Blog Post 6. New.

It has been very fun to work with my group and to make assets for the game.
I am not so glad with the end result of the project. Our lead programmer has left the course and we had already over scoped the game before that happened so as a result many assets which were ready to be implemented into the final game were left out. This included the boss, the boss environment, all animations and 2 more enemy types and the UI’s which the artists had made. However in the end I am happy that we had a fully functioning game. We managed to improve in almost all areas which we set out to do after the play test, the sounds were good and we had all the necessary features of the game working.
I have learned that scrum is very useful and that if anything we should have stuck more to our decisions in scrum planning more  strictly. I have learned that it is very easy to over scope, even when you have a lot of time ahead of you. As an artist I’ve realized that it is better to get many assets done quickly so that they can be tested in game early, than to keep one to myself and working on it extensively. As an artist I should also have made the player animation as early as possible, even if just as a placeholder since that would have made it much easier for the programmers to implement the finished version.

We approached our game from a Mechanics, Dynamics to Aesthetics type of way. I feel like we made the game in that order because the Aesthetics had already been given to us in the form of a concept document. I would argue however that we should have gone from an Aesthetics point of view and worked backwards,in a way our mechanics where decided so specifically and so early that we restricted the feeling of the game to them. For instance the one enemy we had, which was suppose to be that first out of 3 enemies, as well as the easiest of them, had an attack movement which placed it behind the player where he was unable to shoot it while it was still dealing damage. Which created a feeling of unfairness as well as difficulty for an enemy which should have been easy. As such we made it the main enemy, which just made the Aesthetics of the game confusing.

In the end we managed to create a fully functioning game, it contained all  the most basic features which we expected from the start. We managed to capture the Aesthetic feeling of the concept document, the biggest flaw was likely it’s short duration and lack of variation in enemy types, it was quite lackluster. It was the first fully working game I’ve made so although it did not become perfect I’m proud that we managed to make it. In the end we where unable to add a lot of the art assets I had made which is probably the most disappointing thing for me. the scrum was a good tool, however we did not use it in a way that could have helped us reach our full potential. I think we where unprepared for the amount of work necessary and overconfident in our ability to deliver. For my next game I will improve my work ethic, my time management and I will work everyday with my group to make sure we have a good dynamic and that everything goes as planned.

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