Right, so. A little late to the party, I know, but I'm just going to dive right in! I have a general idea for the game I'd like to start making this month, but, like many of you, I'll be focusing more on the process than the results.
The Project
My plan is to make an interplanetary (perhaps interstellar) trading/economic management game. You'll start as a small company that has just received enough startup money to trade between a couple of planets, with the ultimate goal of expanding your company to essentially become a monopoly over the entire solar system/galaxy. The details are still vague, but that's the idea that I'll be working towards. This plan has the added benefit of its very flexible complexity - I should be able to pretty easily scale it back if I need simpler goals, but if things go well there are plenty of different features I could tack on.
The other point worth noting is that I'll be using Swift and Xcode to develop this game for the iPad. I recently learned the basics of the Swift programming language in my computer programming class, and I'd like to try to make a proper game with it. I think the biggest challenge will be in figuring out how certain things are handled in Xcode. Drawing, for instance, is fairly straightforward with C# in that you write code specifying exactly what, where, and how you want every individual thing to be displayed, while Swift/Xcode seems to blend code with a visual interface, kind of like Unity. I'm sure it works very well, but the small amount of time that I've spent trying to figure it out has felt very counter-intuitive.
Goals
Spend at least 30 minutes working on my game every day.
Have (at least) a basic prototype running on an actual iPad by the end of the competition.
Achievements
1 Hour: You spend at least 1 hour working on your game during the competition.
10 Hours: You spend at least 10 hours working on your game during the competition.
25 Hours: You spend at least 25 hours working on your game during the competition.
50 Hours: You spend at least 50 hours working on your game during the competition.
½KLOC: Your game reaches 500 lines of code. You're off to a great start!
1KLOC: Your game reaches 1000 lines of source code. Making progress! Excellent!
2KLOC: Your game reaches 2000 lines of source code. Keep it up!
Monday: The entire weekend went by and you didn't get any programming done.
Taking Aim: Set a goal for yourself for one week (or the full length of the competition).
Hang it on the Fridge: You create at least one piece of art (sound, texture, model, sprite, etc.) for your project.
Leveled Up: You learned something that you didn't know that you can reuse in other games or other programs.
Time Machine: Worked for over an hour on code that you rip out.
Widget Factory: Add a UI of some sort to your game, with buttons, sliders, check boxes, etc.
Artistic: You create four pieces of art for your game.
Applying Research: Spend at least an hour programming when you should be doing something else.
The Tinker: Fiddle with a complicated piece of code and get it to work only after a lot of failed tweaks.
"Research": You spend a few hours playing a game when you should have been making one.
Lonely: Program on a Friday or Saturday evening.
Heads Up: Add a Head-up Display or other UI overlay to your game.
It's Just Temporary: You put in artwork in your game that you claim is temporary, until you or your friend can provide you with better art.
Way to Brag: Claim at least 15 achievements.
Law of Live Demos: You show your WIP to somebody. Something goes horribly wrong.
