Week 5
What have I accomplished this week as a developer?
This week I got my first look into something I almost never got the chance to in any previous project. Finishing touches! Getting a project to the stage where even the slightest changes can make it better like improving code, updating sprites or reworking level design, every project I've been a part of has been due to soon or lost work ethic in to get to that stage. Luckily for me my team at Dragon Drop Games, Victor, Aline and Darryl are some inspiring amazing teammates and our game Crowd Control has gotten to this stage. I also have to say i’m really loving this stage of development where play-testing is absolutely key, I am currently in charge of the level design making up CSV files to make sure the spawns of the security guards and the newly implemented stage lights are not too close together or at the start or end of a wave. After taking the feedback from our write-up in PC Gamer detailing that things felt a little too random this structured level design should give the player more time to experience what the game has to offer and make their deaths their fault. All of this preparation has been for our upcoming showcase of Crowd Control at Netherworld in Fortitude Valley, come check out our game on November 16th and feel free to ask us any questions. In terms of Uni success this week plenty of things happened, most notably a team drama was taken care of and our vertical slice was wholeheartedly approved by our Audio Client. The systems are all in place and now our full block out of each of our respective parts of the level have begun. Keep an eye on my twitter for some Gifs of the Commercial district especially the Ramen Bar I am currently modelling.
What have I learned this week about development and being a developer?
Along the same lines as my previous paragraph talking about Netherworld, I went to another one of their Indie Dev nights in preparation to Crowd Controls debut. Instead of kicking back and playing games like last time (although I did smash my friend at Daytona), I focused on talking to the showcasing developers to create strategies of my own when talking to players. I found some of the conversations I had with these other developers fascinating. One dev as I was playing his game pointed out to me that it was his game and that he had been working on it tirelessly for months. The angry looks from his surrounding teammates quickly changed his tune. Although I knew that wouldn’t be a problem for me as our team is cohesive and positive about all the teams work it made even me feel upset for his team. When I finally got around to playing his game it was pretty good, I did however encountered multiple bugs which I pointed out to the developer so he could write down notes as this was basically a play-test after all. Instead of writing anything down the developer tried to rush me into the next area even in times where it was clear he wasn’t aware of said bug. It absolutely baffled me, why wouldn’t you take notes on what bugs were encountered where, it wasn’t like he was releasing the game that night, it was clearly still in development and what was there was actually fun all it needed was polish. Even though it was a strange experience It gave me clear ideas of how I will deal with testers at our Netherworld showcase which will be beneficial not just for that occasion but any play-testing in the future.