CLIMB is now live!

Humble beginnings--

I started learning game making in earnest on Oct 2nd 2020. I bought a GameMaker Studio 2 license and began tinkering away with YouTube tutorials. Though I've got 10+ years in the Gaming industry as a working professional, and attempted game development over the years, trying to figure out Unity, dabbling with Twine, and an older version of GM - nothing quite stuck. I think it was only in the past few months where the urgency brought about by a COVID-shaped reality, as well as the additional time at home, made me want to have another proper go at it again.

So, just within the last 20 days, I've learnt the basics of navigating GameMaker Studio 2 and how to make a fully competent 2D platformer (thanks Shaun Spaulding!). And I decided to make Climb as a way to crystalize those lessons in my brain. But with some feature additions, tweaks, and of course my own taste in design. 

This has been a great exercise, and I hope you all enjoy playing it too.

Learning to finish a game--

I know full well the dangers of game development, that seductive voice that can lead to scope creep, or worse still, a game entirely derailed. Which was why I set myself a hard deadline - from the moment I began a new project, I must launch the game within a week (entirely coding during my free time in between a day job). Using a ready made art-pack helped immensely, as did the foundational codebase from lessons I'd learnt previously.

There came times when my brain literally said "Wouldn't it be better if I added-" or "I should spend some time learning how to code this thing because it surely will make the game cooler." Thankfully, my need to hit a deadline meant I had to ruthlessly cut out all the "nice to haves" and focus solely on the core gameplay. I wanted a second weapon, a health and pick up system, more enemy types, a moving platform, a wall jump, perhaps even some BG music. I'm glad I kept my focus and got the game out the door. 

Climb was also a good exercise in limiting scope as a way to counter my lack of coding skills and knowhow, in that it was better to make a smaller, quality game (I hope) than one that is larger, but all-over-the-place quality-wise.

What's next--

I get the game out there, hope people play it and give me good feedback that I can learn from. I already know what I want to learn next - either how to make a basic top-down RPG or roguelike, and undoubtedly, from that I'll make a second game of my own with the new lessons under my belt. Hope you'll stay on this journey with me then.

Junch