Success feels good, just as becoming the Sole Survivor feels good; it proves that all of the wicked schemes, grueling challenges, and tense tribal councils were worth every second of the pain and fatigue felt everyday. The beginning of a new programming project can be a daunting task, as setting foot on the set of Survivor must feel. With only a week to complete Survivor: Winter, the pair of programmers decided to create a schedule that would allow the game to operate smoothly and allow the user to explore the world of Survivor: Winter online. The creation of a detailed version of the game’s pseudocode ensured that each programmer had the opportunity to state whether the code met her expectations and continue to improve upon her program planning skills. Then, the programmers decided to select one area of the project to focus during the period of time that they would not be able to meet; one programmer worked on the website and the other worked on completed the code template using the pseudocode created earlier in the project. By dividing the project in this manner, the programmers were able to focus on finalizing the website and code when they were able to meet again instead of scrambling to create both the website and the code. This plan allowed both the website and the final code to be both completed on time and work successfully.
However, success does not come without its setbacks. While developing the pseudocode for the game, the programmers realized that parts of the original project proposal did not fit into the game the way that they thought that they would. The programmers originally planned on using the time function to calculate the amount of time that it took the user to answer a question. However, the time function was not included in the final code because the user either entered the correct choice or one of the incorrect choices. Thus, the user’s choice would determine whether or not that they responded to the scenario and the amount of time that it took them to answer the question would not matter. In addition to removing each instance of the time function from the original algorithm, the manner in which the user is loses the game was also altered. The proposal states that the user would only get “voted out” of the game if they did not answer the majority of the scenarios correctly after they failed to “win” the challenge. Due to the limited time that the developers had to complete the code, the pseudocode states that the user must answer one scenario; if they respond to this scenario incorrectly, they are “voted out” of the game. If they respond to the scenario correctly, they begin the next challenge.
In addition to the portions of the game design that did not go as planned, parts of the code development did not go as planned. Because the game was developed using Qt Creator instead of Unix, much of the syntax varied from the programming syntax that the programmers were used to. This resulted in errors when the code was compiled. The programmers referenced the FEH Proteus website and consulted with other programmers in order to debug the errors in the code. Once the code compiled and the program was downloaded onto the FEH Proteus, the programmers faced another challenge – adjusting the code so that the “buttons” that allow the user to select his/her options were displayed properly. The code was edited by shifting the locations of the writing in the “buttons”, as executed by the LCD.WriteAt command. Then, it was recompiled, downloaded onto the Proteus, and tested. After four adjustments to the code, the team finally completed a version of the code that displayed the game properly on the Proteus.
Despite the success of the programmers in developing Survivor: Winter, the game could have been improved had the programmers had a longer period of time to work on the project. With more time, Survivor: Winter could have included a wider range of challenges and more in-depth scenarios. The game published on December 4, 2019 only consists of trivia challenges; yet, the programmers would have liked to include different challenge modes. Other ideas for challenges include a math challenge mode, where the ten challenges would be presented to the user are math questions that are compared to an answer key, and a physical challenge mode, where the user would press a button on the Proteus to begin a timer, start a set of exercises, and press the button again to stop the timer. If the user did not complete the exercise faster than the allotted time, then they would not win the challenge and begin to answer the series of scenario questions. The scenario questions could have included more “what would you do” questions or “what would your strategy be in this scenario” questions; these scenarios would make Survivor: Winter align more closely with one of the hallmarks of Survivor – strategy.