Mar

Milestone 3 Review

Yac on March 6th, 2009

A few days late, but here’s the Milestone 3 review.

The goal of this milestone was to produce a first playable demo, consisting of these major tasks:

Working Editor.
A finished level, with a start, and a goal.
Basic gameplay implemented.
A basic HUD (life, etc).
Completed test level art.

I estimate I’ve reached about 80% of my goal. Certain elements of the gameplay are not implemented yet, but I am close to completing them.

Task Performance

The editor again showed significant improvement and has been thoroughly tested. A complete level (from the art and physics side) can and has been created. However, it is still missing a few gameplay-specific components.

My gameplay focus was on the control of the player’s avatar and providing visual feedback of the player’s current status. I made good progress in this area, but still fell short of my goal.

A lot of time was also spent on brainstorming and iterating the design.

Areas that Suffered (and Why?)

Gameplay:

I did not implement all the gameplay features I planned for. It’s the little things that turn a demo into a game, like providing feedback when you’ve reached the goal of the level. I am trying to get the control mechanisms right first.

Design:

I still don’t have the final design of the game nailed down, in spite of spending a lot of time thinking, writing out ideas, experimenting. The upside is that I have more ideas than ever. The downside is I am still torn between different directions.
I need more time, and progress in other areas before the design will be nailed.

Productivity:

My productivity spikes at varying times, and is not very consistent. I regularly end up working into the evenings or on the week-end because I feel I haven’t been very productive during the day. This is a recurring theme that I am constantly trying to address. I would love nothing more than to get a solid 6-7 hours of work done every day.

Areas that were Successful (and Why?)

Editor:

The work invested in this area is continuing to pay off. Implementation of new features is easier. Significant progress in the look of the game is due to the work on the tile editor.

Controls:

I’ve reached a significant milestone on the core movement of the avatar. This might not sound particularly important, but it was challenging and went through many iterations before it felt right. And that feel is going to play a large part in any success of the game.

Design: