Key Takeaways

Focus on our game pillars

We went into capstone with nothing but the desire to make something that showcased our individual capabilities as developers. Cloudbound started as a simple build and fly your creation, then blossomed into a RPG later on with the addition of an economy, in-depth narrative, and increasingly complex and interconnected room designs. With each change, our scope kept ballooning and our resources thinning. It also deviated more and more from the original pitch. At some point, it was important to ask ourselves if it fits within our game pillars of chaotic cooperation, strategic risk planning, and player agency. Essentially, we wanted Cloudbound to be a hectic and creative experience.

An example of a system we altered was gaining affection hearts for the NPCs through equipping them on the ship to unlock more dialogue. Although having an immersive narrative is nice, the system by itself didn't fit with the core of Cloudbound. Instead, to still incorporate NPCs, the rooms they equipped to gained a buff, spread over a unique pattern. This encourages players to build more interesting ship designs and place rooms in configurations they usually wouldn't (many players default to square ships). 

Later may never come

"Temporary code is permanent code", as they say. Our prototype unity file became the main one that we built off of, adding scripts, assets and folders haphazardly. It became confusing to track, especially as communication became more strained during busy seasons where everyone kept their head down to grind before a major deliverable. Going forward, I aim to take better care of mapping out a clear structure for the project files from the start and upkeeping it during downtime.