There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds. 
 -Gilbert K. Chesterton

Hello fellow GameDev-ers,

Lately I've been thinking a lot about inspiration.  I'd like to ramble a bit about my thoughts on inspiration and then I'd like to share the latest updates for the game. 

Throughout the past year, especially this last year, I've encountered my fair share of inspirational hurdles.  For the past 4 years the ideas that have brought me to this development platform, aka programming, seemed rich with potential.  I had experienced no troubles keeping the vision alive even though, initially, I'd managed to make a camera move around a ball and other small stuff.  But a funny thing happens to vision over time, we age.  With age comes changes in taste, direction and sustenance.  Keeping this vision alive takes a lot of effort, especially since this whole time I've been working on the mechanical 'background' framework necessary to move forward.  Lumped in are realisations of what is possible and what can be accomplished by one's self.  Many times I've had to take a step back from and seek a newer vision, one that is more in line with what is feasible but also captures the soul of the project: this process has been most rewarding.

As many people age the responsibilities of life render the pursuits of the imagination a futile effort for many, their return on investment decreases.  However; I've come to think, and maybe foolishly, that those who continue to re-engage their own imaginations are sometimes blessed with tall tales that are able to inspire even those who can no longer spark their own.  What do you think, better yet, what's your experience been like?

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So where am I at now... I'm going to be going off the grid here soon, for at least 6 weeks, clear the mind.  I was really hoping to have a big'ol update to show off, but the challenges of Unirule dwarf games like Shapes TD.  So I think I'll just have get used to disappointment.  For me, I've finally figured out which branch I'm going to swing to next, and that will be slowly moving away from framework and easing into simulation.  Soon I'll have enough sturdy framework to build a stable simulation off of.  Then I will have begun the next chapter.

What I have done since last time.
- better immersion with more intuitive camera movement.
- finishing up clustered models.
- incorporating dynamic asset creation.

On the last one there, asset creation, I've actually never finished implementing it into any of my previous builds.  Not that I can't but just always thought there were better things to do.  So really I have no idea how long it's going to take.  I'm hoping soon.

Click to see!
 

this one shows the beginnings of asset placement helpers

Have a great summer.