Project Files:
Video Showcase:
Time Management:
Week 1:
Week 1 went all according to plan, I feel I gave myself the right time to get all my tasks done and none of them leaked over into Week 2. One thing I would've done looking back now, is to not wait until week 2 to start planning. I think that starting to plan from the beginning would've been a lot better and put me in a better position.
​
Week 2:
In Week 2, things went well at first,
I was on track to finish on time.
However, due to personal problems
that arose and issues I, and other people who I asked for feedback, found. It pushed this section back by a week. So I was done with Week 2 at the END of week 3 which was not good.
​
Week 3:
With the rest of week 2 I had to finish before I could move onto production, there was a lot of pressure. I should have accounted for this in my risk assessment and provided extra time in my gantt chart for these kind of situations. I finally get week 2 completed towards the end of week 3, this cuts my production time in half. The plan is starting to go out the window at this point.
​
​
​
​
​
​
Week4:
In week 4 I finally start production, 1 week late. I spend a lot of time experimenting and learning. At the end of week 4, which is meant to be the end of production, I have to put off week 5 and keep doing production. I start making good progress towards the start of week 5 and am just B-lining production, because of this, however, I neglect my other criteria which I will have to come back to at a later time.
​
​
​
​
Week 5:
As of week 5 I start getting close to finishing production, however after tests, I realise that my current system is heavily flawed and inefficient, so I decide to completely remake it with a different variable structure that I learnt. I learned about variable sets, especially a node that structure can utilise called "intersection". This node allows me to return the objects that both variable sets share.
I used to this to check for duplicates among other functions.
​
​
​
​
​
​
Week 6:
Week 6 was meant to be about marking what we have so far, but I was still doing production until about thursday. After production was done, 2 weeks, late, I had to try and do all the other criteria as fast as I could to get it done on time. This resulted in lower quality work as it was rushed.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Overall:
Overall my time plan went all over the place just because of one problem, this really goes to show how much even one problem can throw off a whole plan. I think I also underestimated how difficult my mechanic would be to create for a first time.
Final Week Trello:
Evaluation:
How I met the Brief:
I leaned really heavily into the sci-fi aspect as requested by the client. In the brief it mentions how chemicals have to play a really big part into the asset, my whole asset is based around messing with chemicals so I definitely have that down. I did actual research into STEM and into making rocket fuel so the process was accurate, and thought through.
​
I met the target audience by making the chemicals different colors and making the UI relatively simple to understand, this makes it good for young people as there isn't an overwhelming amount of things going on at one time. I also provided text and images as a guide as to what to mix, heat and cool so it was clear to see what to do.
​
​
End Result Survey:
To make sure that I have met my target audience, I made a survey and collected responses from my peers who fall into the age range of the target audience. On the Left are the questions, on the right are the responses.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
As you can see, from the questions, the overall answer is that it was a good mechanic but could of been executed better.
​
Q1 and Q2 responses show that the target audience were clearly engaged with the mechanic and that they would play something similar to what I made, with 100% of answers being that it was a good mechanic and that they would be interested in a more developed version of the mechanic.
​
Q3 had mixed answers but the main 2 points of view being that, 1. It was a really unique system
and 2. It wasn't very clear in the progression of what the player was meant to do.
​
I knew after getting some tests from other people that they were confused as to what to do, I asked what I could do to solve this and we came up with ideas such as: Make the chemicals become highlighted when hovering over them; Show names of chemicals when hovered etc.
​
​
​
​
What I Could've Done Better (Weakness):
What I could've done better was make it so the chemicals are highlighted once you hover over them, that would've made it more clear that you have the right chemicals. As well as this I could've displayed the name of the chemical when you hover over it, like a pop-up that tells you information. I also should have labeled the UI elements so the player knew what they were.
​
​
How I Could Make the Changes:
To make the chemicals highlight when hovered over them, I could probably de-project the position of the mouse cursor to the 3D world, like how I decided where the chemical would be placed. Then make a material that the chemical changes to when highlighted. Then I could just add more text to the UI for the UI elements.
​
​
Strengths:
I feel that one thing I did really well in was the technical skills, I did a lot of research and learned a whole new variable structure in order to get the result I desired, and I did get that result. It was daunting to begin with as I was trying to do something completely new and merge 2D with 3D. I asked on the unreal engine discord server for help when I needed it but I figured everything out and I made sure I understood what everything did and how it helped get me closer to my result.
​
​
Complexity and Simplicity:
When I came up with this idea, it seemed like a reasonable goal, but still a goal that I haven't done before. However that idea of it being a reasonably simple goal, faded away after I started the project. I talked about how it was really difficult in the last paragraph but I learnt that even for seemingly simple ideas, there will always be so much that needs to go into it for it to work how you want it. This leads into....
​
​
What I Will do in the Next Project:
This project was a big eye opener, I have learnt that everything requires a lot of thought into every aspect. I had to completely remake my systems a few times in this project so I will spend more time in the planning stage next time. In this project I also aimed for efficiency so I made variables that can be easily altered and give the result they're meant to give, I will continue to aim for this in further projects. Finally, I will make a better risk assessment that gives time for any issues that arise such as mental health.
​
​
How it Felt for Me:
Overall, I am really pleased with how my mechanic turned out. This mechanic made me have to research a lot and really think about how I was going to code it, as well as setup my infrastructure. This is because in this project, I planned to do something completely new and different that I have never done or been taught before. I had to learn how to make drag events, I learnt about the set variable structure and it's relevant nodes, I learnt how to make UI and the world work together.
​
So to say that everything I've done has been so new and difficult for me (because of having to learn new things), I've really enjoyed the experience and my mechanic has turned out really well.
​
I had to do a lot of problem solving in the creation of this mechanic, such as: How I was going to drag things; How to get said dragged items into the world; How I was going to make an efficient mixing process; How I was going to make the chemicals work. etc.
​
This time I focused on a smaller thing and did more of it, instead of doing multiple things and doing the minimum. I tried to push myself by doing something completely new, and at first I had no idea where to start. However, after researching and asking on the Unreal Engine Discord server, I managed to slowly develop my mechanic until I had a clear path on how I was going to accomplish my idea.
​
​
