PORDOL POST-MORTEM

Pordol was the first game I ever finished on my own outside of school. I started working on it on January 1st, 2020, in an effort to release a game every month (I gave up on that idea quickly after finishing Pordol).

At the time of making Pordol, I had very little coding experience, so I opted to create something that I believed would be relatively simple. I wanted to make a 2D Portal-esque game; of course, many of the mechanics in Portal were too hard for me to learn to program within my one-month deadline, so I ended up making a much simpler game with a similar premise. In Pordol, you’re still going through a series of test chambers run by an AI, except you teleport to wherever your portal lands, rather than creating two portals that you can teleport between.

Throughout the game, I gradually increased the length and complexity of the puzzles, but I couldn’t do as much as I liked because I lacked the experience with GameMaker (the engine I use to make games) to add much. This limitation forced me to get creative with the design (for better or for worse). For example, I wanted to limit the portal from teleporting you if you hit certain blocks, but I didn’t know how to do that, so I put lasers on the borders of most rooms so players couldn’t teleport straight to the end of the level. I also wanted the cube to block lasers and add buttons that would open doors, disable lasers, or activate moving platforms, but I didn’t know how to do any of that. I also think the game could’ve benefitted from a soundtrack as it currently sounds very hollow with just some bleeps and bloops to break the silence as you shoot your Pordol Gun, as well as a nicer main menu, as the current one looks very amateur. There are also a few QOL/jank stuff I wish could've been fixed like the aim targeter not lining up properly with the cursor, or preventing the player from walking off an edge (there are a couple of instances where you have to creep to the edge of a platform to drop a cube).

With that said, there are still many things I’m proud of, considering my little experience at the time. I think the sound effects, for the most part, turned out nicely. I was also especially proud of the cameras at the time, which rotate to follow you as you move around the levels. I think the puzzle design was good on a few of the levels, 4, 7, and 8 in particular, but I believe levels 5 and 6 are especially weak because there isn’t any puzzle-solving involved, it’s just platforming. I also liked the D-0 boss fight, which, while simple, was a fun change of pace and put your “platforming” skills to the test by requiring the player to quickly react and teleport to dodge D-0’s attacks.

As for what I learned throughout Pordol’s development, I initially thought while writing this that I hadn’t learned much, but as I look back on it now, I realize it not only taught me the obvious (basic programming skills, creating pixel art and sound effects, etc), but it also taught me a lot about the actual work it takes to finish a game. Finishing a game is HARD, a lot harder than many people realize. Before making Pordol it was and still is very common for me to start working on a game and end up either forgetting about it or just losing interest, and it’ll sit there unfinished forever. I’ll talk more about my unfinished games (at least the ones that had enough progress to show) another time. Not only did it help teach me the effort it takes to finish a game, but it also helped me realize that games don’t have to be perfect. When I was working on Pordol, I spent days fine-tweaking code or adding unnecessary features like the cameras before working on the level design because I didn’t know what to make for the puzzles. I was so hesitant to even place a single tile down out of fear that it wouldn’t turn out good. Eventually, I said screw it and started placing tiles, and it helped me realize that games are an iterative process and it’s ok if you don’t get it right on your first attempt; It’s ok to make mistakes as long as you learn from them and improve.

All-in-all, while rough around the edges and lacking polish, I think Pordol was a decent first game and I’ll always cherish it because if it wasn’t for Pordol, I wouldn’t be where I am today.