This Friday was the final playtest of our project, which means that our vertical slice has reached its final version. My main task this week was to work with the mechanics designer to check whether there were any areas that still needed improvement before the playtest.
I also checked whether the main menu interface was correctly linked to the playable level. Since the other team members were not very familiar with the packaging and build process in Unreal Engine, I was responsible for packaging the game and uploading it to itch.io.
Click the image to visit the itch.io page.
Below are some pictures from the game testing day. Many people came to try our game and provided very positive feedback.
For instance, some players really enjoy the challenging aspect of our level jumps, while others praise the excellent environment we have created. They really like the environmental art style of our game. However, there are still some areas that need improvement. Some experienced gamers pointed out some flaws in the terrain design of the levels, as well as the fact that the game’s narrative is still not deep enough.
Nevertheless, everyone believes that if we are given more time, our game will be even better.
Our project comes to an end here for the time being.
Some personal reflections and thoughts on this team project
Firstly, this project helped me gain more experience with both Unity and Unreal Engine, especially in areas such as whiteboxing, level design, and level implementation. During the early group discussions, I was also able to propose different variations of design ideas for the team to choose from, which helped me develop my planning and design skills.
However, I still need to improve my communication skills and language ability in a team environment. During the project, several conflicts occurred within the group due to communication issues. Fortunately, despite these challenges, we were still able to complete and deliver the project successfully.
Looking back at the entire project, I believe that I have made meaningful contributions to the team’s proposal development, level design, implementation, and final delivery. At the same time, I also identified many areas that can be continuously improved.
The level I built went through more than four major iterations. These included significant changes to the level structure, and in some cases, rebuilding parts of the level from scratch. All of these changes were made based on feedback I received from playtests and from other team members. This process gave me valuable opportunities to identify weaknesses in my design and improve the level step by step.
The level iteration process
Overall Reflection
During the entire project period, my greatest growth was from initially focusing solely on the space and gameplay, to later placing emphasis on player guidance, the player feedback resulting from game testing, and teamwork.
At the same time, I also encountered many challenges, such as communication issues with other team members, and problems related to teamwork. These issues indirectly or directly led to the repeated revision and rework of the game levels.
If I were to redo this project in the future, I would prioritize team communication first. Instead of relying solely on individual understanding and experience, I would avoid missing out on timely communication with the team. I would also confirm the work intentions and plans with team members more frequently, and plan out the guidance and narrative within the levels in advance.
In addition to participating in the design process and independently building the levels, I was also responsible for several supporting tasks, including writing design documents, adding text-based guidance within the levels, creating a relatively polished water material, and completing the final build and packaging work for the project. Through these tasks, I gained a broader understanding of the game development pipeline and further improved my practical development skills. These experiences will directly influence how I approach future game development projects.