On the surface this became something of an experiment with particle systems, custom shaders, music, and 2D physics and graphics. But originally this was my attempt to turn out something that was both simple and rooted in deep personal significance, the idea being that I would feel more personally motivated to work on it and end up having little trouble putting it all together.

To some degree I expected that I would struggle with the “keeping it simple” part, and sure enough I spent more time than I wanted to in trying to get things just right. It got me thinking how maybe the best approach to indie game development really is to throw as many ideas as quickly as you can against the wall (through quick and minimalist implementations) and see which one sticks before committing to a full implementation – something like what I think Tynan Sylvester advocates.

It ended up being a very valuable learning experience, and in the end I am rather happy with the results. Even if it did drag on more than I wanted it to or felt was necessary.