I think it's really important to ask people what they think about Gum Drop. I make them sit down and play with the game and try to ask questions. However since alot of people never tend to be critical about what they are truly experiencing, I have to look at the screen and watch how the ship goes about. I look at it and try to imagine how and what is confusing the player. Currently the build is in late alpha stages where I have only seriously begun getting feedback from people unfamilliar with the game. This helps me figure out what parts of the game are confusing to others. I am obviously biased because I pretty much wrote the whole system and know what to expect between different interactions.

But other than that, the game is progressing along. My hat is turning more game designer at this point rather than game programmer, as now I have to tackle with game balancing, feedback,  and usability. 

I am currently working on getting the alpha version in a demoable state. It's been roughly half a year since I started working on Gum Drop on my spare time, and it has really gotten to a point that I am very proud of what I have achieved. But really that half past year is going to be cake walk compared to the next 2-6 months I will have to spend polishing and making the game the best it could be. All the major system components are in place and now I can concentrate more on the presentation and gameplay aspect of the game.  So I guess this is my half-way point for the project, a good time to reflect on what worked and what did not work.

 What worked:

1. Having a central repository for documents which is easily accesible everywhere. Google Docs provdied the perfect solution, so I can bring up the documents anywhere I have interenet acess on. It also facilitates easy collaborartion with other people who may need to read the documentation. Google Docs also provided versioning on the documents so I could easily revert back the changes.
2. Using pre-existing libraries. I created Gum Drop on XNA using C# which enabled me to work in a more rapid fashion. Not having to write my own matrix classes was a God Send. Also I used the Farseer Physics library which helped me get a proof of concept up and running in a short amount of time.
3. Learning how to adjust plans and expectations. Since this is my first game written in XNA there was a learning curve in implementing various systems that I did a different way when I was working with C++. Creating a game is a long process, and ideas change so having a open mind to help move the project along was indeed needed.
4. Switching to more of a random/procedural way of generating the levels helped me steer away from creating a content creation tool, which would have added complexity to the project.
5. Having early feedback about the gameplay from different kinds of gamers and non-gamers alike. Since I want this game to be appreciated by a wide range of people, having their different opionions early on mattered

What did not work so well:

1. It was alot harder to find people to buy-in to the project, actually I do not have anyone actively working on the project. I had a few people help here and there but it was a 1 man shop most of the way. I had to do asset creation, programming, testing, producing, story, etc... You name it, I did it.
2. I did not plan the engineering aspect detailed enough. I knew what systems I would need to make but I did not make clear how I would use them, and how they would interact. This is also partly because I was not that familiar with XNA and the physics library during the start of the project.
3. I have limited time on my hands, at most I work 20-30 hours on this project per week on top of my day job and other acitivities. Having more time to work on it would have been better

All in all, I enjoy working on this project, and I primarily work on it because I love making interactive worlds that I only dreamed of when I was little. Having it translated to games that I can share to other people is top priority. Saying that making extra money on the side would not be bad at all of course :)

So in retrospective, I'm glad I did what I did, and I will continue on the project and polish it till it becomes shiny like the sun