The game process for this project was a roller coaster ride, and not a fun one. Although this project took a toll on me from time to time, I can acknowledge that I did learn some things and could definitely use those skills in future ventures both within and outside the gaming/artistic world. 

In developing this game one problem I found myself in was figuring out where and what to actually start. For the majority of the first week of the game process, I researched and experimented with some design ideas for my game. My initial idea was to make a pixel art-styled game as I have never done pixel art before. However, after making a small ghost character on the bus while I was stuck in traffic, I decided to make a collage, storybook-style game. Using simple/limited shapes and colours to achieve a minimalistic aesthetic. 

(rough sketch vs final art)

I also played around with the character design (as seen in the screenshot section). I took into consideration the shape and style of my character, slowly evolving the character as I began to question how its design would interact with the world (both visually and narratively). While I had a general idea of the narrative of my game the next problem came with the actual mechanics and unity program. In fact, I initially download the program incorrectly and certain features weren’t working (ex. I could connect visual studio to unity). Therefore I had to delete the whole thing and restart with a tutorial at hand. 

Once everything was set I played around with the program and some of the tutorials provided. Honestly, I never realized how much work goes into game programming and code.  This became more and more apparent when I actually started my game. For one, my initial design intent was way too vast as a concept to create in less than a week. Because of this, I had to backtrack, taking into consideration time and my own well-being. I also had to consider what I was even capable of, seeing as I have little to no knowledge about coding. I think outlining my strengths and weakness really helped me in the final product. I made the decision to focus more on the art process because it was what interested me the most. That isn't to say I'm incapable of learning how to code, in fact, I watch numerous amounts of tutorials in order to even make the game work (side note: I highly recommend watching Dani Krossing, his lessons truly got me through this assignment).  But along with my lack of coding skills my computer is pretty old. 

(the game crashed a good 6 times and by the 7th I was ready to give up)

So while it is a good thing to challenge myself with new skills, I think it is equally to important consider the limitations that may come with them. Maybe if I had spent less time on the art and or narrative I could have had more time to fully explore the coding world. Maybe I could have experimented more with different mechanics that wouldn't destroy my computer, like a game that is solely story/conversational based. 

 All in all, I think the general success of what I was able to accomplish came from the trials and errors I made along the way.