Sanada_Ujio

Today while discussing Conflict Terra with oksnoop2, the other developer, and taking a swing set apart, I briefly touched on how amazed I was that the project has gotten as far as it did. So I thought I would talk about some of my thoughts concerning this.

If you had told me a year ago that I was going to be making a video game today, especially an RTS, I would have called you a madman. Me, create a game!? It's almost hard to believe even today. So many of my previous creative pursuits were crushed with apathy and loss of interest. So many "book" ideas, lost forever. So many drawings that never got past a clean sheet of paper. So what is keeping me going on this project, the most complex of anything I've tried before? *shrugs* You tell me.

I think maturity has a lot to do with it. I remember they say the author of The Outsiders was only like 16 or something when she wrote that book. That is certainly impressive. I'm 21 and I'm just now able to maintain focus on a project. I don't doubt the fact that it's a video game helps too. Damnable things will always have some hold on me.

But I think the largest factor is that my approach has been different this time. I view it all as a process. If I don't know how to do something, I pass it up and keep on going. I may learn to do it later, or something else may happen that'll result in figuring it out. Or maybe in that time I'll decide on an easier way to achieve a higher goal, and it won't be a present issue anymore.

A great example is that at the beginning of this project, I sure had no idea how to animate with Lua. The wonderful "godfather" script provided to us that only handled a simple two step aiming process and animation just sat in front of my eyes, revealing no secrets. The idea of making a mech walk seemed so far away and hard to reach. So, I decided to ignore mechs for the time being and focus on tanks. Tanks are easy to animate! And boy are they.

But then one day, it all clicked. I understood what was going on in the Lua animation! And, several hours later, and after a few of the Bob Dylan Bootleg Series albums, I had a mech that would raise his arms and shoot. Both weapons! It was amazing. I had grabbed Lua by the throat, and made it submit its secrets to me!

But, walking was still eluding me. A week later, with the help of Oksnoop2, I was able to cobble together a very basic walking animation. The mech moved his legs when he started moving, and stopped when he stopped. It was amazing. It was a process.

Even now, with the bulk of my units more or less done, it's still a process. The project has reached the point where its more unique ideas require complex Gadgets to achieve their ends, and that is something that I feel will forever be beyond me. But who knows, maybe somewhere down the road I'll learn what I need, or someone else can handle that part, and Conflict Terra can achieve more of those lofty goals we see floating around above us.

And with that, I say to the poor soul who may be reading this and is down in the dumps with d'em "game developer blues," keep on choogling, because when you stop, stuff doesn't stop with you. It stays behind.