Monthly Blog Post: May 2022
Let’s play a game. It’s called “pretend this blog post came out a day earlier, and it’s still May.” Okay? Cool.
How to make an okay-ish Webassembly game
For a while, I’ve been promising people that I’d make a tutorial series on how to make a game in Webassembly using Emscripten. However, this has always come with the caveat that it will come out “eventually.” I’ve decided to change “eventually” to “next month,” meaning that I’ll release the first part of the series some time in June. This deadline should ensure that I get something out in a timely-ish manner.
Part of the reason I’ve kept procrastinating is that my tech stack isn’t the cleanest, so making a tutorial will force me to basically recreate everything from scratch. In a way, though, I’m excited! I haven’t written a completely new engine since the first 5 Step Steve game. I hope I’ll be able to make something better!
Bigger-ing
Back in March, I mentioned how I discovered some things that expanded the scope of N Step Steve: Part 2. Since then, I’ve discovered some more things, and the game’s scope has gotten a bit bigger still. In between writing this sentence and the last, I discovered another thing.
Okay, I know I’m being vague about what the “thing” is, but that’s because I don’t want to ruin the surprise. While each “thing” isn’t that difficult to produce, it does increase the size of the game in a significant way. And a bigger game is more time consuming to test, which is felt greatly when you’re a solo dev who is solely responsible for testing everything to make sure it works.
As I watch the game become bigger, I’m reminded of this scene from the lorax. Initially, the RV represents the game I set out to create. The expanded RV represents the game I ended up making. Unfortunately, making all the extra stuff isn’t as easy as pushing a giant red button!
Still, there’s a reason I put myself through this. Many people really seem to enjoy this game series, and if I can make a game they’ll like even more, I think it’s worth it. Even if it means more work for me.
Cool links
- Rude Chess by Hempuli is a fun concept.
- Rampster! by pjorg is a fun game with lots of cool surprises.
- The CosmOS 9 bundle contains a lot of interesting games.
One final note
A little birdie told me that next month is going to be June. Which makes sense, because this month is definitely still May.
On a more serious note: I’ve been feeling kind of down lately. It feels like the world is a hostile and oppressive place. Even so, I think it’s important to remember that you’re not alone, and there are people who do care for you.
(Here, I was going to put a screenshot of thematically relevant N Step Steve level that I made. But I’m not sure if that would be in good taste? Let me know if you’d like to see it.)
That’s all I have for now. Bye!
