Day 1: Exploring

Development time: 15 minutes

I entered into the CoronaDefoldJam https://itch.io/jam/coronadefoldjam. The goal is to make a game that fits into the Ludem Dare theme of "running out of power".  My idea for the jam is a simple shoot-em-up space game where the ship runs on "power crystals". These power crystals can sometimes be found within asteroids.  The player needs to blow up asteroids until they find crystals, and then they need to intercept the crystal to retrieve it and continually refuel the ship.

I didn't want to make a complete game from scratch, and the rules allowed code re-use, so I looked for a suitable template and found Star Explorer https://marketplace.coronalabs.com/asset/star-explorer. I'm a hobby game developer, so the only time I get to work on this will be evenings and weekends, and only when I'm not already busy with other commitments.  The numbering of days in this log reflects the number of days I found time to work on the project, not calendar days.

I downloaded the project and looked at the code.  Running the game in the simulator I couldn't figure out the controls.  So I compiled it and ran it on an iPad... still wasn't having much luck.  I tapped to the right and left of the ship and it didn't move.  I swiped left and right, still it didn't move.  I tilted the iPad back and forth - nothing.  Finally I tapped on the ship and it started to fire!  So I then touched and held the ship and found I was able to move it by dragging it.  I didn't like the controls but at least it was working.  I played with it a bit more and called it a night.  No actual coding was done.

Next: Day 2