Postmortem/Playtest Reflection

What did you change from the initial plan? 

• We changed the going backwards through the level part of our game.
• We lowered the amount of enemy types in our game to just one.
• Dropped all narrative from the game outside of the itch page.
• Decided to remove a day and night feature to our game 

What went right with your final project?

• We came out with a nice level with graphics that represented the theme we were going for.
• Enemy AI has a nice arcadey feel.
• Jump and movement have a good game feel.
• Attack and block mechanic feel smooth 

What went wrong with your final project?

• In our final project, we had a lot of problems with Github for some reason. We aren’t sure if it was because of our file structure or if it was because we were developing on both Mac and Windows. This meant that using each other’s work came with a high upfront time cost, resulting in delayed work. We eventually developed a system that worked for us, but it had already cost us perhaps a week of development.

What would you do differently next time?

• We would probably add more enemy types, build a more engaging level with moving parts, and flush out the juice more.
• Knowing the github issues we would run into, it would have been better to eliminate back and forth work trading, and instead utilize a more waterfall approach where each team member handles and documents an entire aspect of the project, then passes it one time to another member, who can use the documentation and Discord to build their aspect.

If you could add one more week of development, what would you add?

• I would definitely add some sort of score system or achievement system that the player could be excited about obtaining which would encourage replayability.
• Maybe add some narrative to the game itself like an intro and outro cutscene.

After a couple of play tests, I discovered that there were several key points that the game could be improved upon. Some of these include the features of the gameplay including the platforming, the attack mechanic, and the complexity of the level. For clarity, a good point would be providing the goal of the game to the player in the start of the scene. From the dev team, we learned that there are factors to the game's success that are hard to spot without an outsider's perspective. 

Some constructive comments were that it would be interesting if we added checkpoints throughout the level so the player wouldn't always have to start at the beginning. For many, the swing of the axe seemed to have a larger radius than expected of a melee attack. Finally, sometimes there were areas where the player found themselves at a 'dead end' because they weren't sure where to go. 

Some positives that people liked about the game was the visuals, the sound effects, and the controls. In terms of playtime, it was generally anywhere from a min to a couple of mins, allowing the game to stay fresh. Overall, I learned that creating a flawless game is very difficult, and having flaws is what makes designing the game such a rewarding experience.