Post Mortem

- Successes (What went right in development)

What went right in development of Gretel & Hansel was the general workflow order, as well as development of ideas and storyline. Early on, Yifan initially had the idea to set the theme of the game based on the fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel. We continued to build on it because it gave a clear structure for a 3 player game (being Hansel, Gretel, and the Witch.) Additionally, we had the setting of the witch’s house as a solid base to work within, which prevented the boundaries of the game space from becoming too broad or ambiguous. We set our roles and split up the work accordingly, using Trello as a workflow organizer. We were able to successfully establish an ominous tone for the game, and achieved the kind of intensity we wanted in the gameplay between Gretel/Hansel vs the Witch. The game is very fun and engaging overall which is what matters the most. We also established a good visual style, and the game is visually quite polished thanks to that.

- Setbacks (What went wrong in development)

While we had a solid story and baseline mechanics to work with such as controllers, we set ourselves up so that progress was dependent on factors such as new sprite animations to code with and setting many rooms as the levels. This created some delays as Emily and I (Clare) needed to further create the graphics and structure so that Yifan could code and we could have a clearer, presentable representation of the mechanics and such that we implemented. I also took too long to create some animations that could have served as key actions, like the witch picking up and carrying a knocked-out Hansel or Gretel to the oven. Although we set our playspace through story setting and limited the possible interactions (no NPCs, etc.), we still slightly overshot ideas and mechanics that we could not meet given the project deadlines’ time constraints. We ended up cutting visual and character mechanics such as Hansel and Gretel tripping each other and the witch having a ranged magic attack. Further still, we wanted to give the player opportunities to achieve different endings that developed the narrative such as burning the house down after locking the witch inside (H+G win state). Other gameplay mechanics we cut were various puzzles that utilized Gretel’s height to activate something for Hansel, and the witch being able to monitor different rooms in the house (similar to the security room in Among Us.)

- Lessons Learned (How did you overcome or work around your setbacks)

After deciding to cut some parts and manage a more flexible development schedule, our group kept up communication and spirits. We started to concretely prioritize what the game needed, rather than what we initially wanted or envisioned past what was realistically possible to achieve within the remaining time until the deadline. Some mechanics seemed cool in our heads, but we quickly realized that the coding that would make those mechanics possible would all fall onto Yifan’s workload as the resident coder/technical builder. Thus, Yifan took the initiative to take a step back and consider what one person could actually get done in an optimized way. Also, instead of adding more complex puzzles or potential endings, we added more rooms in the house to increase the physical, playable gamespace to focus more on the chasing aspect of the gameplay. This is a simple gameplay mechanic that we already had in the game, because it only technically requires a space and players with speed and initiative to chase each other. We also decided that the animations that I had done too late would be too time-consuming for only one character mechanic to be added, so Emily pitched in with me to create other sprites that set the theme and background instead. This was more worthwhile in terms of developing our use of sprites for presentation/narrative purposes. While our setbacks cut down the scope of the game in some areas, we are still proud of the game that we finished in the end.

- Next Steps (Future interactions of your game, What you would add or change if you had more development time)

We would try to balance the chasing and hide/seek between the witch and the children more, so that the witch is not overly OP. We would have a more natural set up, for instance, the witch would have something to do before it can set out to hunt down the players, as well as clearer storytelling elements that explain these things.

We would also add in mechanics that we had to cut, such as collaborative puzzles or puzzles only Gretel or Hansel can solve, more interactions between each character and with the environment (such as hiding in a closet or checking a closet for hiding), more complex capture and release system, and more narrative elements. 

We would experiment with having more variation in terms of gameplay, perhaps some randomization element so each play is different.

Witch have something to do in beginning instead of waiting for timer to run down and start (starting oven fire, setting things up, etc.)