So I switched gears to work on a simpler project this week. Although the Tower Defense game is progressing very well, it still requires a lot more graphic art and programming to get it ready for release. I see at least another couple of months of work to finish it up. The art work and level programming will tie up the majority of that time, but it also needs player support for saved games, top score achievements, and buying tower upgrades, etc... In order to keep on track, I try to keep focused on the small goals that will lead to the finished product. If I think too much about all the tasks to accomplish, I get a bit of 'brain lock'. It can get overwhelming.
I admit it, I got a little antsy to push out a product. I also don't want to get burned out on the TD game before it was finished. After some talks with Rebecca last weekend, I was inspired to tinker with a new puzzle App. So on Monday, I cobbled together the skeleton for this game and showed it to the Boss. She was receptive and offered up some good ideas. I went ahead and put together another design and after a week of fun, I have a working prototype puzzle game. I will try it out on the family this weekend and then start adding puzzle levels and polish.
The game is basically a strategy type game to take over an entire board using simple interaction with the game board. As the levels advance, the board will introduce 'enemy' colors that will compete for conquest of the whole board. I have a few ideas for how the enemies will behave, but still need to create a rules engine to get them working. Hey, whats a little artificial intelligence between friends, eh? Next week should be interesting.
Hopefully, I can pull this together and get a release out in the next month. This will also give us one more product to tell our friends and family about. Then I can get back to the tower game without worrying too much about the long term schedule.
So I got antsy, but sometimes you just need to scratch that itch.
Ben, if you're writing computer games, you must stay AWAY from my husband! :-) That's what he did full-time in his early twenties, and for him out might as well be crack. (Their most successful game was called Ironseed.) I'm assuming this is a hobby for you. If it's your career, you're living his dream! Oh how fun it would be to catch up with Rebecca while y'all geeked out. Anyway, nice to meet you. Give Rebecca a hug for me!
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