Every single time. Every Single Time!
I keep finding new bugs in Little One. Recently I realized there were problems with the critter loading and egg dropping. It took a day to fix them, but I wanted to get so many other things done. The object loading also caused a bit of lag in the beginning, so I distributed the loading over several frames. Basically, instead of looping and loading a list of objects at once, I just loaded one object per frame. Many process functions are just infinite loops.
Constant bug-fixing is starting to get depressing. With a library of resources and assets, game creation might be faster. Sure there are many different asset sources, but the assets must fit with the game you are making. Some assets are too common. Dozens of barrels and crates can be found easy, but a fully animated character or enemy is rater hard; especially if you need a specific design.
I'm considering re-using assets from my projects, and even releasing them under permissive licenses on open game art. Asset creation can become boring if you need to make a lot of assets. Creating assets randomly for others might not be the best idea. Having a plan, or creating a full asset set is a better idea.The main reason I prefer to use my own assets is the licenses. I don't mind giving credit, but I don't want to forget to give credit.
My plans after I'm done with Little One will be to slowly release select assets first. I'll focus on planning a few different games with cross-asset use. Minor assets will be modified or created during the planning stage. These assets I make might be released publicly before the game is done.
Every month Little on isn't completed feels like a failure. I keep plugging away at it, but the downloads still remain at zero. If others did play my game, they might not like finding crashing bugs. While I'd like to have help finding bugs, I know there will be toxic people who would hate finding a bug in their game. That could become even more stressful.
Size and complexity also makes game creation take longer. Lack of planning also makes game development harder. I'm going to try detail-planning my games and trying to simplify the mechanics as much as possible. Useless or over-complex things will be dropped or modified.
The next game I'll be working on will probably be Blue Bloom. This will be the game I create and refine my planning process. The idea will be to use numbers under ten (0-9) to structure the planning. I think having restrictions from the start might help the planning process.
There is a link here where you can get Little One. Get it before it updates and all the good bugs get patched.
