Week 7-10: Final/Beta Build
After 10 weeks I have finally finished a completed build of my game. I will be honest, there is a lot to unpack here regarding the way I approached this project and what I have learned because of it. There is much I had planned for this game that I could not get done within the time of the class due to various development issues with programming, level design, and overall management of resources. There is many ideas and concepts from my concept document that I wish I could evolve on if given more time and planning. However, that does not mean I completed the project without any means of success.
I was able to fully program the movement, jumping, and shooting of the main player, which I wanted to be the core loop for my game since I am still beginner/intermediate level with Unreal Engine. I was fully able to incorporate an environmental trap that causes damage to the player and disables movement and shooting. These mechanics still give me the opportunity to improve and add more functionality over time.
I was able to implement the bare minimum when it comes to other design aspects of this game apart from programming. I also used some external resources to accomplish this. These aspects include
- Modeling, Sound & Animation
- used mixkit free audio for the background music of the game, as well as the shoot sound effect.
- also used Unreal Marketplace Polar Facility to create the building blocks of the level design.
- Used Simple starter Pack content for enemy and character animations and models
- Simple menu: Game is able to stop by pressing escape, 1 game win menu where you can restart the game or quit, 1 main menu widget to begin the game and has the title of the game in it
My Goals later down the line include:
- adding more sounds to make the game feel more real and natural
- adding more blueprints such as traps, obstacles, sequences, and other objects to increase the core loop of navigating the map
- I also want to add more cutscenes and some subtitles over time
- I want to redo the menus and UI later down the line so that it fits more with the theme of the game.
- fixing any smaller bugs associated with shooting, movement, and other obstacles the character has to communicate with.
There were a lot of challenges I had to go through as I worked on this portion of the game and much to take notes from. I always the level and programming to be perfect so I unwillingly became preoccupied with programming issues that took many weeks of research and dead ends to which there was still no answer. This mindset of thinking in relation to the development of the game is the sole reason why many aspects of my game could be improved if it were not for my need to get the mechanic down as perfect as possible before moving onto the next step. After realizing there was no more time left to waste trying to fix the smallest errors in the game, I decided to quickly sketch level design concepts, gather audio, and created simple menus to create a finished and working build of game which is what is available for download on my itch.io page right now. I have many ideas that were left unfinished and unimplemented, which I plan on adding to over break, however I was still able to make something I am proud of that showcases my improvement with game development since 2022.
Although I did not get feedback from many students in this class, I was able to learn and understand the criticisms from other students build that helped me understand the work ethic and process of game development. Playtesting and feedback, although little input from other, was able to help me get a good output on how to fully make these games feel fun and aesthetically pleasing. The playtesting was one of the most important sources of feedback for me since the playtesters(my friends and a couple classmates) gave me valuable and achievable tips and goals to try and implement with the time I had left before the end of classes.
The biggest things I learned while making this game was to stick to a schedule for completing the game regardless of a tiny set back so that I can move onto the next thing and worry about the smaller things later. I learned to understand that it is better to get something working first rather than make it perfect. Going to help during office hours before class helped me realize these lessons as well. I discovered that I need to practice more with unreal engine so that I am comfortable to make mistakes and learn from them as I continue to grow my skills with the software.
Get The Quantum Enigma
The Quantum Enigma
Solo Game Development 355 Final
Status | Released |
Author | kpatelGD |
Genre | Platformer |
More posts
- Week 2 - 6: Program & Art BuildOct 29, 2023
- Week 1 - Prototyping & ConceptSep 25, 2023
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