Source Control and Coding
I knew I would use source control right from the start. There are a couple reasons. First, it just makes sense as a best practice. It provides a good form of backup and offers a way to revert to earlier versions of code in case I get into trouble. Second, I want to be able to switch between multiple computers for development. I have a home-brew WinXP system and a Mac Book Pro laptop. The laptop is great for working outside on the deck, especially in the mornings when it’s cool. At other times, I can work in on the PC in the basement. Source control allows me to easily work from various systems and keep the code in sync.
I selected Subversion. It’s quite popular and has good clients for both platforms. The CollabNet Subversion package for Windows was a breeze to install and configure with the built in svnserve. For Windows, I’m using the Subversion client TortoiseSVN, which is a shell extension that integrates with Explorer. On the Mac, I’m using svnX.
Once the clients were connecting on both platforms, I started creating ActionScript classes based on the Technical Design document. On the Mac, I’m coding in Flash. On Windows, I’m using Notepad++. I’ve completed the skeletal structure for the classes and written some of the lighter functions. I’ve also setup a couple of XML structures to store game related data. Next comes the real fun, displaying objects on screen and controlling them.
Design
The initial design for space tank is complete. The design consists of three parts: the functional design, a data grid and a technical design. The functional design is the most complete. The values in the data grid will certainly get tweaked during play testing. The object design will evolve during development, but it’s a good start. Now it’s time to start writing some code.
Documentation
I’ve finished pouring over the Flash Help documentation for ActionScript 2.0 and 3.0 and I now know just enough to be dangerous. I’ve started work on a design document for the third game idea, space tank. It seems like a good concept to get started with and learn the basics.
I want to do all of the documentation online so that I can easily work from multiple computers. Google Documents is the obvious choice for word processing and spreadsheets. So I just needed to find an online drawing application to handle user interface wireframes. Cumulate Draw is a nice online drawing application. However, it doesn’t store your files online. Saves occur locally in a variety of formats, but the application can only open files in it’s native format. Online storage would be a nice addition. Gliffy has a very similar feature set and it does offer online storage. The only drawback is the on-page plug for the premium service.
Here are the preliminary wireframes, click to see a larger version.
The Insanity Begins
A confluence of events has convinced me that it’s time to cut my teeth at creating a video game. This will require a number of skill sets: game design, graphic design, programming and marketing.
I have done a fair amount of game design recently for work, so I’m pretty confident about being able to come up with a game design. As for graphic design, I have seen some pretty solid examples of it not being as important as game play for basic web games, which was a big concern before now. It’s been awhile since I’ve had a good programming project to sink my teeth into. Marketing will be the least fun aspect, but I have more experience now than I did with past web ventures. Now that the weather is improving, it will be a good excuse to spend early weekend mornings out on the deck!
I started by working up on some design ideas to get the ball rolling. I came up with three, which I called office manager, poker puzzle and space tank. I’ve got many pages of notes, so I’m good there. Then I spent this last weekend working on getting up to speed with ActionScript. A Flash-based game is the most logical to get started with. The syntax of ActionScript is very straight forward, so that should not be a big deal. The time consuming part will be getting familar with the Flash API.
My ET:QW Stats
