I have been working really hard on this game for the last 6 months, im so happy to say that its release day! 

Assets I Created!

• Pinball Cabinet Design and Model

I built a pinball cabinet from a big plank of wood, that holds a monitor, buttons, speakers and an Arduino board.

• Arduino Programming

I programmed the Arduino to act as a keyboard and on press of a button.

• Gameplay Programming / Design

I looked after my gameplay design and programming. A few of the notable mechanics are – Flippers, Mini-Game, Plunger, Skillshot etc.

• Sound creation

I created the sound effects for the spinners and all the bumpers.

• Modelling

I 3D modelled all the main assets within the level design, using blender. Everything except the Ships and Characters.

• UI programming

With the UI programming I created one menu that consisted between the normal mode and survival and the instructions view.

• DotMatrix

DotMatrix is a package that you can purchase within unity that is made to mimic a real life led board, I used this for communication between the game and the player (i.e., if the player loses a ball, or their score is updated)

EARLY STAGES

When it came to the early-stage prototyping, I sketched down some paper prototypes of the pinball cabinet, the functionality of the buttons, the user interface, and the pinball level layout design. In terms of how I tested and iterated changes, when it came to the pinball level design, I originally wanted the ball to go on a spinning rail into a UFO, but upon trying to numerous ways to model one and finding no tutorials on how to that the normals would be correct in unity, I decided to opt for a ramp into a ship that would open its doors and lock the ball instead. Once I had settled on the concept idea, I used Lego to further on my prototyping. 

CHANGES SINCE EARLY STAGES

The changes to my project since the first paper design that I drew was that the spiral ramp and UFO was replaced by a smaller ramp and bumpers, I added UFO bumpers for the middle instead of just normal bumpers, created a smaller pipe that spawn’s robots. The bonuses and Mini-Game lights were placed more efficiently for a more aesthetic look, instead of having the DotMatrix player updater at the back I made room for it where the score was intended to be alongside a ball count display. And finally, where the rules are there is a section to see how many credits the player has added. 

NARRATIVES 

The way that I incorporated narratives into my game was by having two physical characters on either side of the board that gives the player a sense of a story that lies underneath, the characters react differently to things the player collides with along the way. When the mini game is I activated the game communicated a story with the player by using the DotMatrix display, it explains that Zlorp (the Leader of the aliens) has taken Astra (the human representative) and it is the players job to rescue her with this the characters react throughout the mini game. Along side this, the DotMatrix display shares narrative connections to the player by updating them when the ball has collided with objects such as the kickbacks, ball being locked, EXTRA sorters, etc.

POLISHING

When I underwent the polishing stage of my game, I wanted the game to have a more aesthetic look and to make it look like a professional game. To do this I completely re-texturized my game, from plain colours to actual textures. The Nebula textures were created by me. In terms of enhancing player experience I compiled a excel sheet of the feedback that I received and tailored any issues or reoccurring issues that were mentioned. One very important one that I thought was a great idea by others they thought it was not. this was the high score input system. Testers said that the fact it was set up on a random string was less useful that it being set up the normal way. So, I took this on board and changed it. 

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND WHAT WENT RIGHT AND ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

When I settled on the concept idea for the game that I wanted to make I made sure that the first thing I did was compile my Trello and think of the possible things that I would like to include, the main reason for starting the Trello so early on was to make sure that I had the scope of the project handled well enough and that there was enough for me to do in the time frame we had as I was working on it individually. There were slides that I added things into like “To Be Done”, “Working on”, “Almost Complete”, “Completed” and “Validated” It included everything I needed to do.

• Arduino Programming and wiring
• Building of the wooden cabinet
• Gathering of assets, textures, and audio
• SFX, post processing.
• UI/UX
• Mechanics
• Tester reviews

I also created a development schedule that was created to make sure that I kept to the right timing, so I had enough time to do everything else that was within the schedule.

I found that my project management went well, considering I am a very planned out person, who likes to stick to a schedule I found it extremely easy to be able to work through what was needed to be done and when it was to be done for. What I found new and something that I will take forward towards new projects will be the fact its always great to make more than one concept idea and to try your best to test unsure ideas to see if there feasible. I would most definitely take forward my time management skills as I find that they are the best quality when it comes to producing a game. 

Considering, I did not really run into many problems with my project as I stuck well to my project management, I still can always make improvements on what things I could add. I did feel as if some days/weeks I completely forgot to update my Trello and going forward I will make changes to make it as equally as important as the project itself. If I could begin again, I would tell myself that Trello is just as important as the game itself and to make sure that I do not slip up on keeping it up to date.

I hope my game brings joy during these unprecedented times!

-Chloe