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Semester 2 Project Reflection

What Went Well

I believe that one of my strongest skills in games design is the creative brainstorming of new and interesting mechanics. This project involved a great deal of coming up with new ideas as it existed in a few different forms over its duration, each with different mechanics for different purposes. Unlike my semester 1 project, I did not begin this one with a clear idea of a game I wanted to make in mind. My approach instead was to experiment with creating different mechanics and see if any felt as though a game could be built around them or at least include them. This method meant I had to come up with many different ideas for gameplay mechanics, even if just to briefly practise creating something.

Another successful aspect of this project was my quick execution of gameplay mechanics I had a clear idea for. There were some points during development when I had an idea for a mechanic and knew exactly what I wanted it look like, what it could be used for, and how it should feel for the player. In these moments, I felt I was very efficient at creating this in Unreal Engine using blueprints due to my programming background. This was a valuable skill to have for this project because I changed directions a few times, meaning I often had to quickly reach a completion point with gameplay.

What Could Be Improved

The thing that I struggled with the most in this project was consideration for player feel. Because of my computer science background, I am used to approaching tasks logically and solving problems until they meet the requirements. As this project involves player feel and player reward, I had to consider a more design-based approach to creating mechanics, thinking about what I want my work to make a player feel when they play rather than want I want them to be able to accomplish. An example of this is the axe pulling mechanic. I wanted the player to feel strong when yanking it out of an object so added a slow build up, a shaking camera, and some field of view changes. After a few iterations I managed to shift my way of thinking to accommodate player feel in this way, but it's something I will have to work hard to improve upon in future projects. I believe embracing this approach will elevate my technical design skills significantly.

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