Game Design, Programming and running a one-man games business…

Bogged down with end of project stuff

Posted on February 5, 2012

I am currently wading through my list of stuff to do before GTB ships. The list is huge, but not colossal, and I’m now measuring time to beta + pre-orders in weeks not months. Some of the stuff still to do:

  • Auto-updating functionality (hopefully better than GSB’s), both version-checking, and also downloading of updates and installing.
  • Checking mod support works as expected. (not started yet, but likely to be similar to GSB’s installs system.
  • Checking the game runs and is functional on a range of different screen resolutions.
  • Putting together the scripted AI attacks for each mission
  • Finish off the metrics stuff which helps me detect and gameplay imbalance or difficulty spikes.
  • Finalising what is unlocked and what is locked at the game start, and checking the unlock system works as expected.
  • Gameplay testing for obvious exploits and weaknesses, such as overpowered units or silly tactics that somehow work.
  • Getting the final manual text done
  • Getting the final sound effects & sound balance done.
  • beta-release launch trailer, press release and screenshots
  • Website improvements ready for taking orders.

What will happen post-beta:

  • Fixes to any crash bugs
  • Implementation of any awesome must-have ideas from beta feedback
  • Some further optimisations for performance
  • balancing of units and maps based on feedback
  • release-video and promotional stuff.

The stuff that will take time will be the gameplay testing, auto-updating and metrics stuff. I can’t see a February release, but maybe early march? That’s only beta, so hopefully a full release not long after that. Eventually, I will need a BIG holiday…

Server Move

Posted on February 2, 2012

The positech server, which hosts the website, this blog and various other magic, has hopefully today moved. If you commented on a blog post or forum thread, and it disappeared, that is why. Sorry about that.

This is part of my sudden desire to organise and professionalize everything here, so that things run more smoothly. The new server has more hard drive space, better backups, and double the memory. This should ensure a smooth release of Gratuitous Tank Battles in 2043 when I finally finish it.

I have many tedious admin things to do now, plus I have a potentially really cool thing happening which i can’t discuss yet. Sorry! Plus…. If you are in London, come along to the ‘bit of alright’ thing tomorrow to hear me waffle about stuff. I blogged about it, but I think the blog post got lost in the shuffle. Typical eh?

Processes

Posted on January 28, 2012

I’ve started reading a book, and ordered another one, that focus on the topic of business processes for small companies. Essentially the theme of them is that far too many small businesses are built around the hands-on skills and knowledge of a single person -> the founder, and that this can act as a roadblock to the company expanding and flourishing.

This rings very true to me. People sometimes suggest I get a full time artist or coder, but I never do, and what I really need is either a clone of me, or an all-rounder who can do a bit of everything, marketing, business stuff, design, coding, testing and artwork. Such people are not easy to find. A lot of indies use interns or junior / student employees, but I always try to ensure I get the very best, and the very best are normally not looking for a job, they freelance, and are booked up a year on advance.
If I can’t expand by hiring, something I can do is to try and streamline all of the different systems that make up positech. My current systems are a mess. I run backups when I feel like it, I check my ad and marketing budget stuff at random intervals. I have no organised calendar for anything, no dates on GTB milestones, no quarterly assessments of sales, it’s a mess.
So this is something I’m going to work on fixing, over the next few weeks. I’ll hopefully identify a few areas where some new software or cunning scripting can save me time, and make sure I am more organised, and that everything is better documented. One day, I might even end up with some staff.

In the meantime I showed Gratuitous Tank Battles running on a big TV to two fellow indie devs recently. It looked good on the TV, ran without issues, and I think they likedit, which is reassuring :D

Small world.

Posted on January 20, 2012

This morning, when I woke up I checked my email at a desk in the Southwest UK. The internet routers somewhere in London spoke to my positech server in Dallas, and sent me messages from all across the planet. One of them was from a flash developer I have never met, whose game I am sponsoring. I have no idea which country he lives in. Another was from a business partner in Boston, (as I recall), about a port of my game. While I read these, I also checked share prices of companies around the UK whose shares I buy and sell as a hobby.

If I chose to check, I’m sure there would be people from every continent currently browsing the dallas-hosted server of my UK owned company.

I’ll probably chat to some other indie developers today on forums hosted god-knows-where and who live all over the world. Most of the people I talk to on a daily basis are more than a thousand miles from my home.

My parents were born and worked all their lives in one city. My grandparents were born, worked and died 80+ years later in the same city. My grandfather left the UK only once, as a soldier during the war. My mother remembers before TV, before plastic, before indoor plumbing…

And online, we think people are old now if they remember alta vista, or windows 95.

When the world is so amazingly fast moving, it’s easy to forget to stop and reflect on what an amazing time this is to be alive. Life has never changed with such an incredible pace.