Posted On: 2016-11-20
Today will be a quick status update on my current prototype (working title is "Falling", but it definitely needs a better one). The code is coming together nicely, and I have a good handle on what the game wants to be.
On the spectrum of Plan, Practice, and Improvise (taxonomy courtesy of Extra Credits) this game favors improvisation first, practice to serve the improvisation, and hardly any planning at all (at most you can only plan a few seconds ahead at a time). In light of that, I put together some very basic procedural generation for the levels, but I expect that I will have to significantly rework it before the end, as the current implementation only allows for one dimension of exploration (going to the right) while the game itself wants to have full 2D exploration (up, down, left and right).
Like all my prototypes, I have focused first on making the moment-to-moment gameplay satisfying, although, unlike my other projects, I have been a little less strict about consistency of input (it can easily eat up the vast majority of my time and I am becoming aware that it is less important to others than it is to myself).
While it is progressing well, I won't dare venture a guess regarding when it will be done. With the holiday season approaching, I anticipate that I will be less able to find time for side projects.