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Vectorzone --- Development Journal

02 - Fundamental Problems

So, why hasn't there been an update on Vectorzone progress in virtually two months? Well, let's step through the timeline of events since I got the initial public alpha out.

Firstly, not long after releasing the public alpha I ran into a snag with the way the inventory system was designed that was going to require each individual item stack to take up 1 KB of memory. OK, that doesn't sound like much, but in the heat of a multiplayer game, 1 KB is a LOT of data for something as simple as an item, since it has to be pushed through to numerous players. It took a couple weeks to properly redesign the inventory system since I had to redesign the weapon system in the process to accommodate the smaller item sizes, as weapons were the most complicated type of item and a huge amount of the memory used by the item class was dedicated specifically to weapons.

...then I had to redesign it all AGAIN. x_x;

...and remember, this is my secondary project. ADG is top priority and as a result, 90% of all the work I do goes into making new episodes. Many of these changes would've gone many times faster if I wasn't making ADG, but I'm not about to stop working on my most successful thing to date just to work on something which may or may not have any level of success. :P

In any case, the second redesign of the item and weapon systems resulted in a very simple system that only needed to transmit about 40 bytes per item. Much better! ;)

...and then I got sick... >_<;

It took two and a half weeks to get over what I had and during the first week of it I was barely able to function and couldn't think straight. By the time I was all better, June had already started.

Well, whatever, all of that was behind me, I had a freshly designed item and weapon system, I was ready to get back to coding... and then one day later I got a couple more comments from people who couldn't play the game for long because it made them dizzy or motion sick, raising the average number of people who feel as such from playing the alpha to about 1 in 3. D:

When I first started this project I couldn't figure out why no one else was making 2D games where you're situated at the bottom and the world moves and turns around you and I figured I might get a couple or three people voicing concerns, but with 1 in 3 people commenting to say the motion's screwed with them... well... that kinda explains why no one else is making games that play like this. :/

So, now I'm stuck trying to make a difficult decision. I'm not going to make a game that's going to instantly make a third of everyone who plays it sick, but much of the design hinges on the movement style I was planning. The question is: Do I switch to a different movement style and sacrifice many of the features that rely on the current movement style? Do I redesign the game into something completely different that won't have these issues? Do I abandon the game before I dig myself too deeply into it and work on a different idea?

This was one of my greatest game ideas yet, but the fact that it's run into so many technical issues and now makes a third of everyone who plays it motion sick, something HAS to change... I'm just not sure what. Though really, I'm glad this has all come up NOW and not several months into development where making a drastic change would be impossible. :|

So, this is where all of you come in. Here's ALL of the options I'm considering at the moment. Send an eMail to vzone@pixelships.com to let me know which option you want to see happen:

Option 1: Scale the game down somewhat and completely overhaul the movement, turning and aiming systems. The result will be a much smaller game that I can get out sooner, but will have similar features. (Though it may not have multiplayer.)

Option 2: Keep the current movement and turning but scale the game down significantly and go for a more "arcade" approach in order to get the game out as fast as possible and then move on to something bigger and better. This would essentially mean no multiplayer, no world building, no real sense of exploration, and a level-based approach with fixed maps as opposed to randomly generated.

Option 3: Re-envision the game into something totally different, like a scrolling 2D shooter, a Metroid-style adventure where you hunt for powerups, heck, even a "tower defence" type of game isn't impossible with what I've got so far.

Option 4: Scrap the idea entirely and make something else with pixels instead of vectors. :P

What do YOU think I should do?