A big mistake.

So I've been tinkering away at this project for approximately a month now. I usually get in around 20 minutes to an hour before I start my day job. It's great to see the code everyday, simply just reviewing the code is keeping my head a little 'in the game'. That said there have there have been some serious lessons on how to make a game that I've learned the hard way:

I don't think I'm an "exploratory" game designer. If I was to do this again - even though it would suck some of the joy out of the process - I'd go in with a firm outline/plan. When you are learning a new skill, and it takes a really long time to implement something, it's not good to be adding systems on a whim. It's actually really painful. I've added probably x8 the amount of kludge it takes to make a serviceable game, all in the name of 'oh wouldn't it be cool if...'. Yeah, so next game gets a plan.

To add to this...I still haven't found the fun in the game. There is a little part of me that hopes all the systems I've added would be fun for a player to figure out - but I think realistically (right now) a player would play and not get it or care. It's been a real problem while designing the game on the fly, I feel like I'm mining for something by just keeping my head down, coding, and hoping for the best.

So, the plan for October is to start winding it down in some fashion, whether it's fun or not. I'm holding out a little hope that something comes together during this leg of the development 😬.

Note: There is no game to download yet. Sorry about the fakeout link below. It's the only way itch will let me post a devlog.