It was two years ago when I came up with the idea for this game. In my head, it was easy enough that even I could make it. I have been trying to do about 10 games before in my 15 years as a developer. All of them failed because of me adding too much details making them too complex to play.
This time I wanted to learn from my previous mistakes. Before I started putting my vision into a reality, I planned out what I should do and decided not to go out of scope.I also read and watched a lot of devlogs to see how the other game developers are doing. Most of the game creators sounded enthusiastic in sharing their progress. They made it look like they are really having a lot of fun working with their game. Some mentioned a few bumps on the road, but I didn’t think it was something I couldn’t handle.
I started the year filled with determination to start my game. I felt I have learned what it takes to make a fun and exciting game - or at least exciting enough for me. After all, I am making a game I love to program. So I did all components of the game in beforehand - procedural generation, collision detection, camera, animations, among others.
Imagine my surprise when after four months of working, I was already feeling the pressure. Sometimes, I feel a bit overwhelmed by my work and underwhelmed by my progress. Just a week ago, as I was working, I noticed that the procedural generation for cities are a bit off. It was then that I realized I made some stupid mistakes that resulted in creating roads that has some strange patterns. It was also limited to creating sections in 12 by 12 tiles.
I think I was too excited to finish my game that I ended up rushing my codes without putting too much thought on it. This is just the first game idea I’m confident to release, and I am probably bound to commit more rookie mistakes. But even so, it is a little frustrating having to do too much rework in my game.
Still, I believe in my capacity to finish what I started. I am glad that I could come up with a solution to my problem that made the game so much better.
For this recent update, I am using clever algorithms to create world-like cities. The tiles also look dynamic and varied now. Each level looks more alive, creating a fun experience for the gamer.