Gemslinger is supposed to be a small project. It’s 2d and tile-based, with simple mechanics merging gem-matching games and the original Legend of Zelda arcade-style action.

Sadly, it’s given me nothing but trouble. The character animation is a pain to set up. My map data is poorly structured and prone to getting randomly erased by my own map editor even when I’m not editing maps. The game doesn’t perform at all well on my test Android tablet.

The plan was to develop two versions of the game simultaneously. There would be a desktop version with a rich story and big open 256×256 tile map…

…and there would also be a mobile version with simpler mechanics, structured more like a stand-up arcade game. You’d play a sort of survival mode on small, self-contained boards, have a chance to buy some upgrades if you lived through it, then be presented with a new board, and see how high many boards you could get through.

Both would be developed on the same code base.

But since this project has been so troublesome, I have made the decision to just do the mobile version for now. And just making that decision, I feel a great sense of relief. I can just concentrate on getting the core game playable and fun before having to dive into filling the world of the desktop version.

Once I’m done with the mobile version, then I can think about what I want for the desktop version.

The desktop version may involve a new code base.

This may be a very, very good thing.