New Patches On Old Coats (Independent Game Development)

A few weeks ago I put three or four nights worth into making a Snake game (in Clarion no less).

snake-001

Along with the snake game, I stumbled over some larger concepts. Profiles, Games, Stats .. I’m gradually building a very simple statistics application that holds games within it.

Here’s the plan:

  • The primary focus in on the Profile.
  • You must select a Profile before you play a game.
  • The stats are linked to the Profile.
  • The stats can be sent up to the servers for global rankings (again, very simple).
  • The game(s) respond to various intelligence on the stats.
    • Haven’t played the game, get Message 1
    • Have played the game five times, get Message 2
    • Have played the game a hundred times, get Message 3
  • There are a number of simple games. Clones of existing ones to begin with. The Snake Clone is mostly done. Tetris. Jezzball.
  • The Snake Clone
    • Has completely modifiable levels. These are incredibly simple though.
      • Food needed to finish Level.
      • Number of Walls in the Level.
    • Levels are built within the database (Official) OR from XML files (Non-Official).

Of course, these are really simple elements. Trivial.

The point is to get complex pieces of functionality done within a simple system. In a simple and clean manner. Without hundreds of variables.

At least, that’s the plan at the moment. Might be different tomorrow.

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