DevLog #1: I’ve been devving without logging!

When I first started this endeavor, I promised myself one thing: no half-assing it. I was going to write a dev log weekly, slowly building up an audience. Eventually, I’d release my first game. One-man-banding an entire startup is rougher than I thought.

Meteoroids… again?

So, where are we at? A few months ago, I made a silly little endless space shooter titled “Meteoroids.” I then uploaded it to itch.io. “Meteoroids” was my first step into the wide world of game design. With future projects I would actually sell the games, building up my own little dream studio. “Meteoroids” was just a test, the beginning.

I had already begun writing out my design document for the next project when it occurred to me: why not just remake “Meteoroids” as a mobile game? Make THAT my first officially released game?

Cut to 10 months later and I’ve practically finished this little terror of a game, although I’ve completely neglected this site.

I always intended to have a legit dev log, I just didn’t think it’d be necessary with this first one, I thought I could have it done in a matter of weeks and start the real work on the next project. Like all best laid plans, that didn’t happen. I hadn’t anticipated the amount of work it would take to move to a completely new device, set up an LLC, learn not one but TWO new formats (iOS and Android), and playtest the thing (still haven’t gotten to a beta). Probably the worst realization was that, 3 months ago, when I’d set a deadline to get a beta out, I started to hate my game. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, and it angered me. I fell into a depression, and stopped all work.

Maybe it was a seasonal thing, but that’s beside the point: I’d lost all motivation, and I didn’t know how to stop this thing and move on to the next one.

Well, I think that funk may be over. Thanks to some advice from my friends Don, Eric, and Jamie (along with some sage advice from the wife), I finally came to the conclusion that this shit just needs to be done. So, I’ve started working on a nice little infinite-spawning script. I’ve stripped out the more console-y elements and streamlined the entire project back into a basic, endless, arcade shooter.

That’s right, I fell into the trap of scope creep… on my first project.

I’ve learned an immense amount so far in my game design journey, and although I’m clearly a novice, it’s still a lot of fun, when I don’t let myself get in the way.

Going forward, I’ll try to be a little better about logging my devving (er, developing, I guess… I like devving), and I’ll try to look out for traps like scope creep in the future. For now, I’m going to finish up this script, and get those beta invites out!

If you’re interested in a beta invite, feel free to contact me at the Facebook page, on the message board, or in the comments.