Week 8 E.R.A Daniel Svensson

This is the last blog post I will write about the course “Big game project” I feel a bit of melancholic because when you have finished working on a game and you have to evaluate what you have done, instead of what your are going to do it is often with a sense dread because you always want to put the extra mile in when it is to late.

There is a huge difference in looking at what you have actually accomplished compared to the unspoiled potential of the future and to realize in hindsight what you could have done better is always an bittersweet emotion.

There where many things that happened during this week and among them was GGC, this was the major event that we had been working towards, and it was our deadline. We worked pretty much up until the last day of the production and I am extremely proud of the prototype we managed to put together.

It displays the core aesthetic that our team was aiming for and when people played it at GGC we could really see how tense and focused they were while playing. The feedback that we accumulated was amazing and it will help us develop the game in the future.

If there is one thing you need to do when you have finished an iteration of the game, be it the alpha, beta or even the finished game; TAKE FEEDBACK!

I cannot stress enough how important iteration and feedback is when developing games, it does not matter how good of an idea you have it will always require polish in one area or another and the trouble is when you are working on something day in and day out you tend to get tunnel vision (basically you don’t notice the little things).

Not only will this cause you to miss some of the obvious stuff you can also break your own mechanics unintentionally either by adding an new feature or by simply changing a few numbers around.

That is why it is super important to have a notepad or something to write on when you see people play testing the game. Make a habit out of writing down random notes about it and when people have finished playing ask them:

This is also why I suggest you play test each new feature you add to your game on people not part of the development process, this will ensure you are following your aesthetic goal and not only that can witness the dynamics in action and listen to what they say but also do not be afraid to: