I haven’t worked on my game for a few weeks as I recently had laser eye surgery to correct my sight. One of my primary reasons for doing this was so that I could more easily develop for VR. Coding, putting the headset on, taking it off, and going back to coding can take quite a bit of time if you’re wearing glasses. Not to mention having to take the time to clean the HMD lenses, the glasses, trying not to scratch any lenses, etc. My eyes are nearly healed now, but I still haven’t gotten back to Space Capitalism Simulator just yet. Why? Two reasons:
First and foremost, I have been working on improving my skills as a developer. I have primarily worked in C# when using Unity, but lately I’ve been working towards Javascript proficiency. I have already learned of ways to improve my current code and solve problems that I was previously stuck on.
Second, I have been spending time creating scenes for an MMO virtual reality project called, Decentraland. It aims to be the Second Life of virtual reality, but with an Ethereum token as their in-game currency. They’re currently holding a contest where anyone can use their web-app to create levels. Top levels can receive thousands of dollars in prizes. I thought it would be fun to try my hand at some quick level designing in a brand-new interface.
I decided I would create a new level every night for two weeks. I gave myself a time limit of 1 hour each night (though some nights I created levels I was happy with in less than that). Their UI/UX certainly leaves something to be desired since I’ve become so accustomed to Unity. However, the aforementioned constraints helped me to produce some really creative scenes. I’ve been having a lot of fun creating levels people will hopefully enjoy in Decentraland. Winning some prize money would be the cherry on top of improving my level design skills.
I hope to return to working on Space Capitalism Simulator soon. In the short term, my time will be split between coding and Decentraland. Once the level design contest ends in a few days, I will split the time between coding and my game. I will continue with this paradigm until I can land a full-time dev job. Then I’ll resume working on my game as my one and only side project. With a full-time dev job, I feel that my skills as a solo game dev will vastly improve. Until then, I’ll keep pressing forward!
