8/4/23

 Time Worked: 1 hr, 30 mins

Hey there. Been a while. I've been going ham on "NextSoldier", but I just haven't been in the habit of posting here. I need to get back to it because it really helped me get off the ground with game development. So, I'm back at least for this post. lol.

I wonder if I should start being more professional. This has been basically a diary for me, because I don't want to spend a bunch of time editing my thoughts to make them presentable to others. I'm just thinking and writing and recording my progress.

Anyway I'm not sure where I left off last, but EndSoldier is done, now the next project (temp name: NextSoldier) is in the works. Doing really really well, I think especially in terms of organization I'm going a much better job. I've got a good system going where I don't have a very specific deadline (because at this point how could I), but I'm going to check in October to see where I'm at and decide if I should continue or not. 

I'm also doing things iteratively; I drew out a whole diagram of the basics of the game in Mural and at the beginning of each sprint, I draw another mural just showing the parts that will be worked on. But the idea here is that the game will be a playable game every sprint. Every sprint just adds more mechanics and improvements. This is really good because it's very motivating for me to see a working game, and also at the end of any sprint I could leave it and it could be "done" or at least showable.

I also started organizing my tickets in Trello better, writing down maintenance tasks as I think of them. And each sprint I try to pick at least one maintenance task to do, ideally something that is local to the stuff I'm working on for that sprint. I think that's a really good system.

Pull requests are also being used; even though it's just me it means I have to review my work which helps me avoid putting in bad code.

Finally, I've been doing my own artwork for the game which has been unexpectedly very fun. It's just cool because I always liked drawing, but I just haven't been doing it, but now I have a reason to do it, so that's awesome. Like it's just fun, that right there does not feel like work. At least not yet.

Today, I have been working on the cover-seeking algorithm for the enemy AI. It's been a really cool thing to work on because I've never done anything like that, I feel like a smart person. It actually works pretty well, surprisingly I think I did it. I just need to also implement taking cover behind low objects by crouching (right now it's just hiding behind walls, etc.). I also really need to clean up the Enemy class by adding a state system; the massive amount of if statements is only gonna get worse when adding more behavior.

One thing I can improve on is deciding when I'm going to work on this project and when I am not. Because I need to take care of other parts of my life, right now I just do this whenever I can and whenever I feel good. But I feel like I need to be more structured; I need to tell myself "At these times, I am working. At these times, I am not". It's the same with my day job; I think I'm a little too loose with it.

Here's a sample of the prototype character art, and also a GIF of the game as of now.