So, where am I in the development of my game? For a while it has always felt like I am almost there. Almost at the finish line. Then I find something that needs to be fixed, or can easily be improved upon, or was a placeholder that I just got used to. And it keeps getting extended. So where am I?

What I am Doing Now

Right now I am focusing on cleaning up the “level select” mechanic. Initially I had a simple level select as a menu that could be called up in the game scene itself. But I was never completely happy with it. It was small, no room for more buttons, going large jumps of levels took a while. Lots of problems, but a good proof of concept.

Now I have a level select in the main menu before you transition into the game scene. With buttons to go both small jumps and big jumps. Even text to tell you where the earliest uncompleted puzzles are so you can go back and do any you skipped.

Originally I was going to remove the level select from the game scene. But the longer I look at it, the more I think I can just polish it up a bit and keep it. But this might just be not wanting to discard work I have done.

So What is Next?

Next is three things. First is to finalize a design choice I have been fiddling with in the background for a while. Next up is to decide how this game will be distributed. The two main options are: free with ads or small upfront price with a free demo version to get people interested. Based on which of the two I go with I either need to design where the ads go, or figure out what I will strip out for the demo version.

And then I should be almost done… unless I find another thing to do.

As I started working on my game there were one or two things that I came across that I didn’t fully understand. Okay, there were a lot of those. But one or two I got to a “good enough” state and moved on. Well, that came to bite me in the ass recently. Specifically with the Canvas Scaler. Most of my game’s visual elements are UI objects, as such they scale to the camera to always be in a specified relative space on the screen. But how they scale is determined by a multitude of factors, starting with the Canvas Scaler.

I won’t get into the minutia of the Canvas Scaler here. But put simply you can choose to set a maximum size, minimum size, or a scaling style for the UI elements. Took me a while to decide what was best for my project, and I am liable to change it again. Before my recent dive into the Canvas Scaler, some objects would scale strangely and end up off screen. And then I figured out why… and it was dumb.

A common way to organize Unity project game assets is to group them under “empty game objects”. These objects are 1 dimensional points in space with no physics, but are useful for grouping objects to make the scene more manageable. They can also be used to apply a single transform (movement, scaling, rotation) to an entire group. I was using these empty game objects for both purposes. Making my scenes easier to manage and to move objects as a group. Unfortunately, UI elements and normal game objects don’t play nice together. And by grouping UI elements under an empty game object I disconnected their scaling from the Canvas Scaler. I needed a new solution.

Thankfully the solution was staring me in the face. I had already been moving UI elements independent of an empty game object, so I just needed to find a UI element that could stand in for one. And I did. It has a few kinks to work out (mostly from adopting it so late), but it shows promise.

One of the greatest strengths of my generation (and the following generations) is that, by and large, if we don’t know how to do something, we just look it up. The internet has put most skill sets a few searches and minutes or hours of research away. Don’t know how to format that file for your presentation? The internet can tell you. Don’t know how to make a resume? The internet has plenty of examples. Don’t know how to change the oil in your car? The internet has plenty of tutorial videos, probably even has one for your make and model.

So why do I bring this up? Because there are plenty of programming things that I have no idea how to do. And so I go look it up. And I usually find a way to do what I am trying to do. Or a way to do a similar thing that gets the job done. Along the way I usually find at least one thing I wasn’t looking for, I didn’t know, and could be very useful.

So, onto the point. I have been getting close to the finish of my game… and finding these last few steps the most annoying, mostly by virtue of going in blind. The step I am working on now is integrating adds into my game, so that I can hopefully make some money from this. But, as the title suggests, the first tutorial I found to do this was out of date. The tutorial was less than a year old, and at first it only looked like some cosmetic UI changes had been made in the process since the tutorial was made. But… once I got to the coding part of the process, everything started returning errors. That is when I knew something was wrong.

But As stated above, I just searched again. Quickly I learned that the tutorial I was using was for version 3 of the integration and the current version was 4.3. Understandably the process had changed significantly. But a new tutorial was quickly found, and the fundamentals were largely the same. It just used different tools to accomplish the same thing. Importantly the new version did allow for more control. However even the old tutorial was not a waste of time. As I learned a useful bit of programming to do something I didn’t know how to do (but which I knew must be possible). And, as with the old tutorial, the new also taught me something I didn’t know. But more importantly this new tutorial explained why it would be useful. After all, simply knowing something is no where near as useful as understanding it.

In game design it is an all too common thing to get an element 80% working, and then decide it doesn’t fit. Or perhaps it doesn’t mesh with who you are doing something else. Or you go in an entirely different direction. The point is that you will have many ideas that get left in the dust. Many might even be fully functional before you discard them. But how you discard them is important.

One piece of writing advice that has always stuck with me is to write the first draft. Then delete that draft and write it again. This stuck with me because I can see the logic of it, but it is so antithetical to how I do things. The logic is that now that you have done the thing it will be easier to do it again, but better this time. And it actually makes a lot of sense. But, a part of me is violently opposed to destroying my old work. If I ever try this piece of advice, instead of destroying the old work I would seal it away out of my reach.

Back to game design, I am a strong believer in making multiple “save states” of my work. These save states are snapshots of different points in development. Often when I make these I need to duplicate all the scripts and prefabs I use so that I can leave the old version alone and largely functional. But what does this have to do with reviving discarded ideas? Simply put, when I discard a piece of code I have written I very rarely delete it. Perhaps I comment it out. Or I leave it in an old version. Or I simply remove the script without changing it at all, just leaving it in a file somewhere for latter. What this means is that if I discard something. Then decide I need it after all later on. It’s always there, ready to be revived.

Eventually, I’m going to have a hell of a time cutting out all the extra files I don’t need in the final build. But in the mean time, I have the entire history of my design process at my fingertips. And that means that while an idea might be discarded, it isn’t gone.

When I need to add a new feature to my game I need to code it in (Duh). But it isn’t always as simple as that makes it sound. Each scene is it’s own world and what I do in one scene does not always translate to another scene. No, if I want something to carry over I need to set it up special. Thankfully I long ago created an object that carries over between scenes, its entire purpose is to carry variables between scenes. But interacting with this object can get a bit weird at times.

One of the main reasons for this is that each time I load a scene my scripts have to go and find that object (Named dataHolder). And you might think this would be simple: “On start find thing” and it is… until it isn’t. You see I discovered something about the Start part of scripts. If you have more than one in a scene they all try to run at the same time. Doesn’t sound too bad, until Script B needs Script A to have set something up, but Script A hasn’t gotten there yet.

My solution? Have only one Start section in my “controller” script and have it access functions of the other scripts that run what their Start sections would have run. But how does this relate back to my dataHolder?

I needed a new variable for volume control, so obviously I would shove that in the dataHolder. But what would access it? Now the solution should be obvious to you, after all I just spent two paragraphs telling you why it is the solution. But my first instincts where to have the script that needed that variable go looking for it. But when that one variable turned into 2 or 3 variables and one needed to be translated from one form to another… not a viable solution. So shove it in the controller.

And I went to do that. And everything just seemed to work. Nice and simple, barely any programming involved. Makes me suspicious any time the solution is so easy. But this time I think it really was that easy. Because I put it in the right part of the interconnected web of scripts.

In my game I have a hint system, standard in puzzle games. But my system always gave the hints for a given puzzle in the same order, top down, left to right. I felt this was stale and uninteresting. So I decided to add a random element to the order in which the hints were given. So I tried a method I thought of, involving a nested while loop, several variables, and a random number generator. Everything looked fine… until I tried it out.

It would work for a few presses of the hint button, and then the entire application would freeze. Most frustrating of all however was that when it froze it would not display any of the debug commands I had put into the code. So it was very hard to figure out what was going on. Then I had a brain wave. My first method was selecting one of the hints to display at random, then finding that hint to see if it had already been chosen. In the new method, I chose a random square and checked if it had a hint to display. Basically getting the same result by doing the process “backwards”. In fact this new function was half the length of the failure attempt.

All that to say. Sometimes I get stuck on a solution that I assume must be “the best” and refuse to see other solutions. And often times I see this solution as “the best” because “It is so complex it must give a good result. When I really need to remember an anecdote I learned in High School. The K.I.S.S. principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid.

I have “finished” pruning the levels for my game. In truth I could spend a great deal more time fine tuning what levels I include, but what I have will suffice. And now I move onto the next step. Now I am going through each scene and checking for any scripts I left in place “just in case” but are now unneeded or redundant. In addition I am checking to see that everything is connected properly. While some scripts can find the objects they need themselves, other scripts need to be pointed at the objects they are dealing with. And now I am in the tedious process of ensuring all those links are correct. On top of that a few scripts need to have these lists updated to account for new or changed objects… Which is even more tedious than simply checking that they are correct.

Next up is an effects review. First I will be checking the scene transition animations to ensure all are acting correctly. Then check the various settings for speed and placement to ensure I am happy with it. With that done, I will move onto the question of if I will be keeping a particle effect on button press for the play area. The central question being if it should remain and be updated to a more theme appropriate design. Or if it should be removed entirely.

And the final short term goal: If I should rework the hint system. Currently, hints are given out in a grid pattern starting from the top left and working across each row. Each press of the hint button gives the next hint in line. This makes the hints fairly predictable. Which can be good. But with a certain method makes the puzzles very easy to solve with minimal hints. The solution? I am not sure if it needs one. But if I was going to change the system I would make the hints come out at random. But… that will take a fair bit of tinkering with systems to make it possible. And I am not even sure if it is needed. So for now I just need to think about it while I work on other things.
And even writing this I think I worked out a solution for the “how to make them random” problem. So progress I guess.

So for a while I have thought I was so close to the end of my project. But then I sat down and actually listed out all the things I still have to do. And even then it was not a short list, with several of the steps having long sub-lists. So what are some of those things to do?

The first obvious thing is to check all the scripts in the project. Remove anything unneeded, make sure all the pointers are looking where they need to, and a few final checks on scripts to see they are working the way I want. While this is the first step, I will also likely repeat this near the end. Firstly as a final percussion in case I messed anything up in the meantime, but more importantly so I can make a new project folder that includes only the files needed for the end product. As of now my project folder holds archives of most of the old scripts, scenes, and assets, in case I ever needed any of them. But once I am ready to publish that won’t be needed anymore and in fact might get in the way.

Next up is a review of the effects I am using. Part of this is linked to the script review as much of the effects are controlled by scripts. But I still hold them as different steps because of their different purposes. This step has two objectives. Firstly to check all the transition effects to see they are happening at a speed I want. And secondly to review an effect I added and almost forgot about: a spark effect on activating a play area button. This effect was included to highlight the button the user selected and make it stand out against the other buttons that also changed. However the spark effect was decided on long before my theme was decided and I need to decided if it still fits in the theme, needs to be changed to fit the theme, or needs to be removed entirely.

Next up is fairly simple and to the point: final sound design. Just need to do a review of all the sound effects and make sure I don’t want to replace them.

Then I will be implementing something I have been meaning to include for a while: an options menu. This will include at least three things: volume control, credits, and an option to reset completion data (with a confirmation selection). There is one thing else I might include that effects game play… but I still need to do a lot of thinking about that one.

Once I have everything pretty much the way I want it I will do a review of the UI design. I will be reviewing it with my father, whom I respect in this subject (even if I but heads with him rather often) and who has lots of experience in the field. This will undoubtedly lead to some redesigns and possibly the need to create some new assets, but most of my UI up till now has focused on functionality rather than design, so high time to change that.

After all that I need to get my game in front of some fresh faces for beta testing. Hopefully they won’t have any major feedback. But I also hope they have something I need to change so I don’t get paranoid about having missed something.

Just two steps go and they are fairly related, but one must start with: monetization. The first step will be figuring out how I want to monetize the game. A one time up front payment would be simplest… but with the number of “free” alternatives I would be unlikely to get many people willing to pay. Next up is a free trial that is unlocked by a onetime payment. More likely to get people to download it, but more complicated to implement. And finally is implementing banner ads. I need to look into this option, even if I don’t end up using it, to see how it works. Odds are that this option would require me to rework the UI to make room for the ads. But the advantage is that the game is fully “free” to play and therefore competes on an even ground with the other games in the genre.

The final step is the same for basically all games: publication. This one will require a bunch of tedious research and set up work. Deciding what platforms to publish on. In what order or all at once. What are the different rules and requirements? So on and so forth. Honestly this is the step I dread the most. Not for some “fearing the finish line” reason. But because it includes the most things I am almost completely uninformed about, and therefore most likely to screw up. But that is life, and I will deal with it when I get there… still a bit intimidating.

A few weeks ago I discussed my reasoning for not including a tutorial in my game. But that was not a quick realization, and in fact I had a mostly operational tutorial at one point. But then I changed the UI layout and would have had to completely rework the tutorial… Anyway! So just to get it out there, what did my design for a tutorial look like?

Firstly My tutorial started with most of the (non-play area) buttons hidden. This was to limit the amount of information the player needed to take in at once. The first “level” of the tutorial was the most basic of basic patterns, the cross in the center of the play area. However I did three things to help teach the player. Firstly, I put some text up on screen explaining what was going on. Secondly, used the hint mechanics to highlight where the player was supposed to click. And finally, I disabled all the other play area buttons. This way I could introduce the player to the mechanics of what pushing a button did, while also allowing them to feel like they were making progress. I continued this pattern for a few “levels” moving the puzzle around to demonstrate that the point you click and the surrounding spaces toggled. But that the puzzle did not wrap around, meaning spaces on the edge affect fewer spaces than ones in the center.

After progressing to two move puzzles I introduce he “restart” button and stop disabling the nonrelevant buttons. This allows the player to mess up, to play around and still get back to the start, however I am still highlighting the correct moves for now. After a few of the basic two move patterns are introduced to the player I introduce the next button, the hint button. At this point I stop automatically highlighting the correct moves and let the player decide if or how many moves they want highlighted while also turning the needed moves up to three and (if I remember correctly, it has been a while since I looked at my old tutorial) finally four moves before the tutorial ended.

To summarize my tutorial set out to do four things. First and foremost I wanted to show the player what pressing any of the play area buttons did, some of my early playtesters were strangely mystified by this aspect of the game. Secondly I wanted to explain to the player what the “menu” buttons each did. Thirdly I wanted to introduce some of the more basic patterns found in this type of puzzle. And finally I wanted to introduce each element slowly, so as not to overwhelm with information.