Post-Mortem: Jupe On A Goop

With my first full game project finished, I thought it might be smart to make a documentation of its process and future improvements, problems and successes.

Problems

• Collision. My collision system is poor and would require complete reworking for all objects. It works sometimes, but even that statement shows how inconsistent it can be. I expect to learn new systems by my next project, including state machines and ds_ commands.
• Entity-localized scripts. Every single enemy has their own scripts to use. This makes debugging and fixing atrocious, takes up extra file space, and uses extra processing power. It also takes a lot of time to make new objects and enemies, and is prone to problems. This can be ameliorated through the use of parent objects more intelligently, or using scripts outside of the objects in Game Maker.

Successes

• Small play time. One of my main goals was to make a small arcade game that I could get in, enjoy a bit of fun, and go back to being a productive human being.
• Fun. Hey, I think it's fun at least! But mostly, I mean the game feel, I suppose. It reminds me of the nostalgic fun of past games, having a few strategies or tactics, but one main objective. With the lovely compositions by Kevin Macleod, I find the game to be a pretty cohesive package.

Process

• Roadblocks. It is obvious that any project will face roadblocks, but when one third of my projected development time was spent with the flu and then a bad cold, that was hugely demotivating. It is good to know that I picked it back up and finished it, but I admit that my speed dropped immensely. I think that I need to find some other motivator for situations like this.
• Learning. I worked on the game for sometimes 12 hours in a day for the first two weeks, just because I was learning while doing it. It was SO FUN learning the ins and outs of  Game Maker and making a platformer. Now that I understand the basics of it, I found it kind of difficult to pick it back up and start another project. I'm thinking that I'll need to watch the tutorial videos while I do it again, while making my own alterations, to make another project work.

Future Improvements

• States. Understanding this concept and how to impliment this and enumerators would make my development much quicker, and game performance better. This would also make some much better tech possible, and much less buggy.
• Game Maker Studio 2? This might make future games better, but I'll see. Money, bro.
• Steam? Again, money. 100$ for the deposit, don't have that at the moment.
• Shaders. I don't get 'em, but I'm sure at some point I'll need em.

Hopefully future projects are better, but I need some more feedback for that.