The Magic Hat Post-Mortem

After The Magic Hat's development, my team had a post-mortem where we reflected on our experience. Below is a summary of what we discussed.

What Went Well

  • The core mechanic (asymmetric co-op between projectile and shield players) required no significant overhauls in its design during development.
  • The team was quick to address player feedback, and the game gradually improved for each sprint in its development cycle.
  • By using git and code reviews on pull requests, merge conflicts were largely prevented. Also, we were able to detect game-breaking code before it caused issues with our builds.

What Went Wrong/Areas for Improvement

  • Playtesters frequently criticized the mapping of controls, often due to poor layout and personal preferences.
  • Due to budget constraints, the team had to depend on Xbox controllers provided by the course (EECS 494) staff. Due to this, only xbox controller support is guaranteed.
  • The team originally intended to implement 9 different boss battles. However, time constraints only allowed us to implement 3 with an acceptable level of polish and bug fixing.

Lessions Learned

  • Do preliminary research on player controls of other 2D co-op games, then develop a control scheme that the team sticks with throughout development. Or, add the option to customize controller input if time allows.
  • Research ways that input can be handled without having to worry about the type of controller the player uses.
  • Keep expectations for the final product realistic with the time constraints provided by the project, and maintain a small scope for the game at the beginning of development. Carefully expand the game's scope if its current gameplay is in a good state.