I Got Rekt This Month! D:
So there was a bit of a re-occurring problem here. Thought I could get over it after a week or 2 but it kept persisting. There were signs of this in the first month, but nothing I didn't think I could handle!... But I was wrong... kinda.
The problem was in how I setup my schedule it seems. Each week was planned for now until the day of release! And maybe you'd be thinking, "Well Jolt, isn't that a good thing? You have everything you gotta do written down, and you know exactly when you're gonna do it!" and to that I say... kinda?
Yes it's good to know what you gotta do and to have a good end goal; but if every single hour is planned out it leaves no room for error! And that's where I don goofed.
See, if I overestimate how much I can do in a week and don't hit my goal, then I'm playing catch up... except I can't. Next week's goals already take up all my time and leave no time for fixing mistakes! This is what I've been learning.
I'm trying to create a new system that will help me better predict how long it will take to finish an assignment. And with that, I'm also creating a better schedule! Things I think will create better future progress.
So through a combination of better focus, more realistic goals, better predictions, and a better planned schedule, I'm working hard to make next month better than this month was.
But with that, let's move to what WAS done this month.
The problem was in how I setup my schedule it seems. Each week was planned for now until the day of release! And maybe you'd be thinking, "Well Jolt, isn't that a good thing? You have everything you gotta do written down, and you know exactly when you're gonna do it!" and to that I say... kinda?
Yes it's good to know what you gotta do and to have a good end goal; but if every single hour is planned out it leaves no room for error! And that's where I don goofed.
See, if I overestimate how much I can do in a week and don't hit my goal, then I'm playing catch up... except I can't. Next week's goals already take up all my time and leave no time for fixing mistakes! This is what I've been learning.
I'm trying to create a new system that will help me better predict how long it will take to finish an assignment. And with that, I'm also creating a better schedule! Things I think will create better future progress.
So through a combination of better focus, more realistic goals, better predictions, and a better planned schedule, I'm working hard to make next month better than this month was.
But with that, let's move to what WAS done this month.
A Parallaxing Background!
I'm hoping it's obvious, but the background pieces are placeholder. I plan to make them look apart of the world eventually. But for right now, it just functions correctly. Which is really nice.
"So what are the big white things you probably made in MS Paint?" you're probably asking. And, as you can guess, it's a placeholder! I want the game to have big floaty cubes and other things! I think it will look cool. But because we don't have the art for it just yet, right now it's MS Paint drawings.
And the red/green lines? See because this is endless, I gotta be able to add piece next to piece forever! The colors are just to make sure they line up. Without some indicator on the edges of the image, it would be hard to tell where one begins and the other ends.
New Levels!
So this is a combination of old levels touched up, as well as new levels! I made a few, but I want more. It's a bit tough when you throw out half of what you make. After testing, a bunch of the levels I made just weren't fun to me! The levels need to be awesome as you'll be running through them a lot!
I had a few levels with gimmicks. Some worked, some didn't. In the middle of making levels, I recycled an old mechanic that didn't work well. It isn't done so I'll save it's reveal for another day, but I think it adds a lot more to the gameplay! :D
A Game Over Screen!
so now when the wizard gets away, Terra doesn't just stop but instead has an entire dramatic countdown! You have the option of buying an item that will let you start back up again, but only if you gathered enough coins!
Now I think the final version will look a little different from this. I might move the coin effect to a later part, like, after the countdown is done and you go to the main page. But first I gotta make the main page!
Either way, I'm happy with how dramatic it all feels :D
Either way, I'm happy with how dramatic it all feels :D
All The Other Stuff!
There were also tiny things here and there. Things like; a hurt effect when you hit the wizard, some storyboard sketching for a game trailer, and other boring marketing stuff.
Overall I feel I made some progress, but not enough! I have several things left unfinished! This next month I plan to... well actually I'm not sure. I'm currently in the middle of re-making my schedule. I think I'm gonna squash bugs and finish up any unfinished things, but I'll know for sure once the new schedule is made!
Thanks for sticking around with me so far. I'll have more progress to show next month! But, if you don't want to wait, feel free to say hi some time! I'm usually streaming my progress of the game on my twitch page: https://www.twitch.tv/joltjab Or feel free to say hi to all the wonderful people in our community in discord: https://discord.gg/SZf4wFj Otherwise I'll be seeing you again in a month's time! Have a good day!
Overall I feel I made some progress, but not enough! I have several things left unfinished! This next month I plan to... well actually I'm not sure. I'm currently in the middle of re-making my schedule. I think I'm gonna squash bugs and finish up any unfinished things, but I'll know for sure once the new schedule is made!
Thanks for sticking around with me so far. I'll have more progress to show next month! But, if you don't want to wait, feel free to say hi some time! I'm usually streaming my progress of the game on my twitch page: https://www.twitch.tv/joltjab Or feel free to say hi to all the wonderful people in our community in discord: https://discord.gg/SZf4wFj Otherwise I'll be seeing you again in a month's time! Have a good day!