Marbleland

I've started to build a test game for the engine. For now I'm calling it "Marbleland", until I come up with something better. Right now the main goal is to put the engine through its paces before moving on to a more marketable idea. In fact, here's the first screen shot of a test level I'm building:

At this point it probably looks like a cross between Tron and Marble Madness. I've gotten the basic player marble up and rolling and have built numerous models to represent different block heights. After building the models, I drew the level design on a piece of graph paper. The end result in the screenshot above took about two weeks total (a half hour here, a half hour there).

The process is going smoothly for the most part, although I had to relearn how to use Blender after switching from version 2.49 to 2.64. The UI overhaul on Blender is jarring at first, but it is so much easier to use. In fact, while searching for some tutorials I came across this fantastic video on UV mapping using the new interface. I highly suggest you check out some of the other related tutorials by this particular author.

I think the most surprising thing so far is the time each step of the process is taking. The model building was tedious at first, and the construction of the first level is going slower than expected. On the plus side, I have only made minor modifications to the base engine code.

The Four Year Leap

I've spent a lot of time on this software project...four years to be exact. One year was spent reading and researching, and three more years were spent developing and testing. At some point, however, a game engine needs to be put to use in something larger than itself, much like a V6 engine needs to be placed into a car.

In some ways it's a leap of faith at this point. All the hard work of development, testing, and research is kind of meaningless if you don't put the engine into something practical. In other words, it's time to down to the business of actually writing games.

One of the commonly suggested starting points for anyone that wants to get into serious game development is to recreate an existing game on the platform of their choice. The best starting point, however, is not create a multi-player online game. It is not to build the next Halo installment, either. Often, it's easier to start with something simple...such as a common card game (cribbage, poker, etc.) or a retro game such as Pac-Man, Space Invaders, or Missile Command. Checkers would work too, although building a chess game with a full-blown chess engine behind it is a bit daunting at first.

So, armed with Blender, Paintshop Pro, and a shiny new engine waiting to be revved, I'm going to plunge into game development again. Like the advice of old, I'll start with simple projects, with the end goal of building skills which will eventually pave the way for bigger undertakings such as the "Big Idea" I've hinted at in prior posts.

As always...stay tuned. I'll start posting screenshots shortly.