Final Post, December 12

This is our final post for this project. The key thing we finished was a prototype of the first level, the forest. We were able to complete the opening level with minions and Morgan implemented. Due to AI programming problems we were unable to get the boss battle to work. We have the concepts and sprites drawn, but it would not properly attack Morgan during the battle. We were able to implement the 'rising' motion but there was no way to get the battle to run properly.

We feel that we were able to get most of our ideas into the game. We were disappointed that the final battle couldn't be done within the time frame. There were also extra game play features that we wanted to use. Those could be added to a more complete version of the game.

Overall we are happy with what we finished in the game and are excited to possibly develop it further in the future.


Postmortem Review:
Successes:

*Our division of labor was evenly split up, and everyone did their job well. From blog upkeep, to game art, to game programming, to integrating the art and code, all the pieces fit together fairly well for a five person group project.

*Communication went well. Everyone knew what they needed to accomplish to integrate into the final project. We stayed in contact mostly by phone and through our tri-weekly class times. In addition, we worked together on Tuesday and Thursday outside of class to stay busy.

*Our brainstorming sessions were successful. Everyone pitched in outside of their specific area of work. Thus, this project was more collaborative than if everyone had only involved themselves in their job and not branched out. For instance, we had one main programmer for concepts like movement on the ground, ladders, and water. Some concepts, like fall damage, did not make it into the final version. But others took those concepts and adapted them to the version of the game they were working on which contained the final art. Programming could focus on just the programming without worrying about making the art work finely on top of the code. Because of this, coding could come up with a variety of concept possibilites. This helped divide the work more evenly and also allow for greater variation possibilities for the game. In addition, the art was split up between two people (who also upkept the blog). One created the linework while the other colored.

*Our group had a burning passion about our game and worked hard to make it the best we could. Motivation was quite high. All group members have said that they were more motivated about this project (our own idea from the ground up), compared to the Calculus project (more guidelines). Both types are necessary, but the fact that greater motivation equaled greater output remains undeniable.

Room for Improvement:
*Some sprites look a little blocky, so a fine tuning of the edges and how some platform sprites fit together could be tweaked.

*The AI for the boss battle could be completed and improved upon. Because AI is very difficult to program, this part fell behind when compared to the first level. Our group decided to make the beginning level the best it could be, and the boss battle got the leftovers.

*Our game could use the extra features like ladder climbing, water movement, drowning penalties, and fall damage. All three of these things are working in the coding version of the game (the version the programmer worked off of before the code was merged with the artistic version of the game). None of these aspects made it into the final due to time constraints, merging the files and debugging. However, since our turned in version is a prototype, these additions would be possible.

*After test playing, we found out that minion and platform placements could be tweaked to make for more challenging gameplay.

*The opening level needs a definite ending sprite to transfer to the boss battle. In the current version, the ending marker is ambiguous.


*Above post edited by Trisha for clarity*