer turned out to be on the insane side of the doable <-> unrealistic scale. In hindsight, there is a reason why these things are usually done with teams of more than 1.

I suppose the romantic thing would have been to persist, to charge madly towards the gargantuan workload rising on the horizon - a programmer version of Don Quijote. But with already enough commitments on the go, I decided to not fight windmills.

Screenshot of Midwood Rising - The game that was not.

The truth is my game development break was good. Amazing the things one can do when not juggling a full time job with over 15h a week of programming. I managed to train for and run a couple of marathons.

But game development was always a passion. Not much time went by before I started missing it. 

I got back to developing small games. I then gave agent training a go and ended up building a swarm of birds that I used to look for Frodo on a scaled down Middle Earth. Programming became fun again, no longer a chore.

Still, there was always an itch to finish something. To share it with others. By then I had learnt that meant taking on something smaller, something that wouldn’t take as long. Something I could tackle on my own. I just did not know what.

As with most things, the idea came right when I least expected it. 

I get bored often. Thing is, when I get bored I start a childish game. Ever since I was a kid, whenever I became bored out of my mind I would imagine being thumb sized and would picture myself climbing the objects around me. That always made me grin. It had taken me thirty years to work out that could be a fun game idea. Better late than never, I guess. So, I made a quick note in my notebook. Next to it I added “make it co-op”. 

That evening at home I created a prototype based on the idea. The concept was simple: Climb up something as a team of two tethered characters. A few hours later my team of minion shaped climbers were climbing, swinging and falling all over the place.

Fumbling with an idea - Initial prototyping

Some weeks later I already designed and rigged a more reasonable character I was happy with. Then came the first belaying mechanics. And then the clipping of ropes. And then the co-op functionality. You get the idea.

I suppose that what I am trying to say is that I had too much fun to stop. I have found a project I enjoy making, and this time I did an estimation of completion early on. I am happy with the time length I have in mind.

This dev-blog is my way of keeping track of what I do, a way of staying accountable to any progress or lack of. It’s also my way of keeping sane. So please, do join me on this adventure if you would.