Sick and Regrets

dummey on 2010/08/27 06:18 of THWGSIGWAS

Staying up all night has finally gotten me sick =(. What's worse is that I stayed up working on a part of the game that probably isn't even go to make it in. 

Aside from that the game is getting close to finish. In terms of programming, I could leave everything the way it is and it would be fine. The real question if I can let myself do that. I am really split on whether I will clean up my code or add graphics and sounds. I know that the later is more important for the development of the game, but there is a part of my pride that cringes at how the code is currently laid out. I wonder if any of the other teams have similar feelings towards their games. 

As for what I have to still do, I need to make sprites for the hipsters. Some graphics for the buildings and landscape would do wonders. UI elements on the game screen need to be tweaked and colors changed (hard to decide on a color when you are color blind). And finally, the most dreaded part for me, music. If somebody can point me to a good place to nab some music and sounds for my game, I'd greatly appreciate it. 

(log in to comment)

Comments

gizmo_thunder on 2010/08/27 10:22:

you might want to try http://www.flashkit.com/ for your music needs.. 
I discovered it during the last pyweek and i haven't had to worry about the musicn/sound effects since. 

And as for your problem  with how the code is written.. im' sure everybody participating in pyweek goes through the same agony. You have to distance yourself from that feeling and concentrate on getting the game completed. You could always go back and tweak the source code after the contest or after you submit your final version. Just remember that you are not rated based on the looks of your code but what your game does and shows.

saluk on 2010/08/27 16:31:

I always start with clean code, but rarely end with it. I get the same way, as my code deteriorates, so does my desire to work on it while the code is like that. But usually I press on with the game regardless. There's got to be some way to deal with the time crunch and keep the code from devolving into jelly, but I haven't managed it yet.

ldle on 2010/08/27 18:20:

saluk, I'm exactly the same way. For me it is like a bell-curve. I start off writing good base-code, but as the gameplay starts to be laid down, I can't be bothered to keep refactoring. So I just press through, special-case speghetti code or not. My strategy is that I try to make the initial foundations sound enough that I get enough leverage to make it to the end of the game. By the end the code is a dirty mess, but I usually have a game at the end.

dummey on 2010/08/27 19:19:

Might be a bit mean, but it's great to hear it isn't just me. I am like saluk in that my motivation decreases every time I force some spaghetti code into my game. As of right now, it feels things are so messy that it takes 10 times as long to accomplish anything. 

When you guys say a good base-code, what does this usually include? Having never dealt with multiple scenes, I have to say I spent way too much time designing and redesigning components to work and avoid circular imports. 

Tee on 2010/08/27 19:23:

I wonder if there is anyone who doesn't finish Pyweek with a messy code.

dummey on 2010/08/27 19:37:

@Tee: Maybe it's time for a new award for best code =D