It’s been a while since the last update. I’ve mainly been distracted by other projects but I decided it was time to go back to finish this one since it was so near to being done. This update finishes wiring everything up and adds some nice details that make the game feel more complete. This is the first game I actually finish and I think it’s mainly because I forced myself to not succumb to the desire of keep adding more stuff. Near the end I had some ideas (some mine, and some suggested by others) to make the game more interesting, so maybe there will be a Marksman 2 someday :)

While working on this I learned a lot, mainly by making mistakes. I also got advice from some very nice people and realized I wasn’t so lost as I felt. The main thing I’m walking away with after finishing this is a whole new understanding of game patterns and scalable architectures, which would’ve made developing this game much easier if I had adopted them from the beginning (as it is right now, it’s a bit of a hybrid among different approaches, although I strived for everything to make sense). A suggestion for my future self, or anyone reading this, would be to be sure to think about what chunks do you want of your game before you start working on it. This ensures you have the layout of things in consideration while working on the project and minimizes the necessity of completely changing the architecture you’re using (or at least of doing big refactors of the code).

Main changes added to this release:

• finally fix an issue I’ve been having since the very beginning that was sometimes happening when the player switched to a new level it would automatically complete that level without the player having to hit the bullseye (this was caused by me not clearing the ARROWS table at the end of the previous level)
• added nicer decorations! Grass and clouds now move. We also have banners
• added intro and outro scenes that explain more or less what is going on and why the player finds itself firing arrows at things
• cleaned up the win and “spontaneous combustion” banner.