A Disappointing End To An Interesting Project (PWAA)

The game is done and you can play it here.

     Today marks the due date for the Phoenix Wright project that acts as my forensics class final. From the beginning I knew the entire development would be a crunch, but I really felt that it was a necessary step towards making me a better game developer. It's finally done and the end result of the 3 weeks I spent on this is entirely disappointing to say the least.

    It's more like a virtual storybook than the decently polished adventure game I had in mind. Weak characterization, very little player choice, the illusion of branching, choppy transitions, and general low graphical quality plagued this project, but I'm still glad I made it.

Status Report #36

     Finals week starts Monday and then I'm free to work on Unicorn Quest all summer. Right now my hands are full with submitting my Phoenix Wright game and my college project. Check out this week's report.

Cutting Corners: PWAA Forensics Project

     To get this thing done in time I made some very noticeable quality downgrades. The most glaring of them being the lack of smooth transitions, the static text, uneven lines of text, sprites that don't fade in/out, some missing sound effects, very flat/cheesy dialogue, and plenty of plot holes. What is intact is the information I'll be graded on and some interaction beyond just pressing the spacebar.

     If I had more time I could make it feel more like a proper Phoenix Wright imitation but I'm really swamped between this, other finals, and my urge to finish this and get back to Unicorn Quest. Some time when I get my grade back for it I'll find a website where I can distribute a ZIP file containing the whole Unity file so someone else can pick up where I left off or rework what I did into something much cooler.

Again, I'm glad this exists. I learned a bit from making it. But I'd really rather be working on something I find a lot more fun.

Crunch Week: Phoenix Wright Project

      I can say it now even though I felt it coming in the beginning... Never start a game project with only 3 weeks to do it when you could have just made a PowerPoint presentation. At least that's what my tired body keeps saying. My creative heart just wants this game to exist so somebody else will be inspired to make an even better one.

      It's due at 11pm on Sunday and I've got all the hard parts out of the way. With just a couple late nights I should have it done and off my chest. It's a bit more stressful than expected but that's mostly because the senior capstone got me so excited for the project I want to do after Unicorn Quest. There's also the nagging part of my brain that want to get back to Unicorn Quest and make it as awesome as it can be, but I'll have all summer to enjoy making my first dream project.

     Onward and steady. Time to get this thing done so I can prepare for finals with noticeably less weight on my back. I really hope this thing does it's job and makes other Gaming & Simulation students want to approach class projects creatively rather than miserably. And I hope I learn to plan these things out farther in advance.