I just wrapped up a multi-month push towards a pretty big deadline at work. I'm not about to go into specifics other than that it involved a lot of coding (C++ and Python). I'm a software engineer by trade and I enjoy my job but it has been a long time (since my first child was born) since I have coded that furiously. While it was completely exhausting it was also exhilarating.
I mention this because my software engineering brain and my blog-writing, geomorph-drawing, game mastering brain haven't really had much to do with each other lately. It used to be that I would write character generators, combat simulators, and gaming utilities for kicks. It's what I did in my spare time before I really started blogging. It was fun and it kept my technical skills sharp when work got boring.
But with kids, I found that I no longer had the time for such things and switched almost entirely to writing and other analog pursuits. Coding isn't just something you can easily squeeze into the corners of a day. If I start a software project, I kind of obsess about it. I always want to get to the code to a state where it does something useful or interesting. If I find a bug, I want to fix the damn thing. Now.
Anyway, I now find myself thinking about coding game apps again. But I'm feeling a little gun shy because if I do, I have a sense that it may disrupt my other interests. My efforts at developing a writing habit my slide and blogging may prove especially challenging.
But I have a kind of neat idea that involves old school Interactive Fiction (like Zork) and the geomorphs that everybody was doing not so long ago. It would be nifty if I utilize some of the Interactive Fiction frameworks out there to explore a random assortment of geomorphs (stocked with monsters and treasure for good measure).
Sigh. It's a crazy idea and I may drop it if it becomes too much. But I'm going to take advantage of some possible holiday free time to see what can be done with it.
Seven Settings: Campaigns I'd Like to Run
5 hours ago
4 comments:
That sounds like an interesting project. I hope it all falls into place without too much disruption of your other pursuits. Good Luck!
I've played with I7 a bit - started a work where you "woke up" sitting on a meditation cushion in a zen temple.
I'm sure you could pick it up in an hour or so - it's a very English friendly programming language.
Have you had a look at the Unity engine? When combined with C++ its a pretty versatile little beast and should be good for what you are describing.
Unity is free to download.
Dex
@Quibish: Thanks!
@ze bulette: Oh yeah, I'm a bug fan of Inform 7. I love it writes (mostly) like English. Of course, doing certain things that you'd want to do in a game can be a bit of a pain, compared to normal languages.
@Dex: Cool! I'll check it out. Thanks. :)
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