Games are like Icebergs
They both take out thousands of players when they crash.

No, seriously. I was referring to the old analogy of an iceberg being 90% underwater, so you never see it. In the same way, game development is 90% unseen.

As an example, I wrote 90% of the gameplay for FlipBall in the first day (maybe two days). I already knew how I wanted the game to play, so it was just a question of organizing a program to reflect that gameplay. That was the 10% that people see.

Now, I've spent the last few days working on the other 90%. Sound, dialogs, gameplay refinement. This is 90% of the work, and most of it is totally ignored by the player. They just expect it to be there. For instance, I put in a "Resign" button, for when the player feels that they just can't finish a level. Even though it took me time to do, most people will never realize that it was there, or know what the game was like without it. I put in a registration screen, a hyperlink in the main game, and a web page that would let people register the game. Even though that took a lot of work, and won't even be seen in the full version, nobody's going to recognize that work.

Not that I'm bitching about it. I know this is just part of the development process. I just realized how easy it is to look at a game in development and say, "So, it's done, right?" and not understand why the developer says they still need weeks or months to finish it.

BTW, I expect to be finished with this one by the end of this week. All that's left (gameplay-wise) is difficulty levels, and I already have an idea how to do that.

After that, I'm thinking I'll either start on a new game, or port this one to the PocketPC.

Check out the Website! (Work in Progress)

I also figure I'm going to submit it to PopCap soon. Cross your fingers for me.
- posted by BrandG @ 8:55 PM