Assignment Brief

For your submission, you must submit the following:

• A 1,500 word written post-mortem.

You will need to demonstrate the challenges that you faced in creating your finished game project and pitch. This will need to reflect on the process as a whole.

For this, you may want to choose Five Points to enable you to discuss clearly what went right and wrong. 

You may want to discuss and explore some of the following (but this list is not exhaustive depending on your contribution and game):

• Design
• Art
• Coding
• Engine
• Teamwork
• Gameplay
• Testing
• Audio
• Narrative
• Time Keeping

For each one you choose, discuss what went right and what wrong in order to demonstrate you understand where things worked and what you have learnt from what did not.

Along with these headings, include an introduction and a conclusion that discusses your overall feelings on the finished game and how close it came to the vision of the prototype.

It is important for this assessment to not simply describe what happened, but what you have learnt from it and what you will take forward with you.

Your submission needs to meet the following Programme Competencies in order to pass:

PC8: REFLECTION – Reflect and evaluate on performance in order to inform personal development and continued learning.

• Have you demonstrated an honest appraisal of the project?
• Have you evidenced what you have learnt from the project?

Introduction

I am here to make a Post-Mortem, explaining my entire Journey through Development. What went Right, what went Wrong, how did I overcome my obstacles and what I could take with me for any Future Developments.

When it came to Pitch Prototypes, I worked on a Where’s Wally Prototype. A Simple Game of finding a person or Object in a crowd of People and Objects.

Once Our Team’s Prototype were done, we prepared a Presentation to explain our Prototypes, their Mechanics what our goal for them was. Then we came to a Decision of which Prototype to take forward as our Game, We picked the Thief Game Prototype as our Game of choice.

We made our Thief Game to the best of our Level, despite some Obstacles we came across we tried pushing through as best as we can.

Design

Prototype Pitch

The Design for this Prototype was to be Shapes as the Main showcase of the Prototype, ranging in different Colours. Unity comes with Shapes at Default and there is a good few of them to use. Having Shapes there in Unity helped gave me a Baseplate to work on and allowed to start coding quicker for the shapes.

Good thing I had a Coder next to me Throughout the Process, so if I needed some help or his opinion, I would ask him. Also YouTube Tutorials Helped me with getting to understand coding better and this helped with Workflow.

The only Bad Thing was the Shapes in Unity was Limited but for further development, I could’ve added more of my own shapes to be more Unique.

Now I learned to make more of my own Stuff for Unity to help with the Work process and this way my Prototype can be more Unique if the Assets were made by me instead of pre-made or Community Assets.

Game Project

The Design for our Thief Game was to be Plot based, a Game where the Player has to steal Famous/Historic Items from places to then be brought back to where they belong. So Basically, like a Robinhood, Steal from the Rich, Give to the Poor.

The Good Thing about this is out Team could come with many different Famous Artefacts or we could make some up like we did for the Sumerian level (They did do Lapis Lazuli Statues but only for the Eyes whilst ours was Fully Lapis).

The harder part was deciding in which Items we go with, for the Levels. We all needed to decide but some opinions will like a Item more then others. So to passthrough, which had more Votes, would be the one to make it through instead of only one of us deciding.

Art

Prototype Pitch

I did not add any of my own art into my Where’s Wally Prototype. I used what Unity Assets had at Default for at the time of production of the Prototype. Since my Main Priority was to have the Mechanics made first and working over adding Art.

I did have some plans for adding Art to the Prototype. It was going to be Cartoony or Stripes and Polka-Dots Style to add more of a Friendly, Kid Styled Look to the Game. I thought the Prototype would be more visualising pleasing for Younger Audiences.

If I added some art, I could show off I little more of what the game could’ve looked like. At least for future Prototypes, I will include some Art to show what Art Style the Game would have if carried on Development. I will make sure to show off more Art next time, for Future Developments.

Game Project

Choosing what Character Art to pick was a fun experience. I went with Pixel Art since I am a sucker for Pixel Art. The rest of the team agreed with Pixel Art and we would go with 64 Bit and try to stick with 64 bit with all forms of Art for the Game.

The Good Parts were I was the Character Designer and I had to make the Character in Pixel Art. I love making Pixel Art so my Role became more Fun and Intern made me want to Draw more Sprites and Pixel Art for the Game.

The only obstacle I had was choosing the Outfits for Both Levels of the Game. With so many Thief Outfits and Sumerian Clothes to choose from, it became a slight Roadblock and slowed down my Progress.

But in the end, I picked the Outfits and went to work. For future Developments, I will look up more References before I start Making Art instead of at the exact same time.

Teamwork

Prototype Pitch

For the Team, we all worked on separate Prototypes to create. I made sure that if I needed help I would ask either Coders to Help me with solving the Problem with the Code. I was also getting their Opinion about the Mechanics of my Prototype and what I could do to make it better.

Good parts were that I had Help and Opinions from my Team to better shape the Prototype and I got Tips and Examples from my Lecturer for further better understanding.

Its a little difficult to pick out what went wrong in our Teamwork for the Prototypes. only thing I could mention was there was less Communications when I came to our Online Group and not informing our Lecturer about our Progression that much. Both Face to Face and Online.

Ill make sure for the Future to Communicate more in the Team and make Sure to inform my Team and My Lecturer more about my Progression.

Game Project

Communication was a bit more difficult for this one. All of us having our own Things to do and we just got to work on them. I’m making sure I create the Sprites for the game. But also, we lost one of our Coders and meant Ben was our only Coder. He took on extra work, meant He went silent for longer to get it done.

The Good thing was that I was getting Opinions on my Work from our Coder, Ben. Despite taking on more work, he still gave me his opinion and whenever He asked for me to make something like Walls and Floors. He asked for them, I respond as fast as Possible and make the Walls and Floors on the same day or within the couple of days.

The Bad part was we lost some Communication along the way. We took longer to respond to each other and I would also follow the same flaw. I also did not know much what the others were doing.

To Help one of the obstacles, I asked more frequently where Everyone else was up to and tell them My Progress in the mean time. Either in a few hours or by the end of the day, I would get my Answer to their Progression.

Gameplay/Testing

Prototype Pitch

I made sure to test my Prototype Constantly when I made new Code to see if it works or I need to still work on it more. There was a good few Mechanics made for the prototype to test out and Tweak.

For the Most Part, The code and the mechanics were working great. The Score Mechanic Worked, High Score was counted and Remembered when you Open the Prototype Again. The Re-shuffle Button, along with changing the Colours worked Perfectly.

The Obstacles I ran into was The Shapes at one Point, all counted as ‘Wally’. So that meant you can click on any shape and get points. This was quickly sorted out with the Help of our Coders.

The Other Obstacle was when Re-Generating Shapes, they would all be the same Shape. Meaning all could be ‘Wally’ or not at all. I found a way around thanks to Ben, Our Main Coder.

I will try to be more experimental with coding for next time to see what results I can achieve. Also try to get less Help with Coding and try to for Myself to try and figure it out longer before needing Help.

Game Project

Me and Ben (Mostly Ben) came up with some of the Mechanics and Potential Mechanic that could be used for the game. Movement, Lasers, Enemies, etc.

The Good part of the trusting was Most of the Mechanics worked Pretty well, you learn the controls quite quickly and Learn how the Guards see and how they Move.

Some of the Bad things that happen was I tested the Game when it was nearly ready for Submission. Doing a Waterfall Approach, which is not a good Idea when it comes to Testing out our Game. if anything had happened, we would need start from scratch to find where the problems has occurred. Taking up precious Time we need to Produce the Game.

For next Time, I will try not to fall into the Waterfall Approach and make sure to test the Game more Periodically. Even if not all Assets are in the Game just yet and using something else to test Mechanics.

Time Keeping

Prototype Pitch

Time Keeping for the Prototypes, I think was still on schedule. We spend a 1-2 Weeks on Notes and made sure that we got a Prototype done for each week after that.

Making the Where’s Wally Prototype was quite a lot of fun and I did enjoy remembering how to code and learning new ways to Code, thanks to the help of our Coder when I asked for Help.

My Prototype however did take the longest out of the rest of the Team. Out of all the Team members I am the worst at Coding, so i would take me longer to complete a prototype.

But I still made it in on time, even if I was the last prototype to get done. So, now I know to try and sink in more time to understand what I need to do in order to get work done faster

Game Project

Time Keeping for the Game became more Tricky, sadly because we lost a member of our team who was our Second Coder. This added more Work Stress onto our First Coder, Ben. Now he had to take on a Two-Person Job.

Time Keeping for me was a Hit and Miss Scenario. For my Character Sprites, The First Player Sprites arrived a little late, along with the Enemy Sprites. When It came to the Sumerian Sprites, I was also late to hand it in to Ben, our Coder. However, Ben did say I did hand them in a little late but

Enhancement Week was Mostly taken up for needing to help Family with Stuff but for some of the Days I was free to continue my work. as a whole, He thought it was still fine.

Its my own fault for not getting the Sumerian Sprites in faster but I know now to come to Work more often to get my work done and then I will have no distractions.

Conclusion

discusses your overall feelings on the finished game and how close it came to the vision of the prototype.

Despite some Obstacles Me and my Team Members went through, I think we all tried our best to make the Game and Story to the best of our Abilities at that Time.

I think the Game turned out OK, not Great but not Bad either. But could’ve been more Better if we still had All Members of our team, so then more could’ve been Done for the Game. Also, if we Communicated a little more then Maybe the Game may have turned out better.

Despise all that, The vision of the game was still there, We weren’t on the Mark but we were aiming in the Right direction. With more time, maybe we could’ve hit our mark.