Struggles:

Developing Forest Fire, I encountered many challenges. One of which is level design, considering the goal of this project was to create 2 easy levels, 2 moderate levels and one hard level, I felt as if four of my levels were too easy and the hard level was hard enough. I ran into this problem because I didn't add enough enemies and the enemies were easy to kill. I also should've added more obstacles, such as the fire, in the moderate levels to make it more challenging to navigate within the level. Enemies were a main part on what was the issue because I couldn't figure out the spawning aspect of it. If it had the enemies spawning in different locations across the scene, it would make it more fun to play. 

Accomplishments:

In Forest Fire, I was especially proud of my art in this game.  Implementing texture on the sprites and background as well as a strict, warm and muted color scheme makes the game more cohesive. Using new UI elements such as the screen shake, particle system when the enemies die, and animated health sprites, made the game more interesting and visually appealing. 

What needs to be fixed / added:

First, the art style of the enemies could be fixed. Even though I wanted to contrast the enemies from the players, it was too much of a contrast that it felt incohesive with the world around it. But, that would be an easy fix by redrawing it with no line art and simple, textured shading. Furthermore, the enemy sprites need to be fixed because when the enemies follow you on the right side of the screen, the sprite is still facing left making it look uninteresting and weird. The boss could be more intense if I added a phase 2 in which she starts spawning more enemies that attack you or a different ability to attack you like fire balls or a jump attack. Also, looking back at the game, I didn't like how the levels faded into each other. Maybe instead of a fading black screen, I should add a UI element saying that you're on a new level or at the end of each level, you face something challenging in order to make you feel like you really accomplished something on that level. 

What I Learned:

I'm glad this was a solo project because I was able to force myself to code the entire game. Even though I struggled a lot with it, the code eventually worked. Thus, I learned how to code bosses, enemy AI's, obstacles, and how to change from scene after killing all the enemies. I also learned how to create visual feedback like the particle system when the enemies die and I experimented with sprite based health.