Lizard

[B00daW]

Three years past the original projected date of completion. This is the Lizard of Elephants in the room.

You have Steam Greenlight and tens of thousands of dollars backing you from Kickstarter. What's going on?

Reality.

[rainwarrior]

Not three years, two years. You're off by a year. (I'm only off by two. )

I don't owe anyone tens of thousands of dollars worth of stuff. I owe individual people like you tens of dollars worth of stuff. Anyone who thinks it's been too long and wants a refund is free to request one, and I'll gladly give your money back. I know it's been a long time. I'm in debt because of it ($18k CAD definitely doesn't last this long, especially after half of it goes into fees and material costs-- most of the real funding actually came from my own savings), and I'm trying hard to get this finished so that debt stops accumulating.

It's not an "elephant in the room". I've never ignored anybody who's asked about it. What the hell do you mean by that?

I'm still working on it, and it's sill not done, and it's closer to being done than it's ever been (though this is always true). I've stopped giving estimates because I still don't feel I can actually predict the time it will be finished.

What exactly do you want to know? Part of the delay is from literally doubling the scope of the game, but most of it is just from discovering that I am a much slower worker than I expected. Really.

If that's not a satisfying answer, you're going to have to get specific with your questions. "What's going on" is too vague to answer. (I do know it's been too long since the last kickstarter update; a new one is imminent-- I've been writing it over the last few days. Not done yet, though, like always. Sorry.)

[B00daW]

That'll do, Lizard. That'll do.

Just hurry the hell up.

[Asaki]

"The first 90 percent of the code accounts for the first 90 percent of the development time. The remaining 10 percent of the code accounts for the other 90 percent of the development time."

[Fisher]

"The first 90 percent of the code accounts for the first 90 percent of the development time. The remaining 10 percent of the code accounts for the other 90 percent of the development time."

WOW!!!
Seems like my co-worker is stricktly following this rule!!
"I don't belive in calendars!!" Is his most (in)famous quote!!
Thankfully I'm not in his team anymore.

[rainwarrior]

I'm fully capable of delivering work on a deadline. Lizard is different. It's 100% my game, and all added costs of spending more time on it are borne by me alone.

Most of the KS backers seem okay with the extra wait, and I've refunded a few for whom it was too much. I'd give back all the KS money if it was asked of me, but otherwise I'm going to try to reach the goals I set for myself, which do in fact have a pretty clear "finished" point in my mind-- it's not like I'm going out of my way to think of new things to extend development. I have had a plan since the beginning and I don't want to cut or sacrifice any of it if I don't have to. ..and I really haven't. I'm pretty happy with the state of the game, and the remaining parts are well planned and have a definite end point.

[dustmop]

I, for one, am really looking forward to the finished product. Take as much time as you need!

[Erockbrox]

Here are my thoughts on the project. This game Lizard, was probably one of the first homebrew NES games that I came across. I also played the demo.

I understand and know that making new games is very hard because I have made one too and there are still things that I need to do to finish my own project. The problem with working alone verses a team is that EVERYTHING depends on you. So when you stop the whole game stops. Even if you have 99% of the game finished if you don't finish the last 1% then it will never be done. The game won't finish itself on it's own.

I know that you are passionate about your project since you are literally dressed up as a lizard and all, but I think you really need to turn on the after burners and get the project finished by the end of this year. Since this was one of the first NES homebrews that I came across I had always thought that it had been released by now, but apparently I guess not.

I know and understand that making a worthwhile game is kind of like making some kind of art piece and you can't just force it to be done because it has to be something that you are proud of. While this type of thinking is really what making a good game is all about you also have to know that there are time frames. I've seen many other new NES games which have been started after you have started Lizard and those same games where finished before you have finished Lizard.

I would really like to own this game on a real NES cart, but you really need to wrap it up this year and finish this.

[jmr]

I would really like to own this game on a real NES cart, but you really need to wrap it up this year and finish this.

And here are my thoughts: no, he really doesn't. This game is his baby. I'd rather have a game that's completed to Brad's satisfaction than one that is rushed out to meet some arbitrary deadline. That seems to be Brad's mentality as well, and as one of the kickstarter backers, I'm completely okay with that.

I wouldn't be opposed to seeing more frequent status updates, though...

[rainwarrior]

you really need to wrap it up this year and finish this.

Ha ha "this year". If I don't finish it this year I'll be dead in a gutter somewhere.

I wouldn't be opposed to seeing more frequent status updates, though...

I'm writing a kickstarter update currently, hope to have it finished today. I'm aware it's been too long since the last update, but I'll explain that in the update. Update.

[Myask]

Name'mtables.

It's interesting, reads like a Hardcore Gaming post.

I find myself thnking more parallax layers would be nice, at least, one on the other side of he water too…but it's your baby and your call.

[rainwarrior]

I find myself thnking more parallax layers would be nice, at least, one on the other side of he water too…but it's your baby and your call.

It's not really my call. If I could think of a practical way to do a second split without an IRQ, I probably would.

[pubby]

It's not really my call. If I could think of a practical way to do a second split without an IRQ, I probably would.

I guess you already ruled out using sprite overflow and/or counting a fixed number of cycles from vblank?

[rainwarrior]

Sorry if this is rude, but I don't really want to get into a pedantic discussion about ways it could technically be done in this thread. I was just responding to Myask's comment, not making a request for help. I had considered doing it, and decided against it. No plan or desire to revisit it.

(Yes, I have reasons for not doing either of those two things, but I don't really want to try to explain that here, sorry.)


Myask was referring to the update I posted to Kickstarter a few days ago, by the way: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/11 ... ts/1820518

Though, the stuff in that update isn't really intended for the NESDev crowd; it's all kinda common knowledge here I think.

[pubby]

I guessed right, apparently. Sheesh!