TLDR;
I am on the flow when I created a JS game for reddit hackhaton.
The Reddit puzzle game hackathon led me a different way than ever before when I was developing a game.
The Pich
rule: 1min
I got a few experiences before this one started:
1 - animation
The previous challenge which I took (and didn't get any result) gave me a great lesson: my next game needs to focus on animation.
2 - build
I am facing the fact that 8GB memory isn't enough for a legacy React application to build. The DevOps team solved the problem by setting 16GB RAM on a virtual build server. At that precious moment, I instantly lost all my trust in modern JavaScript frameworks and any compiling.
Why is this just JavaScript? It is absurd to compile everything!
I turned to simple, old-fashioned coding—just writing an HTML page and putting the JavaScript directly there. I don't use any dependencies except Tailwind CSS, and only the CDN version. This way of working gives me much better freedom and control. Even realizing 3D work with CSS is far more useful than 7 years ago. This 3D just works with flat planes, but that is far enough for me.
3 - AI
The 3rd experience is the AI tools. Before singularity, the current AI tools are a great help in a creative workflow. I have been using ChatGPT for a long time, but it’s not the greatest help. My weakness is my English skills, even worse when I need to talk about something, so I subscribed to Revoicer, which is great. A best-in-class subscription is a lifetime payment, so I don’t need to pay a bill each month. This means some limits, but their capabilities are really helpful.
A second one is MidJourney. I already spent a year making AI images with Dream.ai as a hobby. That prompt-writing experience is very handy now. This is the point where I turned into Story-Driven Development mode because MidJourney has a great ability to create something with a consistent style.
As I created more and more "FLOGON" images, I figured out their behaviors, strengths, weaknesses, and traveling capabilities.
After that, I found hailuo.ai, an amazing video generator. This one outmatches any other AI video maker I’ve tested before.
The Downside of SDD
Under time pressure, SDD takes too much time from coding. I put so much effort into polishing the story behind the game versus focusing on the game mechanics. Sadly, even two days before the deadline, I imagined a totally different game and ended up coding the sprite editor.
The Upside of SDD
With a strong vision of my story, I didn’t feel lost at any moment. My Lady always asks me: “How is this game going?” I don’t know until the final day. So the final result, how to say, PC? Yes, you can interact and earn a score... but this is a card game where ultimately there is no information on the cards!
I’m excited about the outcome of this hackathon.
(For the next hackathon, I have 26 days left!)
Let me know if this works!
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