(VIEW AS PDF) UPDATES End of Semester Presentations: As the semester draws to a close, the team is making its final preparations to present to the faculty this coming Wednesday. The presentation will not only demonstrate the product, but also discuss the story of the team’s process. From the initial planning stages, to the shift …
Category Archive: Newsletters
Dec
02
Weekly Newsletter #14 – December 2, 2011
(VIEW AS PDF) UPDATES Pulling It All Together: The week began with Soft Opening presentations, and the team demonstrated the beta product to the faculty, receiving plenty of helpful feedback. While the game generally was received quite positively, suggestions for improvements included the use of a dual economy (gems and a retry item that serves …
Nov
25
Weekly Newsletter #13 – November 25, 2011
(VIEW AS PDF) UPDATES Beta Build 2/Preparation for Soft Opening: The team has been working hard to implement all features and levels for soft opening on Monday. Levels are currently being adapted to a new plist format, and the version presented at softs will include 17 levels. The early levels introduce the game’s goals and …
Nov
18
Weekly Newsletter #12 – November 18, 2011
(VIEW AS PDF) UPDATES Beta Build 1: With features locked, the team focused this week on implementation and level construction. The levels presented at last week’s ETC playtest were shown to children and seniors in coordination with a Makeshop playtest at the Children’s Museum, providing valuable feedback regarding how clear and playable the game is …
Nov
11
Weekly Newsletter #11 – November 11, 2011
(VIEW AS PDF) UPDATES Feature Lock and Playtesting: The features to be included in seAker were finalized on Thursday, effectively setting in stone the scope for the design from now until the end of the semester. The total number of levels to be included stands at around ten to fifteen full-length levels, plus a series …
Nov
04
Weekly Newsletter #10 – November 4, 2011
(VIEW AS PDF) UPDATES Level Editor Created: The team is now able to rapidly generate levels and experiment with different types of gameplay thanks to the creation of a level editor. Each member of the team can input data into p-lists and build directly to the iPad, so it is easier than ever before to …
Oct
28
Weekly Newsletter #9 – October 28, 2011
(VIEW AS PDF) UPDATES Emergent Goals and Experimental Levels: This week, team seAker continued trying out different approaches to the physics-based exploration style of play, creating various levels and testing them to find out what players want to do. Overwhelmingly, players have most enjoyed using angles to create “trick shots,” and so the design focus …
Oct
21
Weekly Newsletter #8 – October 21, 2011
(VIEW AS PDF) UPDATES “We’re Halfway There” The semester is at its midpoint, and with Halves Presentations coming up on Monday, team seAker is beginning to generate levels centered around the core gameplay mechanic of “underwater billiards.” The core interaction consists of “slingshotting” between bubbles, which serve as nodes, using bank shots to make use …
Oct
16
Weekly Newsletter #7 – October 14, 2011
(VIEW AS PDF) UPDATES Physics, Scrolling, Whirlpools: Continuing in the direction established before quarters, seAker’s design has been iterated upon, and now features a scrolling game space in which the player flicks the shrimp character from one whirlpool to the next, with the goal of reaching the level’s end. Physics have been implemented to make …
Oct
10
Weekly Newsletter #6 – October 7, 2011
(VIEW AS PDF) UPDATES Quarter Semester Presentations, Moving Forward The team has been moving forward with the new direction determined last week, expanding on the prototype and adding new features. The player can move freely and move in small circles to drop bombs. The behavior of the predator has been tweaked and now feels more …