Throughout creating Muriel, I encountered many struggles and challenges, and my stress was a culmination of those struggles and large mistakes.

Semester 1 project is what happens when planning is poor and you lose passion for a project. I was burning out hard while working on it, and it broke me when I had to hand it in. I felt horrible about it throughout the break, and it didn't help that I immediately ended up in hospital not long after, then moving house not long after that. My personal life was messy, to say the least.

But I did not give up, and I changed gears and started from scratch. I was influenced by the lecturer for my Creative Entrepreneurship minor, who would always stress that if you are not passionate about a project, you should find a project you are passionate about. Ironically, I also decided to start from scratch within that class part way through. 

Scaling the game down to 2D was the best idea for me. It felt so much better to have simplified concepts that I could actually try and implement. And even with the temporary assets, I thought the game looked really cool. I felt really passionate about the project and excited for where it was going. I did feel burnt out a few times, but I kept managing to bounce back and feel good about it again. 

Something I struggled with was seeing how much further along my classmates were with their games. I understand that comparing my project to other projects wasn't the best thing to do, but it's hard to ignore it when my classmates were making amazing games and my game was still in its grey-boxing phase. I was both proud of where I was at in terms of developing the game, but also disappointed that I wasn't more finished by now. Now that the game is complete, I can reflect on this feeling and at least say that I am proud of my project, especially due to the amount of set backs it had.

Within the final moments of my project, it felt strange. Throughout this semester, I was wishing I had a long break from development or at least a rest. However, within those final days I wanted to keep going. Maybe not on Muriel, but I immediately wanted to jump onto starting another game project (which I have been planning in the background for over a year now). This was a relief for me, because throughout this year I was questioning whether Game Design was even the right career path for me, and if I would be happy doing this. I can safely say that, yes, I will be happy doing this. I will, however, take a small hiatus from developing games so I can rest a bit. 

As I move onto preparing for AD24, I can say that I am proud of the game I have made this year. While it is not as full as I initially hoped, for what I had gone through this year I think it was a very good effort. I'm excited to continue developing games outside of University and enter the industry, and to continue levelling up my skills. I will return for my Masters, and perhaps eventually a PHD.

I would like to thank my lecturers, who have supported me throughout the year. And I would like to thank my friends and boyfriend, who helped me stay sane throughout this year.