Postmortem: Michaela Koetke

This term, the goals for the future production of Reformidant were to add more mechanics, more complex levels, and add unique art to each of the sectors to make them feel more distinct from each other. On the art side, we wanted to specifically add more 3D elements to the game. Furthermore, we wanted to incorporate more narrative aspects as well so the player can learn more about who they are as the user of the computer that has been taken over. We also wanted to ensure that Reformidant had replayability. By the end of the term, we were able to accomplish all of these goals in the additional sectors, the D drive, medal system, ghosts, the 3D wizard and background art, and popups that allow the Setup Wizard and Virus to talk to the player and each other. 

What Went Well:

• Task management as we were all able to get our work done

• New and distinct art for each sector

• New, engaging, while also difficult mechanics to the sectors

• Medal and ghost systems

Areas of Improvement: 

• Communication between disciplines (ie the programmers know what the artists are doing and vise versa)

• Keeping up with playtesting needs

• Planning more frequent meetings outside of class. Ones with everyone in the group and ones for just people of a particular role

• More clarity as to art direction

Takeaways for Future Projects:

• Always communicate everything! Ensuring that everyone, especially the people in the same role as you or leads know your progress on a particular task or are aware of road blocks

• Create more concept art or moodboards as well as an art bible in the first week or two to ensure art direction is firmly in place for artists to follow

• For weeks we have playtesting, ensuring that it’s part of the timeline for the week, not just a tacked on “if we have time” thing.