Team Trouble

First off, I've been having trouble working things through in my head, so today I'll tell you where we are on the project and the dilemmas I have.

So far, we've split the roles between the three of us and we have a general idea of how the game will play. Unfortunately, communication isn't going as well as it could, so we're not really in sync and I really don't know how it will pan out. Also, the other two have little experience in game development (one of them has made tetris with allegro and the other is a full fledged newbie), so naturally I'm nervous.

I'll explain our roles:

Our third and latest member volunteered to do the graphics. However, the reason she did so wasn't because she's good with graphics; she wants to learn graphics. Frankly, it would save time if I did it. You can't rely on someone who's still learning, especially if they're busy. I'm afraid I'll eventually have to pick up most of her load.

The second member's role is more complicated, so I'll explain. First off, we're going to load the questions and answers from an xml file. However, that's the easy part. A reference librarian performs searches through almanacs and the such on the internet, so we're basically going to create a mock-browser and a large file full of the data to display in the browser. The hard part here is collecting this data. Typing or even copy/paste is out of the question. Ideally we could use a scripting language to collect it automatically, but no one knows how. Anyway, that's his job, and he is still working on the q&a.

My role is to code the game logic. Though I previously expressed my preference to do the graphics, the game logic is even more important. I've been able to reuse a ton of my Sever code, such as the GUI, the input classes, and my state machine code, so most of my work is already done. All I have to do now is piece it all together. I'm confident that my portion will turn out fine.

I think I'll complete my portion as fast as I can so I can focus on helping the other two out. I'm afraid we might not finish in time. I never realized teamwork could be so stressful. Anyway, if anyone has any tips, please please send them my way. Thanks.

clevceo

RefLib?

Hi. I go by clevceo on my blogs. My blogs are about my progress as an amateur indie software developer (who has yet to complete a single project). You may have read some of my other blogs. I have three others:

Clev - I hope to one day run a successful software company (Clev) and this blog is where I share my ideas of what this company might be like.

Clev Idea Development Diary - This was the first project I started, which triggered my decision to start these blogs and begin thinking forward with my career.

Clev Sever Development Diary - This is the second project I've started; a video game. This is where most of my focus has been the past few months.

RefLib Development Diary - The blog you are reading right now.

RefLib is merely a working title. I was commissioned by my boss (I currently work in my university library) to create this game. He was planning to create it himself until he realized it would be too much work, so he decided to outsource it to myself and a former cooworker. I'd rather put my effort into Sever right now, but RefLib has a deadline: mid-september. Besides, it's smaller in scale and is guaranteed to return.

RefLib is a simple computer game that puts you in the role of a reference librarian, answering any question that your patrons have, such as "What year was Elvis Presley born?" or "What's the current birthrate in China?". Each question answered earns you money, and you can be promoted to higher positions if you earn enough. You have a time-limit for each question, and the amount of money you earn depends on how fast you answer it. If you take too long, the patron will leave. If too many patrons leave, you're fired.

Technically, this game isn't a Clev game because I'm collaborating with two people outside Clev to create it, and Clev currently consists of one person: me. Nevertheless, I started the url, clevreflib, with clev in order to make it easier to remember, as all my blogs start with clev. Anyway, I wasn't planning on dedicating an entire blog to RefLib, but I've found that keeping a development diary helps me to think my projects through. It gets my mind rolling. That is the primary reason for this blog's existence.

I hope you enjoy this blog. I wish I could keep moving on Sever, but I'm pretty caught up at the moment. However, chances are I'll get bored with RefLib and spend a few days on Sever, but I can't say when that will happen. Anyway, please comment if you have any questions or suggestions. Thanks for reading.

clevceo