So I Have Noticed I Am Terrible at Posting Regularly...

This blog is for my benefit. I become a better writer by contributing to it because it counts as experience. I become a better designer since it requires me to transfer my abstract ideas into words, making them some sort of reality; not a playable reality, but a reality none the less. I gain a heightened sense of accountability, of responsibility, to make sure that my thoughts are of some sort of higher caliber because I am posting them on the Internet in a place where the public can potentially judge them, even though at this moment in time I am almost certain no poor soul has had to wade through all of my tripe.

So to ignore this blog for around a months time (what happened? I don't even know, unfortunately) is really hurting me and my future. But whateves! Right? Wrong! I'm going to try once again to keep myself working hard to write regularly, and this time I am going to try doing this not in the middle of the summer, but in the middle of school. It is actually uncertain whether or not this or boost productivity; it will be fascinating to see.

Everything learned about game development between this post and the previous one is conveniently listed below:

1. Cloning Tic-Tac-Toe is not fun, and regardless of how easy it is to do, it does not inspire one to build an acceptable interface around its system.

2. Avoid any RPG Maker program like the plague. I remembered having fun with these tools in middle school and now, as an older, wiser designer I see that they do nothing but inspire uninspiredness. Strangely enough, they are dangerously simple.

3. Tools, tools, tools. I made an entire sokoban engine, but then discarded it since I wasn't willing (and probably not able) to create the proper level design tools. It will be great, intuitive tools that will save this industry from spending 200 million dollars to produce a game.

4. Are you starting a project by first creating character sprites or drawing the tileset for the second world? Yeah, that project isn't going to ever be finished, thought I'd let you know ahead of time.

5. Working with other people, even one other person, makes all the difference in the world. There is no shame to be had in looking for support in a team.

6. Live, networked playtesting on a server for single player content is an amazing approach to getting player feedback. A buddy and I did this for a small platformer build in a game called Blockland (I will write up a post about this game someday).

Here is to the hope that I might deliver my next post within a weeks time!