Fly

It’s been a while since I did one of these blog posts… Well, let’s get on with it then.

I’m not having a very good time.

It’s practically impossible not to entertain the notion on some level, that the project is heading down a similar route to past efforts - some sort of doom-laden abandonment bucket.

And it’s stressful. It’s become a genuine source of grief for me recently.

Lots of sighing, lots of rubbing the side of my head in contemplation.

Fortunately for you lot, there’s nothing else to avert my attention. This is it. Unlike other difficult periods there’s usually something else I desperately want to do instead. Not this time, for better or worse I’ve locked myself in.

And as if things couldn't get any worse, an overly excited housefly is currently occupying the strict no-fly zone above my head. It’s driving me crazy. I’ve made several attempts to kill it with a mousemat but it remains unscathed.

So why are things still shit?

(I just got that fly, I feel a bit better now)

The usual stuff. A large part of it is my own incompetence, focusing too much in one area for too long, losing track of time and obsessing over small things.

I solve one problem, several others surface, they get added to the list. That’s just the nature of game development, but I find my patience increasingly being tested and my confidence swaying by this seemingly never ending process.

One of the things I mentioned in the last news post was my efforts to create a system for synchronizing a hierarchy of game assets. On the surface it seemed very simple, and it appeared fundamental towards my method of developing the game-world within Unity.

It’s not an uncommon problem for Unity developers that for some reason, the boffins at Unity HQ have barely acknowledged as a problem, and there are surprisingly few ready-made solutions available, none of which struck me as appropriate for my project.

I can’t believe how many tweaks it’s needed having thought I’d finished it weeks ago, I dread to think how many hours it’s swallowed in total.

At a certain point I asked myself, is it worth carrying on with this or should I give up and find an alternative? If I decided the latter, that would mean I’d wasted an awful lot of time on something only to abandon it midway… (sound familiar?)

So anyway, now I have this finished ‘thing’.

Over the weekend I’ve been getting it ready to put on the Unity asset store, which is a hassle I’d rather not bother with but I’m curious to see if it gets any sort of attention.

Just to clarify, over the course of several weeks I've been working on many other things. Unfortunately, again, nothing that can be represented with screenshots or described in interesting detail.

You know what, I think I’ll end it there.

I think it’s worth pointing out that I’ve spent over an hour writing this, choosing my words very carefully. There’s a lot more that I’d like to say, but I think it’s best kept unsaid.

I apologize for the lack of updates recently, but you can probably tell they wouldn’t have been much good for anyone hoping for details of the game itself...

I’ll have to do another post next week so I can post a link to the store once it’s up. Besides I won’t want this misery fest stinking up the front page for too long.

I wish I could write about my struggles in game development in a way that wasn’t so melodramatic and overblown frankly, but I guess I’m just like that.

I appreciate all the kind comments by the way, it really helps.

See you next week.