Post Mortem: Operator

Hey, just a mini post-mortem to share.

https://secresteyn.itch.io/operator

I found this submission trickier than expected.

It took me much longer than anticipated to get my horror controller up and running. At the start of the project, I envisioned using a lot of code from my previous project SMILE.

I decided to pivot towards a different "Survival Horror" controller as the project unfolded and this came back to bite me a little.

I was unable to get the full controller and features working in time for the JAM entry deadline and spent a great deal of time working on an inventory system that doesn't see very much use at all!

For the visuals and audio design I spoke with my audio lead Peter Hawkey and we aimed to style the sound and visuals around some of the early Alfred Hitchcock films.

I think Peter did a fantastic job with the sounds and music in the little time he had to work on the project.

Unfortunately, I feel that I underperformed in developing the play aspect of this project.

It's a pretty short experience and I have tried to create a sense of "False Safety" in line with the theme by placing the player in a relatively safe apartment-style environment at the onset and gradually increasing tension and spooking the player by the end of the experience.

I spent a great deal of time developing a fully modular city, street, building, and road kit with the intent of allowing the player to explore a small city block.

My original aim was to arm the player with a small camera and film and have them perform surveillance from their window and explore the surrounding scene(s) for clues.

I do quite like the original concept and I have plenty of writing and research so I may have another crack at it in the future.

Truthfully though I am glad to have this entry submitted as I was finding it challenging to stay motivated at the end of the jam knowing I was unlikely to deliver on my original goals.

I felt it was important to submit an entry and see what I achieved despite the changing scope.

I find that I learn a lot more from my failures than my successes and I think overall this project sits firmly in the middle of the two extremes.

I learned some new skills, gained some more confidence with my development tools, and have a greater understanding of some of the peculiarities of scripting in Unreal versus Unity, Python, or Godot.

I have also continued to expand some of my "core reusable code" that helps me get prototypes up and running much faster.

I have an expanding personal asset library of PSX Retro Style assets including floors, walls, pillars, doorways, windows, building facades, 75+ materials, and some procedural shaders / material stacks set up for use in future projects.

Worst part of this project?

The packaged build failed as I was due to submit and a process that normally takes about 15 minutes took over four hours and led to lots of frustration! Unreal had an issue with a "Struct" reference and I couldn't work out how to fix it. The game was working fine when playtesting in the editor. Initially, I was having issues with cooking/packaging but I solved them.

Great I thought. Except no. Not really. Not at all. Just... NO.

I tried to launch the game and was greeted with a "FATAL ERROR" on launch and had to go back into the project and rebuild a lot of my classes/blueprints and delete the entire saved/intermediate folders to get a launchable build!

The best part of this project?

Watching lots of old movies from the early 50's cinema and working with Peter Hawkey on the title track. He makes great music and it's always a pleasure to see how he takes an idea and turns it into something with oomph!

What's next?

I will spend some time improving capsule, cover art, branding, and motion graphics for YouTube videos & Itch.Io / other storefronts.

I will continue working on launching a small RetroGaming website where I share and highlight asset packs, indie creators, and forgotten classics.

I will continue to develop my internal "Retro PSX" Library and Level Design kits with the intent of releasing some free model and material packs when I launch RetroFlavour.com

Any other game projects?

For now, I am taking a short break between jams to work on a 2.5D Project that's been bugging me for a little while and I want to give a fair shake.

I will work on some prototypes in Unity,  Unreal & Godot and see which engine suits that project the best.

I am still working on some updates for SMILE in the background but they are quite broad in scope and will take some time so I will drop the details on those at a later date.

I look forward to sharing it in the future.

Thanks for the jam and best of luck!

- Secresteyn