We are all feeling the burn. With Thanksgiving break so close, it’s hard to keep going at the same caliber we were when we started this project. Dealing with bugs makes progress difficult to measure. Morale goes up and down as problems rise up and are conquered or swept under the rug.

Calling the shots is tough. I don’t know if I could ever be a producer for a living. Prioritizing is hard, and things get cut. We all knew that was a reality — even big companies cut huge chunks out of their AAA games. The biggest lesson I’ve learned from this experience so far is that nothing is easy and even the most commonplace game mechanics like walk cycles, inventories, and looting take time to make from scratch. In one semester (four months), some game ideas are just not feasible.

Thankfully, Mad Bots is feasible. It’s just very ugly right now. You can DO everything, but it’s not intuitive and the GUI is rough. I’ve decided to save the HUD beautification process for next semester. There’s simply no time right now. The biggest priority is getting the enemy AI working. Currently, both the Generator Bird and the Vacuum Shark get stuck when they run into their ‘fears’ aka puddles of water and sparking outlets. We simply don’t have a game without them! Jose’s done a great job so far, and he’s really skilled at the RAIN AI system. The behaviors and conditions are there, just bug-infested. We must destroy!

Also, animation. Dear gawd, WHEN am I going to have time to do all those? I guess I know what I’ll be doing over Thanksgiving ‘break’… Maybe my lovely artists will do some animations for me.

Good news is… Generator Bird is rigged! Hooray!!

To end the week, another random game concept for your viewing pleasure: Runic-PaperConcept (1)