A Solid Work Week -- Week Ending 22 Sep

With every team member pretty much knowing what they were tasked with for the week, there was relatively little producer-type work that I had to do, which left me with a great week of designing levels. That's not to say that I didn't deal with people and communication scenarios--there was still plenty of that--but I was able to spend most of my time designing and creating tangible assets and features for the game. And that's my favorite part. :)

Which brings me to the next point. Up until now I have struggled with getting a good grasp on how our levels should feel, what would make them the most fun, and how to really let all the features shine. However, because of a fairly simple paradigm shift (no doubt brought on by using some level planning strategies taught in Joe Bourrie's virtual worlds class--thanks, Joe!), these goals have become clear. Now that we have these new levels, it's finally really evident how all the pieces come together. The gameplay has been there for weeks, but without a refined space to use those mechanics to great effect, it was difficult to enjoy the whole experience as intended. And it is good. :)

 So here's how my week was spent:

- Communicated needs (or lack thereof in some cases) to art outcource artists
- Helped with menu and UI design details
- Helped design camera functionality
- Wrote out the purpose of individual levels, including the major dramatic question/player experience that each is intended to facilitate for the player
- Drew out the maps for those level designs
- Took the whitebox models (modeled by Charlie) based on those designs and put them into our engine in Unity
- Added the necessary parts to those new levels to allow them to play as functional levels

We've got a presentation of the game to faculty on Wednesday, so I'm doing my best to make sure the latest build is in great shape with full game functionality. Let's hope the work pays off!

- Troy