Ah yes, it's snowing delightfully so it's time for me to game dev! The day is fast slipping away, though, it's noon...
@p
Side projects. Aha! It's refreshing, always, to be able to just "start from scratch". You don't have to think about or see the problems that will surely crop up with your chosen design, when it's so early on. Even so, you can also make a design that's "a little better" than your last one; one hopes.
@p
For my side project, that was my Mini-LD48 entry "Harry's Questival", I was able to create an in-some-ways-better framework than I have in the Real Texas. The result? Today, when I return to working on Texas, I find I'm cleaning up and reorganizing code.
@p
Code reorganization can seem like a big job. Sometimes, you have to rewrite large sections of code. But the truth is often that the reorganization is based on a clearer understanding of what model you were trying for in the first place, and hopefully insight into how a simpler model could accomplish what you're already doing. So even the rewrites are often simpler.
@p
I think that will be the case! The NPC scheduling/etc. system was a huge pain to put together, but the truth is that now I see why; the model I was using was really too complex. So I'm redoing it. This will give me more flexibility, anyhow, and the rewrite will be like 1/5th as many lines of code! Well, here's hoping...
2008-11-19