4.1 Evaluation of Success Criteria

Level layout and design

Criteria

Criterion	Description	When was it achieved
1	Wide open map for the player to explore however they choose	Cycle 1
2	Areas unlocked through short puzzles	Wasn't achieved
3	Areas blocked of or forbidden in the progression of the game through collision detection	Cycle 2
4	Multiple layers to the map not just surface level	Wasn't achieved
5	Inside areas / separate maps to represent inside of buildings	Cycle 10
6	Areas inhabited by lots of enemies and others with none	Cycle 4

Criterion 1

This shows how the map is wide and open for the player to explore wherever they would like whether that is outside or inside the houses and explore indoors

Criterion 2

I initially had played to introduce this feature in order to give the player more of a sense of completion but have found as I moved through that this was too much with the time I had. Programming features like this was beyond my capability and with the time frame was not something I was able to learn and develop new skills for. As I move through and have got the main functionalities of the game, I can now go back and complete these features to flesh out the game and give the player more to play and achieve.

Criterion 3

The video footage in Cycle 1 it demonstrates how collisions are used in the game and are used in later cycles where the map is more filled to show how certain areas are blocked off using this same collision system established early on. This can be used to block off certain areas from players who have not reached certian levels of progression in their gameplay passing the sucess criteria.

Criterion 4

I had planned this feature to give the player more room to explore through underground areas in the map that the player can vertically travel. Whilst developing my project however with the time frame given I decided the size of the map with inside areas was enough for the player to be able to explore and enjoy. Later on in development this will be a feature that I will work on with enough given time, I aim to continuously expand the map and give the player more areas to explore.

Criterion 5

With the image above and video evidence from Cycle 10, you can see the separate areas and indoors of buildings that players can explore with their own game scene to use. Whilst I did not justify this having its whole individual cycle since most of the work involved designing and less programming I believe this is still a key feature that I achieved to gain a truly interactive experience.

Criterion 6

The image above and video evidence from cycle 4 onwards demonstrate certain areas that inhabit more enemies compared to other areas such as the inside of buildings that contain no enemies or anything combat related. In my game the outside areas contain multiple enemies to fight whereas inside is completely safe from the enemies since they cannot enter.

UI

Criteria

Criterion	Description	When was it achieved
7	Player should be presented with a nice and easy title screen upon launch to navigate	Cycle 10
8	Options for customisation settings such as auto save features etc to toggle	Wasn't achieved
9	A menu presented upon pausing the game with options to save or leave the game	Wasn't achieved
10	The player should easily be able to start a new game	Cycle 10

Criterion 7

The screenshot above demonstrates me achieving the criterion by creating a simple and visually appealing title screen with only a few options for the player so they do not get lost or confused when navigating the menu

Criterion 8

I had aimed for this to be development to give the player some options for customisation to make the game easier to run on a larger range of devices and increase the ways it can be played. However I was not able to achieve this with the time I had and is one of my main features I aim to develop next since I already have the menu ready and all that is to do is the main functionality of changing properties such as screen size and more. One thing I noticed is that this may not even be necessary since with the way the game performs with double the frame rate needed for a smooth experience according to my success criteria I doubt any modern devices will struggle trying to run this game even without customisation choices.

Criterion 9

This is another feature I aim to integrate soon since I believe this is in my capabilities and is not too challenging with a similar menu needed so I can reuse a majority of the code. I believe this will be an important part of the game allowing people to take a break if need be and will hopefully be supported in the near future of my development.

Criterion 10

Evidence for criterion 10 can be seen in Cycle 10 when the player interacts the "Play" button to start a new game and is presented upon launch of the game with the main menu mentioned in Criterion 7. The button is easy to navigate and find but also quick to launch a game making sure all players can quickly and easily play a game without having to wait for long loading times.

Mechanics

Criteria

Criterion	Description	When was it achieved
11	Create a top down view for the player to view the character and the surroundings that follows the player	Cycle 3
12	Basic puzzle mechanics to complete throughout exploration	Wasn't achieved
13	Simple combat to fight the enemies found throughout.	Cycle 9
14	Moving the player with W,A,S,D controls allowing them to walk around the map	Cycle 2 / 6
15	Clicking the mouse to interact with either objects or dialogue.	Cycle 10

Criterion 11

With video evidence from Cycle 3 you can see how the camera functions by tracking the player but then not going out of bounds and restricted to the playing area. The view is all top down as planned focusing on the character but also showing a whole view of its surroundings.

Criterion 12

As mentioned in Criterion 2 I did not believe programming these features is my current skillset and is outside of what I can achieve with the given time frame. However programming these mechanics is something I would like to achieve in future development and is something I aim to do soon. I believe that this would be very beneficial to make the game more engaging and can be something I focus more on in immediate development.

Criterion 13

With video evidence from Cycle 9 you can find evidence for a simple and existing combat mechanic to fight the enemies scattered throughout providing a more interactive experience but yet still easy for players to grasp.

Criterion 14

Video evidence found at the end of Cycle 2 and Cycle 6 you can see how the criterion is filled with evidence of the player movement with the W,A,S,D inputs specified in the criterion. Whilst I also added inputs for the arrow keys to improve accessability the original inputs remain and allow anyone to grasp the concepts quickly.

Criterion 15

Whilst this feature I did not find justified a whole cycle due to its simplicity, this was still developed alongside the cycle 10 and involves some simple dialogue prompts upon interacting with the given objects or NPC's. The feature does slightly differentiate from the criterion however since there is a control change from clicking to interact to pressing the enter key but the functionality is still present.

Non-Functional

Criteria

Criterion	Description	When was it achieved
16	Game will remain appropriate for all a wide audience aiming for a PEGI rating of 7+	Usability testing
17	Game must run without crashing	Achieved through robust programming with frequent testing and shown in Usability testing
18	Game must run at at least 30 fps	Achieved through testing and efficient programming practices

Criterion 16

I did not include any of the inappropriate content PEGI uses to raise age ratings such as violence of blood keeping the potential rating down and suitable for a 7+ age recommendation

Criterion 17

Whilst none of the bugs I found throughout my user testing and my own, none of these were game breaking and had caused the game to crash. However I still aim to fix these bugs in an attempt to improve the user experience. I will list all the bugs I found in user testing and how I plan to fix them:

1. To complete the quest, a user can simply leave and reenter the building to trigger completion dialogue. - I will fix this through the creating a sceneEmit containing a variable that can be accessed throughout scenes containing the killcount. Then there will be a check on the dialogue to see whether this variable is above a certain count.

2. Certain parts of the map have invisible colliders - I will fix this by photoshopping the tileset I was using when creating the map to remove and blank space and adjust this with the JSON file

3. Player has to be in a very specific position to interact with the NPC - I will fix this by increasing the radius in which the player can be stood in order to interact to a bigger border making it easier to talk to the NPC.

Criterion 18

In robustness testing and in the image above you can see the game ran at nearly consistently 60fps which is almost double the amount I recommended for an enjoyable experience in my criteria.