Final Thoughts on Independent Study

This whole semester was spent with me in mind, showcasing something in a solo endeavor where I didn't have a team or a group to share the work with. This independent study is the fruit bared from my own labors, and I have to admit that I am exceptionally proud of the end result.

Because what I wanted to do was eventually going to transition into a role-playing game (all of them taking countless hours to complete let alone create), I wanted to make a proof of concept to set me on my way to making that full RPG in the future.

I started out with no idea what kind of programs existed for Mac that could help me do this, and in the past I had roadblocks of me planning more than actually creating. It was during this semester that I found GameMaker for Mac, a game engine that could do create my proof of concept for possibly the cheapest price I could find: $20.00.

Other programs like RPGMaker are exclusive to PCs, and other versions of Mac operating programs where around $100.00 or more. GameMaker for Mac is an amazing engine, and has an easy to navigate layout to create what I see fit.

Another roadblock for me was how much coding that needed to be done to get some things to work, such as moving the player between rooms or pausing. I had to look online for tutorials to help me in what I wanted to do, and even then I found errors I wasn't sure why I got.

GameMaker itself did have a lot of resources within that helped set up sprites, objects, and backgrounds...or at least once I switched to Advanced mode and saw all the options. It kept all of the files and things I made organized in folders all in a line, so I never lost track of anything.

At the end of the semester though, I have come out with everything I wanted to really have at the beginning, and this was the first time I did more work than planning on a project. I created a player character with flipping sprites, multiple background art from sketches I did previously, and made a pause screen to relocate players to the main room.

I thought about making a turn-based battle for this proof of concept, but unforeseen problems came up with my dad's accident earlier this semester and issues with text boxes. But now when I continue this proof of concept into an alpha on my own time, I can focus on this battle system solely.

In conclusion, I can say I am most proud of this semester's work because this is something I did by myself instead of with a group, and I was even surprised with how much I accomplished in said time. I recommend GameMaker for Mac to any other Mac users who would want to try something like this, and that I feel I've only touched the surface on what GameMaker could let me do. I look forward to taking my progress further in my free time and over the summer.

Also, I'm not sure how to link the current proof of concept to this post, but I will manage on getting the file out soon.