Successes 

We successfully implemented 4 scenes that represented 4 different emotions: anger, anxiety, sadness, and joy. We were able to convey the different emotions with proper color schemes and accurate level design. The stealth scenario of the anxiety level worked well with the point and click interface. We structured a consistent storyline that came to a conclusion at the end. We were able to make each of our scenes completely different and independent of one another so that the player can get an entirely different experience with each emotion. We were also able to implement cutscenes to give the player a proper introduction to the next scene, as well as directions on how to play. We also had a full game loop, as well as a strong narrative pushed through storytelling and music. 

Challenges

One main challenge was not related to Unity directly but to GitHub. This is the first instance of us learning how to collaborate properly with Unity projects on GitHub as, despite the extreme challenge, we figured out some better strategies to use next time. Initially, we did not realize the certain order that must be followed when working on the same project with GitHub. Even though we were working on individual scenes and had a separate branch for each of our own projects, merging into one branch cannot be resolved unless you pull from the repo first to get the most recently updated version of the project. If not, there will be constant merge conflicts that are difficult to resolve. A majority of the game development process was resolving merge conflicts, as well as making our four mini-games go seamlessly together. We figured out that if we’re working on the same script files or scenes we should rename them so that there are separate names for all different changes unless the screen or code is completely identical. Then, we can merge them all manually.

What we learned

The group overall learned many things. For this project, our biggest strength was our creativity and ability to implement our ideas. Unfortunately, our biggest wall was time management and the faults of GitHub and Unity. We learned a great amount about what it takes to work as a team, as well as grew closer as colleagues and collaborators. Some of us were very impressed with our skills too. For example, Dominique and Juliana were able to adapt a script from their previous games to work with this game. The team also learned how to use Unity’s NavMesh and make it work with our mini-games. One thing, in particular, was that this game was very “hands-off” with demos on how to do certain things. We found it nice to be able to rely on each other as teammates to help when one of us was struggling as well as experience the “figure it out as you go” method of implementation. The most important thing we learned was what makes a game good. Having each of us create basically 4 separate games meant that we had at least 3 people at all times available to give feedback. This was absolutely vital to our game since not many things are as intuitive as one thinks. 

Next steps 

One prominent thing that was actually scrapped from the project initially, was having a hub world. The hub world would consist of a street that had portals to the other scenes. There could even be NPCs that you could talk to. The player would have a much wider interactive space where they can get a better sense of what type of setting they’re in instead of just jumping scene to scene. This would be a good basis for world-building.  Another thing would be to really refine the existing scenes. For example, replacing the player model and enemy model with an animated prefab and having more animated objects. Another idea we had was to potentially create 6-8 different levels to extend the length of the game.