Deadlines, Goals and Kicks In The Pants

zacharyFeb 14, 2012

Something missing from our game development project so far has been a strict deadline for completion. That is one of the downfalls of many a game project. If you don’t have a strong goal or deadline that you hold yourself to, you will make every excuse to push completion out into the ether. So recently, Willis and I have made the decision to give ourselves a deadline. More of a goal really.

Coming up later this year is Indiecade. This little award show has a lot to offer a small development project like ours. We have ambitious goals and lofty expectations for the work we are doing and getting into that show will help us meet those goals. So we have decided to enter our game. One of the perks of entering the contest is that the game does not have to be complete to enter, so we are feeling confident about what we can do.

So here is the plan. Games must be submitted to the contest by May 1st if we are to be considered on time. So that is our primary target goal. What we want to have completed by then is the primary gameplay portion. This will include a rudimentary player stats and inventory system, a viewable map of the game world and most important of all, the battle system. We are not planning on having the full battle system available for play by then, but we will have something that resembles the final battle system. All of this will need to be completed by April 14th. That gives us a 2 week buffer zone for finishing up a few things.

Now, if we get more done than we have planned, that will be awesome, but that is the main focus. We want to have what is really a prototype of the game at the least and an alpha at the best. Once we get that part completed and the game submitted, we will be able to focus more on improving the game and adding more features.

Next, Indiecade takes place from October 4th to the 7th and we want to attend. By that time we want to have a functioning beta version of the game available to be played by those in attendance as well as people at home. The game will be available online as soon as we submit the game to Indiecade and all updates from then on will be available as well.

This contest is something that we have needed for a long time. This is giving the both of us, and me specifically, the kick in the pants to get the game done. It gives us a visible date and a goal to reach. We have made this decision and we are sticking to it.

So the goals and dates again for you:

April 14th – playable alpha build of the game
October 1st – playable beta of the game

Some time around the April deadline, we will be making our official game announcement. This will include all the cool info you have been so desperately wanting. During the time between those two dates, we will be implementing some payment systems so that people who play the alpha and beta versions will be able to help support us in the development stage. We will also be considering other funding sources as the need arises.

So there you have it. That is our plan and we are sticking to it. Wish us luck.

And because I like you guys, here are some more arty things to enjoy: