DtB_Postmortem

Defend the Beacon – Postmortem

What went wrong:

Overall the process of making this game was pretty smooth. I didn’t run into any unforeseen challenges and was able to bring my vision to life. While nothing “went wrong” per se, there are many things I would have liked to have done given more time, resources, talent, etc.

• Better character controller – The ability to jump / fly, the ability to aim the weapons up and down, etc.
• Better: sound / animation / lighting / graphics – footsteps for the mech, sounds of bullets hitting alien flesh, A HUD that looks like the cockpit of the mech … so much room for improvement here.
• More: turret types / enemy types / objectives – Turrets that do different things, like area damage, slow enemies, etc. Enemies that fly, boss mobs that require you to learn their strategies.
• Web-GL Build – I couldn’t get the Web-GL build to perform like my Windows build.

What went right:

Quite a lot! I was able to bring the game I imagined to life. I was able to stay focused and meet all my deadlines. I was able to add features that I didn’t think I would have time for (achievements, mini-map). Most importantly, I created a small, but finished project. Sure, it could use polish, but the core of the game is done, and I’m proud of it, warts and all!

What did I learn:

I’ve only been working in Unity for about a year, and feel like I’m just scratching the surface. Many of the things I tackled in this project were things I had not done before such as:

• Systems to save persistent data (high-scores / achievements).
• A working mini-map

I also was able to re-use a good amount of code. For example, the character controller is a modified version of a controller I built previously for a different project, and the code related to placing turrets was adapted from a Unity tutorial project. I was happy that I was able to pull code from other places and integrate it successfully into this game.

I also learned a good deal about the process of making a game from start to finish. I learned to make better use of things like asset lists, backlogs, and sprint plans. Concepts like the vertical slice, and Agile software development were new and interesting to me.

Summary:

                I learned a lot from this process. It feels good to have a finished game to call my own. As for what’s next? I’ve started on a new project: A turn-based, rpg combat system based on the old SNES rpgs I played as a kid.