It's been a long road to reach this point, and definitely not a smooth one. Even though we mostly finished the game by week 12, there was still so much that needed to be done this week in order to put out the best game we possibly could. At the end of it, we're all left exhausted and ready to sleep, but was it worth it in the end?
The last week began as we started working on polish features for the game. Particle effects were being worked on in full swing with the bulk of the enemy particles created by Herman, followed by player particles pretty soon after. The particles emphasize the feedback of every important motion each entity takes, and helped make certain scenarios that people were previously confused about (regarding damage they took) a lot more clear. Alongside particles, sound effects were also added to these actions to get the full breadth of feedback.
The entire level design was finalized with the full layouts and repaints with backgrounds. Tiles for the Vermillion Summit were finally placed, finally separating it from Ember's Rise, giving it a very distinct red.
Alongside the final map, a UI map was also created to help players navigate where to go and remember where they've been.
The final music was added, giving the soundscape some dynamism by adapting to where the player is in the map and what situation the player is like combat.
A saving/loading system was made so players could save their data and then play the game again, because our game is so big there was no way to reasonably expect people to finish it in a single sitting.
And then... bug fixes. So many bug fixes.
After all of this work, that still begs the question. Was it all worth it in the end? The experience as a whole was very valuable to all of us. We all learned so much about our respective tasks. Matt about art direction, Herman about animation, Nathan about level design and systems implementation and Jonathan about directing and gameplay design. For the learning alone, it was worth it. Our project was pretty ambitious too, and one at some point we didn't think we'd be able to even finish. But in the end, we made a game of a pretty decent scale in the allotted amount of time. Sure, there are still issues we couldn't fix in time, mainly bugs, and some other polish stuff, but in general, it works pretty well. And we're all proud of it.
The plan now is to probably iron out a few things before releasing it to the public for them to try out. Even if it isn't the greatest game ever made, it was a good project. And of course, we can finally sleep once more.
Thank you for coming with us on this journey.
Sleep No More
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