P2 proved to be extremely difficult in terms of getting the ball rolling. Personally, it is difficult for me to work on something creative if I feel no attachment to it. I like to think about my ideas (emphasis on ideas plural) for a project and iterate on those ideas before I even look at a canvas/keyboard/pencil, and if I don’t come up with something I like, I just continue ideating! Thus, the approach we used in-class whenever we were introduced to IF to ideate for our games felt really counterintuitive and I’d even say counterproductive (given that P2 is somewhat set up for us to use what we came up with from the activity), and it seemed like many other students felt this way too. In this sense P2 began negatively for me despite the initial excitement I felt while we were exploring IF games, and as the days went on and the deadline neared I felt more and more pressure to come up with something that wasn’t my in-class prototype.
Nevertheless, P2 was an extremely powerful learning experience. I rediscovered my love for art and creative practice, merged its fervor with my CS background, and ended up crafting something I really adore. I strayed a little bit from the typical IF experience by choosing to make a point-n-click game, and am very glad I did. I learned a lot about the point-n-click genre, its IF/parser influences and crossovers, the tools used to make point-n-click games, etc. P2 successfully got me working on a digital game, and that is more than enough for me to be happy about. I learned a ton about Godot and the perks and quirks that come with using an engine.
Neigh! Is based on the newer and simpler GUI approach many recent point-n-click games like Samorost and Machinarium use, where the player can left click to interact/walk and right click to examine. I chose to use this interaction scheme with a 2D isometric art style. I ended up becoming really interested in the methods and mechanics games use to successfully fake 3D effects with the style I used, although I never ended up adopting any of them successfully or in a way that felt satisfying. I also became very interested in animation and pixel art, the tools and techniques artists use, etc. I think the people that played my game were really fond of the premise, the characters, and the art, and they were always sad to find that there was not more of the game done.
Going forward I would like to take a step back from Godot and use something that would force me to interact with the parts that engines normally keep hidden. Feeling in-tune with what I am working on seems to be key to my success and happiness during the development process, and Godot did not make me feel in-tune with it during P2.
