Week 6 marks the final week of this project. Looking back, it was an interesting challenge, learning what constitutes a specific genre of a game, and how to implement those bits into an actual game. I also learned what to prioritise for each genre. Platformers require attention to the fluidity of the game. From what I noticed from my playtesters, if there was an interruption in their gameplay, they tended not to take it too well. Whether this was due to an obstruction in their path, or a powerup that was a bit far away, any disturbance towards their flow would be an annoyance to them.
If I had more time, I would've liked to add the final boss. I removed it due to time constraints, as well as struggling to think of a creative fight for it. I also would have liked to add more to the narrative of the game, and add more fine details, especially in terms of who the player was, and who the other characters were.
If I were to do this again, I would start from the tutorial game, as it would essentially be a blank canvas, allowing for more creative freedom. Due to the fact that I started from an existing game, I struggled to come up with ideas on what to add in the beginning of development. Other than that, there's not much else I would have done differently, other than add more ideas into the game, as for some of the iterations, there wasn't too much added, even though I could've included more things.
This week's iteration saw some changes in the puzzle level. I moved the location of the real key, and changed the colour of the fake key to greater resemble that of the real key, as it was too easy to differentiate previously, according to testers. The keys gave their own sound effects when picked up, and the fake key was given more visual representation of when the player took damage from it. I (finally) added the Glenmarie Games logo, and added a scene that gave some context to the player on the setting of the game, to minimise their confusion. I added some dialogue for the player character to give them some personality, and added another, narrative-focused scene where the player walks towards a long-awaited bunker, and shelter. This gave a satisfying end to the game, as opposed to randomly finishing after a puzzle. I also reworked the win screen slightly to make it less boring.
That concludes this project. It was definitely a great learning experience for me. I may continue it in my own time, but I'm struggling to think of ideas that can be implemented into Stencyl. That was another roadblock I had; figuring out if my ideas could be ported in to Stencyl, and whether I knew how to do that. Anyway, enough from me, here's to the next project!
Goodbye for now!
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