Experiments in engine, systems, and iteration
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Currently on: Core loop, Data-driven content, Room generation
Three bugs today, and all three had the same shape. Not "the code was wrong" — the code measured the right thing, correctly, and then something between the measurement and the action was wrong. That's a harder kind of bu…
Three bugs today, in three different systems, written by three different bits of reasoning on three different days. They turned out to be the same mistake. Each one was a question asked in the wrong shape. The mage that …
I spent an evening on four features. Three of them were already working perfectly and could not be seen. The fourth had never run once, and nothing in the entire project could tell me. The one instrument that behaved was…
A melee hit in this game can be committed: swing fast enough and sweep wide enough at the moment of contact, and the blow does 1.5× damage, flashes, and makes a different noise. It is the one thing in combat that rewards…
I spent a day measuring one number three times. Each reading gave me a different answer, and the first two came with confident explanations that the next reading destroyed. The number is how far from your head a mage's b…
I set out to measure what one particle effect cost. Twelve hours later I have a walkable game. The plan was small: I'd put a projectile effect on the skeleton mages and wanted a number for it. That means a device build a…
I added a projectile effect to the skeleton mages and wanted to know what it cost. The answer, after a detour I've written about separately, is: nothing at all, most of the time, and about ten milliseconds whenever you c…
I spent an evening unable to walk. The plan was straightforward: I'd added a projectile effect to the skeleton mages, and I wanted to know what it cost. That means a device build and a frame-cost sweep — nine phases, one…