This is going to be the final post before release I will make of Bounty Hunter II. Developing this game was quite a journey, although the funny thing is that I don't really feel like I spent a year and a half making this game. The process felt quite fast, but that may be because time seems to speed up quicker as I get older (does anyone get that feeling?).
Let's reflect and talk!
Those finishing touches
This is something I had to do a lot in October (and this month) which was mostly fixing bugs with AI which made them do silly things like run into a wall, mix up certain attack patterns or attacks go inconsistently with their animations. It's one of those not-so-sexy aspects of game development but the results really do pay-off. Other times they were little animations like bullets getting destroyed, shooting muzzle etc, which give the game that extra juice. One thing I regret is the fact that I remember these things last minute which puts a good amount of pressure on me as I think 'Oh great, more animations...'. I'm not usually the best when it comes to remembering the little details, hopefully I'll get better at this stuff over time.
A second 'Evermoral'?
I'm not talking about creating a sequel to the book I published almost 2 years ago, I'm more of talking about the paralells of the two projects throughout their respective developments. When I was writing Evermoral, it changed a lot as I was writing it which would inevitably result in a lot of unused content that remained as just mere ideas.
Bounty Hunter II was quite similar, a good amount of the things in that December 2017 Alpha did not make it into the final thing i.e. the Kazzi character. Whilst the story did retain the same basic elements that I originally intended, the final story was simpler than what I would have liked. In the original story the main character's friend would have helped him throughout his quest and you could even play as him, the two would even meet this 'Mad Venom' character who appeared in the end of the Alpha who would help them in their adventure, however this was scrapped as it was too much work trying to justify why each character would leave and join the player. What I created seemed like a better idea for the player to be by themselves rather than have a bunch of other characters in their way (especially since Bounty Hunter II is a very linear adventure).
The ending was also changed several times although it does retain the same tone. You may have worked out that story-wise, working on Bounty Hunter II was not as engaging as Evermoral; I couldn't create as much of a world where characters could interact with each other. In the latter, I could easily convey the character's personalities by just writing stuff and re-iterate parts I didn't think was good enough. With the former however, if I wanted to create a compelling story, I would first of all need to make a bunch of tools to not make this process completely tedious (which is an absolute pain in the arse) and go through a bunch of steps to save the level it is in and test in-game to see if it works or go in the way I would like. Bounty Hunter II's story was not as deep or philosophical as Evermoral (although even then some parts of Evermoral's story was flawed), but I have realized that making a game is different from writing a book upon writing this post. You can't just go and say "I've got a game idea! Let's make it a reality!" because you need to consider things like "Okay, does this fit in a game? Does this compliment the gameplay in any way, or just filler?". This process is something that 2016 me would have not even expected.
Although I have been a bit negative, let's go to a more positive side of the coin. Despite the fact I couldn't create much of a deep story in Bounty Hunter II, I gained a very valuable insight on how to create a event system that you can easily mess with and make stories with. I liked the process of creating something that I can use to edit cut-scenes rather than hard-coding the events. The optimization part was the coolest part of it as it makes me think "Oh yeah, I could do that instead of what I had previously done!", it has also gave me valuable lessons on how to create an even better tool in the future. I suppose sacrificing the story for this experience isn't too bad, it makes my analytical and creative thinking go hand in hand.
Bounty Hunter II was quite similar, a good amount of the things in that December 2017 Alpha did not make it into the final thing i.e. the Kazzi character. Whilst the story did retain the same basic elements that I originally intended, the final story was simpler than what I would have liked. In the original story the main character's friend would have helped him throughout his quest and you could even play as him, the two would even meet this 'Mad Venom' character who appeared in the end of the Alpha who would help them in their adventure, however this was scrapped as it was too much work trying to justify why each character would leave and join the player. What I created seemed like a better idea for the player to be by themselves rather than have a bunch of other characters in their way (especially since Bounty Hunter II is a very linear adventure).
The ending was also changed several times although it does retain the same tone. You may have worked out that story-wise, working on Bounty Hunter II was not as engaging as Evermoral; I couldn't create as much of a world where characters could interact with each other. In the latter, I could easily convey the character's personalities by just writing stuff and re-iterate parts I didn't think was good enough. With the former however, if I wanted to create a compelling story, I would first of all need to make a bunch of tools to not make this process completely tedious (which is an absolute pain in the arse) and go through a bunch of steps to save the level it is in and test in-game to see if it works or go in the way I would like. Bounty Hunter II's story was not as deep or philosophical as Evermoral (although even then some parts of Evermoral's story was flawed), but I have realized that making a game is different from writing a book upon writing this post. You can't just go and say "I've got a game idea! Let's make it a reality!" because you need to consider things like "Okay, does this fit in a game? Does this compliment the gameplay in any way, or just filler?". This process is something that 2016 me would have not even expected.
Although I have been a bit negative, let's go to a more positive side of the coin. Despite the fact I couldn't create much of a deep story in Bounty Hunter II, I gained a very valuable insight on how to create a event system that you can easily mess with and make stories with. I liked the process of creating something that I can use to edit cut-scenes rather than hard-coding the events. The optimization part was the coolest part of it as it makes me think "Oh yeah, I could do that instead of what I had previously done!", it has also gave me valuable lessons on how to create an even better tool in the future. I suppose sacrificing the story for this experience isn't too bad, it makes my analytical and creative thinking go hand in hand.
Conclusion
Bounty Hunter II is by far the most ambitious game I have made, as well as the longest I have gone in terms of having a game with a story and dialogue. With that being said, I don't know how to feel about finishing it, do I feel accomplished or not?
Maybe it is one of those things that I might appreciate later on or maybe I need more of a life.
All work and no play makes jack a dull boy, no?
Maybe it is one of those things that I might appreciate later on or maybe I need more of a life.
All work and no play makes jack a dull boy, no?
But I need to balance my studies at sixth form as well, and maintain decent grades. Although I honestly don't care about A-Levels (I might write a blog about education at some point), something in my mind is pushing me - as well as that I don't want to disappoint the head of sixth form or my parents.
I will be sure to keep you people updated though, in the meantime expect Bounty Hunter II to be released around 21st of November.
That's all from me!
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