Game Project 1: 30/11-2018

Project Name: Experimented (Not yet decided)

Hello!

Today we got to show our teachers how long we had gotten with the project and presented all of our working mechanics in the game. The critique we got was mostly directed towards the guards simplicity and game feel. If we could make the enemies more interesting by giving them different patterns (like the ghosts in Pacman) then it would most probably benefit the game a whole lot. The ambience and general "feel" of the game is also important as we want the player to find our game fun instead of tedious or boring. That is why sounds and visuals plays a big role in our game and have to be consistent throughout, or the gameplay might suffer.

Our programmers as well as our artists also got a lot of critique from their respective teachers afterwards as well, mainly concerning communication and structure. But other than that there was not a lot of complaints.  Overall, I think our group did well enough to say the least, even though our first playable version was far from smooth or pretty.

I spent the day today mostly communicating a lot with the programmers, artists and my fellow designer about new mechanics to implement next week and also how the rooms would look compared to the hallways. There was a lot to talk about, bu it all felt necessary. I also finished  placing asset placeholders in our mockup level, which I will discuss more of with my fellow designer in before I present it to the artists to let them know there thoughts. As it looks at the moment, we might need more assets than we first expected in order to make it look good. I hope that we will manage everything in time. Because it is going top be tough for all of us.

Overall, I am again very proud of the work we have put out today and I hope we will be able to make even more progress next week.

That is all I had for now, more coming next week!

// Samuel

Game Project 1: 28/11-2018

Project Name: Experimented

Hello!

Today only one of our four artist were present during the day since the other three wanted to go to the LIU conference in Linköping. Because of this, there was not a lot going on in the terms of art in the game. In contrast, the programmers made huge advances regarding user interface, item pick-up, guard movement and player movement, so much so that the game had its first playable version. Although, it was only with a single guard. This made it possible for us to control the scaling of the level and adjust it to the guard and player's size.

Personally, I spent the day fixing the mockup level in Tengine and started to plan on where to put the placeholders for the props. Other than that, I discussed with my programmers on how to implement certain core elements into the game and also coordinated some with the artist on how the rooms would look in the final game.

Overall, it looks like we will be able to show more than we hoped this Friday as we are already done with all the necessary mechanics to play the game.

That is all I had to share for now.

// Samuel

Game Project 1: 29/11-2018

Project Name: Experimented (still temporary)

Today, the full cast of Rock Soft Studios was on place and we continue working as usual. The goal today was simple: to get a playable demo for our game to present to the teachers.

The artists continued to work on props and modules while the programmers made sure that all core mechanics worked as they should and even made it possible for us to have an end and win state. Everything is set for the presentation tomorrow.

I personally have worked on occupying space in the level by placing out placeholder models for furniture and other models that the player cannot walk through. Even though I started yesterday I am still not done as it took more time than I figured. This is partly because of me communicating with my programmers and artists about essentials of the game, such as core mechanics and how the doors are supposed to look. Also with my co-designer, whom I frequently have to bounce ideas with regarding the game as a whole.

Overall, we are all extremely happy about how long we have come in these past 2 weeks and are very impressed with our programmers fast work. Next week we hope to add even more mechanics to the game in order to make it even more engaging. Since we actually can play the game now, we can playtest to see if there is anything we would like to change or add.

Yes, well that is all I have for now.

Take care!

// Samuel

Game Project 1: 27/11-2018

Project Name: S.M.E.T (placeholder)

Hello!

Today I finished the whiteboxing for the level design and the collision world which we will use on Friday to show our current version of the game in. The programmers are now able to implement the guards' structured paths before we will be able to test the mechanics in the game.

The artists has started to work on modules to use in the hallways, NPC character modules and also some props for the rooms. The programmers has meanwhile implemented almost all core mechanics in the game and we are soon able to show our first version of a playable draft to our teachers, which we plan on doing this Friday.

I was done with the level design around 13:30 and spent the rest of the day updating the Asset Breakdown Document and the Trello Boards. I also went around and checked up on the overall progress everyone had done and made sure that everyone had something to do. As it stands now, it looks like we are ahead of schedule a great deal and we also feel that we are likely to finish our project in time.

As a final note, we finally seem to have a grasp on what kind of game we are making and everybody seem to stay focused and also know what they need to do.

That's all I had to say for today!

// Samuel

Game Project 1: 26/11-2018

Project Name: *Still Under Consideration*

Hello!

Today we started off as usual with a stand-up meeting. Two from our team were slightly late, but only briefly as they both showed up shortly after. during the meeting we had some concern about what rooms and props we are going to have in the game, so we let our programmers continue working on our core mechanics and commenced a meeting solely for artists and designers.
 
By the end of the meeting, which lasted about an hour, we had agreed on 7 types of rooms to have in the game. Half of the artists were then tasked to make an asset breakdown document so we could keep track of how many props the game would need. Meanwhile, I made a whitebox version of our level layout, which I worked on the remainder of the day.

At 15:15, we had another meeting where we once again discussed assets and props with the artists and designers. This meeting also lasted well over an hour as we had a lot to discuss. The artists had made a document where everyone could see what asset they should be working on and simply start without asking anybody else. Essentially, it was an Asset Breakdown Document solely for artists. After this, all of the artists should have it easy to know what is most urgent to make.

Meanwhile, our programmers worked dilligently as always by coding in the guards patrol patterns and implementing the ability to steal items.  

That is essentially all the major things we did today.  

// Samuel

Game Project 1: 23/11-2018

Project Name: *Under Consideration*

Hello!

Today we got some more feedback from our teachers during our sprint review meeting, which all in all went pretty well. The critique we got was mostly concerns about the amount of rooms and the thought behind the level design, which afterwards have become subjects of serious contemplation. The artists and programmers both seem to currently be ahead of schedule.

We also made sure that everyone was able to use the Trello boards and got an understanding about the interface of the program.

For the most part, I spent time on updating the Trello board and made sure that everyone was using it correctly. I also updated the Asset Breakdown Document where I saw was needed. Otherwise, there was a lot of debates about level design, artstyle and what assets was to be used in the game. I think the decisions we made today helped us all get some sort of hint about how the game will actually look as a finished product. Even though we are far from deciding every aspect of the visuals in the game, I think we had made great progress.

We have started to discuss what name we could use for the game, but as of now we have not settled on anything just yet. Hopefully next week we will.

That is all for now!

// Samuel

Game Project 1: 22/11-2018

Project Name: *Under Consideration*

Hello again!

The project is really starting to take form, especially the programmers who made a lot of progress today. At the later part of the afternoon we had a meeting with our artist regarding the art style, which all in all was decent, but I still would have preferred art made by themselves over pictures taken from the internet. They showed us reference boards full of pictures (some were well over 30) and commented on each what they liked about it. We designers took some notes and discussed afterwards what we thought about it. A lot of  the pictures were a bit too futuristic or science fiction-esque from what we first had in mind, though. 

Our new background story for the game is a girl who is trying to escape from a research facility after they have conducted several experiments on her. Before she her escape, she has to gather evidence in order to prove to the outside world what is really going in inside the facility, because otherwise no one would believe her.

I spent most of the time re-writing the GDD, updating the summary, high concept, stealing, stealth, items, obstacles and UI chapters. Other than that I also added some things to the Asset Breakdown Document and the Trello Board. Generally making sure that everything is neat and tidy everywhere.

Overall, our programmers seem to work really effective, and they have clarified that getting a playable version of our game will pose no problem at all. On the artist side, we already got two character models from our character artist, several suggestions of assets from our environment artists. We also got a level layout which we can work on to make whiteboxing out of.

Tomorrow we will have a sprint review with our teachers and we will also elaborate more thoroughly about what we plan on doing the next coming weeks of the project.

That is all I have for now!

// Samuel

Game Project 1: 21/11-2018

Project Name: *Under Consideration*

Hello Again!

It has been a tense Wednesday, but at the same time very fulfilling.

We started up with a stand-up meeting at 9:00 where we decided on the spot that we had to move the deadline for deciding on a setting from Friday at 16:00 to 16:00 today. After everyone agreed, even though there was a lot of tension and insecurity within the team, a lot of creativity and ideas emerged and everyone seemed to appreciate that their ideas were all welcome.

At 16:00 the artists gathered and presented their ideas to us, and even though both settings were possible and seemed to fit the game, luckily the group was pretty unanimous about the decision in the end.

The setting we decided on was that of an underground research facility where they conduct illegal experiments. The player's role is therefore that of an agent who is gathering evidence in order to bring the responsible to justice, instead of thief stealing items from a mansion which was the alternative.

The most of the day was spent on updating the Trello board, GDD and the Asset Breakdown Document. We also decided on some minor but crucial elements regarding the user interface. Also, fixed Hg Tortoise on our computers.

That is all I had for today!
Until next time!

// Samuel

Game Project 1: 20/11-2018

Project Name: Mansion Stealer

Hello!

Today we had our first stand-up meeting in the group and everybody seem to be excited about the game we are making. Even though the technical aspects of the game is pretty much decided, the aesthetical aspects remains undecided and vague. Even though we designers remained pretty clear in the beginning what we wanted the game to be like, every single artist in our group seem to have a different opinion about the matter, which they revealed to us today. Addressing this problem proved to be a sensitive one, so we decided to give the artists some room to decide on a consistent style until this friday. Whatever they decide, we will go with it. The only argument for it being that it has to apply to the mechanics we have decided to keep in the game. Of course, this will mean that a lot of progress will be lost in favor of choosing an artstyle and setting, but hopefully it will be worth it.

I personally remain doubtful as some of the ideas defer greatly from what we had already decided on as a group and will change the overall feeling of the game drastically. Having that first vision of the game you have been working on for almost a week utterly destroyed by an altogether new concept is very frightening and may change the game to the worse rather than the better, I fear. Lets hope it will not come to that, though. In any case, I have to stay objective and be open to change, even though it may not look beneficial at first glance. I just hope I made the right call on this. 

Also, the rest of the team seem to be overly optimistic about the timeframe we have while I remain  cynical about it. This leaves a bad taste in my mouth as I am not sure whose estimate is the right one. 

Overall, I worked mostly with the Asset Breakdown Document and also made a few edits to the GDD throughout the course of the day. So for short: nothing overly exciting. My fellow designer finally got the Trello board up though, so we can start working with that instead of the Asset Breakdown Document, maybe.

That is all I have for today

// Samuel

 

   

Project name: Mansion Stealer

Game Project 1: 20/11-2018

Hello, here comes an update on the game project we are working on!

Week 1 has started! We finally have a premise for our game that we have a good chance of completing before the deadline. Although, we had to cut away a lot and move it to our "wish list" in order to do this.

The game that we have decided on will take place in a mansion set in modern time, where the player takes up the role as a thief sneaking around picking up all items his employer has tasked him to steal. To do this, the player has to avoid getting caught by any guards that are patrolling inside there. As soon as all items are collected, the player may leave through the exit.

On the first day of the project, as a group we talked a lot about the game we were going to make and discussed the GDD I and my fellow designer had written on during the weekend. Everyone was fond of the decisions we had made, even though some had minor complaints they were all solved on the spot.

I mainly spent the day on writing on and structuring the asset breakdown in google docs.

We also got a lot of information and feedback from our teachers who exclaimed a small amount of concern about the project, but still said that it was possible to do.

Until next time!

// Samuel

 

 

Game Project 1: 14/11-2018

Hello, my name is Samuel Kärvemo and I will be one of the 2 designers in our upcoming group project here on PSQ. We have been given free reins in making any game we want, given that it is made within the time-span of 5 weeks. We intend to make the best use of this time and make our game both playable and enjoyable.

Our development team consist of 2 designers, 2 programmers and 4 artists, giving us 8 people in total to work on the game. At the end of this week (today being Wednesday), we have been tasked until Friday to have decided on a name for the game and also a name for our team. Although, we have decided on neither as of yet.

Even though our group was somewhat in favor of the arcade stealth game, many have showed concerns about it being too big a task as we have merely 5 weeks to finish the product. We have 2 options at this point. Either we scale down the original concept to something that is doable or we change the concept all together. Right now, the former is more likely.

Later today we will get feedback from the 2nd year students, who might help us with our decision. In the meanwhile, my fellow designer will update his GDD (Game Design Document) and make some clarifications about the idea.

That is all I have for now,
See you next time!

// Samuel