Hey guys!
Wow, 24 days since my last post. How incredibly snail like my progress has been. That may be an insult to snails, but I'll have to let them decide!
Well, not much has happened in those lost three plus weeks. My computer died again… maybe died twice, it's getting hard to keep track. The first time it was down for several days if not close to a week. The second time I actually knew what it was so it was out for only two days. Those excuses aside, work has been crazy and my schedule is changing. That brings a slight bit of good news though actually. I have been on a rather unusual schedule that's basically three night shifts followed by two days shifts. It's been quite difficult trying to get things done, as I'm on a night schedule for half the week, then immediately switch to a day schedule which, quite honestly, wears me the heck out. (Basically no sleep on the night to morning shift, so I drag all day that day, and normally pass out as soon as I get home.) It had been keeping me pretty worn out for most of the week, and on my days off, I once again seem to sleep most of my first day off away. Recently though, two of our employees either quit or were dismissed. That's created an opening on my two day shift days for someone at night. With a little bit of wrangling my manager I was able to apparently slip myself into those night shifts. Kind of odd how it happened though, I had just mentioned to him the schedule was killing me, and them BAM! stuff out of all of our control happens and it looks like I might get my wish. Not that I wish to work zombie shifts again my whole life, but having more stability in my scheduling will allow me to function better and be more productive when I do have time off. So, that's the long and short, mostly long, of things. I might not have the standard 9 to 5 I was hoping for when I first got this job, but I am more of a night person, and these changes hold promise.
All of that aside, I decided to chunk the last version of the breakout game I was working on and start anew. I hate that happens, and hopefully this time I'll take the lesson to heart and actually spend time doing design before hand. I keep seeming to stumble on that and it's getting a little annoying, as I should have learned from past experiences. So, I started again, got a much better code based laid out and working, and am now just a tiny bit further along that I was at the time of the last video posting. I've actually got the star field in the credits screen working, and have been tinkering around with some text effects for the names that will go scrolling across the screen. Kind of mindless and numbing work at the moment since I should be concentrating on actual game play - something I hope to work out this weekend (My weekends being Wed and Thur).
Anyways, just wanted to drop a quick line since I've been mostly absent from these proceedings, but fear not! I am snailing around in the background.
Good work on everyone who has gotten stuff done, and I look forward to seeing where everything goes.
Venti white chocolate mocha in hand, I'm off!
-PiscesMike
