Roadmap to 0.1

As visitors to Blazing Games already should have found out, the 2D only option won the vote. It was actually a very close user poll, and actually resulted in a different outcome than I had expected. What I had sort of hoped for was that the compromise of a step based 3D render and a 2D auto map that was free-scrolling would win out. What I had expected was the 3D option to win. What actually happened was the 2D option won out by a single vote. No, I am not making this up, even though we are talking about a Hollywood style vote result. Of course, such close races are common when there is under a score (20) worth of votes. Still, I do appreciate the tiny fraction of my visitors who do vote.

Doing a 2D map view of the game should be very quick, though I still have the larger task of finishing the tile and map classes before the viewing code can be implemented. As I am only going to have one type of monster in the initial release, I don't need the partially completed CQFS entity system, so the monster will be fairly quick to implement. The status bar has already been roughly implemented. This means that the 0.1 release might not be that far off. At 10 hours a week, though, I suspect the earliest that I could possibly have the release ready would be for June 22, though early July is probably the more realistic target.

The 0.2 release will be mostly the integration of the entity system, though other features may be added based on upcoming Blazing Games polls. Still, once I have the 0.1 version out, I can get some feedback on what the game needs so my plans might change.

As for anybody who cared about my post yesterday, I bought my first album on iTunes (Smashing Pumpkins -- Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness) so I am officially voting with my dollars when it comes to DRM free downloadable music. It actually worked out to only 89 cents Canadian a track (roughly 85 cents a track US) so buying entire DRM free albums on iTunes does make sense. Though eMusic is still significantly cheaper and a better solution if the bands you like are on independent labels.