CAGD 377 - Sprint 3

                                                                    CAGD 377 - Sprint 3

Development Process

The development process during this sprint was a bit different due to the delayed sprint kickoff. We did not kickoff until later that day in order to add more cards to the Trello. We did not have a clear idea of what a fully finished final product of the game would look like, only the basics. This is why the burndown chart looked as though we were ahead of schedule when, in reality, we did not have more than basic functionality mapped out. That's why I spent the majority of this sprint working with the designer to reformat the game.

Problems/Solutions

One of the problems we ran into had to do with publishing and having screenshots for tablets. The screenshots we gathered did not work, so we spent a lot of time reformatting them to work. Eventually, we did reconfigure it to fit the specifications, but this took more time than it should've and delayed how fast we got our build out by half an hour.

Another problem we ran into was not having the questionnaire sent out along with the game. This made playtesters confused on where to submit feedback. To fix this, I spent part of the playtest going back through and emailing the questionnaire and game link to each individual playtester's email.

Sprint Kickoff

This sprint kickoff emphasized getting currency and the store working for the playtest. This is so we could see how rogue-lite elements impacted gameplay. The first half of the sprint was focused on getting everything ready for the playtest while the second half was focused on refining our design.

Work Completed

For this sprint, I did the visuals for our, at the time, only two permanent stat upgrades that can be found in the shop. These include a drill upgrade which increases damage done to blocks by one as well as a fuel tank upgrade which increases the max and starting turn limit by 1.

Upgrade Icons

Another few things I worked on was the placeholder marketing assets we needed in order to publish our first build. This includes an app icon, marketplace image, and poster. I did end up reusing some of the assets between art due to the changing nature of our project. Before changes to our design doc, the game was set on Earth and tools used were not established. These are nowhere near the final assets, so they will be iterated on.

App Icon

Marketplace Image

Poster

The majority of the second half of the sprint was focused on giving our game an identity. I worked with our designer to give a theme to our game. We decided on having the player character be employed by an intergalactic mining corporation. He is tasked with digging to the center of planets and extracting their cores. 

Narrative Elements

This narrative also let us split up levels/biomes differently. The player is now given an objective instead of mining infinitely. The way biomes are set up also allows us to reward the player with currency/materials for their short amount of progress. This gives them a sense of satisfaction without having to mine through the whole planet. Speaking of which, blocks and biomes for planets have been detailed in great length.

Block Descriptions

Another thing added to the GDD was art specifications to keep things uniform and working.

Art Specifications

Work Completed by Others

Some of the work completed by our programmer includes adding gravity, the ability to collect and store coins, making shop UI functional, random coin spawning, and help publishing the build.

Some of the work completed by our designer includes UI for the shop, having a respawn system, and a screen that appears when you get a game over.

Some of the work completed by our newly added modeler includes modeling work from their previous project as well as a newly modeled helmet for the player character.

Current Work

What I'm currently working on is the icon for credits that are used to purchase upgrades in the shop and refined visuals for upgrades since we have a new theme.