nonDiurnal Productions

The difficulty in putting something together piecemeal is that there’s much less of a catharsis and every release is competing with that perfect vision that inspired everything in the beginning. It’s important to note that I’m under no illusion as to what this first release is, but I’m not ashamed of it either. In the beginning of any large endeavor, it’s primarily a test of will. The first few posts in Unqualified Advice hammered that point home, but there’s a difference between dealing with estimates and reality. Putting a piece of work forward, however rudimentary, is the most important step to take. As such it’s important to note what went right with this release.

Engine

The engine as a whole is coming together very well. While all of the backend coding isn’t done, I like what’s been done. V0.01 is a pure text game, but many of the underlying structures are largely similar to what will be done for the more gameplay-oriented versions. Going from here to Episode II (V0.02), most of the changes will be either user-interface refinements or backend changes. Beyond that, I can’t say much more.

Distribution

There’s some real struggles in using  basic delivery method appears to be functioning well outside of one main was sd. I had some doubt about using ClickOnce, but I think it suits the scale of the project. It was easy to implement, although it has some limitations and is overly Microsoft centric. I can issue easy updates without having to write additional code. In fact, I’ve already issued one to correct a few minor errors that made it into the initial release.

Story

Introductions are easy to plan, but difficult to execute. Some rough patches have yet to be smoothed over, but there’s been a tremendous amount of setup. Not just for Vagrant Dreamtide, but also for nonDiurnal as a whole. Given the plans for both the former and the latter, it’s important that everything falls into line.

seeing everything get set up. story is setting up. There are some struggles which I’ll mention in the negative half of this series, but I felt that this episode accomplished everything it needed to.

Outlook

It’s hard to toss something out into the void of the internet without some sort of concern. In considering the project’s current shortcomings, I feel that topic requires its own space.

This returns us to the note that this isn’t post-mortem. However meaningless or absurd that distinction may seem. I see Vagrant Dreamtide as a living entity, albeit infant-like in many ways. There’s more promise than progress at this point, but I can’t help but imagine its completion.  There’s a firm plan in mind, although there’s no telling what turns it will take along the way. I can guarantee that we won’t let go of it until we’ve done all we can.