Week 1
What I did:
Conducted an interview to pitch to my tutor what my project was about and how I planned to go about things.
What went well:
The interview provided a useful perspective and helped confirm the where my plan had holes.
What went poorly:
Aside from the interview, I didn't really do much else I was slow and focused on catch up work from previous projects.
What I will do next:
Begin structured idea generation and move into theme analysis.
Week 2
What I did:
Analysed game themes and genres, developed initial ideas.
What went well:
The concept was clear and aligned well with the sustainability theme. I enjoy looking to genre and theme and liked learning about some games I already liked.
What went poorly:
Time management could have been better, though progress was steady overall.
What I will do next:
Prepare for pitch presentations and begin research into techniques.
Week 3
What I did:
Completed, pre-mortem, and techniques research.
What went well:
The planning documents were completed to a good standard I believe I doubt I'll have issues down the line.
What went poorly:
Procrastination began affecting productivity, limiting deeper exploration of ideas. Generally just a creative block.
What I will do next:
Focus on producing more strong planning documentation especially around narrative.
Week 4
What I did:
Worked on planning documentation and with a special focus on level blueprint.
What went well:
I completed all the level blueprints I need to create the game which was one of the biggest things holding me back.
What went poorly:
Research was insufficient so I to go back and add more so when I do experimentation I'll be ready.
What I will do next:
Allocate specific time to practical experimentation to avoid further delays.
Week 5
What I did:
Intended to experiment and develop a proof of concept.
What went well:
Basic structure for the game was established.
What went poorly:
Procrastination continued, and experimentation was zero, to be honest I let myself down and didn't really do much this whole week except play at my computer this is something I'lll need to address.
What I will do next:
Prioritise production tasks and set smaller, achievable daily goals.
Week 6
What I did:
Entered full production and prepared feedback materials.
What went well:
The game reached a playable state before submission.
What went poorly:
Production was rushed due to me having due barely anything in previous weeks towards full production and all my planning was for nought.
What I will do next:
Improve time management in future projects and complete core features earlier to allow iteration.
Final Evaluation
Idea Generation was the only good part of my narrative focused game project. I believe I envisioned a coherent idea that had plenty of promise, I was genuinely excited about the concept and believed in the direction I was taking.
This however has been a disappointing project despite my incredibly high hopes to begin with from the outset of this project.
Perhaps with my Idea Generation I did over shoot based on my capabilities and the time I had but I certainly didn't aid my endeavours. A series of poor decisions lead to the failure of this project.
Research was frustrating like it normally is and I didn't do much with what I had researched simply put because I was in such a rush my narrative had to be watered down to the most bare bones state I didn't have time to really put my research into practice which is disappointing.
Largely the problems of the project were procrastination I spent my time primarily focused on playing on my computer and this is not what I am at college for. I did also have loud class noise and the shadow of past assignments needing to be complete looming over my shoulder.
None of that however should be used as an excuse as lack of effort is the only reason the project was so shambolic.
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One positive I can say is it is the most playable game I've ever made but I think they highlights how poor my previous projects were as well and for my next project I really need to break this pattern.