This is a follow-up to game update 2
The game is out!! Unbelievable. It’s done. Play it! Here it is, it’s free. Oh, and it’s called Psycho Box:
I am very happy with this entire experience, but my favorite part is knowing that people played my game and enjoyed it. I am happy with the download and view stats that the game got these last 2 days. 113 views and 21 downloads. Considering that this project was just for self education, I am more than happy with it.
I’m gonna talk about how the last 2 weeks of development were, what I learned, and my next steps.
Level Production
The main thing I had to do before shipping the game was to make levels. I was worried because I never made game levels before, and I was struggling at first. However, I was able to loosen up and start being creative, and I was able to make 20 levels that are at least playable.
The tool I used to make levels was Ldtk. I really like this tool. It’s been essential to quickly make levels and try them out. I wrote a small python script to import the levels to my game’s internal format, and also I implemented hot-loading in my game. This way I could immediately try out the level in my game without re-compiling it and re-launching it. This fast workflow was essential for quick level production.
What I learned
I learned all sorts of things. Some things were technical: about programming in general, about 3D rendering, and other niche specific knowledge about C++, build systems, Win32, DX11 and other things. But I don’t want to focus on that right now. I learned other important skills that are unrelated to programming: How to finish and deliver a game, the basics of level design, and game design. I will treasure what I learned and use this as a jumping off point to make bigger and better games.
Moving forward
I will not abandon Psycho Box right away. I will fix basic things, and add some low-hanging fruit features, like controller support.
I will also make the source code public, so I’m gonna have to rewrite some parts out of embarrassment, but nothing major 😛
After Psycho Box I plan to re-learn Godot and get good at it, so I can prototype games much quicker than I did with this game. I’m excited about what the future might bring.
Update
Here’s the source code
And the project article