I found out yesterday that I need to fly to Frankfurt, Germany for eight days for my day job. It seems that there is an urgent defect that they can only reproduce there.
So today I am busy preparing a laptop with all the software I need, as well as a few hardware items, and then tomorrow I’m off on an all-expenses-paid trip to sunny Frankfurt. Yay!
Now I’m a pretty big guy, so I really don’t enjoy being crammed up in a plane for that length of time, especially when flying coach. I find it hard to just sit there for so long, as I am sure most of you can relate. It gets hard to find ways to pass the time. Sooooo…what to do about it?
I made an offhand remark on Twitter yesterday that I should make an iOS game during my flight to pass the time. I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that a coach airline seat, potentially without a power outlet, is probably not the best place to make a game.
I realized, however, that I will also have time Sunday and a few hours each night during the weekdays with fewer than normal interruptions (e.g., no girlfriend) in the hotel. I’ll also have some time when I fly back next week.
The Challenge
Create a fully-playable game in the next 8 days in Corona
If I was heading to Mexico for eight days, this Corona challenge would be entirely different. Since I am going to a fairly quiet little town about an hour’s drive out of Frankfurt, I opted to spend my time with the “other Corona”.
I have several game concepts floating around in my head that Corona is more than capable of handling. I love the Lua language too, so Corona is a good fit for this challenge.
The parameters I’ve laid out for the challenge are as follows:
- Use Corona as the game framework
- Create simple “programmer art” (get real art done when I get back)
- Focus on core gameplay rather than fancy transitions and effects
- Leave sounds and music, if any, for later as well
So my next step is to go through my list of possible games and see if one stands out as being doable in this time. Also, importantly, I would like to choose a game that is worth doing.
One of the ideas is a game that I really want to do for myself. The others are ones that I also like the concepts of, but which would probably be more “commercial” (i.e., they would appeal to many people other than me).
Working Offline
In order to be productive when working on the airplane with no net connection, I need to take some time to load a few things on my Mac Book Pro before I leave:
- Corona framework and sample code
- Lua reference documents
- TextMate
- Corona TextMate bundle
- Reference images “borrowed” from Google for art inspiration or direct use in the prototype
Let me know if you think I need forgot anything that I will need to work effectively while offline!
Follow me on Twitter to follow the progress. I’ll try to post an update each day here and then link it on Twitter.
Join the Challenge!
If you’d like to join the challenge and do something similar, let me know in the comments below. You can use this thread to let others know of your progress.
