Posted December 15, 2023 by andrewp_fun
My goal is to make the most hyped, exciting Pinball game you would ever play. And this is just the beginning.
I decided to put my programmer skills to the test and had an idea for a Pinball game, something similar to Sonic Pinball Party and Pokémon Pinball on the GBA. I don't see much 2D pinball games outside of that era, so I decided to give it a try, and ideas started flooding through.
From a Programmer's perspective, I wanted to get the "hardest" parts done first-- the State Machine. Before I even made a test level or implemented anything, I went right into the code and testing the modes I wanted to implement.
Yes, this was the very first thing I made. A menu simulation, of all things. But it's important why I did this first.
The framework was going to be complicated as time goes on, and I knew it was gonna happen sooner or later. So, I devised scripts that work in tandem with each other to make sure everything goes smoothly, and it did for the most part. However I wanted to implement a "CRACK" mode (Extreme Mode) when you reach the x10 multiplier and while it did bug out, it was a "good" bug! So I'm insisting on leaving it as-is, as it doesnt really do anything detrimental.
If you start with a strong framework, and start with good programming habits, it's going to stick onto you until you are fully done with the project, and BOY am I GLAD I did that.