We Did It! -- Week Ending 3 Nov

As of 30 October 2012, Naturally Selected Studios (our team) submitted Last March of the Dodos to the Independent Games Festival! It was a heck of a couple of weeks, but all the pieces came together into a product that we are proud to call our own.

I mentioned last week that I spent a bunch of time creating and editing our release backlog/sprints to get us focused on what we absolutely needed in our IGF submission. Besides that, I worked on 3D art assets and level creation. Well, this week was filled with a lot of the same, just a bit more frantic. :)

- Polished level designs, then textured level models, populated them with environmental objects (including environmental hazards critical for the purposes of the levels to come alive), and connected them into the framework of our game (in short, I created the levels so that the gameplay mechanics actually had refined spaces in which to shine)
- Created and supplied images for use in the UI and menu systems
- Determined and communicated design tweaks to both gameplay and UI functionality as we came across problems in testing
- Supported my entire team by being present and willing to help at every moment that any other team member was working on the game in our lab
- Helped with the pitch and submission literature and promotional materials, such as screenshots, descriptions for public viewing, and social media display

It has been an incredible experience working with the whole team, especially one so talented and willing to see a great product come to life. We've got a lot of refining and polish to apply over the next several months (and even days, since we can submit improved builds to IGF until they actually judge our game), but we're thrilled at the foundation we've built, and we can't wait to construct an experience even more packed with compelling content!

- Troy