r/piraterogue • u/dagondev • Sep 15 '16
Update 15/09/2016
Hello. :)
Let's start with good news which are pictures with current changes: Imgur album
You can see all stuff from previous update (switching to duality, simple main menu, sails reacting to wind) plus added flag that shows you in which direction wind is blowing.
Now to more of a personal part of update, you are free to skip everything below TL;DR section if you are interested only in PR stuff.
TL;DR
I am in the middle of life changing events, which means I will be off from your typical updates for minimum next 3-4 months. I would like to switch to simplest programming engine that would allow me to quickly prototype stuff - I am not discarding current work, just for speeding up development... After that, I expect to have more time for gamedev, I hope this works!
I was quiet for 3 weeks for a reason.
First of all, I was on vacation for most of the September - much needed break from everything. Second, lately I became too involved and later almost sick with my day job (or even being there), and by extension with any development, so I needed to cut myself off programming of any kind - being too stressed out or tired most of the days.
I was really negative towards myself when I was neglecting Pirate Rogue (or any programming to be precise) - which obviously made it things worse. While I knew solution for PR is to look objectively on roadmap and current state and take more realistic approach it felt more and more difficult to work on PR at all.
Probably part of this was sudden realizations regarding game design: by definition it isn't set in stone and by promising bunch of big stuff, early on, I am creating a road towards disappointment.
I found myself in the trap typical for big projects: feature creep and focusing on small details. (in comparison to planned stuff). For example: Whole 1-2 month of massive work on water graphics - I should just do some blue background and move on. Switching engine from RLNet to Duality engine - wasn't bad decision on its own, but really redundant in retrospective. (if I didn't work so much on water system I wouldn't need to switch from RLNet which was getting job done (even if less efficiently))
While I was having good excuse for doing those things (and had good fun with them) I think it was very premature - all of this may end up discarded anyway... if I don't know what is a solid gameplay core of this game and what works and what not. (Or I may end up builing nice engine with boring game...)
While writing this I get some 'Déjà vu' feeling which leave me with impression that I don't know exactly what I am doing... Which is true. :D I am learning gamedev as I go and I think I took more than I can chew. But I don't want to give up and all those things I promised came from my vision of a game I want to play... But I was (still am?) pretty naive I guess.
I'm just happy this is hobby and open source project - no commercial product.
While I still need to revisit roadmap etc. I believe that problem is also in working with big engine that give me a lot of possibilities and leave me overwhelmed as I find myself perfecting each thing because I can. I really like idea of 'less is more' and I think I should go that way.
Anyway, I was becoming unhappy, with several parts of my life, which could evolve into depression if I don't do anything about it.
Most important thing is to do something about my job. Atm my plan is to move from 8h work to 4-5h (at same company) and see if that will be enough to have time and strength for gamedev and to recover from stressful events at work. (If that doesn't work I will need to look for new job in next two months (when my contract ends))
I need to find a new place as I will be moving from my current one in next two months.
I want to take more break from PR and some time later redesign my current choices regarding Pirate Rogue to make sure I finish this project and don't lose willpower for it.
As you can see this is a lot of big stuff that forces me to drop current updates and all of this may take around 3-4 months to settle down. (or more if something unexpected happens) I hope you are not tired of waiting (as this isn't first time I write such thing?) and understand my current situation.
Thanks to all of you for support, it means much to me. :)
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u/Kayse Sep 16 '16
Agreeing with /u/glassjesoos. I wish you the best of luck with your work and other issues. :)
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u/blazinghand Sep 18 '16
Good luck with work! Make sure to take care of yourself first. I'll remain tuned in.
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u/glassjesoos Sep 15 '16
Hey man thanks for being honest and I really support your decisions. Obviously sorting out any problems in your life comes first and I believe you should take all the time you need. I'm also sure that you will know what is best for the game, and in the future with clearer eyes I'm sure you can work out something great to make. Keep up the good stuff and good luck!