Mini-Games

                                   Valkyrie’s Ascension Postmortem

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          In this project, I was tasked with creating a logic-based tile mini-game in a 2 week time period. This project prohibited the use of tools such as collision boxes and the like to activate events. So, I had to come up with ways to register collision through code instead of relying on some of the handy UE tools. This introduced an interesting problem to solve.

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                                                            -What went right-

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1. Keep it simple- The overall concept of this mini-game came out great. The two chosen mechanics implemented paired well together and added many opportunities for different takes on complexity, but by themselves were simple mechanics. When I started this mini-game, I did not want to make a super complex game and was more so focusing on functionality and finding ways to make different mechanical reactions work. Pairing the access platforming mechanic together with spike tile obstacles for the player to avoid offered a simple game design concept that could be easily expanded upon.

2. Feel of the game- I wanted to make the overall design make players feel as if they were ascending into the heavens as they progressed in the game. As I iterated on concepts and styles, I landed on what felt more like an Asgardian style of level progression moving from Asgardian gardens to the palace itself. The structures I implemented for the game all had a very fantastical and Valkyrie-esque look to them. So instead of spending time looking for cloud assets for a more heavenly scene, I went for particle effects to give a more Bifrost Bridge appeal.

3. Communication process- Tried a new form of group communication between myself and my colleague, by way of the Trello board. Trello was an amazing way to see what needed to be done, what has been done, and really helped maintain a schedule and just streamlined the communication process remotely.

                                                         -What went wrong-

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1. Restrictive logic- When I was given the task to create this Valkyrie’s Ascension, the sandbox already had most of the movement logic put in. The problem with this is that the logic demanded that I check for whether the tile was vacant or if it had either the player or interactable in it. This introduced some minor complications in implementing some mechanics that needed to be done on tiles that were not just the base floor tile. This issue was solved, and I was able to force mechanics like the collectible system to work as intended, but the problem was the time investment it took to find the answers.

2. Pre-made camera actor- The sandbox for this game came with a camera you could pilot. The problem I found with it was how user-friendly it was. Positioning the camera so that the player could still see what was happening on the board but also not so close up as to limit the field view for the player was difficult. Coupling this with not really having enough time to research, implement, and test a new camera system was very frustrating. I may look into changing the camera point of view to a more over-the-shoulder view that follows the player as opposed to a top-down stationary camera.