Here it is, November 1st, and devtober is now no more. It has been a wild month. I have had highs of creativity and several periods where I was so depressed, I felt like I would never be able to progress.

Lots of takeaways, in no particular order:

I enjoyed writing each day. I used to write more, and it felt good to write again.

Being part of devtober forced me to do a little each day, just to have something to write about. It wasn’t much, and sometimes barely anything at all, but there was daily effort and daily progress of some kind.

Writing the daily entry stirred thoughts that didn’t occur otherwise. Perhaps it’s a bit like “talking to the duck”.

The most frustrating parts were struggling with the Godot engine, in terms of learning how particular features worked and then working around idiosyncrasies in the implementation. When you use a game engine, you’re at the mercy of the features as they are implemented.

Some of the most rewarding parts were becoming competent in those same features in the Godot engine. You have to go through the pain, but you come out the other end with something that works better than you would have had if you had done it on your own. You are really standing on the shoulders of everyone who has worked to make the engine what it is. The body of knowledge, experience, and expertise embodied in the engine is tremendous. And there is so much I haven’t explored yet.

Making screen captures is a really good way to see progress. And it’s really nice to see the progress, to look at where you were and where you ended up and know, “I did that.” Without a way to measure, you can have a dim view of what you actually accomplished, which means you’re deprived of that energy that can help keep you going.

Sometimes it’s good to walk away for a while and then come back.

I need to – and want to – get better at art. I’m often pleased with what I can do, frustrated with what I can’t do, and determined to increase how often I’m in the former category.

You will have times when you know exactly what the next step is, and you will have times when you have no idea not only what the next step is but where you’re going at all.

If you want to complete a project like this, you have to be persistent. Never forget what you’re trying to do. Don’t compare yourself to others how have “made it”, thinking you can never do that. You may not do what they did, but you can still do what you can do. And what you can do is something that is yours, your creation, and part of you. If you want to share it with the world, then make it happen.

Game programming is hard. I have been writing software for over 30 years, and I’m continually surprised how working on a game is different from other software in a way I haven’t been able to quantify yet. Part of it, I think, is that you can’t fudge things. You can’t cut corners. Everything is right up front. Everything is part of the player’s experience.

That’s all. Well, there’s probably more, but I’m running dry. In half an hour, I might have ten more thoughts. But I don’t know if anyone is going to read this anyway.

I’m glad I took part in devtober. It has been an eye opener in many ways, and what I started here is something I want to continue.

#devtober, ober and out.