Dev Links: Shot Through The Heart

“In my mind, an RPG leveling system should have four major goals… Unfortunately, these goals often serve at cross-purposes.”
“Deadlines are part of almost every job.

In today’s Developer Links: illumination, frustration, and the temptation for procrastination.

Democracy 3: Capital Gains Tax(Cliffski.com)
“I’m mulling the possibility of a capital-gains taxpolicy for Democracy 3. The key thing is to get the effects of such a policy right.”

RPG Leveling System Goals(Zeboyd Games)

Deadlines(Computer Games)
“Deadlines are part of almost every job. With indie games, and in particular small/single indies like me, deadlines are usually self-imposed.”

Happy Valentine’s Day, Belated(SpyParty)
“The ever-awesome ZeroTKAhad an awesome idea for a Valentine’s Day surprise, and then my daughter gave me a cold and I couldn’t get it done for the actual day.  But hey, it’s still Valentine’s Day in Damon’s heart.”

Drox Operative On Linux?(Soldak Entertainment)
“Please don’t take this as a guarantee or anything, but I’m finally seriously exploring a Linux port of Drox Operative and possibly our other games. Our main focus right now is the expansion pack, but this is something I’ve been making some slow progress on. I don’t want everyone to get their hopes up too much, but I also wanted to be able to talk about this every now and then.”

Serious Sam Gun Gameplay 2(Mommy’s Best Devlog)
“ Serious Sam Double D XXLcomes out February 20th, less than a week away! In this new video I demonstrate 4 new upgrades in the game, for the Tommy Gun and Laser Rifle , explaining some of their strategic capabilities.”

Improved Lighting(Instant Kingdom)
“Here’s something I’ve been feverishly working on for the last couple of days. It started simply enough, I just wanted my 3D model to have a bit more depth, and it turned out to be a rewrite of the code that handles lights. Maybe you can guess which picture is which?”

Is Frustration An Essential Part of Game Design?(The Guardian)
“I’ve probably told you this story before, but a couple of weeks ago I almost destroyed my copy of DmC, Ninja Theory’s reboot of the Devil May Cry series. I was stuck on a boss fight with a giant demonic baby, and although I understood what I was supposed to do, I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t. I knew I had to avoid the infant’s gigantic swipes, I knew I had to attack with aerial combos, I knew a weak spot would eventually open up. But I couldn’t do it. So I took the disc out and threw it. It rebounded off two walls and landed behind my desk. If my window had been open, I would have tossed it into the garden.”