Looking back on this project for creating a prototype game I found that I have done alright with making my game. As I have had a bit of experience with games engines such as Unity. As before this course I made my own game at college about the Vietnam War. That game was only the level design which you could walk around as I hardly made any mechanics, only a teleporter. But back to Indie game development with creating my game I found it difficult in certain ways as my first problem with my game was trying to come up with an idea for it as. My original idea was way too difficult to make due to what I wanted in my game such as AI enemies, detection system and much more. So, I simplified it down to a parkour shooter game based on a futuristic bounty hunter. Again the problem with this is that it’s a common game idea in the industry which I had to scrap that. In the end I made a platform/ parkour game where you play as a lab rat where you have to traverse the level and complete tasks. But by the time I had come up with my games idea I wasted a lot of time that I could have used to work on the mechanics and the level design.
Another aspect of my game I feel like I could have improved on was the amount of content for my game as in my mind I find that two rooms for my game are rather basic and a bit short. From this feedback of play testing from my family. I managed to extend the rooms and make it more challenging however I still feel like I could have added more content to my game by adding more levels which I could bring in more mechanics. As I wanted to add more platform mechanics, a health system and a timer. But I had to cut them out as I was running out of time for my games hand in. I do regret not adding these in as it would have added to my games which would have added to the player experience. As if I added the timer it would add more to the players experience by making it more challenging to complete the game in the shortest time possible. Which I could have gone from there to make a leader board. But in future I can improve from this by managing my time more efficiently with planning out my priorities for my game.
Although on a positive point I have learnt a lot about the unreal engine, from its tools to its Blue print mechanics. As at the beginning of this project I had no idea of what the unreal engine was capable of. But going through this project I have learnt a lot from using Blue print, creating mechanics, player controls, creating widgets and much more. At the end of this project I feel more confident with using this software. Another positive from working on this project is getting to learn about blueprints as I have always wondered how mechanics in games worked and how they would be coded into the game. Now I know the basics of coding which I even pushed myself to create my own mechanics such as a teleporter, double jump, vanishing platforms, jump pad and etc.
Overall I think that I have made an alright game for creating my first ever prototype game. The only other improvements to this project would be to focus more on getting a unique idea that I can work with. As it will allow me to get on with working on my game idea that I can develop it into a game prototype. As from there I could work out my time management for my game. As it would allow me to focus and complete sections of my game from Mechanics, 3D assets and Level design. Another part of this project that I would improve on would be more confident with experimenting with my game and trying out new mechanics. As I would worry that my game would crash and lose my work. But now looking back at the end of the project I feel like I could have experimented more with the game. In the end I have learnt a lot from this project and what I could improve on in future when returning back to the topic of creating a game.
Thomas Morphew Games art 