INTRODUCTION

Created in the Love2D engine using Lua, Zombie Game was one of the first real games that I ever created, I still laugh and get filled with nostalgia when I see the code today. Regardless I am still very proud of what I achieved back in 2015 with this game, and I will be forever grateful for where it has pushed me.

Learning from my mistakes with previous development attempts (Space Game, I'm great with names), I decided to impose a time limit for developing features. I also had more free time, compared to the previous projects with no more school and low work hours, I could afford to sink some real-time into development.

PROJECT GOALS

The main purpose and goal of Zombie Game was to create a technical, functioning, entertaining video game. Something I could have fun developing and fun playing alike.

I set strict time limits for features and overall project development and created basic pre-development documents. It was to be a top-down shooter with endless spawning zombies and powerups, with the main goal being to survive as long as possible.

PERSONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• First spawning systems.
• First ammo system / multiple weapons.
• Multiple game modes.
• First simple seeking AI system.
• Improvements in my pixel art skills.
• First time getting simple collision boxes working.
• Gained a better understanding of User Interface design.
• Simple scoring system with saving.
• I had made my first real video game and it was fun.

LESSONS LEARNED

I learnt what it was like to work under a strict time limit, I felt the pressure and it made me realise what needed prioritising in development. I also developed a greater understanding of the limitation of a game engine or platform, as well as other lessons that come with developing a video game for the first time.

But the main lesson I learnt while creating Zombie Game was to try to love what you're doing. I found that because I loved what I was creating I was working faster, I was more motivated and happy, I learnt a lot and pushed myself to learn more, and end with a product that was more polished and further along than I could have ever predicted when I started.