It's been a very busy January and there's always a bunch of "admin" stuff to do. So a lot of my time has been spent doing my personal tax return, company accounts and company tax return etc. Talking about that in my latest dev blog is not going to be a rivetting read so I've decided to focus on my plans for the coming year.
Get the game into players' hands
OK, so this may be optimistic given that I'm working on this in my spare time but I think it's possible. Afterall, I've been deliberately vague about what the above means. Ideally I'd have the game out and available but I think it will also be a reasonable achievement to have reached the point where the game can be tested by a few people. If you're interested in doing this then do let me know although, in all honesty, I'm unlikely to have a ‘testable' version of the game before the Autumn.
More of the time, all of the time
There's no escaping the fact that the major issue affecting how the game is developing is a lack of time on my part. I can't see this changing significantly but what I can try and do is set aside more time more regularly. The beginning of the year has been filled with a number of admin tasks as I mentioned but I've also had some coding work to do on other projects... and sometimes I just need a break from coding 😉 However, I think the only way I can improve the situation is to set aside the same bit of time each week to work on the game. this has the benefit of having a clear time that I can work towards each week. Odd things are bound to crop up from time to time and mean that this isn't always possible but I think it's likely to pay off overall.
Recent work...
This past month I've made some improvements to how the car behaves when it's receiving a tow and when it's entering/leaving the gravel traps etc. This makes the car behaviour seem more natural but also provides important benefits to overtaking. The changes mean that, when pulling out from behind a car to pass, the advantage of the tow now decreases gradually and allows the overtaking car to carry the extra speed for a bit longer and this helps it make the pass.
Next month
I'll be working on the AI code for the rival cars. At present they'll lap the circuit reasonably well and can take alternative lines. However, what they don't do is challenge for position and that's my next task.
