Less is more?

Dec 02, 2005 09:02

Today I came up with the solution, I think, for one of the biggest obstacles toward speedy game development: long load times. On my old computer, each time I re-build the game to run it and try out new changes, it takes about 2 minutes to load the game. This makes it very time-consuming to make small adjustments to the game, and then try them out.

So the solution, from now on, will be to create the rest of the game in modules: I create a smaller Game Maker file and use this as a simple "testing ground" for whatever new element I am working on. Then when I have it completely perfected, I can just merge this file with the main game.

Important things I need to remember:
-Filenames: the stand alone file must not use entity names which are already used in the main game.
-References within the code: if there are references to objects, sprites, etc, within the stand alone code, these may have to be manually updated when the files are merged.

I am also starting to think that the game does not need all of the content I had originally planned. In fact, I am considering taking a few things out that I had already started working on. The tentative removal list includes:

-DemolitionBot (rendered somewhat obsolete, because the TankBots, WalkerBots and Assault Drones provide plenty of demolition on their own)

-ShieldBot (doesn't work very well, and it's not terribly useful anyway)

-PlagueDrone and Plague Generator (not sure it really fits in with the overall feel of the game, and might be annoying for players)

-CloakBot (might be just a nuisance - for me, and for players)

I may still work on these, particularly the Plague Generator but it's a low priority right now. Once I get the TitanBot finished, there will be plenty of different robots in the game.

Speaking of which, I think I will make use of the modular system to start working on the TitanBot sooner, rather than later. I had planned to work on it as the very last feature in the game, but now I'm starting to think I'm closer to the end than I thought.

I thought of a couple more ideas for it today: I'll make the TitanBot's "feet" separate (invisible) objects; that way, if the Hero gets "stepped on," he could take damage. I might also make the head a separate object; that way, the robot could turn its head to look toward the Hero. And if the bot's head gets shot off, it might start behaving erratically! That would be kind of cool. My only concern is that the TitanBot might end up being a large number of objects:

Body
Head
2 Arms
2 Feet
2 Missile Launchers
2 Turrets

That's already 10 objects. We'll see how this works! Of course, if I plan things correctly, not all of these objects will need collision events; only the body and possibly the arms will...
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