So, here we are, once again, at the lake. Pretty easy trip across the continent this year despite having started 6 hours late due to last minute business that we needed to deal with for the units.
It's sweltering this week but I'm coding away anyhow - I've been a bit inspired this week by watching Theodoric playing Peggle on his iPod during the trip. What struck me about the game - I didn't even recognize it from the PC version at the time - was that each of the screen elements was very active in its' presentation, kind of like an old school arcade game where there aren't many screen elements but each is rendered with loving care.
After hitting the lake about 9 days ago I sat down and started play testing Big$hot
with an eye towards initial press releases. I realized that the hardest thing left
was going to be the AI's so I spent the better part of last week rolling up AI building
block code. I didn't want to do press releases until I felt confident that I could
reasonably predict completion within a couple of months. During this process I found
myself starting to worry about how hard the game would be for the new player to drop
into. Big$hot is kind of like Monopoly with a proper business model (plus credit
ratings, an evolving economy, property auctions, cutthroat AI's and business improvement
synergies based upon properties owned). With this and the iPod version of Peggle in
mind I have been spending the last couple of sweaty days recoding the end of month
cash dispersal UI so that it's both more visually appealing and, coincidentally,
helps to reinforce what each property does and how much it is earning for the player.
As I hurtle towards a first playable I am, as always, wracked with worry and buoyed
by hope. Worry that the game might not be any good at all and the hope that the game
will come out as the experience I saw in my minds eye when I started the project.
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