I iced my ‘Ship’ project. Stuck it in the carbon freezing machine. I’ve decided it was too large in scope for one month. The good news is that I’m not giving up on the challenge, and the even better news is that I’m not doing a 180 degree turn. It’s more like a little detour, a side trip, and pretty much 90% of what I have already completed can be used in the new project.

The paused project is a side-scrolling platformer with RPG elements and an open world similar to The Legend of Zelda. The problem with that is generating the content. Way too much work for one dude and a computer in a small time frame. I’d like to come back to the project sometime, as I think it would be fun to actually be able to spend time designing levels instead of rushing through to complete them in a semi-arbitrary deadline like the end of the month. I felt that it was best for myself to drop it early instead of pushing through and not having any time for a backup plan. Though, now with a third of the time gone, I will have to redouble my efforts.

The new project will be more of an arcade platformer. I envision Donkey Kong and Pac-man. Single screen (or close to it) levels. Sounds good in theory. We’ll see how implementation goes. I should be able to have a prototype set up in a day or so, and maybe a screen shot. We’ll see if it’s entertaining and what kind of tweaks I should make to raise the fun factor.

A quick MSPaint mockup. You run around and collect stuff to unlock the goal, while avoiding the boss attack and his minions.