Covidy Shmovidy
This project overall I feel went better than the last one. I didn't have any instances where I got stuck on a problem for more than an hour or so. I was also often pleasantly surprised that the solutions I came up with worked really well. The experience of taking a game project like this through all its stages was also very valuable as I was able to see a clear progression from test hall to prototype to final version.
What went well.
Using the art asset pack was a godsend. It made me focus on what was reasonably possible in the near future and gave me the tools to experiment with new ideas. All this without having to commit to more time spent making visual elements first, which would have been discarded anyway.
Using Tilemaps was also something that made my life a lot easier. I was able to rapidly sketch, prototype and then deploy levels and ideas with as little effort as using something like MS paint. I created 3 Layers each with different properties. The background was for what everything sat in front of. It contained information like indicating to the player where boxes should be moved. The midground was what the player walked on, it contained all the floors walls and platforms the player navigated. Once I had set collision for this layer I never had to mess with any setting on it again, which sped things up a lot. The final layer was the Hazard layer which contained the spikes. Being able to just paint the hazards onto the level was very useful for quickly trying different locations for them, as I often found I had misjudged distances and needed to move the spikes a couple of blocks.
What went wrong.
Covid, in short, messed with this my project again. I planned out what I thought was a reasonable estimate of how long it would take me to get to each stage of this project. Originally I had planned to make a game very similar to this to use as the base for this project. I had hoped that by new years, I would be where I am now and would then be able to expand on this game and make it into something that was more unique. As such, I lost about 4 weeks of time. Partly due to moving back home briefly for Christmas discovering the internet was non-functional there and being unable to do basically anything productive for the 2 and a half weeks over Christmas. Partly because lost a week to focus on finishing my contextual studies essay (i had accounted for this in my planning but with the rest of the time losses it did add to the delay). And then finally, partly because I lost about 4-5 days on the moving around going to and from home and the general disruption that caused. I should have accounted for the time it would take to move in, in my planning but the lack of internet and subsequent lockdown meant that what would have been workable disruptions turned into large delays.
None of this to mention the mental toll covid is having at the moment. Since I moved back into accommodation, entirely to have the internet to do this project, I have been stuck alone as none of my flatmates returned as early as I did and two days after I arrived we entered another covid lockdown. My productivity and general well being have suffered because of this as keeping a consistent schedule is near impossible when you can't go out, you work in the exact spot you relax and sleep in, you're alone 24/7 and its winter in the northern hemisphere so you get about 4 hours of good light through your north-facing window if you're lucky, oh and the dense overcast coz England (also the accommodation windows are mirror tinted cutting down my valuable sunlight to a frankly inhumane level).
I feel that some of this was completely out of my control and I have done well enough given the disruption caused by Covid, on the other hand, I wish I had jumped straight into making as this project could have had an extra layer of polish and one or two minor extra features added such as a timer and death screens to really round it out. I could have accomplished this with one or two more good days of work but alas it is what it is.
Solutions
How did I solve the problems presented above? I scaled back my ideas for my game and focused on implementing each idea as well as I could rather than trying to fill up my game with an overabundance of mechanics. This meant that I could make the level design more of a focus and try to create engaging gameplay through that rather than through lots of systems which would need lots of testing. This route was by far the one with the least potential for further delays due to bugs and other unforeseen problems.
Personally, I also started taking vitD3 supplements to combat the almost complete lack of sunlight, although this has yet to have much of an effect as it takes a while for these sort of things to really be felt.
All in all, my take away is that I should start making ASAP, contrary to my thoughts before Christmas as that seems to be the best way to avoid being horribly delayed by current events.
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