Since this is a first time experience with Unreal, I had a hard time to adjust with it since I have been doing most of small game development projects in Unity. Although this was the case, I have totally been bewitched by this game engine. At first, I thought the graphical interface was overwhelming. It is so overwhelming that it feels like it's messy and that there are too much unnecessary stuff being thrown at you. Over time, I was able to get used to it and made me appreciate the tools Unreal Engine provides.
I will definitely use this software again in future personal projects!
This experience was a blast! I have never thought I could finish a game within two weeks with this amount of work. It taught me how to be patient, dedicated and be strong-specially in times when you are being tested. The module was very informative, specially on the parts where the blueprints were being explained. Although, I think it could be expanded and explained more since some interesting concepts are just glossed over and it was probably because of the time constraint.
Either way, this experience was a great learning experience. From creating assets to animations, it tests your creativity, intuitiveness and originality. I look forward into the future projects in this course!
The most memorable part of the process was when I created the disappearing platforms for the game. I spent so much time on building the platform, choosing which areas to place it and making the blueprint for it that I forgot that I still have a couple of things left to do. Maybe it was not the best decision to make but honestly, I don't regret any of. I really enjoyed it and I take all mistakes as a part of the learning process.
I mostly struggled with external factors in regards with this project. I had been suffering with chronic stomach pain and nausea which led to me having to slow down the development process. It is very important to give yourself time to rest. Health is way more important than work, school or family matters because you wouldn't be able to deal with any of them if you are not in the right condition. I learned my lesson the hard way and I hope that whoever that will be able to see my journal would also take note of this!
If you read through my journal, you may be able to recall the hidden platform I have created at the first part of the game where the gem is hidden inside a rock that has no collision but perfectly blends well with the other rock that has the collision. I had two friends who played my game and it took them some time to figure out how to get on the top of the building and get the coins/gems for completion.
I really hated debugging and re-adjusting the assets in the map. I don't know if this is a normal programmer thing but debugging really takes a lot of time. It took me so much time cause you have to play the game again and again and sometimes you wouldn't know they are there until the last minute. I remember this one time that there is a bug in my game after I first packaged the game for my friend to play. After I packaged the game, the game suddenly have gotten a bug in which the character would automatically get a number of four gems without even moving from the default start. I was so confused and of course, this was a major problem because no solutions are posted in online forums. Thankfully, with some resourcefulness and Unreal Engine's tools, I was able to detect which gems were bugged. I have attached this problem in Bugs and Errors page as well discussed it on my . Feel free to check it out!
To be honest, I think my game is very hard to complete for the average person as it progressively gets harder per level. This concept was my vision for this project and I think I have implemented it too much. However, some of my friends think otherwise. Other than that, I think I could do better once I learned how to create assets on my own and build more stages for this game as a personal project.
I would first do my research on game or level design as it would definitely help me provide a better experience for my target audience. I also need to remove the habit of building level designs first rather than completing the task needed to be done. Level designs should be placed last once the basic foundations of the level has been set or planned out.