So I was rewriting the level logic code (the stuff that handles the unique bits that each level has, like the train, or the unusual design of the car park) last week when I had a sudden flash of inspiration - wouldn’t all this be simpler if I did it in Lua? Lua, that fantastic scripting language that I’m using for AI handling in The Tenth Crusade and Contact Sam Cruise. So on Friday I got cracking.
The thing I’d overlooked, of course, is that what I’m writing is not a universal beat-’em-up engine. It is a very focused remake of Target; Renegade. And when you’re doing that, there’s no point in abstracting everything out and designing an API for level programming, because nobody else is going to be making any levels. And when every level is in some way unique, there’s really no point in making a lot of extra work for yourself by writing half of the game in a different language.
Naturally this has only occurred to me today. So I’ve got a pile of unusable Lua code lying around and a couple of days coding time wasted. Sigh. At least I can’t get fired, eh?
Don’t chuck it away. Target Renegade might be one thing, but you could always strip out the specific bits to make a more universal beat-em-up engine.
True, that is a possibility… And to be honest, it’s actually less hassle to leave what’s there in and work around it. (Although that defeats part of the original purpose, which was to make the game code cleaner. Tch.)
It’s just really annoying to have wasted so much time and have nothing to really show for it. Still, tomorrow will be different! Oh yes!