What a year it’s been!

When I was originally planning Dev with Dave, which feels like an eternity ago now, I had intended to spend many hours each week sitting in various cafes and the like round town writing Flappy-vaders and drinking tea 🙂

Little did I know that a global pandemic was round the corner and that the world would shut down for what has felt like forever. Hopefully though, come July the 19th all the remaining restrictions will be lifted and I will once again be able to go out and sit in a cafe and drink tea while I code.

The plan

As you know, I originally planned to cover “The four P’s”, those being Planning, Programing, Promotion and Publication, as well as developing Flappy-vaders alongside it.

Planning went off to a good start, as did Programming, but the game has taken a little longer to develop than I originally thought and I’m unable to do too much more on Promotion or Publication without the game having caught up.

I’m sorry the blog has been a little quiet lately. I should probably be able to come up with a few promotion blog post ideas, but I’m going to make a few videos and/or blog posts to help fill the blog a little. Things like showing how I used some of the software involved in the creation of Flappy-vaders. For example, Pixel art using Paint.net, Creating a sound effect using Audible, maybe even How to create a game trailer using OBS and HitFilm Express.

The game

So, although the game is really taking shape now, and I am really pleased with how it looks and feels, I still have quite a lot to do before it’s ready for the first beta tests.

I need to create systems to handle Adverts, Currency purchasing (using In App Purchase), Daily bonuses and missions, and the music. Not to mention media for the music, and some other game assets. And I need to work on some level design as well to expand upon the seven single “zones” the game has currently.

Then comes balancing, making sure it’s not to easy or hard to play the game, to earn coins, to unlock powerups, and that the power ups aren’t too weak or too powerful, etc. This stage is so important as it can mean the difference between a brilliant game and an average one.

Once the all the games systems are in place (even if not all of them are fully fleshed out, like trophies), the levels are more varied, and the first round of inhouse balancing has been done, then I will be starting a beta test for Flappy-vaders.

If you want to be involved in the beta testing and be one of the first people to actually play the game, the feel free to drop me a message on either Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. 🙂

The experience

I can honestly say this has been an emotional roller-coaster, from the highs of seeing how well the visuals work, or that the game is actually fun to play; to the lows of running into deadlines without having the work finished, and issues in the code which kept we at the keyboard till gone midnight some days.

I’m also hugely surprised at how much time and effort is involved in doing the behind the scenes stuff for Dev with Dave, things like writing blog posts, creating and editing videos, social media etc.

I have immensely enjoyed creating Flappy-vaders with you watching along, and I really hope you are enjoying it to!

What’s next

As I said above, I’ll carry on creating the remaining systems, expanding on the existing level design, and balancing the game a little. before releasing a build on Android to those on the Beta Test Team 🙂

Blog wise, expect a few more posts on promotion, but also keep an eye out for the “How I made” posts as well.

Also, for anyone who wants to drink tea (or coffee) out of their very own Dev with Dave mug, watch this space! 😀