(Meaningful change: Level/Player Select)
The plan for Tanx has always been to create a fast paced kinetic game that is easy to pick up. I have a great fondness for physics and find that simple physical interactions can be incredibly pleasing. There is a subtle joy in being able to knock something around. In my opinion, there is an even greater joy in knocking your friend around. The goal was to make a game that players could intuit naturally based on prior knowledge of physics, but that a thinking player could excel based on knowledge and manipulation of the physics system.
Generally, I spend a longer than average time in pre-production, trying to set up systems that allow for easy expansion. I think as a result of this, I have created several socketable components that I can (and am currently) using in other projects, but the overall pace of the project suffered.
Right
- The physical interaction went well. The kinetic feel of the game is about exactly what I was hoping for.
- The systems I put in place, and the little helper classes I developed, such as the Quaternal Smoother, and the Particle Manager have been useful in several different applications now.
- XML levels/Projectiles/Weapons allow for fairly quick editing of content.
Wrong
- I didn’t go all-the-way on the XML serialization, and some things still need to be referenced in the game code, making it not truly expandable through content.
- No Level editor means that levels are fairly mathematical.
- The slow-start lead to a less-polished game than would have been ideal
In retrospect, some choices I made to do things “correctly” may have taken longer than just getting them done. In the context of a deadline, the result is a less finished product than could have otherwise been achieved. As a base for future projects, however, I feel like this game has been a very worthwhile effort.