110 - Five Year Anniversary

March 14, 2021

Another anniversary. March 8th, 2021 marked five years since the first commit to the Akigi repository.

One of my main goals when starting Akigi was to work on a project that I was very enthusiastic about.

I wanted a project that was a never ending source of challenging technical problems.

So far, Akigi and the projects that it has spawned have lived up to that initial goal, and I don't see that slowing down over the next five years.

Another goal that I had was to have the game released and profitable. I haven't released Akigi yet, and so it certainly isn't profitable. I'm working to buck that trend, but it's a bit of a challenge to say the least. I'm working to get the game fun and live sooner rather than later.

Since Last Year

I built a lot over the last year and it was fun the entire way. A few things that stick out to me:

I introduced the game editor in 075. I remember going on runs last year excitedly working through thoughts on how to implement a terrain sculpting tool. Now it's alive and incrementally improving.

I implemented goal-oriented action planning in 061. That was a fun one since it was fairly complex and the end result of having NPCs making real time decisions felt cool and powerful.

Implementing additive animation blending in 098 was another fun one. I remember writing my first skeletal animation system back in 2016. Comparing that to the much more powerful system that I have today reminds me of how much I've learned.

Five Years from Now

I'm not sure where the project will be in five years, but there are a few things on my mind that would be cool to see.

I want the renderer to be industry grade. All of the modern graphics effects should be possible in the engine.

I've also been thinking about licensing the engine out to other web-focused companies.

Right now the game editor is still fledgling. I want it to continue to mature over the next five years.

I also want to have a great cross platform story, including iOS and android.

Mainly, I think that a Rust-based industry-grade game engine with an excellent web story would bring something new to the table. The next five years should move me closer to that dream.

Other Notes / Progress

I've been swamped with various other responsibilities lately and my Akigi work has taken a temporary hit.

I should be back in gear at the beginning of April. In the meantime progress will be a bit slower than usual.

Next Journal Entry

If I can get the runtime texture allocator live by the next journal entry I'll call that a win.

I will be back next week. Goodbye for now.

- CFN