Re: [Josh] Friday, April 6, 2018
Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 6:26 am
Long term lurker here. I've been following this project with great interest for years. It fascinates and inspires me as a gamer, as a programmer, and as a human being. I'm actually not even sure the game will be for me when it's finished, but the path there is very interesting!
I've been tempted to intervene many times before, but always stayed out of it, out of shyness I suppose, but also out of deep respect for Josh doing his own thing his own way. For instance, back when Josh was trying to mod a rusty old tractor called Python into a speedy Corvette, I was silently facepalming and thinking to myself "FFS Josh, why don't you just do as much as possible in C, then use Luajit for scripting stuff, paying close attention to what code constructs Luajit can actually JIT?! Why are you wasting all this energy going down dead ends you damn well KNOW are dead ends if you're just being honest with yourself?!"
But I said nothing. Kind of cruel, really, since Josh was at his wits end and begged for a hint on how to solve his performance problems. However, I didn't want to be the one to deprive him of the privilege of making mistakes! Josh is on a path of achieving MASTERY, and that means he must sometimes learn things the hard way, so he learns them well. If he had been sent on the correct path at once by some helpful know-it-all, then he wouldn't have truly learned anything! By "wasting energy", he eventually came to understand the problems involved on a deep level. He now knows not only that Python is the wrong tool for the job, but WHY it is so. His instinct in choosing the right path forward has been greatly honed by his (many) detours into dead ends.
His instinct for solving technical problems has been greatly honed anyway. His instinct for project management is another thing altogether...
And so I finally decided to add my two cents:
Dear Josh,
it had been a pleasure to follow you through your struggles. You have bravely embarked on a fantastic journey of learning and self discovery, and for that I admire and respect you. HOWEVER, you have also made a promise to other people to deliver something shiny! And to be able to deliver on your promise, you need to STAY FOCUSED ON THE TASK AT HAND!
When you are five years into a project and a New Cool Idea for what the project could become instead pops into your mind, then you need to write down that idea for later, not push back release further by diving into it right away! "Trailer parks in space" is definitely a cool idea, and it fits well with the game you're making. But you are simply too far into development to expand the scope at this point! You need to focus on the core idea you had to begin with and make sure you deliver on that. Take a deep breath, and REMEMBER what your game was supposed to be when you started. That's the game you're making here!
Trailer parks is a great idea, for a later expansion. This game of yours has great potential to become a modder's paradise, and could well develop a loyal gaming community that plays it for 10 years or more. There WILL be a proper time to add trailer parks, but that time is not now!
I'm not personally invested in whether you ever deliver this game or not, I haven't supported the project financially, and I'm not super excited about this kind of game in the first place, not being a great fan of strategy games. I'm mostly just here for the drama! But I do wish to see you succeed, because I think you deserve it!
Just chalk this rant up as another vote against expanding scope at this point.
Peace, and best of luck!
<3
I've been tempted to intervene many times before, but always stayed out of it, out of shyness I suppose, but also out of deep respect for Josh doing his own thing his own way. For instance, back when Josh was trying to mod a rusty old tractor called Python into a speedy Corvette, I was silently facepalming and thinking to myself "FFS Josh, why don't you just do as much as possible in C, then use Luajit for scripting stuff, paying close attention to what code constructs Luajit can actually JIT?! Why are you wasting all this energy going down dead ends you damn well KNOW are dead ends if you're just being honest with yourself?!"
But I said nothing. Kind of cruel, really, since Josh was at his wits end and begged for a hint on how to solve his performance problems. However, I didn't want to be the one to deprive him of the privilege of making mistakes! Josh is on a path of achieving MASTERY, and that means he must sometimes learn things the hard way, so he learns them well. If he had been sent on the correct path at once by some helpful know-it-all, then he wouldn't have truly learned anything! By "wasting energy", he eventually came to understand the problems involved on a deep level. He now knows not only that Python is the wrong tool for the job, but WHY it is so. His instinct in choosing the right path forward has been greatly honed by his (many) detours into dead ends.
His instinct for solving technical problems has been greatly honed anyway. His instinct for project management is another thing altogether...
And so I finally decided to add my two cents:
Dear Josh,
it had been a pleasure to follow you through your struggles. You have bravely embarked on a fantastic journey of learning and self discovery, and for that I admire and respect you. HOWEVER, you have also made a promise to other people to deliver something shiny! And to be able to deliver on your promise, you need to STAY FOCUSED ON THE TASK AT HAND!
When you are five years into a project and a New Cool Idea for what the project could become instead pops into your mind, then you need to write down that idea for later, not push back release further by diving into it right away! "Trailer parks in space" is definitely a cool idea, and it fits well with the game you're making. But you are simply too far into development to expand the scope at this point! You need to focus on the core idea you had to begin with and make sure you deliver on that. Take a deep breath, and REMEMBER what your game was supposed to be when you started. That's the game you're making here!
Trailer parks is a great idea, for a later expansion. This game of yours has great potential to become a modder's paradise, and could well develop a loyal gaming community that plays it for 10 years or more. There WILL be a proper time to add trailer parks, but that time is not now!
I'm not personally invested in whether you ever deliver this game or not, I haven't supported the project financially, and I'm not super excited about this kind of game in the first place, not being a great fan of strategy games. I'm mostly just here for the drama! But I do wish to see you succeed, because I think you deserve it!
Just chalk this rant up as another vote against expanding scope at this point.
Peace, and best of luck!
<3