Thanks guys
As an afterhours project, it's always a struggle to get something done each day and this has taken bloody years! Still, it will get finished and this next year is crunch year. I'm feeling optimistic about it - particularly with BMax arriving shortly.
It's been a long haul mostly because;
1, as a complete newbie, I've had to bone up on basic programming, AI, pathfinding, modelling, texturing, animation, surfaces/brushes, level design, soundfx design/creation, game design, particle fx. Lots to learn - long hours spent reading up on websites.
2, getting a final workpath up and running for art and sound assets. Lots of deadends and testing.
3, not having a set design doc. Think this kills a lot of projects. Excitement at discovering blitz leads to overoptimistic game scope (e.g. 'our RPG's going to have 50 different kinds of monsters!')-> then depression at how much work to do -> burnout -> then project dumped in favour of new project ('with 50 different kinds of aliens!'). Was going to have a complete FPS component but have now dumped that in favour of focussing on the tank combat and feel much more comfortable about finishing as a result.
As an afterhours project, it's always a struggle to get something done each day and this has taken bloody years! Still, it will get finished and this next year is crunch year. I'm feeling optimistic about it - particularly with BMax arriving shortly.
It's been a long haul mostly because;
1, as a complete newbie, I've had to bone up on basic programming, AI, pathfinding, modelling, texturing, animation, surfaces/brushes, level design, soundfx design/creation, game design, particle fx. Lots to learn - long hours spent reading up on websites.
2, getting a final workpath up and running for art and sound assets. Lots of deadends and testing.
3, not having a set design doc. Think this kills a lot of projects. Excitement at discovering blitz leads to overoptimistic game scope (e.g. 'our RPG's going to have 50 different kinds of monsters!')-> then depression at how much work to do -> burnout -> then project dumped in favour of new project ('with 50 different kinds of aliens!'). Was going to have a complete FPS component but have now dumped that in favour of focussing on the tank combat and feel much more comfortable about finishing as a result.