Dev Diary #13

It has been nice to see my art pipeline working out as hoped.

When I say 'pipeline' I am referring to the process of:

- Artist uses art program to create art files

- Artist uses tool created by programmer to get art files into game

- Designer uses art files, once in game, to create something fun in the game

Normally it can take some time for this pipeline to be smoothed out. There will be issues at each step that aren't immediately recognizable except by the person doing the actual work.

For example, the programmer would be the person to create that special tool, but it's the artist that actually uses it. This means, even though they created the tool, the programmer might not fully see and appreciate the annoying parts of using the tool; the parts that slow down the process or make it difficult to use.

And so, it takes time, for the artist to use the tool enough to find these trouble points, then report them to the programmer in a way the programmer can understand, then time for the programmer to fix them, and then finally time for the artist to try out the fixes. Hopefully that all works the first time, but it's not a guarantee.

The nice thing though about being a solo dev is that I am the artist, the programmer, and the designer. So I fully understand every step of my pipeline. I created every step. I use ever step. And the time it takes to get it smoothed out has been so much less otherwise.

Recent weeks I have been using my pipeline to crank out art assets for the game, and it has been working very well. I am very happy with the results so far

Dev Diary #12

Keep on drawing, keep on drawing, keep on drawing

That's pretty much all there is to say, lol. I wish it was more exciting then that

But, I guess that is the honest truth of game dev. Sometimes the job can be very repetitive

At least it's fun though. Would be real hard to do the repetitive parts of the work if I didn't love what I do

Dev Diary #11

I have been focused on my character art for the game.

I knew from the start that I wanted lots of customers and staff members in the game. And that I wanted them to all look pretty different.

To realistically achieve this goal; I made a plan to create a character customization system. I draw ears, noses, eyes, etc. And then I write code to slap them randomly together for a different looking person.

I have been *this* close to going full steam ahead and cranking out art pieces. But, each time I think I am there, I find another little bug in my 'slap them together' code. I think I just fixed the last bug though. And so I am about to start cranking out art files again

Wish me luck