This week marked the end of the first rapid ideation event! As such, this post highlights the last stage of the development cycle (Post-Production) and the inclusion of a Post-Mortem. Pre-Production and Production can be read here.
Post-Production
Polish & Bug Fixing
A Murder of Crows underwent considerable polish before its release on Itch.io. The final version of the game includes a single level which is drawn-out and challenging so that players would have an amble time playing the game. With the inclusion of complex systems such as switching from Crow Priest to Crow, there were some bugs that I could not fix in time for its scheduled release.
These bugs are as follows:
The player can scale up walls
The crows can get lost in walls
The crow sprite flips
Release
The game released on Itch.io on 1st March 2022. As of today (14th September 2022), it has 37 views and 5 downloads. Not too shabby for a 'game jam' game.
A Murder of Crows
Figure 1: A Murder of Crows
Post-Mortem
Peer Review
Below are the comments (that shall remain anonymous) received during the weekly webinar on the 2nd of March 2022.
"I liked the chiptune"
"Unfair Mario vibes for sure"
"There was a NES game, Kid Kool, with similar music tone"
"I love you can dispatch the crows idea"
"Reminds me of the Marble Zone from Sonic"
"I love that reasoning behind your design! it's also way cool, I need to try and get a deathless run now"
"Crow flash-mob move to kill an upcoming baddy"
"Maker of your own destruction"
Did you achieve your goals?
My goals can be read here.
I started using Trello, although, during the latter stages of the project, I abandoned the notion of tracking tasks. In addition, A Murder of Crows constituted a lot of design work. And rather than applying best practices, I tackled the project without a clear and concise plan.
Furthermore, the only art I achieved was designing the main character (Crow Priest). Every asset, excluding the Crow Priest, was downloaded via the Unity Asset Store to prioritise other areas of development, which leads me to admit that I spent the majority of my time programming the game.
What went wrong?
The project scope was ill-managed, which resulted in a longer development time (although I think it was wise I developed the one level). In addition, I failed to focus my efforts on art. Finally, the research was lacklustre, and I spent too much time programming character switching.
What went right?
The game launched with minimal bugs and a standard that could be considered a portfolio piece. With user testing, peers quoted the gameplay mechanics as "frustrating", similar to Unfair Mario (2011). I had fun developing the game, and I was able to pick up new programming skills.
If you were to do it again?
Spend more time developing sprites and project plan that mirrors industry practices.
#week6 #development #amurderofcrows #rapid #ideation #crow #priest #reflection #post #mortem #procedural #cognitive #interpersonal
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