Steadily unimpressive progress

Added categories to the editor as well as adding instances of models (Which are all unnamed because the name editor isn't there yet). This may look pretty trivial but it required adding on the the database's functionality which required learning how to do that in the first place. And stuff. This actually pretty much ate all of my holiday weekend. It should be noted that saving and loading are already added as part of WIP's previous work on the backend of this thing, so it's edging remarkably close to usable. Next week, adding the actual data editor generator! (and maybe even the advanced tree functionality of cut/copy/paste etc)

Untriumphant Return

Oh what a surprise, still working on ikadb. Started on it again this week, though prior to that WIP wrote out the majority of the database-side code. To be completely honest doing this kind of application programming bores me stiff and also involves a lot of trial-and-error with wxPython so progress is retardedly slow. So far it sorts out the models into parent and child (with children capable of belonging to more than one parent though there's really no application for that) and then lets you choose a parent model to work with and generates the pop-up menu based on its children. That's it. Other, future differences from past versions of this includes that it'll generate a table-style GUI for working with the data instead of an actual table. I am gradually slipping into "oh fuck it, I'll just make it work and to hell with it working well".

In other news I started a new project to avoid entering the new Verge contest (codename Delta t), only to have a desire to enter the contest anyway with another game. Great.

Nothin'

Ain't gonna lie, I got nothing done this week for all intents and purposes. I have decided on a few changes about how to do ikadb, though. Firstly the database part of it will be more modular than originally considered- the ika implementation will use sqlite but if I want to switch over to something else it should be simple. Secondly, I'm keeping the backend's name as GRAPES rather than calling the entire project ikadb. Following that, the program itself will be able to run independently of iked. Simple fact is I want to take my tool with me when I have to depart from ika without having it too heavily tethered. Using separate Python code to define data types might be a little awkward but it'll do.

Aside from that I've done some consideration and decided that a more demo-oriented approach (as the original Gruedorf rules promoted) is probably a good idea. While it may not be the most logical approach in programming, the human side of it is much more inspired when it sees actual progress instead of theoretical progress. So expect posted builds from this point on (at least, if I can find web space to put them on).

The last few Gruedorf posts (notably grue's and overkill's) were remarkably more inspiring than usual, not that this actually promoted me to do much of anything, but I'd still like to take note of it. But since this is an awful filler post of "really I'm doing something guys honest" I might as well fill it with more filler in the form of the Gruedorf anniversary posts that a few others have done.

When I started this blog I was restarting Contrivia from scratch. Skip a year and we now have an almost-finished Contrivia battle system/editor (the second version of it, the first being pre-Gruedorf) with most of the documentation and around 65% of the art, a now-discarded partial version of GRAPES, and a finished Magical Unicorn Adventure.

That's awful. Contrivia still being so far away from being done is awful. Not having GRAPES done by now (and having to restart it) is especially awful. Magical Unicorn Adventure probably having lost the contest because we stalled starting on it for two months is awful. This is terrible. It's a mess.

V. little

Currently playing Mother 3 and progress is very difficult to obtain since if I had to describe this game in a sentence it would be: It makes me want to stop making games.

Otherwise, more planning on ikadb but no real progress. Between playing games, school, and worrying about the ever-nearing contest results...yeah. Awful, really. 

Maekin' Gaem Maekin' Tools

I was sort of worried about this before I ever joined gruedorf. It's inherently against the way I work: I burst between months of nothing but working and months of nothing but doing nothing. But at this point I don't care all that much about gruedorf in general so, whatever. When Contrivia is released I'll probably take a much longer break to really skyrocket that fail bar.

Nothing exciting this week. I resumed work on GRAPES this week. Mostly rewriting it from scratch since the previous build was mostly me seeing how to do it in wx. Major changes include it being built as an iked (ika's future IDE) plugin, using sqlite instead of a custom format, and a few general architecture changes relating to things I didn't think of last time.  As such, it's being renamed to ikaDB for the time being.

Right now it's very much early with a basic design doc and the beginnings of pseudo code (trying to do it for a personal project for once, it'll be interesting to see how it turns out. So far it seems much easier to deal with wx when you don't worry about it and just write your code the way you want it without considering it heavily).

Considering this is the third time I've started this project I hope I actually finish it this time. I just don't relate to application programming as well as game programming. But the general implications of getting this done are enormous for me and probably other game makers that I just cannot resist trying to get this thing out. 

Maekin' Gaems

My web space expired last week and in the heat of finishing Magical Unicorn Adventure I had no time to bother with a replacement, though I assure you that there sure wasn't much losing since I haven't done much of anything other than make games for the last 3 weeks up until Thursday when we submitted it. It's done and we're taking a three week vacation before resuming work on Contrivia.

As you might note from the new blog title, naming my Gruedorf blog title after only one game was probably a little short sighted. Well, for me anyway. Might make sense for all you losers out there. During the three week vacation I'll fill my Gruedorf duties with...something. I don't know what yet.

In the meantime here's the proof of unicorn completion (can't really post a build given part of the contest is a publishing arrangement)