To be as ready as possible for this weekends LD, I’ll be kicking the tyres of my whole development process (as much as I can anticipate at least) So I thought I’d share my todo list of what I’ll be making sure works and also some stuff I’ll be learning about before the comp. Much better to do this BEFORE the day. Of course it’s a great idea to try making a quick game as preperation, but this list might help if you aren’t going to do that.

Tools.
Check coding tools are set up, and you can import any libraries you intend to use. I’ll be using Slick 2D library with eclipse so I’ll be making sure eclipse keyboard shortcuts are set up like Visual studio (which I am more used to).
Check audio tools and make sure you can load and use output formats.
Check art tools are usable, especially stuff like sprite transparencies, animation, file formats etc.
If you might use a pre-made one, know how to use your level editor and be able to read in the map files.

Input/Output; Test and get familiar with:
Loading/displaying images.
Loading/displaying fonts.
keyboard and mouse input.
loading and playing sounds.

Platforms:
Try making an executable and be sure it runs on all intended platforms like PC, Mac, Unix.  If making a browser game, check that what you are trying to do will run in most popular browsers.

Algorithmic stuff:
Know how to use common structures in the language: lists, maps, arrays etc.
Be familiar with basic game algorithms: collision, movement, velocities, game states and transitions, sorting algorithms, calculating a velocity from an angle, calc angle between two vectors etc.

Misc:
Check your screenshot/video recording tools if you plan to use them.

Anything I’ve missed? Good luck !

nick

www.physmo.com

This entry was posted on Monday, December 12th, 2011 at 3:43 am and is filed under LD #22. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.