Yesterday, I added the missions infrastructure, along with a dozen or so missions, and flowers.
As we close-in on User-Test-2 (UT2), things are really starting to come together nicely. Almost all of the infrastructure is in, along with token content for all, and playability is pretty decent; I’m getting pretty excited!
I’ve left a few features for Beta, but they’re pretty easy. Also, there are a few bugs, but nothing terribly serious that I know. The big Beta tasks will be adding tons & tons of actual content — all the different plants, the full tech-tree, the machines you can craft, additional robots, etc. On the one hand, it’s all fairly easy work; on the other hand, it’s a lot of work!
Still, one thing that has been great throughout this project is that I’ve always been able to see a clear path forward. In previous incarnations of this or similar games, I’ve tried to use fancy technology that I didn’t understand or do things in a way that required learning new frameworks which, themselves, were new and buggy and, in general, I always got caught up in fighting with my tools and then frustrated at my inability to make headway on the fun game that was in my mind’s eye.
So, aside from the excitement of producing a fun game, the thing that’s really exciting to me about this project is that all of my problems are solvable, and my path to completion is clear. Sure, it’s a bit of a hike from here, but it’s an obvious path and the blockades are the kind that I know how to remove and/or get around.
Woot!
P.S. Optional missions that the player takes when they feel like learning something (and getting the rewards) is so much nicer than the “trapped in the tutorial” way!