Now that I have finished my project, or more accurately now that the deadline is closing, I can take a look back at all the work I have completed throughout these 10 weeks. I can assess how effective this project was for bettering my understanding and knowledge of programming, and more specifically how to create an enjoyable platformer game with roguelike elements. 

 

Thanks to having an interest in the question I asked myself: “How to create an enjoyable platforming game that takes elements from the roguelike genre?” I also had an interest in answering this question. Because of this, researching and planning for the project felt somewhat rewarding as in the end I knew that the payoff, of actually creating the game, would be satisfactory. Due to this I managed to complete both the research and the planning for my project relatively quickly. I feel from the depth of what I have written and thanks to the vast amounts of feedback I have responded to. That my research and planning are both of high standards. Thoroughly exploring different possibilities for features in my game, I did this throughout my project leading to the best possible features and solutions for my game. Ensuring that it ends up being of the highest quality I can achieve. My planning was also equally thorough going into detail about what will be done each day and how I will do it. I linked tutorials and listed tools for what I planned on using to create certain features for my game. However there was a problem with this, I didn’t properly check over the tutorials, because of this many of them weren’t helpful for my work. Next time I am to create a project with a similar structure I will ensure the tutorials are truly helpful. Also I encountered a few problems in relation to not knowing how to program certain features, a solution to this could’ve been practising programming certain features or solutions to these features before I actually create them. Or I could’ve just extended my research to go into detail on how to solve certain problems and create certain features, instead of just explaining what will be created and why that is. 

 

Due to the depth of my research I believe all of it was helpful for my project, I went into detail about everything I researched. Analysing different possibilities for every feature. However certain sections definitely influenced my project more so. For instance with the movement system I just went with a basic standard 2D platformer movement system. Because of this research wasn’t all that helpful. It could’ve been helpful if I sketched or just came up with ideas for different rooms. This would’ve made the creating of the rooms much easier. However time did not allow for this.  For the health and death system this is also relatively standard, however I did choose to somewhat loosely follow Spelunky’s health and death system. So it still proved somewhat useful, but this more closely relates to how health is taken which is more of a matter of enemies. I could’ve definitely written more for my items and powerups sections as it is lacking in what powerups I actually plan on creating. I did plan to have a brainstorming session to come up with powerup ideas, however due to time constraints this never happened. All the enemies and hazards I created for my project were inspired by other games, because of this research was very helpful. I looked at other platforming game enemies, and why they worked for these games. I could've perhaps researched more, but I definitely would not have had time to implement more. My research into these features helped me break these down into smaller more understandable parts. They also gave me an insight into why they are good features and how they will benefit my project. My combat was directly inspired by Enter the Gungeon, because of this I looked quite in depth on this system and how to create it. For example linking tutorials in my work so I know how to create these features for my game. I also explored the different types of guns featured in this game, and ways I can implement a feature similar to that. I mentioned simple stat ups however I realised that I would most likely be unable to obtain such a wide catalogue of diverse guns, with my limited time and skills. For the UI I looked at different styles of UI and which would work best in my game. Because of this I feel the research was very beneficial to my project and definitely helped. Helping me determine what would work best for my project. 

 

Thanks to my weekly reflection I have a clearly formatted display of problems I encountered and problems that needed to be fixed. As well as for these problems being solved. For instance most recently I fixed the lack of items and rooms within the game, by simply adding more. I created some sketches of rooms and whilst I did brainstorm powerups, I only wound up adding one due to the lack of time. Another example could be when I was struggling to get the bullets and darts to break when they collided with walls and other objects. Thanks to some support and a lot of trial and error I managed to get this problem quickly resolved. Another problem I encountered was with the death screen, namely with the displaying of the highscore. This is due to using player prefs, a function I had never used before, and one I found quite complex. Because of this it took some looking into, especially when the UI elements were displaying the wrong number. It turns out it was because the highscore was being added by each previous highscore. This was a simple fix, by just setting it to 0 when the retry button is pressed. 

 

I believe that my planning process was very effective. I went into detail on what tasks will be worked on each day. Because of this I always knew exactly what I needed to do. I also explained what tools will be used and where necessary I linked tutorials. Each problem was also broken down into smaller problems, this is known as decomposition. However there was a problem, some of the tutorials I had linked weren’t helpful to my project, this is because I did not properly look at the tutorials and what they were offering. Next time I would look through the tutorials ensuring they’re actually relevant to my project. For the production process of my FMP I followed the plan somewhat loosely. In that I didn’t stick exactly to the timeline. For instance if problems were to arise such as the game requiring a certain feature, instead of ignoring this need I will create that feature as soon as possible. I am proud of the amount of production work I managed to complete despite not completing as much as I planned for, not creating as many rooms and power ups as I had hoped. But I did plan to create more than I knew I’d actually be able to create, so that I’d always have work to do. If I were to complete another project like this in the future, I would like to do more production work. Doing more in my freetime, whilst I did work in my freetime the amount done could’ve been increased. 

 

My practical skills have improved immensely throughout this project, I started this project being relatively new to c# and Unity. But I have left it with a good understanding of them and the ability to use them confidently. To get into specifics I now have a good understanding on how to create enjoyable platforming games, movement, combat, health and death systems, as well as creating enemies and UI. I now know how to create these features confidently and will be able to create them and use these skills in future projects. All this knowledge came together to help create this game. And because of this I believe it is a unique and enjoyable game. 

 

My final project definitely achieved what I set out to do, I managed to complete a large majority of what I had planned on creating. As well as answering my initial question, on how to create an enjoyable roguelike platformer game. Thanks to my research in other games of similar nature and my experience now I actually create one I can see what works and what doesn’t. As well as why this is the case. For instance I know what makes a good movement system, ensuring it feels smooth and responsive for example ensuring it isn’t too fast or slippery and the player doesn’t feel weightless. A great reason I know whether this project was a success is due to my feedback telling me what is fun about my game and what isn’t, this has proven to me that feedback is definitely essential to this project. This knowledge will be a boon to future projects. 

 

Whilst I did not get much feedback for my project, the feedback I did get was still very useful and a great help allowing me to improve my project in numerous ways. For instance I was told my movement system felt too fast, so because of this I made the character slower. Another piece was that the spike hazard felt unfair in how it instantly killed you. Due to me still wanting this hazard, I just made it so the hazard was used more sparingly and in easier scenarios. Where dodging it is much easier. I also got heaps of feedback on my actual website going into detail about what is missing. Such as me not going into much detail in relation to why features worked for certain games and why I will be using them. These helped to shape my project and ensure it was always going in the right direction to ensure that I ended up with the highest level project I could muster. 

 

If I were to do this project again I would definitely make some changes. Whilst planning I stated I will work on rooms and items throughout the project's life. However I did not end up doing this, because of that the total number of items and rooms is quite lacking. Which is counterintuitive to what I originally planned for. Also I would simply spend more time working on it, ensuring that I can finish all what was planned. As there are certain mechanics like invincibility frames which I did not manage to implement. Doing these would have raised my project to newer levels and either secured me a good grade or perhaps lifted me up to a new one. As well as aiding my overall knowledge. 

 

I made many decisions during this project, however some key ones were to not create sprites for every asset. This allowed me to spend more time working on my programming. Ensuring that the focus of my project is actually developed and of the best quality that I am capable of. I feel this was definitely the right decision. Another decision I made was to spend more time on research and planning, this I also feel was a good decision as whilst it took longer for me to get programming. It in the long run allowed me to program these features much quicker. Therefore overall saving me time. My final decision was to not finish creating everything I had planned, to ensure I had checked over everything and that my final evaluation was completed. As these are essential for my project. One decision which I made that definitely hindered my project was the decision to create rooms and items at the end despite my planning stating otherwise. Because of this I did not get many rooms or items created. And these were supposed to be a big part of my project. Therefore my project and the enjoyment factor of my game has definitely been negatively affected. 

 

This project is definitely where I learned the most for this course. As not only was it in a field of the course (programming) which I enjoy more. But also I NEEDED to learn certain skills to ensure I could get this project finished and get a good grade. Before doing this project my programming skills were pretty much limited to python and didn’t crossover to game engines much at all. Now however I am quite confident in C# and Unity. I have stated key skills gained prior in this evaluation, but the reason these skills were gained, beyond to get a good grade, were so that I can pursue a job within the games industry, as a games programmer. Now whilst I feel I still need to learn more, these skills have definitely helped and will go a long way in progressing me towards a job. 

 

I feel I have made good progress on this project. Developing a lot as a programmer, thanks to the many skills and overall knowledge that has been gained. However there are still areas where I performed better, and areas where I feel I performed worse. For instance I feel like my research skills whilst they have improved, they’re quite surface level. Now there is a lot of quantity, perhaps the quality could be improved, namely with going into more detail with the “Why?”. Despite coming to conclusions I didn’t properly explain why or how I came to these conclusions in all aspects. This is a sentiment that was highlighted during some feedback of mine, which I agree with. For my planning I feel I did a tremendous job, explaining thoroughly everything required. But as mentioned before I should’ve double checked sources and tutorials linked. For the initial project proposal, thanks to some feedback. I feel it is of great quality. Explaining what I will be attempting to achieve, and how I will do it as well as why I’m doing it. Now for the actual creation of the game there were some problems. For example I didn’t follow my planning’s timeline as well as I could’ve. As when falling behind, whilst I did do work from home, I didn’t do enough to catch up. Also I completely ignored it when it said I’d create rooms and items throughout. This is for 2 reasons, one being I felt rushed by the deadline slowly closing in. But I also enjoy programming features much more. I also probably could’ve tidied the files much better, as they’re currently a mess. A similar sentiment can be shared with scripts as there are a lot of errors showing in the console. Whilst these errors don’t affect gameplay they’re still there and should probably be tidied. And for my weekly reflections, yet again whilst thorough the first few weeks don’t go into as much detail that could’ve been necessary. Namely because I didn’t go into “Why?” changes were made. Also I didn’t name tools or link sources, even though I probably should've. If I had the chance there are things I would change or do again. Such as going into more detail with my research, practising coding so I can confirm whether I have the skills required to create certain features beforehand, watching the tutorials in my plan to ensure they’re helpful, I could’ve also planned out more rooms to be created as well as more items and with the actual game I wish I would’ve followed my plan’s timeline closer as well as doing more work in my freetime so that I would have completed more. I also learned of Unity’s tile editor quite late into the project, and because of this was unaware of it when I started creating rooms. This most likely would’ve sped up the creation of rooms, but it was too late to research and start using by the time I was informed.