Midterm Dev Project

* paragraph 1: describe your game, what do we do in it, why you chose the topic, etc.

WASD to move, mouse to control the camera, left click to interact.

It is the first person walking simulator. It is about 1 minute long. You can walk and flip switches in the game. 

Why flipping switches?

Because flipping light switches is a cool mechanic that can keep people engaged for 1 minute. When people flip switches, people expect something to happen. It creates interactions that players will look around then they will flip the switch then they will look around again. It gives the player a reason to appreciate the environment. Also, flipping a switch in a first-person game is different from real life. You have to look at the switch in a first-person game in order to flip it, which is not necessary for real life. It creates convenience for me as I will only need 2 states for what happens when people flip the switch before they flip the switch and after they flip the switches because players cannot see the changing of state when they look at the switch. This also means all kinds of things can happen when a player flips the switch which I utilized in the game. 

Inspiration(Do not read before playing the game)

I only get to visit home twice a year since I am 15. Every time I visited back home, it was a very long flight then followed by some drastic change at home. Sometimes there were people passing away. Sometimes my room layout changed. After so many times, I become a bit numb when I go back home. I do not know what I should expect. However, no matter what happens, there is always something that remains unchanged. So as the player eagerly looks for interactable objects(light switch) in the game, I eagerly look for the light switch to flip so I can see what happened at home. Among every element I see in the home, maybe I can find some familiar elements that reminded me of the feeling of home. 

* paragraph 2: describe the process of making your game, what was the most fun part for you and what was the least fun to do, did you make any good decisions or bad decisions?

The process of making this game is basically just about spending time learning. Because of my very limited experience with the 3D game before, every time I need to fulfill a new function. I need to spend time learning it then spend time making mistakes using it. Also, it is a solo project, I did not need to pitch my design to anybody else means I was constantly tweaking the game in my head. I also had some last-minute changes which will not work if it is a team project. One of the benefits of working alone, if I feel like some changes to the game are going to make me happy, I am going to do it despite the possible consequences and time consumption. 

The fun part is definitely in the beginning when I have time to test all kinds of ideas and add new things to the game. 

The least fun part is, in the end, I have to make all the things I have done in the previous week and turn them into a continuous and functioning game. I had to add a lot of things to keep it like a continuous experience and spend time testing its functionality, so I have to do some content cutting which is sad. 

The good decision I made is that I finished the game despite everything going on in the world. Also, the releasing of doom eternal and half-life Alyx are testing my self-restraint ability. Eventually, I forced myself to concentrate to work on finishing the game. I can proudly say this game is a result of my hard work. 

The bad decision is that the project is still a bit messy. Usually, with these long projects, I can keep it tidy for like two weeks then the project just becomes messy. There were improvements compared to my previous big project, but I can do better. Gladly, this time a messy project did not punish me too hard. It did not hurt my efficiency too much or harm the game’s performance.