> Some of the implementations I intend to backport into Trial, but
> other things that might seem simple on first look like maps and save
> states, are actually incredibly domain specific, and I'm currently
> unconvinced that I can build a good, generic system that can handle
> this.

I think they are generic enough use you should make some sort of a
project for them. You could make some sort of extension libraries for
Trial to use. You are going to need them in future projects again
anyways.


> Unfortunately for us, games tend to need a lot of non-reusable, very
> problem-specific solutions and implementations. Sure, there's
> components that are re-usable, like a rendering engine, physics
> simulations, and so forth.

I do mean to re-implement the verlet physics integration using
Leaf. The big issue I kept running into was that I couldn't tell what
was wrong. My test programs just had coloured rectangles and their
spinning didn't tell me much.


> For the dialog, the expected amount of content is so vast that I
> fear that I can't get away with using macros, and need to implement
> a parser for a very tailored markup language. I've been trying to
> get that going, but unfortunately for reasons beyond me my
> motivation has been severely lacking.

I almost suggested that you could define an XML schema... (Please
don't.)


> I've talked a lot about my own background and the kinds of problems
> I'm facing at the moment, and very little about the process of
> making these games. Well, the process is rather simple: ...

I recall reading a book written by a game dev who's been actively in
the field for decades. Particularly in game design as an engineer. I
think I mentioned some of his stories in the game development business
during your streams.

I could try to find it again as I should have it in PDF format. I
remember it having a lot of obvious things you likely already know but
I also felt it was a good read. It talked about the steps of design
and reasons to do them but didn't go into the nitty gritty details of
each area. I could look into this if you'd like.

Never finished it, I think. I should read it through as well.


> Maybe, hopefully, I will at some point and I'll actually be able to
> publish a game worth a damn. If it happens to have been developed
> with Lisp tools, that's just a bonus.

I hope I can be there to help out!