It's been a little while since an update, mostly because I've been
heads-down working on Lamport General Systems.
For a few weeks after finishing my concept doc, I've been designing
the BFT system for the in-game network. I hadn't realized that even
though it doesn't have the same constraints as a real BFT system, it's
still really hard. I'm trying to make it fun, base it on real-life BFT
systems, and keep it accessible—which turns out to be actual system
design work. The tough part is making decisions when you have to
consider how each one affects everything else in the system. I keep
feeling like I haven't thought through all the implications, which is
uncomfortable.
But apart from the design challenges, it's been great to finally start
building things in Godot. I began with some Python scripts to model
the system, then realized GDScript was just as simple to use, so I
switched over. After iterating on the Godot design for a bit, I've
ended up with a few different underlying system designs, a harness
that ties the systems into the 3D game world, and I even made some
models in Blender. Now I have some neat low-poly server computers,
monitors, and a working BFT system—though it still needs balancing.
