Who Am I and What Did I do for the Project?

     Hey-o, I'm Dameron Cook. I was the programmer for Devilish Double Down. I was in charge of creating the Blackjack style battle system logic and HUD.  On top of the battle HUD I built, I also took charge of the level design of the game. We are a relatively small team on a very short timeline, and I felt equipped to handle it since I am currently taking a Level Design course. According to the Kanban board we made for the project (more on that below) I spent roughly 25 to 27 hours on this project over the course of three weeks. If I had to guess, including time spent communicating, I probably spent around 35 to 40 hours on this project. Level Design is a timely process,  and testing if my programming worked was also a large undertaking. 

     The Kanban board we built was a detailed plan we made that laid out how the game would be made. We can assign tasks and get a rough estimate of how long they will take. That way, we could quickly see who was working on what. It's a very efficient way to keep track of development, and I think good teammates keep the Kanban updated.

What Was the Most Difficult Part of the Project?

     I think the hardest part of this project was how new everything was about it to me. I'd never worked with a Turn-Based RPG before, but I had always wanted to take up the challenge. I'm also relatively unfamiliar with card games. Fortunately, Turn-Based systems are surprisingly simple to implement in code, and I had a good team to pick up the slack where I was unfamiliar with card games. We were able to spend a lot of time communicating ideas across, and I was able to translate what we talked about into a coding system we were all happy with. I think one of my strengths as a developer is being able to communicate between design and programming both between people and in my own head.

What Have I Learned from This Project?

     I think there were two key takeaways for this project for me. One is that communication needs to be clear to all team members, and the other is that I need to be open to developing new game genres.

    Assumptions are sorta evil. When developing Devilish Double Down, there would be very consistent communications between some members of the team, but not others. This sometimes led to design bottlenecks between members as one would go off and do something unexpected! Obviously, we wanted to use all the work made, so we’d have to make changes to our plans. While plans should be fluid, a lot of this grief could’ve been avoided. In the future, I’m going to personally talk to all team members and make sure that we are on the same page before we move forward and head in the wrong direction. That’s what being a good team member is all about.

    As for making new game genres, I really like platformers. Er… most of my itch page is platformers, in fact. While there’s nothing wrong with liking platformers, as a creator, I’ve gotta be willing to try new things. I was able to learn a shocking amount of new code when making Devilish Double Down. From randomization to the Widget system, I got a lot out of making this project. I’ve definitely been holding myself back in a lot of ways by not branching out. 

What Am I Most Proud of from This Project?

    I’m really proud of the team for what we made. We shot to make something ambitious, and we were able to hit all of our goals with minimal pivoting. Personally, I’m really really happy with the battle system that I made. This system was simultaneously complex and simple. I was able to make turn based combat with an original mechanic in an efficient manner. And, most importantly, it was a lot of fun to make!

Blueprint UE Links below:

HUD Battle System: https://blueprintue.com/blueprint/6v7z4mck/

Enemy Spawner: https://blueprintue.com/blueprint/sk9qqwbn/

Deck System: https://blueprintue.com/blueprint/pg9kmk1y/