November 3, 2007

Code Like Hell

Though I have been taught that "Coding Like Hell" is a bad practice that is to be avoided, it feels like that is exactly what I have been doing today, though I have only myself to blame. For programming class, for our midterm project we are asked to make a very simple text adventure that involves a few rooms, items, and puzzles for the player to encounter. What does that mean I decided to do? A free-roaming, Elite/Pirates! style game involving stat growth (actually that is one of the assignment requirements), upgradeable equipment, multiple vendors, random enemies, side quests, and an actual final battle/objective. Yeah, I'm not making this up. This may be perhaps the worst overscoping I have yet managed.

The thing is, I get really excited about game design, and when that happens my excitement, tends to overrule my common sense and desire for free time. Also, at this point I am so used to working through the entire weekend, I'm not even sure what I would do with my free time if I had it. Anyway, I've already slimmed out the design significantly, but I've written enough code that supports the rather grandiose design, that I will at least need to work relatively hard to connect the dots. I think the final product will be really cool, and far more interesting than a random, "Look I Can Code!" text adventure, but I suppose that is all predicated on my finishing it before the due date. Oh well, I'm happy with how the assignment has gone so far, it's just taking a bit longer than I would like.

Anyway, I'm done working on it for now. I think I am going to enjoy a little gaming and then head to bed. Sorry the posts have been a little sparse lately. Last week, I pulled two all nighters and one where I was working until 3:00 A.M. and I'm pretty sure my body is still recovering. Still, I can't imagine anything else that would make me work this hard, and that tells me something. Alright, night all!

P.S. I'll try to post work related updates (i.e., screenshots and the like) tomorrow, at least I'll try to try...

2 comments: