Successes

The biggest success of this game is the freedom that we give the players. We are very pleased with the various ways the players can set up their fields with a variety of placeable towers. Our team was highly successful in developing a variety of game mechanics, such as the implementation of towers that influence the path of enemies and the ability to upgrade these towers throughout the gameplay. This added depth and strategy to the game, making it an engaging experience for players.

In terms of communication, our team's prior collaboration on the midterm project greatly benefited our working relationship. We communicated effectively and efficiently, which allowed us to prevent numerous merge conflicts during the game development process. This smooth communication contributed to the seamless development of our game, ultimately resulting in a polished and well-constructed final product.

Challenges: 

Achieving game balance proved to be a significant challenge for our team, as we had to consider a multitude of factors that influenced the gameplay experience. These factors included tower damage, fire rate, range, and the health and speed of enemies. Ensuring that these elements worked harmoniously required extensive testing and fine-tuning to provide an enjoyable and challenging experience for players.

Time management posed another challenge for our team. We initially underestimated the duration required to complete certain aspects of the game, such as the navigation mesh. This miscalculation pushed our project timeline back, compelling the team to work within a condensed timeframe. Despite the time constraints, our group came together and managed to deliver a high-quality gaming experience.

What we Learned:

Throughout the development process, our team gained invaluable insights and learned several important lessons. One of the key takeaways was the importance of game balancing. It became clear that achieving the right balance was crucial to creating a compelling and enjoyable gaming experience. Our team learned to consider multiple factors, such as tower damage, fire rate, range, and enemy health and speed, to ensure that the gameplay was challenging yet rewarding. This required extensive testing, iteration, and fine-tuning, which ultimately led to a better understanding of the complexities involved in game design.

Another significant lesson was the importance of effective time management in game development. Our initial underestimation of the time required to complete certain aspects of the game, such as the navigation mesh, highlighted the need for accurate project planning and estimation. As a result, our team was forced to adapt and work within a tighter timeframe. This experience taught us to approach future projects with a greater emphasis on time allocation, contingency planning, and regular progress reviews to avoid similar setbacks.

In addition to these specific lessons, our team's effective communication played a critical role in the project's success. Our prior experience working together on the midterm project allowed us to establish a strong foundation for collaboration. The seamless communication we maintained throughout the development process not only contributed to a polished final product but also reinforced the value of clear, open, and consistent communication in a team setting.

Overall, the challenges we faced in game balancing and time management provided our team with essential learning experiences that will undoubtedly benefit us in future projects. These lessons, combined with our strong communication skills, have contributed to our growth as game developers and will help us continue to create engaging and well-crafted gaming experiences for our players.

If we could continue...

If we had the opportunity to take more time working on this game, there are several things we would improve on and add. Firstly, we would further playtest the game and work and balancing the overall game so that it feels smooth.  There are many aspects of the game that can be tweaked such as tower damage, range, fire rate, enemy health, etc.  This would also tie into our original plans to make an infinite game mode in which the player attempts to defeat as many waves as possible. This was deemed to difficult to implement and balance to make the final iteration of our game, but it would be something we would definitely include if given more time. 

Another aspect of the game we wanted to further develop was the different upgrade features. We would love to create an evolution component of the game in which towers can evolve after a certain number of upgrades, unlocking new upgrades and special abilities. This would go along with the infinite game mode really well because the towers would be able to be scaled much further than in the current build.

The last thing we would work on is the overall aesthetics of the game and the theme. Our current game is lacking a theme to tie everything together, which makes the game seem less coherent. We would love to spend more time coming up with a concrete theme such as fantasy or sci-fi in order to make the game feel a lot more polished.