Agent Devlog 1 - One Down! Many More To Go!

It is Sunday night, which means the end of iteration 1 and the start of iteration 2!

But before I get onto the next work, I want to reflect on what I managed to accomplish during this sprint.

Goal: No Code Yet, Just Laying the Foundation

My habit is to code. It is where I am most comfortable and where I feel the most productive. But I’m soloing this project for the time being, which means I need to wear my producer and director hat along with my developer hat. That is why the goal for this week was to focus on creating a solid plan. A plan that helps keep me centred as I go through this week to week.

What got done?

A project plan and a game development document (GDD) were the main targets.

The GDD is based on an example I found from develop.games and it provided what I feel is enough structure.

Not too short and not too long.

Enough detail to provide a clear enough vision for what I want to build and what needs to be built first, and make a plan. A plan that is the second core deliverable of this iteration.

What didn’t get done?

Two things:

• A blog post, which is a marketing thing
• A character script, which is a game content thing

The blog post isn’t the end of the world. I’m working through learning how to develop in the open while keeping my eye on the development of the game itself.

The character script is pretty important though. I still need to write down the ideas, which have been ruminating throughout the week, but I think it isn’t too much to add to the next iteration.

What was discovered?

What I discovered, and ultimately what I learned, is that there will not be a “perfect plan”.

I know this from years of software development and enterprise implementation project from my day-job. Plus, this is my first stab at a real commercial game, and I don’t really know what I’m doing.

What I do know, however, are my constraints. Specifically time and lack of ability with things like art and music. Still, the plan I have is enough to keep focus and it has also been enough to remind me that as I go, I will discover things that I want to implement, but do not need to implement at this point in the project.

What is the plan for the next iteration?

The next one is going to be a little more development focused, with a pinch more marketing.

There are administrative tasks that are going to pop up that I’m going to need to deal with, beyond just this game, but they are just as important—if not more so—than the rest of the tasks and features in front of me.

See you next week.