NOTE: This was originally published on my blog in June 2025

Hey internet! Guess who forgot to write an update for the how-the-heck-do-you-make-a-game project Im working on? Yes, it was me, you win.

Its been a few months, and in my spare time away from work and general life stuff Ive been (slowly) getting used to navigating Godots editor and Node system, getting familiar (kind of) with C# (I chose to write this game in C# just because it seemed like a useful thing to learn), getting my head around a different coding paradigm; and trying to figure out exactly what it is Im trying to build.

On the latter point, I do have a habit of feeling-things-out when Im designing and writing code, as opposed to meticulously planning things out beforehand. Theres definitely pros and cons to this. On the pro side, youre not overly locked in, which allows you the freedom to iterate and adapt to new ideas; but on the con side, it can lead to messier code that youll have to refactor (though, refactoring code is often satisfying) and if youre not careful, your project can become an unfocused mess of scope creep.

[p align=\"start\"][/p][p align=\"start\"]Anyway, Ive been building out a very basic playable game skeleton. Theres a main menu, theres buttons you can press, theres a mechanic to load scenes, theres a lot of interactive UI, theres a whole bunch of decoupled signal-based events, theres a target system, a points system, a winnable state, a training mode...[/p][p align=\"start\"][/p][p align=\"start\"]This all sounds like Ive been way more productive than I actually have been, as its all very rough and needs a lot of work, but its something. The biggest notable positive is that I havent abandoned the project yet. Choosing the simplest game idea I could think of was the right move. Small, well-realised completed projects are almost always better than large, ambitious, half-finished projects. Ill try to remember that.[/p][p align=\"start\"][/p][p align=\"start\"]I dont really have much in the way of deadlines, and Im trying not to stress/burn myself out with it; so the plan is to keep things manageable. Small, incremental updates little and often, rather than heroic leaps forward in energetic chunks.[/p][p align=\"start\"][/p][p align=\"start\"]This method seems to work better for me, as I avoid becoming overwhelmed and Im making continuous progress without thinking too much about it. Like going on a long hike and just enjoying the views (the process?) rather than worrying too much about making good time or how many steps Ive done? (the progress?).[/p][p align=\"start\"][/p][p align=\"start\"]Honestly, I dont really know what Im doing, so Ill just keep going and adapt where I need to.[/p][p align=\"start\"][/p][p align=\"start\"]Until next time![/p]

[ 2026-01-10 10:57:40 CET ] [Original Post]