:edit: more update. Not much changed, last piece integrated and a nice animated pixel font running, also improved clouds and cloud shadows.

Over the last week I’ve done some research and setup on some new tools and APIs I haven’t used before, but I’m just now actually starting work on my project. I’m focusing mainly on just two things from the theme options: code complete in 3 hours, and using tools I haven’t used before. I picked the first because I contradicts my nature; I’m a programmer first and foremost, and my natural reflex is to hack together the quickest crappy graphics I can and spend most of the 48h on code. I think it will do me some good to focus most of my energy on the content for a project, even if it’s a 48h one. New tools/languages works well with this plan in two ways: first, a focus on content give both time and incentive to learning and applying new content tools; and second, the need to complete the code quickly will encourage me for using APIs that I have not used before. I thought about making it 1- or 2-button as well, but the necessary changes would make the game a lot slower and less fun. What kind of game I make will depend in part on how far I can get in 3 hours of coding, all I know for sure is that it will have a 2d overhead tile map.

I was going to use GLUT, but at the last minute I realized I haven’t even installed GLUT on this computer; downloaded the latest build and set up the inc/lib directories but the linker called the binaries invalid, and after a few downloading again and spending a minutes fiddling I decided to just move on. Instead I’m just using my own base application code; technically this is pre-existing, non-public code, but it doesn’t do anything GLUT can’t do, and in fact GLUT can do much more, so as my own official neutral judge, I’m going to allow it. For sound, I’ll be using fmod. As the design takes shape I may use some other minor APIs as well.

Content-wise, I’ll be making my graphics in gimp, and all my sounds will at least start life as recordings of my own voice. There will be additional content, including at least tile maps, which I will will make in Mappy. Text files will define some additional game-specific content, such as monsters, equipment, and pick-ups; how flexible these formats will be will limit what kind of game I can make, and if time allows I’ll also have some crude (and literal) scripting language, for scripting cut scenes. The latter feels like cheating the 3-hour rule, but it will not be a complete programming language, just a primitive language for creating conversations and cut-scenes.

No time like the present to get started!