Newsletter 5: February 13th
Overview:
This week was quarters week, we had a successful quarters walkaround and got a lot of meaningful, interesting and positive feedback as to the direction we were going in. We have also began charting out the next steps for the team and also have taken up the tasks necessary to deliver the next milestone of our product. Also this newsletter will be longer than the previous one because we have a lot to get through.
Prototype:
The team successfully completed a playable prototype. It implemented one of the salient features of the end product the interactive map. This feature was something that both us and the client had liked and we successfully got it built and playable for quarters. We got a lot of positive feedback regarding this feature and how it is a different approach to immersion. rather than immersing the player in a 3D exploratory space we are trying to immerse them via the engagement they have with the game. Moving forward we will be constantly iterating on the map into a form that can be playtested by our target audience.
The team was also able to implement a simple photo taking mini-game which when added to the above interactive map gives us a wholesome experience. While it still needs finalized artwork and could do with some polish and a lot of playtesting, we the team have successfully created a playable prototype by quarters to show off the direction we want to go with this project.
Link to downloadable prototype build for tablet:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0gyQphBXokCUHBVRTd1WUlUQm8/view?usp=sharing
Quarters:
We presented the current state of our project at quarters via the following document:
Along with that we also had quite a few things up on our walls:
Paper-prototypes of ecosystem mini-games:
Our art direction:
The takeaways from the prototyping seminars:
An interaction flow chart of the interaction with the map:
Our ever progressing and never ending scrum board:
We were able to show not just the prototype but the various choices and examinations we were making to progress towards a good experience for the kids we were making the game for.
Design:
As mentioned the team and especially our designers, Brentt and Jake have been cranking away to make mini-games. We have stated in the above document that we would make 3 re-skinnable mini-games akin to the photo game in our prototype and 4 games that through gameplay taught kids about the various interdependencies between the wildlife (both plants and animals) in the rainforest. We currently have two prototypes:
Bromeliad – Frog:
The micro-chasmic ecosystem existing in the water collected in a bromeliad plant in the rainforest.
Mutualism:
The acacia tree allows acacia ants to live in it in exchange they provide protection
At the same time we are keeping in mind the necessary assets for both of these games as we build out and the designers have been working on asset lists to help smooth the pipeline in transitioning from design to art.
Apart from the map our game involves another salient feature: the Journal, for which we have started working out the details for, hopefully more to come soon on that.
Art:
As part of our exploration of the beauty of the rainforests we wanted to pull the lushness and vibrancy of the rainforest into our game. Today we went to the phipps conservatory and took some photos that we hope we can use to develop our art out further.
Bromeliad at Phipps:
Also now that the branding segment is for a while going to be on the back burners, our artists Bing and Tiffa have transitioned into making art for our prototypes and in communication with the designers will also be helping out with conceptualizing the UI and other features of design, as it is said a picture is worth a thousand words
Programming:
On the programming side, now with the interactive map and the initial photo mini-game complete, the programmers on the team have moved on to other parts of the project. Jerry has been working on creating an initial version of the bromeliad-frog system type game. In the meantime Melody has been iterating on the Journal. They have been working with the designers on finishing up these while polishing and cleaning up the work from the current prototype in order to move towards a playtest-able version of our game.
Production:
While usually this is not part of the newsletter, this week had a lot of compiling of feedback and considerations and choices that need to be planned for.
Also with the team hitting its first milestone and getting positive feedback regarding the direction we must start planning out the schedule to ensure that the work gets completed by the upcoming milestones so that we can successfully hand our game to the kids at Mountainview Elementary school.
Following this up, we had a lot of our faculty ask us if we were looking into a content advisor, someone who could preserve and validate the integrity of the content we were teaching the kids. And as such we are looking for a content validator, we are reaching out to both the zoo and to Phipps conservatory and will also be reaching out to wherever possible in order to find one.
Moving Forward:
We hope to have these mechanics solidly captured before moving on. Polish can be done as we test but in order to test we need a full playthrough of our game ready from beginning of our game and the world map to the act of publishing at least one journal entry. This entire cycle is for us the core of the learning through play and immersion through engagement that we are designing and working towards:
