Indie Speed Run 2015 experience

[Callate]

Well... That was educational.

So I took up the challenge of the ISR 2015 in part to jump-start my mindset back into programming. There's an on-going project I've been working on for nearly a year now, but the programming has suffered... Largely because the programming is so much less rewarding than rendering and composing music and editing sound effects and visualizing how things will...

Predictably, I suppose, that was pretty much my result with the ISR, too. It's fairly pretty; I think my basic concept is sound.

And I'm pretty sure you can get to the end of the game... at least, some of the time...?

But even ejecting ballast like there was no tomorrow (Okay, the characters don't have to walk around the room, so I can skip all the pathfinding... Okay, I only need a couple of sound effects... I thought there would be time to make music? How young and foolish I was 48 hours ago...!) I still wound up without time to do a thorough bug-check over the final portion of the game. And it shows. Bleah.

I'm just not young enough to stay up 24 hours straight, anymore. Even if I didn't have other responsibilities, my mental facilities on insufficient sleep just aren't capable of de-bugging code on a deadline. I definitely have a new respect for those who do just that, professionally, though.

I quite literally uploaded my offering with one minute to spare a few minutes ago. And I'm kind of proud that I got it in at all. With another four hours... Well, nature of the beast.

So, yeah. Educational. If I do this again, I'll definitely not do it solo; clearly, I need at least one other person's help on the heavy lifting.

Anyone else managed to push a project across the line? How was your experience?

 

[Totenkreuz]

While I don't really understand the term "across the line" I'm rather sure you shouldn't create a (large?) game as a solo project. Well, you CAN, but I found it much more fun, and less nerv wrecking when working in a group of talented programmers, designers, artists, etc.

Granted, you can't really become friends with everyone when working with 70+ people but atleast you get to know some of them and maybe drink a beer or two with the rest. Game development can be alot of fun but you quickly understand how much overtime (more than you really want) you have to do. I also overheard someone saying something like "expect unexpected work" and I would say that it rings true atleast once per week hehe.

The greatest experience is when people enjoy what you "slaved" to create and it's sad for me that you hear more about the negative aspects of something than the good parts. Such a small thing as "those rock textures are great" can really help you in the long run and if nothing else, help us boost our own ego!

In the end, this is a job just like so many other things in life and alot of people do this mostly to feed themselves and their family, but I don't think there are any developers that doesn't have some kind of spark in their mind that they want to ignite when confronted with fuel.

Hope everything worked out for you!
Cheers.