Another day of not quite achieving the goals I set out for myself. I still don’t have a fully playable game prototype, but the scene is now much more recognisable than it was yesterday. It’s amazing how just a few vectors can give a scene some context.

I ended up not having as much time to program today as I had hoped, again due to a combination of illness and unpleasant weather. But I’m still generally pleased with how much I got done today, under the conditions. And I’m still pretty confident about having Damsel wrapped up on Sunday (though I would have liked an extra day to polish the gameplay)

Stuff that has taken longer than I expected: Finding an appropriate size for characters relative to the level graphics, while still making characters vaguely recognisable and having a nicely sized level to work within. Navigation AI for the AI characters, to keep them walking along the edge of the street. And, of course, general design. I’d originally allocated the first two days to nail down the game design, but I’m still tweaking with it now as I’m implementing it, trying to make the game more compelling. (The four-way intersection, for example, is a design modification that I made today; the game was set in a parking lot, yesterday).

I’ll probably start showing off bits of actual gameplay tomorrow. Very close to having everything I need in place to turn it into an actual game. :) And of course, there are still lots and lots of graphics left to create. But it’s coming together. So overall mood: missing every deadline I set myself, but I still think I’ll finish on time.