Phase 1 - Build a working foundation
Timeframe: 3 months
Create the foundation for the game. Plan appropriately with a solid system that will support many complex cards, various features and avoiding the original games pitfalls.
June
9th - Officially started project from scratch
~19th - Had duels basically working(card data, card generation, deck handling, hand, graveyard, card placement, win/lose/draw, lifepoints)
During this time I had to make a lot of decisions and lots of boring stuff such as datum interaction, interface, card sizes/graphics. Many of which some new Yu-Gi-Oh! game will just blindly copy without wondering why I did it that way.
21st - Revealed project and progress to Lufia for the first time.
~24th - Went back to improve, bug fix and polish. Built various systems and notes to ensure future tag team support.
25th - Begun chain research, sadly it's far more complicated than I would have liked. Rebuilt the system over and over, made pages of notes and printed pages of rulings. After about 3 days of free time I had the working activation and chain systems worked out.
Took some time to build debug features and created the ability to play as both players in the duel. This helped with testing, not requiring me to use multiple keys.
(Lots of boring entries about various mechanics...)
July
13th - Built negation cards like Jinzo/Imperial Order/Skill Drain. Updated trigger systems to be more sensible and easier for me to work with.
14th - Counter traps that negate working. Solemn Judgement, Magic Jammer, Seven Tools of the Bandit etc
(Around here I wanted to get Mega Man out as some pixel projects were starting to be announced)
18th - Battle system and cards like Hayabusa Knight, Swords of Revealing Light, Magic Cylinder added to test battle stuff.
21st - Cardlist created(it's a nice way of selecting cards, replaces the old input boxes DMO used to use)
24th - About 200 cards databased, most of them working partially. New Deck Code system complete, uses 2 digits per card instead of 4.
(Lots of important things done up to here but I'm getting boring now)
August
7th - First public test. 1 person showed up. Didn't find any problems.
8th - Second public test. 4 people. They spent most of the time complaining about things that weren't relevant.
11th - Trap Monsters added. This was a major achievement due to the complexity of these cards and the huge page of rulings. Also added Fake Trap, which is a milestone for me due to it being totally impossible to add in the original DMO and also it being the first card I "dropped".
13th - Decided to take a month long break.
September
13th - Resumed work.
(Didn't make too much major progress after this point due to work commitments but managed to get a lot of small things done)
October
7th - Had a small celebration for DMO's 7th birthday. Had planned to have DMO released today but due to our server sucking, it was degraded to a small private hosting session and anti-climatic "release".
~Now - Various polish and graphical improvements, gone through and tested a lot myself to make sure players can actually play fine.
Phase 2 - Release
Timeframe: Within the next few days
Start hosting the game to the public. At this point the game doesn't have much, but does have the foundation that can be built quickly upon. I decided to get it out now to keep my momentum up and get things tested while it's still familiar.
Phase 3 - Alpha
Timeframe: 3-4 months
With player input and graphic submissions establish most of the game. Cards will be added a couple of times per week, perhaps 5-10. This will allow for players to test these cards well and keep the game low on bugs as it expands.
Phase 4 - Beta
Timeframe: Unknown
Add to the systems already in place. More cards, more player stuff and so on. Possibly rankings and major tournaments in the works(Duelist Kingdom).
Hopefully by this stage we've been able to hire some graphic artists to build some nice maps.
So that's a quick outline of progress and my expectations. Obviously not too in depth.
This screen shot shows dueling mats, eventually there will be more and players will be able to select from a range of them.
(Screenshot size and quality reduced for speed)
