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Ballbot Arena Project Reflection

What Went Well

I am pleased with the outcome of the project and believe it is a good demonstration of skill. It was also an effective way of teaching myself new technical design skills and a project I am happy to add to my portfolio. There is a good range of weapons in the game that will keep players engaged. The way this project differs to my previous ones in the fact that, with some polish and real artwork, it could be released as an actual game rather than a prototype or proof of concept. It is similar to the small, simple multiplayer games on Discord.

Specifically, I think the camera functionality is a highlight of the game. It is easy to use for the players to pan around the level and view different angles, and it also does a good job of following the action of the game so the players always know what is happening. Another successful mechanic was the level event system. Each level had its own unique event that would occur at the end of each round when all the player have had their turn. A train would set off in the toy room and hit players on the track, encouraging strategic play to stay away from the track or using displacement weapons to move enemies onto it. In the garden, a mole would pop up in a random location and launch players away, introducing a chaotic aspect to the level so potentially disrupt players' strategy and force them to think on their feet.

What Could Be Improved

I believe the thing that would be most effective if executed perfectly is the level destruction mechanic. I experimented with Unreal's chaos physics to create destructible objects that crumble when hit with explosions. However, this often behaved unusually so I didn't spend the time to make all objects destructible. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the Worms games is the way in which the level falls apart around the players as time goes on, making each round slightly different from the one before. My game included this to an extent, but I think a more comprehensive implementation would have improved the player's experience a great deal. 

Another thing that I would be able to improve with time is the breadth of weapons available. I think the current weapon menu provides a lot of options but artillery games never feel like there are too many choices and more weapons only contributes to a more exciting exploration of the game.





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