Introduction

Hey, this is Vincent Ridpath. I was one of the programmers for Devilish Double Down. This game was completed in 3 weeks for my Game Design II class. I implemented a simple dialogue system, and I worked back and forth with Dameron on the turn-based combat system and enemy functionality. I also ended up creating all of the menu widgets and implemented the sound effects and music that were provided by our artists. Based on the Kanban board, where I assigned the size based on approximately how long I believe it took to implement, I should have worked about 26 hours on the project.  Some items were assigned to both me and Dameron, so I split my estimate on those. I would say that the 26 hour estimate is probably fairly accurate, however a decent amount of additional hours were spent discussing design and development among the team as well. 

Difficulties

I personally didn't have too difficult of a time working on the project. There were a few bumps on the way, like some merge conflicts or miscommunications, but we were able to solve those things fairly easily and move on. Personally I just wish we had more time to spend on this game, because we chose to develop something that was beyond the scope of a three week project. I think the game would benefit from more polish and balance, but given our time frame and the fact that we even worked beyond the 21 hour requirement, I am still very proud of what we completed.

What I Learned

I got to learn about a lot of Unreal stuff that I hadn't messed with before, especially with widgets. Most of the things I implemented in this project were things I had never done before, such as creating a dialogue system, or helping with turn based combat. There were also some takeaways I got from working with my team members, some of whom I had never met before. Communication is incredibly important so that everyone knows what is expected of themselves and each other. We had a few communication mishaps, but in the end it was a good learning experience and any miscommunication we had did not detriment the project in the end. For my next project, I will make sure I'm communicating well with every member on the team about expectations. I will also try to make sure our scope is a little bit more limited so we can focus on having a smaller game, but with better designed gameplay. 

What I'm Proud of

I'm really proud of the final product we were able to deliver in this time frame. I think everyone on our team did a really good job and we were able to make something with a pretty big scope for a three week project on a small team. Like I mentioned earlier, I got a lot of new experience with Unreal and with working in a team. Also, even though I worked beyond the expected/required hours, I didn't feel overworked because this was a very fun project to work on. 

Blueprint UE Links

Dialogue System: https://blueprintue.com/blueprint/nufi653s/

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

These blueprints were collaborative and thus contain work done by Caitlyn and Dameron as well.