A lesson in failure? - Remake Strandwilds - Final Update
Since it has been a LONG time since the last update, I thought I would leave an update here just as a note for my future self or anyone else who might stumble upon here. I have ceased development of Strandwilds. Well, I had ceased it a while ago but never formally announced it. So you might be wondering, why have I stopped working on this game? Below I will list out reasons why I stopped working on this game:
Lack of art skills
What went wrong?
For me, one of the biggest reasons why my original strandwilds game failed was that the art was just… ugly. I thought that I could change that with the remake, trying to make it actually look good by using Unreal Engine and using premade assets. However, this fundamentally limited me as this is a narrative experience and a good 50% of the “storytelling” is done through the environment. This meant that I found myself spending more time trawling through the asset store looking for assets that could fit into the narrative than actually making the game or alternatively completely shifting the story to fit within the assets that I had. This was not ideal at all.
What could I have done?
I am not an artist, I accept that. I have skills elsewhere in game design, level design, writing and sometimes programming but art is not one of them. I can use blender but not create something that looks aesthically pleasing. HOWEVER, the art style that I had chosen for the game was a low poly aesthetic. I most likely (given enough time & practice) could have replicated the art style of the assets that I was using. OR, I could have just gotten an artist to help…
Looking back it seems obvious but that is the power of hindsight.
What have I learnt from this?
I have learnt that as long as an art style is cohesive then it works, despite technical ability. I have also learnt the importance of not rushing. I found myself using art assets in an attempt to try to push out this project in as much time as possible so that I could then go onto working on the next project when in reality, I set myself up to fail. I was never that motivated in the project to take the time to do it properly, thus trying to rush the art.
In addition to this, I have learnt that the genre is VERY important and has knock on consequences on the elements of the game that are more important. What do I mean by this? Well, for instance my game was a narrative experience ( a walking simulator,if you will). This places a heavy emphasis upon story. Not only story, but art as art is one of the primary ways that the narrative is expressed to the player. The games “juice” and character movement and mechanics are much less important given the genre of the game since the story is the primary thing that players want from this. I will now focus my skills upon the genres that suit my skills and if needed get help from others for areas that I am not confident about.
Lack of a real story
What went wrong?
The narrative for the game was shoddy. I mean, I am my own worst enemy especially when it comes to creative writing but I did not like the work that I had done on the narrative at all. I think for what I was trying to accomplish, the word count that I was restricted to was too restrictive to create an enticing narrative.
What could I have done?
Well, I could have changed the narrative so that rather than separate stories all around one theme, it was one story . In addition, I could have changed it from reading the notes to listening to voice notes. This would then eliminate the word count.
What have I learnt from this?
I have learnt to spend more time on elements that are important, I know I keep banging on about it but I was in such as rush to finish the project that I didnt take the neccesary time to care for and nurture the most important elements of the game. Spending more time working on the story would have given me informed decisions on how the game would be laid out and would avoid future reworks to fit the game’s structure.
Trying to update my portfolio
What went wrong?
The reason why I was working on the game was because I wanted something nice to put on my portfolio. A nice, shiny complete work that would make my portfolio look good. However, the scope of the game was WAY too big for what I was hoping for time wise. A game of that scope, fully complete and polished would have taken me approximately a year of work. I was hoping for a quick project to turn around in a few months. Which is not what I could do.
What could I have done?
To be honest, I could have picked a better project to work on. I think a level design or a good looking prototype would have been much faster to develop and would still look good on my portfolio. I have longer, polished works that I am still working on but they take so much time that I just have to keep chipping away at them and in the meantime make small projects such as level designs or prototypes to fill in the gaps.
What have I learnt from this?
I have learnt to spend more time in the ideation phase. When I wrap up a project, I often myself immediately pondering what project I could work on next. Spending more time ideating, pondering and analyzing the pros and cons of each project would allow myself to make more informed choices on what projects would be beneficial to me
I was going to fill this page with images of strandwilds but since I have upgraded PC’s, the project is stuck on the old hard drive that I will have to root out and get everything off of ( at some point). I will eventually.
