Postmortem

Summary:

For this project, we were tasked to create a game which was restrained to only having one possible method of input, i.e. one working button. As such we decided to make a jumping game where pressing the space bar allowed you to do a single jump, throw a projectile and also have a prolonged jump if you held it long enough. For the setting of the game we came up with the idea of an ant attempting to climb up a tree by using falling leaves as a means of getting higher. On its journey, it is also attacked by flies which buzz around attempting to dislodge it. The ant can fight back by throwing twigs at the flies.

What Went Right:

Right from the start we had success in setting up the theme and the area with the falling leaves quite quickly and effectively. Furthermore, the ant itself successfully moved in constant motion and jumped at the right layers and spots which were labeled as 'Jump', i.e it did not continue to jump mid air if you pressed Space again. Also the movement of the flies came out just as we had envisioned, while the throw mechanic also works perfectly well whenever you press and hold the Space bar for long enough. Continuing, the animations of the characters in the game are also functioning quite well with no issues or strange glitches involved. Although, as will be discussed below also, the randomness of the falling leaves at times is seen as an inhibitor to making substantial progress in the game, we have reached the conclusion that, after playing the game multiple times, it adds to the frustration factor and difficulty of the game. Indeed, falling down constantly and having to re-climb the falling leaves is quite a nuisance but it adds to the play experience of the game in that it forces players to be careful with their movements and decisions of when to jump and throw a stick. The process of making the animation also went pretty smooth, the ant can walk, jump, fall, and land.

What Went Wrong:

The biggest issue that this game has is its element of randomness and chance. Indeed, the way the leaves work is that they are randomly spawned in waves which move downward. As such, it is very difficult to gauge and determine where they will appear or even if they will spawn properly for the player to actually be able to climb up and win the game. This was especially bothersome before the inclusion of the prolonged jump where the player could only perform single jumps that make progress slow and painstaking. Indeed, there were also times when you could not beat the game due to the leaves falling down in the wrong pattern, leaving large gaps in between that the ant could not cross by jumping. Another issue we faced was the jump mechanic itself. Initially it seemed slightly slow and balloon-like since the gravity on the ant and its mass were both very low. As such, playing the game did not give a satisfying feel when the ant jump so this needed to be fixed. 

A personal thing is that during the production process, my Unity crushed unexpectedly and I lost half of my work, therefore as a lesson I will save more often. (Cindy)

Next Steps:

For future iterations of this game, we would like to include levels and different stages in which the falling leaves themselves have various difficulty patterns. Indeed, there could be easier and harder levels where the jumps need to be timed perfectly or the leaves themselves are more scarce and the player needs to calculate their jumping better and more effectively. This can also be true of the flies and their amounts in each level. Going off of the flies, we would also like to include more creatures for the ant to avoid or fight, such as beetles or bees, which all behave differently from the flies. Also, the score system can be considered more deeply and enhanced in a way that offers a more rewarding experience to the player instead of just being a relatively arbitrary numerical value.