Post

It's been a while since I posted about this. I actually decided to put this game on hold because it was simply going to take too long to build the game I wanted to make. I have other stuff I'm working now which I'll be sharing soon

Jason@json.codes

Manually placing buildings for my city level felt like a lot of work so I created a custom editor instead which can randomly place them for me. Now I smash "Randomize Seed" until I get a layout I'm happy with #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame

Jason

@json.codes

9 Feb

I spent every evening for a couple of months building out the first level alongside my day job as a software developer. Progress was slow and steady, but I eventually realised it was going to take several more months just to finish this one level.

Jason

@json.codes

9 Feb

I actually think I realised this earlier in development but I was determined to see it through an publish a game. It was going to take me 6+ months to finish this one level and I had a target of building 12-15 levels for the game all with varied environments and little reusability.

Jason

@json.codes

It's a good lesson for me though. I chose this idea specifically because I thought a rails shooter would be "smaller" than my other game ideas. Smaller because it was mechanically simple, less 3D animation, less story writing, and naively I thought less environmental work.

9/2/26, 7:51 pm0 reposts0 likes

Jason

@json.codes

9 Feb

As it turned out it was the environment and world design work which was taking up all of the time. I had imagined these rich and varied levels but I told myself that it wouldn't be too much work because "the ship is just flying past quickly anyway so I don't need too much detail"

Jason

@json.codes

9 Feb

My current project is definitely much smaller than this one, and I'm determined to have it published in some form in 2026.