Game Dev Log #1 (4/18) : Introduction

I’ve wanted to start writing development log regularly for a while now (this first post has actually been hiding half finished on the blog for more than 6 months now 😮 ).

So, instead of procrastinating on reddit looking for ideas on how to write a dev log, I finally decided to just do it 😉

AMazing

I’m currently working on a maze game, which might also turn into a roguelike at some point. The game currently has no title, so at home we just call it AMazing.

This project actually started as an Arduino Game, but then I decided also to do a project on algorithms maze generation as part of my master degree, and the project out grew the capabilites of the Arduino.

However, I do plan to finish this simple version for the Arduino at some point.

This new and larger version also have several new features that the Arduino version does not. But I won’t reveal to much before I start working more on the gameplay.

While I looked into different algorithms for generating mazes, I rendered the mazes in 2D using placeholder art found at OpenGameArt.org.

Initial 2D maze

I implemented, tested, analyzed and compared a selection of algorithms and created a range of plots from the results for the project report.

One of the things I looked at, was the branching factor of the created mazes and how long sub-paths starting at each branching was.

One of several plots from the report I wrote on algorithms for maze generation

Based on this project I now have a selection of implemented algorithms ready to plugged into the game. How and which I will end up using is not yet clear. One idea is to have a Create Game menu which will enable the player to specify what settings to use when a new maze is generated. Such as few branches with long paths or many branches with short paths.

I try to work agile and scrum inspired and have chosen to use JIRA to plan out the project and the sprints. I like JIRA because it is easy to setup sprints and chose to only see tasks within a selected group in the backlog. It can also generate several useful reports which can be used to visualize development progress. But more on that another time I think 😉

Game dev log

So, this was a somewhat short introduction to the game project I’m currently working one.

Feel free to ask anything about the project, and I’ll try to answer as good as I can 🙂

Currently my plan is to write both overview dev logs presenting what I’ve worked on since last and also more in-depth posts explaining specific problems that occurred and how I’ve tried to solve them.

/Signe

Check out the about page to find out more about who I am.

You can also follow me on Facebook and Instagram.


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