#12 Looking Back

So, it has now been a week since handing in the assignment, and so for my final blog post, I want to look back over my work in order to reflect and improve for next year.

The Narrative Game

While overall I am very happy with the outcome of this game, There are still many ways in which I can improve it as well as the process behind making it.

At the beginning it took me about 4 to 5 weeks before I even started working on the project within unity. This delay in starting meant that I didn’t have as much time towards the end to add features like a streaming interface where the player has to actually stream in order to gain followers.

Another issue I came across was a lack of interest towards the beginning. This was because I started off by writing all the dialogue before anything else. While this gave my game a structure to work off, it was also very demotivating since a lot of the dialogue felt very generic and boring to write.

If I was to start again, I would get in engine as quickly as I could as well as work on the art at the same time as the dialogue allowing me to be more motivated to get it done. This will also save time as a lot of the dialogue was changed once the art was in place because it didn’t fit the art style of the game.

Given more time, I would have loved to add a whole streaming section where the player has to actively create their Witch profile and then manually create each stream. This would add a lot more gameplay to the game and mean that the player is more immersed in the game.

The 3D Level Design

Overall, I am disappointed in my level design as it was rushed and unrefined. This was due to a number of factors but most importantly it was due to bad time management which I hope to improve next year.

While the level design itself is ok, It is clearly rushed and nowhere near the quality of my narrative game. I started off with a whole different idea of how I was going to approach the level design but had no idea how to implement it into Unity.

After looking back over the mark scheme, I noticed that it never needed to work within Unity, and I could have designed the original level without it being functional. This, in hindsight, meant that I basically threw away weeks of planning and ideas for absolutely no reason.

This was in conjunction with the fact that I decided to focus on the fungus game meaning that I didn’t even start working on the level until the final week before the deadline.

I think the main reason behind this was because I wasn’t personally interested in the level design as much, which meant I ended up almost ignoring it entirely. This is clearly an issue, and I will work on ways to improve my general productivity for next year.

In order to improve, next year I hope to start the term by creating a plan on what assignments I will work on, which weeks, and set myself targets and deadlines to keep myself working productively on all assignments. This should hopefully keep me on track and producing work that I am happy with.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I am very happy with my progress this study block as I have improved a lot since last term. When I look back at my flappy bird mod from last term, I am shocked at how far I have come, and I hope that I will look back at this study block next year in the same way.

Despite this, there are still many ways in which I can improve, whether it’s by managing my time better or optimising my workflow. While I was sceptical, I could make a functional game at the beginning of this study block, I am now confident to explore new areas and dive in deeper into game design as a whole.

I want to start this by reading some books over the summer that I have been recommended. These include: Building Imaginary Worlds by Mark J.P Wolfe, Rules of Play by Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman, and of course Quests: Design, Theory, and History in Games and Narratives by Jeff Howard.

References

DEGICA. 2017. Screenshot Of The In Game UI [image]. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/495480/Visual_Novel_Maker/ [accessed 3 Apr 2021].

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba [TV programme]. Tokyo MX.

GRAY, PETER O. 2007. Psychology. 5th edn. New York: Worth Publishers.

GREGAN, CHRIS and STEVE HALLIWELL. 2015. Fungus [Windows]. Fungus Games.

MILLER, GEORGE A. 1956. “The Magical Number Seven, Plus Or Minus Two: Some Limits On Our Capacity For Processing Information.”. Psychological Review 63(2), 81-97.

PEACOCK, IRVINE. 1978. Castle Of Illusions [Painting]. London: Portal Gallery.

PEACOCK, IRVINE. 1978. Staircases [Painting]. London: Portal Gallery.