Hello, World!

Writing about projects in progress is a double edged sword. It can potentially provide a source of encouragement and build discipline, but also can be dangerous as it may leak confusion and reveal exploitable mistakes.

I’ve been writing computer code for decades now, and in my experience nothing is as complex as game development. Being a solo developer also means having to dabble with all kinds of things, but some of these can be quite tedious, maybe even pointless to write about.

Especially when a game is not a reiteration, a sequel to a previously created project, its growth is equivalent to discovering completely unknown territories. Hic sunt dracones, “Here be dragons” was a term often seen on medieval maps, and this is so true for the conjuration of a new game from nothing but the imagination.

One thing I often struggle with the most is finding the perfect name for a game. I’ve been working on several ideas in parallel (often putting one “back on the shelf” for many months, allowing it to hatch or wither on its own), and wanted to record my experiences with each here, but how can I even write about something that’s just a vague idea, that doesn’t yet have a solid concept nor a name? The solution is easy: I don’t actually have to publish my notes, but I can still write them, and once an idea crystallizes, I can edit the relevant notes and publish them.

So, watch this space – it’ll be worth it!