Thousander Club Update: April 24th

For this weekâ€™s Thousander Club update:

Game Hours: 68.5 / 1000
Game Ideas: 273 / 1000

Target: 273

I had dedicated last Saturday to game development. I didn’t actually start until 2PM since I spent the morning reading a book. Even so, I should have been able to get quite a bit of work completed. The reality of it was that in an hour I would only get 15 to 30 minutes of actual work completed. In the end, my entire Saturday resulted in at most two hours.

Looking back, I noticed that I had spent part of my time working on other tasks. For instance, I noticed that I was 15 ideas behind for the week, so I changed focus and started reading Wikipedia entries for inspiration. I thought I would only do so for 15 minutes and then go back to development. It seemed like a productive break, but it was a Big Mistake. I also talked a number of people online at once. Another small break that ended up taking up over an hour. “Dedicated” should mean dedicated. I essentially wasted my dedicated Saturday, even though I can claim to have added a book to my list, learned about special relativity, and accomplished my quota for game ideas. The point is, those things could have been done on Sunday. Saturday was earmarked for development.

On the other hand, I managed to implement some key features of the text-based board game. Things are starting to fall into place, although I believe sections of code are terribly ugly. It’s better that it gets done, however, than not done at all.

What can I learn from this past week? I need to exercise more discipline. I’m doing fine when it comes to focusing on the important features. I need to use my timer more often AND actually listen to it.

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Posted by GBGames on Monday, April 24th, 2006 at 2:00 am.

5 Responses to “Thousander Club Update: April 24th”

I think I was one of the folks your were chating with on Friday. Had I know you were supposed to be coding, I would have shut up.

Classes looms on the horizon and I cant even find time to do the things I need to do now…. What is the thing with the “timer” how does that help you? Need some good advice on time management.

Left by epic on April 24th, 2006

You seem really into the text boardgame, more so than Oracle’s Eye. Maybe you can use the “engine” to design another boardgame (Monopoly would be a problem of course) and put some real graphics and UI around it.

The computer version of ticket to ride is doing very well, so if you design a good game it might do pretty well in the market. A bonus would be if it gets pretty popular you can make a real boardgame version of it :).

Left by Impossible on April 24th, 2006

One of the very first “markets” I intend to explore as my education continues is the BBS door market. As retro stuff continues to increase in popularity and so has the BBS. There are over 800 BBS’s today and increasing every month. The problem is most door authors have moved on making this niche a prime target to enter. If not for a little cash then for the experience.

Learn about door32 and ANSI color codes and thats all you need. Text games with graphics; simple but retro and that makes them popular. Most door games are pricey, in fact WT-LORD sells for 50 bucks.

If you havent played LORD, Usurper, Tradewars, Doormud or Major Mud then you have missed a critical Game Studies oppurtunity. This doors are additive, popular, continue to stand the test of time and yes
there text based. I say add a little door32 and try out the BBS market as well GB.

Google to:
sunrise doors, doormud, ambrosia, major mud.

Left by epic on April 24th, 2006

Ahh good ol’ MajorMud — I used to play that back in the day, till I got bored of it.

So BBS’s are still going strong now? And are door games actually lucrative?

Keith

Left by Keith Weatherby II on April 24th, 2006

epic: hehe, don’t worry about it. Our conversation was only a few minutes, and I needed the break at the time. B-)

Impossible: I’m just interested in finishing this board game project. You do make a good point, however. With the code pretty much there, I shouldn’t just let it go to waste. I can probably make a Jones in the Fast Lane clone, or something that uses a board game mechanic.

I don’t know too much about the BBS market, though. I suppose that could be a potentially lucrative and underserved niche.

Left by GBGames on April 24th, 2006

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