Final straight...

Well, 6 months ago when I started learning XNA properly, I thought, very optimistically, that by now I'd have released my first game and be working on my second. Even taking into account the month I spent learning UDK (before realizing how horrendous Unrealscript is), its been slow progress.

From starting work on the tools for Pacman to completion took about a month, and that's only for a single level version. However, it has not been in vain...

My engine is coming along more with each game. And what's more all of the mechanics from the games I've made so far will appear in my first release, currently code named 'Arcade Mayhem'.

In fact I'm now in a position to start work on my first real game. Almost.

The engine still needs work, and so does the design of AM. So instead I'm going to make one last 'learning game': Mario.

Now, the gameplay code from Mario won't help much in my first release, but it will be vital for the subsequent two games that I have planned (both platformers).  It will also give me a chance to update Alta so that it's ready for AM, and let me nail down the design Bible for AM to prevent feature creep.

So, here I go, embarking on my last project before I start 'for real'. Let's get started...