Bug Hunting, press save?

Hit save!

Major milestone this weekend! The procedural data structures are now bursting into life on screen. But as the headline suggests the most frustrating thing has been lost time hunting bugs due to ammending the templates and not hitting save. The is really a workflow issue with Visual Studio Code. For many years I've used JetBrains products hence I'm getting used to the quirks of a new IDE. But I find having to save prior to a commit is cumbersome. I'm currently still using place holder graphics but even then it is exciting to see data turn into a world. Entities are a little bit sparse however. You can have too much space. With seeing my game take shape on screen ideas are coming thick and fast but scope creep is a thing. If this game is even slightly successful I have two expansions that make sense from a story line perspective sat waiting in my head. I also have lots of ideas for DLC that could really add something.

One more thing that has occurred to me and I do think about it often but I think it needs words put to it to solidify the thought in my head. Quite often when you're using a framework or platform fighting it is pointless. What do I mean by that? It is a bit like Snowbaording or Skiing. I met a girl in Canada from Switzerland who had grown up with the mountains. She couldn't understand with my access to a dry slope and a handful of holidays, with only a few years experience why I was still better. So I watched her ride and then told her to follow me on the next run. It was a real revelation when we got to the bottom. 'That was a million times easier!' It is all about the line you can't fight a mountain that has stood their for millions of years. The mountain and gravity are forces that can't be overcome. Same with a framework look at the tools and mechanisms available. If they don't exist it is probably because the framework wasn't designed that way. It is conceited to think you're the special one with a unique take on things. Reinventing the wheel isn't a thing in coding. Best practice, established patterns and standards always trump the leftfield ideas. Coding is an established science. I wrote my first code at 8, I'm now 51. There is nothing truly new just iterations.

So that brings me to the GML function room_instance_add. It can only be used on the room you move to. So right there is a forced architectural decision on how the dynamic room creation mechanism is meant to work. Obvious right! Apparently not, do a Google search and look how many people can't get it working. This week I'll be adding more stuff so space is less spacey and get the mechanism to jump between my rooms and the timing of the instance creation right. Then my blog may have a bit more insight into the actual game I'm creating.