Development Log Postmortem

Successes:

The primary success of the game must be the complete structure of the game as well as the fascinating new features. We implemented a new health system that replaced hearts with health bars that enable monsters’ health points to be apparent for players, reducing the difficulty of the game. In addition, extra skill of double jump is implemented as features enabling the player to pass the boss more easily. Also we set up the scene that the player would be able to practise the new ability they got before facing the boss. Gradual increase of difficulty is a feature of the game as well. Original art of the boss will have multiple phases and different attack behaviors must be the most important feature the game has. Finally, appropriate sound effects and bgm elaborate the whole game to a further level.

Challenges:

The main challenge we faced in developing the game was the time. At the start, we designed a platformer game with roguelike elements and other fascinating features which we abandoned in the development phase. One reason for this is the schedule conflict with final exams. On the other hand, designing the boss and implementing the boss are not as easy as we expected. We spent a lot of time dealing with the boss’s attacking behavior, intending to implement a complex attacking system that would change according to the behavior of players which turned out to be too complex and time consuming. Besides, although we spent a lot of time fixing the jumping system, with previous experience of the jumping system and suggestions from the professor,  the jump function is still unsatisfactory to a degree that simply adding a upward force would cause a sudden burst making the animation appear abnormally while changing the velocity of the rigidbody directly seems to conflict with existing velocity system. We might improve the jumping performance afterwards.

What we learned:

During developing the game, we further practise our skill in making 2D games as well as improve the sense of game designing as well as creating animation that changes with characters’ behaviors. During the process of designing the boss, we learned that developing a character must start from style and then further into other aspects including the purpose of the character, the ability of the character, etc. We also focused on how to make the scene better correspond to the character controlled by the player that we add platforms that wouldn’t be reached without the new ability the character gets. Besides, we focused on improving the player's experience on the game. For instance, we separate the jump function from the left console in order to allow the player to jump and move horizontally at the same time. Overall we have a fresh understanding of the game design and how to improve the player's experience.

Possible future improvements:

There are many improvements we could make to elaborate the game. One expansion could be to insert dialogues as well as more characters to foreshadow the story line which would make the game tell a better story and increase players’ sense of participation in the game. Another feature could be a real enemy attack AI that could react corresponding to the player's attack or position such as those bosses or monsters in Hollow Knight. In addition, animation could be implemented to illustrate the background information of the game more intriguing and straightforward. What’s more, extra ability would make the game more interesting and challenging with a more diverse layout.