Small update today… this last week didn’t see too much on DiscGame (thanks mostly to a fairly obsessive blitz through Mass Effect 2) and I doubt next week will see much either (due to me being down at GDC).
For the progress I did make, it’s not of the sort that makes for pretty pictures or video. I’ve been trying to get basic multiplayer working (before I start getting too complicated with various systems) … this sounds great on paper, but building something that works with netcode is FAR more painful than building something that works on a local machine. I hate netcode. I hate networking. Frankly – I actually kind of dislike multiplayer in general (outside of a good LAN game). I also haven’t done any real netcode development for a long time, which doesn’t help any.
I do have to say that this is an interesting funk from a development point of view – one I hope I can get through quickly or this project may suffer. I like programming – I especially like programming systems that just work. Netcode… is taking something that works, finding its horribly broken (online), and bashing your head into the wall for hours on end trying to fix it. (a slight exaggeration but not by much – I’m hoping that the more I get into this though the easier it gets). I understand why it makes perfect sense to have netcode early (as retrofitting is near impossible, as I’ve learned from personal experience) so I seem to have drawn a line in the sand saying “we’re adding netcode here”. The problem is, this is a painful process and it lacks the creativity and joy that I’m finding in the rest of the project – which makes this difficult to continue on my own time (not to mention I find this level of debugging far more draining than the more creative side of development). If I can’t get multiplayer working soon then I may just say “fuck it, let’s finish this prototype and make something fun… if we want multiplayer, we can rebuild it later – perhaps with a budget”. Until then, I’m still hoping I can make progress and carry on – fun development hand in hand with something that works online. I think I’m making progress at least (learning plenty, at the very least) so we’ll just have to see where this goes.
Categories: Development
