Inspired by a lot of the recent post-mortem posts, i wanted to expand on my previous post-mortem and explore the what worked and what didn’t in Bowerbird Quest

What Worked

Visuals: I think once i had the concept down and had an idea of what i wanted the birds to look like, everything else seemed to flow into place. i had not anticipated drawing in this style but had been wanting to do something flat and simple so i wouldn’t lose too much time creating visuals and not get enough time to code them up

Concept: i think overall my concept was OK. i like the idea of a memory game with one chance to get it right.

Tools: Flash + Citrus Engine was such an awesome combination for development platform, and i had been playing in them before so i didn’t lose too much time trying to learn the tools.

What Didn’t Work

Theme: i think the theme of “you only get one” got lost since i didn’t really communicate that and at some point i decided to let players take the round over again. i think if i take that out and make users have to start from round 1 when they make a mistake, it can better connect again with the theme.

No Sound: i ran out of time and as a result, didnt have any time for sound. i had originally planned to have sound and playing it silently just kills the mood. hopefully next time i move this up in the priority list.

Controls: the jumping behavior needs to be tightened up a lot. right now it feels unpredictable and hard to trust when yu are a player.

Animation: there just isnt enough animation in it for me. i want the jumping animation to actually have different sprites. the menus should animate in. again, time was the limiter and a couple of time-killing bugs kept me from getting to where i had envisioned it.

>> Play it Here <<