As of today, I'm announcing that my goal for the demo release is January 31st, 2014!
The last month saw a lot of trials and tribulations for this project. The holidays took a sizable chunk of dev time, as did a HUGE hard drive issue. Luckily I was able to resolve the hard drive problems and while I couldn't get much actual work done while I was up north, I WAS able to do a lot of research and tinkering, which meant that when I came home, things were accomplished much more quickly.
For instance, there was a major problem with the code.
Every time the game would load a level, it would load it without releasing the memory from the previous level. Essentially the game would use more and more memory and potentially could have crashed a system - I can’t let that happen.
The game was also jittering and for a scrolling runner game - that's a big problem!
In order to fix these problem, I grabbed some diagnostic tools and got to the bottom of exactly why things weren't working properly and what I could do to smooth it all out. I did enough research and after some long nights I was able to solve my problems! Now the game not only releases the memory, but it releases up as you run a level - meaning that it runs very smoothly and gets more smooth AS YOU GO. The jitters are also gone. I’m very excited about this because this kind of programming and these sorts of problems were what scared me the most when I decided I wanted to make my own games. I consider it a major victory in my journey towards a solid final product.
So what’s next?
During this month I’ll be posting more art and animation. I will also release another song on SoundCloud which I will announce here on IndieDB. Since most of the engine is ready (and I’ve been told that the game play is consistently fun) these are the kinds of things that I can focus on now - polish.
Once those additions are complete, and the level designs are refined, the demo should be ready for launch. It’s not going to be easy to get there by the 31st, but my hope is with that as my goal, I won’t stray far off the mark (if at all)!
Thanks for reading, stay tuned (or become a watcher!), and I can't wait to hear what you all think of the demo!
