And i'm horrible at this

Man, I remember 2 months ago I had grandeur plans of being this awesome blogger who was going to create a fun game for fun.  Then life happened.  You know what they say, "When it rains, it pours".  Suffice it to say, life was made more tough, and got a bit( well actually a lot) more busy.  Anyways, if you actually look at this blog, you're wondering what this has to do with "For Glory"?  The answer?  Nothing.  Well it does, since life has prevented me from working more on the game.

I am behind schedule, I did write a mini story (since I realized that I can't do the multiple levels I wanted to do), and have some idea on the artwork.  My dad has offered to help me draw some of the items, which is good since I can't seem to draw anything decent.  I've done my research, and have learned how to animate my sprites.

The next item i'm working on is the platformers in the platformer game.  How they are built, solid and partially solid platform, and in general collision detection.  I'm using the XNA platformer tutorial as a place to start, and have already notice some good game practices, but have also seen some ways that I could improve upon it.

From what i've seen and thought about, the art is going to be a large part of the whole project.  :(  With my lack of drawing skills the amount of content will probably be limited.  I would imagine that the bulk of the gaming industries are artists.  You need the character, with it's animation, whether 3d modeling or the animation segments, enemies with their own animations, world items with their own animations, projectiles with animations if it's needed, backgrounds, foregrounds (the platforms you jump on).  For programming a basic platformer, you'll need collision detection, basic game navigation, and a function that will animate the sprites correctly.  Unless you have something unique, a strange weapon that does something cool, the programming is not as big of a part.

Of course, once I start doing the heavy programming part of my plan i'll probably say, wow,..... , there's a lot involved with this too.  Eh, we'll cross that bridge when we get there.  Till then, i'll see if I can blog more than once every 2 months.

Now that the first post nerves are gone.

Most of the hobbies people enjoy, I enjoy also, but ever since last summer I've had the idea in my head to create a video game.  I even started to tinker with some simple games/programs that have opened my eyes on a different way to think of things.  How bounding boxes allow you to create triggers, how the animations should work, the whole idea of creating scripted scenes, etc.  It was quite eye-opening, but at the same time I realized that from an idea point of view, it's not to hard to create a simple platformer.  What I didn't realize is how un-artistic I am.  One of the first things that will need to be done is to create the images/sprites.

So now i'm scared.

I've decided to try and create mini 'sprints' in order to keep myself on track, and also to limit the scope of the game that i'm creating.

January -  Storyline and sprites
February - Storyline and sprites
March - Basic programing (collision detection for map and projectiles, Game screen/loading screens)
April - Basic programing (map/level/game progression, and basic AI)
May - Advanced programming (Boss AI, Beginning/ending scene animations)
June - Music for the game, intro screen, levels, boss fights, etc.
July - Any last minute bugs.  The time for features is done.  Play testing goes on, and finishing touches happen.

Now you might think this is odd since it's a hobby a year, and I've mapped out the game until July.  I thought it would be nice to give the world a present on my birthday in July.  And if all goes wrong, I can just continue on past July.  If I do finish it, the last couple of months will give me the time to try and get it on steam, and send it forth into the world.  If this happens, i'll probably create another game, which will probably be smaller, and try testing out some interesting things, rather than just a simple platformer. (other game design, 3d, etc)

That's it, seems quite simple right?  It could be, or this could turn into the most stressful catastrophe I've had in my life.  We'll See.   :)

Fangen wir an!

Okay, so I am someone who has a lot of hobbies.  Because of this, I feel like i embody the saying 'Jack of all trades, master of none'.  To some degree i have been fine or even happy with this, but I do feel sad that I never get to do everything that I enjoy.  I know that if I were to get to choose my own special power, it would be that I could stop/rewind time so that I'd have enough to do/practice/learn anything I want (Like 'Groundhog's Day', except I get to choose when and for how long)

Anyway, back to the topic at hand, I have had fun with my hobbies, and have bettered myself.  But I decided that it's time for me to become more proficient with some hobbies, and allowing myself to give some hobbies that would take more time, a chance.

So, I've decided a couple months ago, that I would dedicate every year to a specific hobby.  This will give me ample time to dive deeper into the subject that I would normally allow.  It will also not be too long that I will then end up avoiding my other hobbies.

This blog will be a type of Journal, allowing to keep track of my experiences, but in a way that others may also enjoy, if they can stumble across it.