Last month, I finished my One Game a Month February project on the last day, just in time to submit it and get credit for it. Whew!
February’s project was made in almost 12 hours of actual work throughout the month. That is, for about 3 hours per week, I was able to hack a game together. What surprised me was that I didn’t need a huge block of time to get something substantial accomplished. I thought that 45 minutes was the minimum amount of time I needed to concentrate and get my bearings before writing or changing code, but some of my more productive game development sessions weren’t more than 15 minutes in length.
For March, I know I am capable of throwing something together quite quickly. I’ve spent a little over four hours so far on game development this month, and while I’m worried that my game design might be a bit too ambitious, I’m pleased with the results so far.
March’s game is “The New Worlds”, a space exploration game. You’re tasked with discovering interstellar resources to bring back to your homeworld to get everyone off of the planet before the sun goes nova. Hopefully you can find a new home for everyone as well.
Along the way you might discover planets that are already inhabited, and you can setup trade. As you increase the wealth of your homeworld, your ship can be upgraded to allow you to travel farther and faster with more passengers.
Here’s some in-progress screenshots over the last ~4 hours of development:
A random star field.
Some random solar system. I changed the background from black to a purple-ish hue as I found it was a bit easier on the eyes.
More planet variety, and clicking on a planet sends your ship there.
