Design & Development
Easter:
Game Version 4
Friday 15th April 2022
EASTER HOLIDAYS - WEEK 3
TO DO: ASSESS GAME VERSION 4​
PURPOSE FOR TODAY
This afternoon we had our catch-up session with James to discuss changes with our game and next steps we plan to take. This is to keep track of our progress and evaluate what needs to be done to get everything in time for hand-in, and our Arcade Events in both June and July.
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WHAT WILL WE BE DOING?
Today, Kiera and I will be assessing our fourth Game Version and discussing our next steps. We will talk about how we will further develop the game and the steps we have to take to do this.
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GOALS FOR THE DAY​
By the end of the day we should have a suitable plan for game development, to make final flourishes and refinements in the upcoming weeks.
GAME VERSION 4​
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During our discussion with James this afternoon, he talked us through the changes made to the program and the things we now have to consider. One of which was the need for User Interface due to a change to the program setup. Below, I have attached a screen recording of gameplay, consisting of new features.
CHANGES MADE​
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The game now consists of the need for a 'Begin' button, to get players started. This means a Begin button is necessary to design and create, which gives us an additional task for asset creation. Other than this, the game is working as expected. It now has snow fall and falling snowflakes, which we can overwrite with our own designs, similar to how we did with version 3. We now have everything setup to be able to implement our own assets into, as well as the individual soundtracks.
WHAT WENT WELL?​
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We have the basis of every element and feature set in stone, all that is left to do is integrate our assets into the environment and setup the physical space. The scripts have been finalised and everything functions as expected so we are on track to complete the final deliverable before our deadline. This demonstrates one complete screen, consisting of all the elements we had in mind!
GAMEPLAY​
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The gameplay itself is successfully underway, as players can now use their 'left wrist' to guide the bird across the screen and interact with the snowflakes to trigger music. The only thing left to fulfil our idea is the music integration but other than this, we have successfully achieved our intended player experience, focusing on the gameplay primarily.
VISUAL DESIGN​
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As for the visual design, each of our assets has its own folder, ready for us to import our newly drawn assets into. We now have snowfall as well as interactive snowflakes, space for User Interface and the snow bunting bird. The final stage for visuals will be to setup the necessary programs to allow us to import the bird animation into the scene, but other than this, everything is ready for implementation.
FURTHER DEVELOPMENT​
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The next steps for us now will involve taking our complete assets and inputting them into the program. This final version should include all of our hand-drawn assets and animations, as well as the individual soundtracks to layer overtime. When we have established a suitable setup and sourced all the equipment for this, we should test the projection of each version and ensure the music aligns correctly etc. This is something we will consider once we have integrated all assets into the server.
PLAN FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT​
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Setup script for animations
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Import all hand-drawn assets and animations into the scene
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Integrate soundtracks/layers into script
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Create 2 other game variations - different music layers and visual scene to be projected onto the other walls.
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Setup physical space with necessary equipment.
NEXT STEPS​
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Our next steps for development will include an update on sound and finally importing all assets into the scene. We should be on track to create a final scene/version of the game during Week 9, our first week back after Easter.
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Documentation from the rest of the Easter Holidays can be found here:
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