This is the first post for our team weekly log. Will be posting to this and the dev-log.

We got together as a group three times this week to discuss the game we are going to develop for the rest of the semester. At the beginning, we used FigJam to note our online brainstorming. We introduced each of ourselves and exchanged our favourite game titles and game times. Based on our specialty, we had a rough target where we are going to make a 3D first-person game, because JP had some experiences on creating a realistic scene. One idea that pops up is doing a fishing related game, but we shifted to ideas that has more puzzles.

After a couple of discussions over Discord chat and voice calls, we decided to create a roguelike adventure game with a concept of having 10 seconds time limit for every run. We worked on the Game Proposal document as a group, writing down important information about the game we wish to create, such as its concept, pitch, audience, and character mechanics. Some details were brought to attention to be discussed as a group. One example of the discussion we had was level design and the complexity of puzzles in the game. We plan to bring further details to our development plan in the upcoming week. Specific artifacts and levels will be designed and character modeling will be worked on as well.

Week 2

This week, we talked about the game settings and enriches them with a more self-consistent story. 

The main focus our team worked around for this week was to create the Game Design Document. The document made us consider many different aspects of the game, such as the Functional Flowboard of the game, primary gameplay mode, characters, the game world, and the narrative flowboard. The game UI and interaction factors were considered as the team got together on Figma to draw out the general grey box wireframe of the game’s user interface. We decided on the contents of the main menu and features that will go on the settings. The story of the game which was the least developed part from last week was also discussed as a group. We brought details to the plot, adding more non-playable characters and bringing ideas of the cutscene that will play before and after the gameplay starts. The objective of the game was clarified as well, as the Ikura, our main character, now has to find their siblings to escape the maze of puzzles. We changed the increasing fidelity portion of the game to be more about the colour details. A page for achievements was also newly incorporated. These achievements will also work as Upgrades such that it can increase time limit and speed of Ikura. The first level of the game was built on Unity as well. 

For this week, while we were in the middle of two deliverables we spent time on refining our Game design document as well as our First playable. For our Game design document we worked on learning from our mistakes and figuring out how we could improve them. We talked to Ayas in the lab and learned more about Winning Plays and Smart Depth and how we can implement them into our game design document and we also learned more about what he wanted from us. For our first playable we worked on implementing collectibles into the game so that there was a sense of progression as well a trigger to proceed onto the next level. We also worked on the timer such that we now have one set up and we are looking at how we can implement it diagetically for the player to see as well. We have also implemented a very rough stage Fog of War mechanic such that lights turn on whenever Ikura collects a collectible. We have begun work on our second level as well as the Base Level so that we have somewhere the player can go to.

Forgot to post week 5 since everything we did were written in playtesting docs

Week 6

For this week, the team focused on consolidating ideas for the different mechanics that we want to add to our game's future levels. 

We focused mainly on the different hats we wanted to add, which ones were doable and which would not. On this same topic, we discussed how to add the puzzles that will need the mechanics and how they would be presented to the player. We also discussed how to present the new mechanics with small diagnostic tutorials that would allow the players to know what is going on quickly. From that, we started to create the next level for our game. We wanted it to have more depth and challenge than the previous levels. Therefore, we made it in a way where several paths have a puzzle that scales in difficulty. The first two puzzles are pretty similar to the ones in previous levels; they are just made a bit tougher. One of them is the previously mentioned one that requires the new mechanics. The last puzzle is something more complex that will require several attempts in order for the player to solve it. This level was created on the game engine for the most part. However, some of the puzzles still need to be finished.

In addition, we tried to explore new mechanisms that are tight to our core game loop, the timer, as the current version does not involve enough with our time limitation. However, adding new mechanisms require renovated new designs of levels and increases complexity, so we still need to figure out how to balance our gameplay development with our worktime.

Week 7

New level

Week 9

Based on the feedback we got from playtesters and former submissions, our team went through major discussions regarding changing the core mechanics of the game this week. The group met up several times throughout the week in order to discuss what could be done regarding some faults of the core mechanics of the game as mentioned below.

First, the time loop system was not working as effectively as imagined. The core mechanic of the game involved that the time 'resets' for the player after a certain amount of time passes. However, the progress of the game would stay the same and the player is just spawned to the beginning of the level, required to pick up where they left off. This process came across as unnecessary and even annoying to some playtesters. It has been agreed that the time reset does not serve a real purpose in creating a fun experience for the players or adding any new challenges. This issue was solved by increasing the time limit so the level is beatable under that time. When the time runs out, it would classify as a failure and the player would have to restart the level. Along with this implementation, we also address another problem that the player was not led by anything while navigating the level. Some time droplets that add time were added to guide the player in finding the collectibles. The last problem we addressed was that the mechanics of the collectibles and lighting up the lights were not serving any purpose to the main goal of the level. Collectibles and lighting up lights were part of the level but it didn't really do anything. We solved this issue by changing the main goal of every level to saving a sibling and to reach the sibling, all the collectibles need to be collected. The lighting up task was given to a separate level and made so that it would serve the same purpose as the collectibles.

More playtesting was done using the updated version of the game and Alpha Code requirements were filled in by the copywriters, including graphs and diagrams (Bubble Diagram, Overview Map, etc) Minor bugs in the code was fixed and parts of the narrative was implemented as well. UI integration was also discussed.

Week 11

This week, our team focused on figuring out the leading player mechanism and choosing the items and achievements that we want. Our UI was finalized for the HUD of the game excluding the dialogue box that is still being worked on. 

We met up in person to discuss the changes and updates and started working on the Beta Code document for submission.

Some problems we fixed were lighting collisions with walls and invisible walls and item/texture glitches. The tutorial level was modified by adding boundaries and changing time constraints. 

Some 3D objects like arrows and time droplets were created and modified to be added to the levels.

Our team members also playtested other groups' games in order to prepare for the upcoming assignment, Critique 5, and in doing so, learned to compare and distinguish our game's strengths and weaknesses, what we lack in and what we need to develop. 

We also got other team members to playtest and give feedback.

Our plan is to finish the game mechanics of the three levels by Sunday based on the feedback we got, implement the completed UI by Monday, and finish writing the Beta Code document on Tuesday.

Week 12

This week, the User Interface of the game was refined. The dialogue box was designed and implemented with the narrative of the game. As part of the narrative implementation, the opening cutscene was also added.  

Level 0 was retextured to match the look and feel of rest of the game. Invisible walls were implemented as well so the players will not be able to go through parts of the level that is not part of the game.

Cages to block the players from reaching the final goals of the levels, the siblings, were added in, and it was coded so when the player fulfills all the necessary requirements to clear the level, the cage opens up so they can reach the siblings, which clears the level and sends the player back to the safe room in preparation for the next level.

The time capsules that gives players more time to clear the level was modified in both quantity and position, and some light sources were modified as well.

Week 13

More UI implementations and bug fixing

Week 14

We finished the development of the game.

The rest of the narrative was implemented with the ending cutscene. The NPC dialogues and narratives were adjusted. The user interface of the health bar and the animation of it was implemented. The diegetic user interface, the CatComm on the wall of the safe room, has been added. The view of the Level 3 was rotated to give the players a similar experience with the other levels. The view of Level 2 was zoomed out to give more view of the area. Gold Code document was worked on once the game was developed and finalized.