First Snow: Post Mortem

Hello again,

This is a little late, but better a bit late than never.

What went right:

First Snow was the first game that I have ever created using the Unity engine, it was the first time that I’ve ever coded with C#, other than when Mike was showing us how to apply textures to objects. But I found it very easy to use. Going into the project I wasn’t sure how easy it would be to implement a lot of features, so when it came time to start implementing some basic AI, I just jumped in and started typing stuff, and it worked! Going from using C++ in visual studios to C# in Unity was like swimming in lava and then swimming in a nice cool fresh water spring, and I don’t mind using visual studios, so that’s saying something.

So with the coding side being so easy, we aimed to have a base game fully functional by the Wednesday of the first week. And we did end up getting the game functional by the Wednesday we aimed for. All that was left to do for the game was to fix up a couple AI problems and a couple bugs that appeared every now on then and also to get a level or two fully completed.

Going away from the actual making the game, working in the team went well, everyone got along, it seemed as if we were all comfortable throwing out suggestions on how we could improve the game, and if any on got stuck on something there was always a discussion going on through Facebook. A couple times we got together on Team Speak and spoke to each other. First time was at the start of the project to make sure we were all up to speed and knew what was going on, the next time was midway through the project to make sure we were all on the same page and knew what we each needed to do to get the project completed by the date we set for ourselves.

What went wrong:

Not much went wrong on this project, but things did go wrong as they always do.

So the things that went wrong, we didn’t know they went wrong until the end of the project and we were able to look back on what we did. The first thing was how fast we got the project up, even though we had a plan set out, and we each knew what we needed to do and when we needed to do it by. We did it all to fast, we had the first two weeks’ worth of work done within the first half of the first week. Though at the time we saw this as a good thing because it had opened up an entire week where we could work on the game, it didn’t end up being that way. In the second week of the project almost all work stopped, we had completed what needed to be done for that week, and every one had other things that they needed to do in other classes, so it ended up being that the second week was a break week for us, with only a couple things being implemented.

After coming off a great week then going to a week of almost nothing, we entered the third week knowing what needed to be done, but almost no will to do it. We did push on and complete the project, but we were all sick of it, and it didn’t end up the way we had wanted it to.

What would I do different:

Well I’d say the first thing that I would do differently is plan better, and try and stick to that plan. Though we had a plan for this project, we even had time sheets and gantt charts, we were ticking things off the list really fast, and ended up not doing anything for a week.

So other than making a better plan, and not taking a week break during a three week project. There is not much I can see that we would need to do differently.

This was my first group project where we actually made a game, and I’d say it went really well. I look forward to starting the next project with the group and seeing what we can do inside of the Unreal 4 engine.

A couple things I need to discuss for the sake of my KPI:

I’ve already touched on it, but for the sake of making sure it is clear I’ve done it. I’ll talk about some things again.

First thing is how my game production methods worked for me and what affected the Quality.

Well, I’d say it worked well, our plan was clear, and if it wasn’t after a short discussion within the group it soon would be. There wasn’t a time where I didn’t know what to do, even in the week break we all seemed to take, I still knew what needed to be done for the project, it was just written down to be done in week three.

And what effected the quality of the project I would say was lack of motivation, when you find yourself sick of a project and just want to move onto the next, you aren’t going to put much effort into the project you are sick of.

The second thing I need to discuss is my professional goals and how I’m achieving them.

Well, my current goal, is to get into the indie gaming scene, to work with a small group of people to create games. That’s my small term goal, my largest, end goal, goal, is to get to the point where I can create good games myself or with the help of friends and earn a living off them. If I’m able to make a good living from doing something that I love to do, then I’ll be happy. Really, just working professionally in the games industry as a programmer will make me happy.

I’m achieving my goals, by doing a Uni course, I currently might have the opportunity to go work for a small indie team as a part time C++ programmer, so that there is achieving my goal. I just need to keep working on my programming skills, so I can become more confident in what I’m doing, I believe that when I’m confident in my skills, everything else will be come much easier, but I won’t know if I’m good or not until I’m tested in real work situations.