Evaluation

My initial goal for this project was to create an entertaining puzzle game with storyline elements. I took inspiration from variations of Minesweeper(1990) while still making my game unique. I also took inspiration from other games like Mabinogi (2004) as well as some escape room games which I looked at to get the idea of adding side quests. 

Overall I am happy with the game mechanics of the game, I think they are fun and not too challenging. There is also potential for even more challenging levels. I am also happy with the majority of the animations, they suit the purpose and along with the cutscenes they make the game more cinematic.

The main problems with the game are the few bugs that I could not solve. This includes the movement not being matched with the animations and the old potato has quite a few problems. I tried to fix the old potato but this caused both old potato and sweetie to disappear, therefore I didn’t want to mess around with it so close to the deadline because having invisible characters would not be good. There was also the bug with the dialogue cut scenes where the character would not be in the position I set it, I’m not sure why this happened.

On the other hand, I did manage to fix some bugs including the character rolling during cutscenes. I am also quite proud of the character designs since all three potatoes look quite unique and convey the natural theme that I initially wanted to portray. I am also mostly happy with the visuals, it was interesting and also challenging working with Unity terrain for the first time. There are some things that don’t look exactly as I had imagined in my head and I also think some things could be slightly more coherent but those are quite minor problems.

In relation to Dhule’s (2023) ideas about what makes a good game, which I mentioned in my prospectus, I believe that my game provides a good amount of social interaction through the NPC dialogue as well as the world-building. Also through the multiple choice answers the player is able to further interact with the game and can also choose how the game ends.

I also think that my game would appeal to the intended target audience. It would be suitable for both young and older people and I don’t think it’s too complicated to learn. The integrated tutorial helps with this since it explains the game as it is played and there is also a purpose for the side quests since it will explain more of the story and provides hints for future levels. I am also very happy with the animated elements of the tutorial, although they might be a bit distracting, they are a good visual way of explaining the game.

In my proposal I mentioned adapting the game for other devices, I think this would be possible but I unfortunately ran out of time before the deadline because my final game is much more complex than I had originally imagined. I don’t think this is a negative since it will be possible to adapt the game at some point and it was most likely more beneficial to work on finishing the game rather than adapting an unfinished game. I also made the game using Unity 2021.3.30f1 because that was the version I had installed on my Laptop and I had previously used this version because I think I had problems before when opening files from the latest version on the computers in the base room because they had a different version. In hindsight, I could have maybe updated to a 2023 version. 

I will also be posting my game online so that it will be easily accessible and hopefully, people will be able to find the game through these websites or the Instagram account that I made. I did post some videos on my Instagram but they were not super successful but since the game is finished I can hopefully spend some time promoting the game and hopefully, it will gain some attention.

Overall I am happy with the outcome of this game, I have learnt lots of things and I’m more confident in my blender, unity and coding skills. I think this will benefit me in the future.

 

References:

Dhule, M. (2023). Exploring Game Mechanics, Apress.

Microsoft. (1990). Minesweeper. [Online] PC.

Nexon. (2004). Mabinogi. [Online] PC.