Connecting the dots

Hello all. My latest Defold update has me going through the first tutorial to build an "Endless runner". I've been busy with many items at home, and finally got a chance to sit down with my laptop and get everything running. After downloading the application, setting up the project, and running through a few steps, I deployed the first "running code" to a web application and published it through netlify.com. This was a test to see if I could 1) actually allocate the time to code 2) get far enough along to actually have running code and 3) find a way to "publish" the code.

I succeeded in my goals for the night and was able to get from "nothing" to "running code" in a few hours and I wanted to post here with my results. It's not much, but for me it's a huge step forward.

Here's the incredibly boring "running code".

From here it's just a matter of learning more and iterating on this project until "something" is produced. It's a mental breakthrough for me, however. As now I can look forward to developing my first game and not wonder if I can even do it.

Another aspect was having the bandwidth to post again here as well. Creating a game is not necessarily an isolated experience. Writing about one's learning, challenges, or new developments allows others to share in the experience, and to offer feedback and support. I believe this is vital for a developer to actually create something that has meaning and substance. Developing something in isolation leads to brittle, boring, and awkward projects that are out of touch.

Thanks for letting me have the opportunity to use this site as a "development" blog. I will try to fill these posts with code, examples, and useful information.

For now suffice to say that developing with Defold is pretty straightforward and it's a rare case to have a development environment that works on both mac and pc and outputs to so many different formats, including HTML. It's integration with GIT is also a definite plus.

While I'm not a fan of LUA, it's not a showstopper and I can understand why they chose that language to hook elements together. Perhaps sometime in the future they will allow for other languages, such as JavaScript.

It's funny how the motivation to create a game leads one to take on learning a whole new system and accepting the limitations set on one by that system. You have to learn to adapt your creative thoughts into the workings of a development environment. You take your creativity and pick it apart into classes, objects, events, and graphics. I think this decomposition is a sign of true mastery of a subject. Ideas go from magical smoke into concrete and discrete objects. This, I think, is one of the true reasons why we as humans are unique. Creation is a gift, and we should exercise that gift as often as possible.