A Turret's Life is a first-person arcade shooter/tower defence game for PC and VR where you are the tower defending an area against the endless onslaught of attacking robots and combining overpowered modules that can be traded as crypto-backed items.

Updates

The Game Loop: I have decided on focusing on building the main game first, instead of working on the online back-end system.

Progress

The Game Loop

Last week I finished up the input system and was mentioning a few different possible routes the project could go down next. I have decided that I will start working on the core gameplay aspects of the game, instead of the online back-end account system. The game will have both an online and offline mode, so I figure it makes sense to finish the offline mode first, since all of the functionality inside the offline mode will carry over into the online mode. This gives me a clearer frame of reference and helps break down the tasks required for building the online back-end, which is an area I don’t have too much experience in yet.

A funny picture I found showing how the game drives the player by rewarding them with an increased ability to play the game, which makes them want to play the game more, and so forth.

In game design, the game loop is the core gameplay that the player repeatedly experiences and drives the game forward. It covers the player’s goals, challenges, and rewards. For A Turret’s Life, the loop is nice and simple with: start game, shoot enemies, upgrade turret, unlock new module on game over, repeat. The out of game experiences, or the meta-game, which would include the Enjin item trading and collecting, are related to the game loop but are not considered to be a part of it, since they can happen outside of the game. You could consider them a secondary loop though.

The first steps right now are to set up the offline player data structures This will lay the groundworks for the player’s online account which will be linked to their Enjin wallet. Anyhow, this manages the players stats and inventory in-game and acts as an interface for the backend. Even in the online mode, the player’s items and stats will be downloaded then stored locally, which will decrease wait times and reduce internet dependency.

The next steps are a little more exciting, and that is getting the actual gameplay in, like shooting, enemy ai, powerups, etc.

Life Experiences

My exhaustion from my day job continues, but we passed a major milestone so things might calm down for a bit. But I realize that I cannot rely on having consistent external factors, so I have to plan for that when working on the project.

My productivity on A Turret’s Life has not been the best this week; I made my usual mistake again where I did not give myself enough rest after my day job's business. It is a funny feedback loop, where I was annoyed at myself for being so exhausted from my day job and struggling to work on the project, so I would force myself to work, which would tire me out more and reduce my productivity. I tried to relax by doing some gaming, but not even that replenished my mind. I guess there comes a point where things are no longer mind over matter and your body says NO and you just need to sleep. It might seem like a waste of time in the moment, but in the long run productivity (and health) will increase. The hard part I'm finding, is learning how to recognize your body’s fatigue vs your own mind’s laziness, and not mixing the two up!

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Website: https://www.aturretslife.com/

Telegram: https://t.me/aturretslife