Week 12 - Things are ok sometimes

 Presentation Slides





Finally We're getting somewhere

Finally, after week of gruelling lack of progress and a lot of confusion and frustration, I managed to pinpoint when the error occurred and was able to slowly transfer data over. I built the project a total of 10 times over the course of this past week, and let me tell you, a 16GB USB is not a big enough storage device. I made a few alterations; I no longer have roaming NPC characters (even though that would've been so cool) and now they stand still around the (now considerably emptier) marketplace. They have randomised dialogue when the player interacts with them, though, so at least that's something I didn't have before. I instead used the NPCs as a way to guide the player to Alex, who now no longer has a sick character model, but is now a default Mannequin. I got a few people to playtest my project as it stands, and most enjoyed the experience. 


Behold Lyra, the player character. In this picture, you might notice a green box in front of her. This box will alert the player that they should go to the marketplace and find Alex (to start the cutscene).

The marketplace (Look at these goofy guys. They just stand there and gush over how much they love Alex)


Look how much they gush. It's at least 9 different ways. And it's random. 

I also added a game shell :)


The hero shot - my favourite faceless mannequin.

    • How well you were able to manage the project, organise your time, plan tasks and
      Manage workload?

Initially I was making good time over the course of this project, but unfortunately fell very behind, very quickly. I hadn't accounted for my lack of engine knowledge and my stubbornness to want to execute this game exactly how I initially envisioned. I ended up scaling back the workload majorly, which helped. Perhaps I could've considered working in a group for this project, in order to more even spread the workload so I could focus on polishing one aspect instead of trying to polish every aspect. 

    • How did you initially tend to approach learning new concepts, techniques and skills, and did you discover better approaches at some point along the way?

Initially, I went to learn new concepts by looking at tutorials and reading forums. I realised pretty quickly that this was maybe not the best way to actually learn how to use the engine. I was stuck only being able to do what people had already thought of, and maybe these tutorials might've been useful as a base, but I realised that some of the tutorials were very inefficient. I began experimenting with the engine. This did slow down my progress a bit, but I definitely think it helped me gain a better understanding of what I was trying to achieve and allowed me to reassess my capabilities. Obviously tutorials designed by different people were not designed to work together; this is likely what broke my project in the first place. This meant that I had to figure out how to achieve my goal without my hand being held the whole way. In my final project, I ended up actually using minimal tutorials and trying to complete the project using only what I already knew and what I had already learned. I think this way, the project, although not perfect, is more authentic to my abilities.

    • What was your initial approach to solving technical or design problems?

Initially I tried to shoulder my way through errors and mistakes. I don't think I initially had a plan to solve the errors; I kind of just hoped they'd go away if I'd ignored them long enough. Obviously this didn't work. I also tried to work through my issues by myself - lone wolf style. I was too stubborn to ask for help, and ultimately, my project suffered from it. 

    • Did this change? How much use did you make of researching existing sources or seeking advice or assistance from peers and teachers?

I realised (perhaps too late) that I needed to take a few steps back and actually figure out what my next steps were. I asked for assistance of my issues and sought out forums and help guides from people having similar issues as myself and realised that trying to fix the issue at the point it was at was beyond my personal capabilities. I needed to backtrack and scope down the project a bit - so I did. 

  • What worked:
    • How effective and efficient were the techniques or processes you used?

I think the things that worked well was when I used the knowledge I already had on the engine and implemented it into the project. I already knew how to make a cutscene; I just needed to expand on that. I knew how to write dialogue, I knew how to storyboard. These parts of the project ran the smoothest (even if making the cutscene was a little bit arduous.) Perhaps there were more efficient ways to go about making these aspects, but with the knowledge I already had, I think this was the most efficient part of the project. 

    • Can you identify where you wasted time, prioritised poorly or chose unproductive options?
  • What didn't work?

I think, if anything, it's easier to acknowledge what I did wrong than try to grasp at straws to talk about what went well. Ultimately, my downfall was my stubbornness. I could've asked for help sooner, I could've scoped down the project, I could've swallowed my pride and admit that I didn't really know what I was doing. In the end, I've learned my lesson and will definitely not forget how this went when I go to work on my future projects. 

 In future I think I need to reassess my own capabilities and understanding of the game engine before embarking on this project. This would allow me to dedicate more time on the aspects of the project that I can apply polish to and bring them up to a higher standard than they are currently on. 


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