Week 14 (April 20th – April 24th)

On Monday

The team got together and gave final touches to make sure our travels were set. Checked out equipment for recording.

On Tuesday

We were originally planned to head out with 2 cars, but with unfortunate turn of events, we needed to have some of our team members take the mega bus. In the end we were all able to arrive into NYC safe.

At NYC, after checking into our AirBnB apartment, we head down to Washington Square Park to start calibrating the map to our game. We also borrowed the NYU Library to use their wifi.

On Wednesday 

Our team first started in Washington Square Park to test the actual game play and make sure we were able to play it. We were able to find some bugs that we wrote down to fix. Sharing the table with ETC was great. Taking turns, meeting conference attendees and promoting our game definitely had a large part in getting people outside of the building.

On Thursday – GAMES FOR CHANGE DELIVERY

Our team got together early in the morning and traveled to the Park. We were fortunate to have some attendees come early and we were able to kick the game off to a great start. We received people in waves and we decided to let people play as they came to the area.

As the 3 hours blew by, we were able to have many people play our game.

At the end of the day, we all went to a restaurant called KOA in NYC and held our team dinner! thanks team!

On Friday

Although a short trip, we were able to deliver our game. We packed everything back and head back to Pittsburgh.

NEXT WEEK(s):

There will be an ETC Summit on Thursday and the following week will be our Final Presentation!

Week 13 (April 13th – April 17th)

On Monday – SOFTS

Starting in the morning, we had a total of 16 faculty come play our game. Because it rained a bit before, the grass was a bit muddy. In order to protect everyone’s shoes we brought small garbage bags and rubber bands to cover everyone’s shoes/legs as they walked around the yard.

We received alot of feedback, some that we expected and some that was new.

On Tuesday

We heard from the faculty that they wanted us to hold another Playtest this coming Thursday with the expected bug fixes. Although we were disappointed shortly, we got together and started working towards the new build.

On Wednesday

Our team decided to visit Jesse Schell and hear his thoughts in our games and if there is anything we could change to make it better. His feedback was very helpful where we were able to really simplify our game tremendously.

Our shirts arrived!! We designed shirts for our team as promotional equipment and they came just in time!

On Thursday

We held our second softs/faculty playtest. Although it was raining a little some faculty showed up and played our game. They definitely liked how simplified it has become and gave us the thumbs up to go ahead to Games for Change.

On Friday

We began creating lists of what we need to bring, and solidified our travel plans.

Next Week:

We will be heading out to NYC for Games for Change!

 

Week 12 (April 6th – April 10th)

This week, was crunch week where we dedicated all of our time in the development heading straight towards Softs.

On Wednesday, our promo cards arrived! We ordered 1,200 cards in total where 900 was sent to G4C to be included in goody bags for attendees and 300 were for us to use as promotional material.

Next Week:

Softs!

 

Week 10 (Mar. 23rd – Mar. 27th)
This week:

We were all aiming towards the ETC Playtest which was going to happen on Saturday, March 28th. On Thursday after figuring out that we would not be able to make it on time, decided to pull back from the playtest.

Afterwards, we made stronger decisions on our game and experience.

NEXT WEEK(s):

We are aiming towards the following next week.

Monday – Clear design / experience goals

Tuesday – Tech Prototype

Thursday – Internal Playtest (with the team)

Friday / Saturday – Playtest at ETC

Week 9 (Mar. 16th – Mar. 20th)
This week:

On Weekend Before:

Before returning back to Pittsburgh from GDC, our team traveled to New York City to meet with our client and visit Washington Square Park. By visiting the park we will able to gain a better understanding of the park and its atmosphere. We also collected the following data…

Pictures at every location (intersections, statues, playgrounds, etc)

Signal Strength throughout the park

How long it takes to walk/jog from one location to another

Finding an idea location (around the Garibaldi statue)

On Monday + Tuesday

Although wanting to jump into creating a digital prototype, after returning to Pittsburgh we had to concentrate towards our Halves Presentation on Wednesday.

For this presentation, we decided to tackle using a new method where we had 1 person dedicated to become the director and overlook the entire presentation, and another person dedicated to making the presentation slides visually pleasing. By taking off the burden of presenting, the 2 were able to focus on their tasks while the rest focused on delivering our presentation. This method was quite effective in the limited time we had. By not having everyone have to use up their time solidifying the flow of the presentation, we were able to look at a key person for direction when needed.

On Wednesday 

Our team delivered our Halves presentation. We were able to translate our struggles and our goals that is ahead of us.

Because of the Halves, and meeting our client only a few days earlier, we have decided to cancel this weeks client meeting.

On Friday

At our Advisor Meeting we shared our progress and updates, and received some of the feedback from the faculty. After discussing our current progress, we were recommended to think about the game and possibly add an extra layer to our experience.

Towards the end of the day, we were able to design an extra layer that we are considering of further exploring and seeing its potential.

NEXT WEEK(s):

We are fired up and running head straight towards with creating a digital prototype for the ETC play test happening on March 28th.

Week 7 (Feb. 23rd – Feb. 27th)
This week:

On Monday

Our Team conducted a paper playtest to have a first look into our game mechanic. Using clipboards (representing Player Inventory) , and post its (representing resources) and the big screen (representing City Demands). We quickly found out that there were minor balancing issues that needed to be addressed. Although we were able to get the players moving, it is still a challenge to get our message and the experience we are aiming for across. Small step but we hope to iterate and polish the experience.

On Tuesday

We had a small meeting with a Designer from Schell Games, Sabrina Culyba who gave us many feedback, and suggestions. One that we thought that was interesting was something called “Meat Demands” (pun intended). When a group a players going around to answer the demands of their city, another group is walking around NYC Washington Square Park and asking the public if they would like a meat or a vegetable dish which is connected to the city demands the other teams are attempting to fulfill. The live aspect of feeding the people who are walking around the Park attracted the team.

On Wednesday 

At our Client Meeting we shared our progress and updates with Emily (client) and our coming plans for the following weeks.

On Friday

At our Advisor Meeting we shared our progress and updates and our coming plans for the following weeks.

We have also came together to plan for the Halves Presentation, we have created the rough slides and hope to have a great presentation at our Halves.

NEXT WEEK(s):

Next week is GDC week which majority of the team will be attending, we also hope to meet our client. The week after that will be Spring Break week and we are planning on travelling to NYC and checking out the park. See you in 2 weeks!

Week 6 (Feb. 16th – Feb. 20th)
This week:

On Monday our team got together to solidify on our Message

“Overpopulation is an exponential problem that demands attention for the human race to survive”

Our Morale

When overpopulation solves itself we won’t be happy with the solution

On Wednesday 

Client Meeting we shared our foundation including

1. Comedy/Satire – Drivers – Shock and Outrage : Bringing interest to our experience by showing ridiculous solutions and peaking curiosity in the conference attendees.
2. Tragedy – Game – Realization and Shift : At this stage through our game we want the players to go through a shift and a realization of the reality of over population and its effects. We hope to make the players say…”This is REAL, what can I do?”
3. Hope – Call to Action – Think and Choose : In order to answer to the “what can I do to help?” we plan to provide sources and links to organizations and articles, or start discussions hoping to bring a social change to their life.

For Drivers wanted to hold up propaganda style with catchy phrases for example: BRING BACK THE PLAGUE, STERILIZE YOUR CHILDREN, etc

Rough Posters:

Unfortunately, we found out that most of the drivers (posters, short talks) were not logistically possible so we have decided to go back to the drawing board and refocus on the game structure.

On Thursday

Through the course of the week, our game designer Julian conducted a design sketch each day and came up with games to share with the team. Each game focused on Overpopulation and 1 cause. For example, Monday focused on Overpopulation with Resource management, etc

On Thursday Julian shared us an idea of a game using a mobile web that focused on Overpopulation and dietary needs. A simple information of “For 1kg of meat, it takes 3kg of wheat” a message that focused that Meat was a Luxury and not a Necessity.

The team liked the idea and have decided to refocus and see what other possibilities we have with the core game play.

On Friday

Advisor Meeting: We shared our new direction and received many suggestions and pointers and we hope to be able to strengthen the core mechanic a bit more and to have a strong connection to the message.

Some questions we would like to focus are:

Who are the players? and What’s their significance? What is MY relationship with the city?

ART:

Chuan has delivered the remaining characters!

*Left to Right: Media Reporters, Social Scientists

After the Design was solidified a bit more our Art team got together and split up the tasks a bit more to make the pipeline more smooth.

Yeqing: UX Designer – she will work close with Julian to figure out the flow of the User Experience and the Wireframe

Rachina: UI Designer – she will be creating the assets that will fill up the mobile space, she is also helping the team with the physical space as well.

Chuan: Tech Art – after finishing the characters, we have decided to have her join forces with the programming team in order to create the map for the game. She will be working closely with Yeqing (art) and Anthony (programming) to get the map represented.

TECH:

Now that the design’s core has been selected with the platform, our programmers have a new and more clear direction. We are excited to see an early prototype on the mobile space that could be shared for Halves.

NEXT WEEK:

Next week is the last week before GDC and then Spring Break. For those who are attending GDC in SF, we are planning on having a small get together with our client, Heather Kelley. During Spring Break, we are planning on travelling to NYC to get a better understanding of the area. Although there were many ups and downs until now we are excited (as a team) to get the mobile web rolling!

Week 5 (Feb. 9th – Feb. 13th)
This week:

QUARTERS WEEK

On Monday we conducted 2 paper playtest with the team and our friends. This definitely gave our team a better understanding of how the game ran and what parts we were still missing. Our designer, Julian took the lead and facilitated the game.

We made some iteration between playtests to better balance the game

On Wednesday we had our Quarters Walkaround where the faculty visited our project room and we shared our goals, updates, and current progress. We received many helpful feedback that pushed us to rethink our message and the game and to come down with an experience that is more simple and delivers the message clearly.

Following Quarters, we had our Client Meeting. At our client meeting, after updating our progress and the general feedback we received, we received some suggestions and a reminder to remember the importance of FTUE (First Time User Experience)

On Thursday, we decided to unfold “Overpopulation” and see what we were trying to cover/convey through our experience. We realized that Overpopulation was an overarching issue that had a direct connection to many other issues.

On Friday, in order to understand our target audience more, we created a GUEST PROFILE which allows us to consider the possibly candidates of our experience.

Followed with a Decision Map which is a list of questions the team member has, and then it is ordered with its importance; questions range from things as; What is our message? What is our tech pipeline? What if it rains? What is the lifespan of this project? etc

ART

Our artist Chuan has began creating the characters using a flat style:

 
*From Left: Industrialist (Female), Industrialist (Male), Citizen (Female), Citizen (Male)

TECH:

We are currently in the process of setting up our server, but depending on the direction of the revamp of our game, our tech team is prepared to be flexible.

NEXT WEEK:

On Monday, we will revisit our “Message” and come down with something that we all can agree on. As we only have 6 weeks of development, we hope to be able to have a stronger entry into the production phase.

Week 4 (Feb. 2nd – Feb. 6th)
This week:
After deciding on our concept, we completed our branding material.

Client Meeting

At our client meeting on Wednesday, we shared our decision and updates on our next plans. Although there are still some questions regards to a bit more of our access at the conference, we are slowly gaining a better understanding of our placement and what we can do.

ART

Our artist Chuan also began with character concepts. In order to transfer needed information smoothly we have decided to go with a flat visual style. Here are some of her concept sketches of the 5 roles:

TECH:

Although we were missing one of our programmers, Gabe was able to create an early prototype up and running which we are excited to hear. As soon as Anthony gets back from his trip from DICE, the team is eager to see stuff appear on the actual mobile space.

DESIGN:

As we decided on the topic, Julian has began fleshing out the details of the core mechanics, we have also decided to conduct an early paper(physical) play test with the team so we can get a better understanding of what we are trying to build.

NEXT WEEK:

On Monday, we will be conducting our first playtest within the team, hopefully this will make it more clear on what we are trying to develop.

On Wednesday we will have our Quarters Walkaround. We will be sharing our goals, process, schedules, etc to the faculties and gather feedback and suggestions before the development phase kicks in.

Week 3 (Jan. 26th – Jan.30th )
This week:
Continuing from last, our team discussed the concepts and narrowed our list of concepts in preparation to pitch to our client.
After discussing our thoughts, the pros and cons of concepts, and ideas, we were able to narrow from around 15 ideas, down to 3 topics.

1. Overpopulation and Sustainability
2. Gun Control
3. Role Models

Client Meeting
This week, we had a client meeting on Wednesday. We shared our 3 concepts followed with designs for each topic. We were happy to see that she was approving of all 3 ideas, and allowed us to make the final call on which 1 we would like to do.

Decisions:
Following the Client Meeting, we as a team sat together and started discussing again on the 3 concepts. What do people like about a specific concept, how can we make it better, is there anything that maybe risky about this, etc.
Afterwards, we voted and decided to work with:

Over Population

PreProduction:
Now that we have left the concept phase, we are really excited to jump into development. We decided on roles that each member will be responsible for. Our next target will be to flesh out the design of the game, and hopefully squeeze in a playtest before the quarters walk around.

Next week:
We will be working to finishing the branding, also fleshing out the core game play. We are still working on figuring out how we can bring in a bit of technology/mobile into the gameplay as well.