Monday, May 16, 2011

Tactile Cave 2: Developer’s Diary 2. On Debug.

Debug is the most frustrating part of game design.

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Debug is the most frustrating part of game design. Bugs are subtle and hide themselves well in even the most conspicuous of places. An error in logic can be as small as a single character and have game-crippling effects. This I am experiencing in my development of Tactile Cave 2. The Processing Development Environment is capable of frustrating to no end as it points out bugs and errors that are almost indetectable to the human mind.

Variables are a huge annoyance, and making sure that any variable or value you state is defined is an intricate and annoying process. Basic bugs and glitches can make the game fail to operate properly at all. This is not to mention world-loading bugs and death glitches that make the game inoperable. Creating a game that’s actually fun to play is even a greater challenge with these programming constraints.

That said, coding is still a thrilling and intellectually stimulating experience that requires little mathematical experience and a high level of patience. A propensity for logical thinking is critical and writing a functional program is not unlike formulating an argument for a debate.

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