What, we are already over two months into 2016? You mean 2015 is already over? Wow, it’s really easy getting into the mental-trap of saying: “I’ll post some progress update later, when I really have something to show.”  Another week passes, again nothing happens… And suddenly the year is over!

2015 was a pretty exhausting year for me, I had many months where I just couldn’t bring up any motivation for game development. So, what did I manage to do in 2015 besides moping and starting game prototypes that led nowhere, let’s see:

~February: I found some time to participate in MiniLD #57 with the theme “Reverse”. Created a reverse Match-3 game. It’s playable, but mostly proof of concept. (And couldn’t get the web-version to work.)

~March: Made a quick joke “game” called Infinitris. It’s tetris on an infinitely large playing field. I was motivated to finally test out chunked maps, which allow for (nearly) infinite worlds, and it works pretty well. There are so many possibilities this could be going, but it is a fun toy as is.

~July: Participated in the IndiesVSGamers Game Jam, hosted by GameJolt. The theme was ‘Arcade’ the time limit was 72 hours and the ambitions were high. Therefore the game “Space Scrap” was born (naming things is hard), a shmup were you assemble your spaceship from spare parts lying around on planets while under constant time pressure, fleeing from a supernova. The original 72h version plays and looks horrible, but I’ve been working on it on and off, and it starts to be a really kick-ass game. I’ll try to focus on it next, getting it done soonish.

That’s my first game hosted on GameJolt, and I have to say: I like it. It makes adding highscores and trophies a breeze and provides a clear and professionally looking game page.

~August: Participated in MiniLD #62 with the theme “Final Boss”. Created a simple platformer, where you play a robot with a sawblade, using it to attack, defend, cling to surfaces and push yourself around. Had lots of boss ideas, but only managed to implement two of them. It’s unhandy to play with keyboard, but plays fluently with a gamepad.

~December: Participated in LudumDare 34, which had a tie between the themes “Two Button Controls” and “Growing”. Didn’t stop us from ignoring both of them, to create a random RTS about managing your Space Colony and sacrificing your people to calm the wrathful gods. This is absolutely missing a proper tutorial, so playing it can be confusing, and trying to win is a real challenge.

So, that wraps up 2015. With a post only over half a year late, I hope,that in the future I manage to convince myself to post progress updates more often. Now go play some games!