Newsletter #12: April 11th
Overview:
This week we have built a fully complete prototype with all the mini-games completed. We have also started working on the various art assets that need to be added into the game. We have also set up a playtest on Friday, April 17th at Mountainview Elementary School that will be a demo run of the game in a teacher-led session as it is meant to be used.
Our current build can be found at:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0gyQphBXokCc2F0aGw4MmdCUVk/view?usp=sharing
which can be downloaded and installed onto the tablet device.
Tasks Completed:
- Updated mini-games with what we learned from the earlier playtests
- Bug fixes
- Setup playtest for April 17th
- Art Update
- Integrated all of the games onto the world map
- UI updates
- Animal Art updates
Design:
With most of the mini-games done, the design team has began to update and iterate the designs of the implemented games using what we have learned from the playtests at Mountainview and by having faculty and peers play our game. They are also focusing on the feedback provided, from sound to art. Lastly the design team is polishing up the publishing/quiz game which is the last of the re-skinnable game that binds together the experience.
Art:
The artists have been focused on getting all the assets that have been defined last week here are some of the new assets:
They have also been working on unifying the art styles in order to provided a singular experience:
Some more UI assets have also been created:
Programmers:
The programmers are now working closely with the designers to provide to them the necessary tools to balance and quickly iterate the implemented games. They are also working closely with the artists to start replacing the placeholder art with the newly created assets.
Along with this the programmers having been fixing bugs and figuring out any software architecture flaws that have been discovered during testing and integration. While this might not provide a lot of visible results in does make the game more playable and makes it faster to polish and update assets.
Moving forward:
While we have made progress in terms of implementation a lot more work needs to be done to make it playtest ready.
We are looking to complete by the Friday playtest:
- Tutorials and feedback
- Updated Art assets – implemented
- Updated UI – implemented
- Reformat Journal game
- Documentation for the teacher
- Fixing currently known bugs
- Designing/Balancing current games
A task list can be viewed here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15g-jiHs6Vtfxhi53xcqxIKte2Q9LHCMBNSNqyWv4swE/edit?usp=sharing
under the sheet named “TASKS FOR TEACHING DEMO”
Important Deadlines and Dates:
Teacher led Playtest session: Friday, April 17th