I know it’s late notice, but I haven’t had any time to work on this or anything else. The past week I was swamped with getting a website together that I’ve been working on for the past three months and on Saturday I had to help at a yard sale and ended up with a pounding headache for the rest of the day that even Motrin couldn’t cure. I know there’s time, but I still have work to do on my other project. I want to finish what I started, because I did sneak a little time in to work on some really basic stuff during the week, but there’s no way I’ll be able finish anywhere near what it would need to be playable by the end of this contest. So I have to tap out, but after the website is done I’m going to take a day or so to rest and then get started on the idea I had for this contest. I was excited about it, but it wasn’t meant to be for me.

As I only intend on producing a working prototype, I’ll be using the python language with the pygame library. I still haven’t decided on which tools I’ll be using to produce content, but I plan on trying a few on the tools page and deciding as the compo date approaches. If anyone has any advice about the tools on that page or other free tools that may work better, I am receptive to it.

Without giving too much away, my idea has to do with tribal warfare and simians. I want to model it after Advance Wars, but place more emphasis on sabotage, reverse engineering and intellectual development between tribes. There will be three simian ‘types’, each filling specific roles in the overall effort. Much of this is based on Planet of the Apes, but of course the game will not be using any copyrighted content. The game will be turn-based and units will have a ‘Vet’ system to improve their capabilities.

I will spend the next few days in my time outside of work writing the base code, which will consist of a loose framework, and I will spend the weekend building on top of the base code and creating content. On Friday I plan to post the base code I’ll be starting with as well as the full code and all assets on the last day of the compo. If all goes as I plan (which it rarely does), I’ll be using this prototype to produce a well-constructed game in a lower level language. Right now my eyes are on Java and C/C++. Going forward from there I would like to keep the project cross-platform, which some languages handle better than others.

Of course, I am receptive to advice that anyone has to offer. This being my first go at a competition, I realize that the head start we were all given might negatively affect my future endeavors with upcoming competitions. Hopefully that won’t be the case.

Thanks,

Mike

Hello, my name is Mike.

I’ve been an SQA Analyst, hobbyist programmer and more recently a web developer/desktop support agent.

Games have always been a part of my life, and ever since I can remember (anything) I’ve wanted to make them.

I’ve initiated a few projects here and there which ultimately amounted to nothing. I’ve always shied away from creating my own art and have been shafted by really good artist friends that couldn’t get into it with the same intensity as me.

Hence, my decision to opt in to a mini compo. I will be creating everything by myself with the hope that last-minute panic will kick in by the end of Saturday and I’ll be able to make something memorable, or at least a good start to something I’m comfortable with working on in the long term.

I would like to thank the originators of this competition for an excuse to give my fiancee and family to take a weekend off for personal time to work on something I love, though my boss may not be so understanding.

Cheers,

Mike