Hurrumph!  Rhubarb!  Alright alright, a good day's work done today.  Blazin Balls now has 10 levels (7 of which are complete or near complete), a persistant high-score table.  I've added lots more sound effects today too, tidied the scoreboard and bonus coin distribution, and improved the game physics and responsiveness as you bound along the road.  All good stuff.  I'm going to take some video and screenshots soon so everyone can have a good look.  I recon we'll be feature-complete this weekend, and then it's down to getting the levels and polish going on.  I'm trying to think of a good idea for the menu - something different and appealing.  I have the same problem with every game to be honest and usually cop out to a simple "button" menu.  I'd rather do something more fun and eye-popping here because I want the game to be like a shot of espresso - very small but with  lot of poke.  I'll just let my mind run riot and see what comes up.  It's on the task list for Friday so plenty of time to think something up.

I really love this part of the dev cycle.  I'm just ripping through the list, I can code for about 14 hours a day and can see the game forming before my very eyes.  For Space Pirates this peroid lasted about 2 months, but this is going to be much shorter, thank God.  I'm still confident we can get the game out by the 23rd Feb (or at least to peer review by then).  I'm bang on schedule this week too, which is even better!  Tomorrow's jobs are listed on by chalkboard as "P2 controller" and "Backdrop GFX".  I recon 3 hours for the controller selection for player 2 (I expect I'll use the "standard" Xbox multiplayer popup because I like standards for things like that) and maybe 5 for the backdrops.  I'm still not sure if I'm going to skybox it or put some weird 3D object nearby, but skysphere is the favorite at the moment (low overhead and low draw time).  My skybox generator is fast enough to make a new box between levels so it could be fun to use it again.  Have to think about what images to use though.  Can't use the same ones as in Space Pirates obviously, and I'd like to try something non-space to be honest.  Only makes me pine for my telescope, which is currently boxed up in a cupboard, for shame.

Anyway it's gone 3am so I'd better toddle off to my bed, or I won't be up much before midday tomorrow, and that's not good...