Did we skip a week? Sort of...the "Day Of Reckoning" post was technically Week 6 of pre-production, but no status reports took place that week since teams were still being restructured. For week 7 it was also an odd week with the restructure, teams doubled in size, seating arrangements were shuffled around, and chaos eventually became calm. Read on for more on the new teams!
Drifters
Drifters ended up as the larger of the two teams by a slight margin, and the newly added programmers, artists and producers decided a whole new team structure was due. Art, Design and Programming each have their own team with a lead, and then the leads from those three teams, along with leads of other categories such as Quality Assurance and Sound Engineering, all form a central team. With the increase in team size making it impossible to relocate to either side of the Cohort 5 space, the Drifters team fought for their freedom and won the battle to move operations over to the previously barren Cohort 4 space. The larger workspace pods allow for 4-6 team members to sit together and work, creating a programming, art, and design pod, as well as a central pod, with the liaison producers sitting near their respective teams.
With these newly formed teams, the SCRUM meetings have also changed slightly. Each team now meets for their normal 15-minute daily SCRUM in their own assigned war room. After these meetings, the leads all go to the central SCRUM meeting to make sure all parts of the development are on the same page. The increase in manpower and streamlining of communication allows for the scheduled tasks to be completed in advance of previously projected dates. With critical components expected to be completed earlier than scheduled, the team is now open to more polish time or the inclusion of optional features that were marked as "if we have time" additions. Additional worktime comes from stretching the pre-production schedule to March 24th, meaning the development plan can be solidified more soundly and allowing the production phase to be started in a more directed and concrete state.
More designers means more design ideas, and the team is looking to integrate these new ideas into more features for later consideration. They're also creating a class system for the NPCs to diversify movement and interaction, as well as create distinct advantages and disadvantages for drifting to certain bodies. The new artists are able to up the speed of production of more models, including starting the work on female models. The model format has been broken into a 3-part system with head, torso, and legs created in separate pieces that can be switched around to create more combinations without making whole new models. The expanded programming team is now working on researching the networking technology needed to get the full multiplayer experience done, but in the meantime they've gotten pickup interaction on the Drifters picking up artifacts, so they're still progressing quite well in the midst of research and testing.
Sultans of Scratch
Just like Drifters, Sultans also spent the week with growing pains of their own. Relocation for them involved taking over the entire left side of the Cohort 5 space where the original team was located among Delirium and Chain Game. They're continuing the spiral development cycle and cycle 1 is scheduled to end March 5th. Their main goal is the flash prototype to be finalized and nail down their mechanics in a visual and tangible format. The 2nd cycle is over on March 26th where they hops to have complete mechanics solidified and the custom shader working in-engine.
One of the major ideas proposed was the idea of freestyle dancing, rather than scripted moves with arrow triggers as was previously shown. The new design team is working with this idea in terms of gameplay, while the art team is now working on environment designs that forgo the arrow fields for a different venue look. With all these new ideas coming in, a designated whiteboard in their cohort space has been put up for all outside suggestions for dancer styles, looks, and music ideas.
New assets have still been coming in this week in the midst of the restructure chaos. The latest mocap shoot gave rise to 81 new animations of dance moves and idle states from their breakdancer, Nelson. An animation model is being attached to the rig data to allow for better cleanup of the animations, which need to transition smoothly from one move to another to allow for a true freestyle dance experience. The original music tracks from the DJ have also come in with 3 of the 5 being the favorites of the team and making the cut as the definite tracks to be included.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Birthdays!
Back when Cohort 5 was formed, our admissions advisor, Shawnna, asked for everyone's birthdays. Periodically we'd get an e-mail from her reminding everyone of a FIEAn's special day. Sometimes there'd be after-class parties, signs on desks, and other birthday shenanigans.
Today was our birthday herold's special day and Cohort 5 took her place as the bringer of birthday wishes with not one, but two cakes and a plate of cupcakes!
Today was our birthday herold's special day and Cohort 5 took her place as the bringer of birthday wishes with not one, but two cakes and a plate of cupcakes!
The birthday brigade assembles
Hugs all around!
The cakes were moved to the break room for all to share.
The birthday girl and her loot
Portal cake! The suggestion was made to sing "Still Alive" rather than the traditional "Happy Birthday" but vetoed.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Moving Day!
A state of equilibrium has been reached within the halls of the FIEA cohort area. The teams have been finalized and everyone has found their home for the remainder of the Cohort 5 era. With team restructuring also comes seating rearrangement and that has been the focus of the team leads for the past few days. With 49 FIEAns working in the front space, we were already nearly at full desk capacity. Unequal team size, coupled with the walkway separating the two desk areas, created the need for Cohort 5 to spill over in to the space formerly used by Cohort 4. After many days of seating charts and discussions with the FIEA faculty, the slightly larger Drifters team has gotten the green light to move their entire operation into the next room and set up shop.
This week started with a flurry of boxes, chairs, action figures, cardboard cutouts, Nerf weapons, mini-fridges, and equipment being shuffled from desk to desk. Chaos was organized, both with desk toys and team member "cells" created. Meanwhile, Sultans of Scratch also got to regroup and organize their newly expanded team into their respective "cells" as well.
At the start of Cohort 5's first semester, students were seated according to track - art, programming, production - so they could assist each other and get to know their fellow track mates better. When the teams were formed for pre-production, everyone moved to sit with their teams, but the track groups seemed to stick together still, although in smaller concentrations. Now, the number of teams has decreased but the partial separation of tracks is still in place. While this may seem counter-productive to isolate the tracks, each team has taken steps to designate a producer to act as a liaison between the art team and programming team and the production team, to keep everyone on the same page.
This week started with a flurry of boxes, chairs, action figures, cardboard cutouts, Nerf weapons, mini-fridges, and equipment being shuffled from desk to desk. Chaos was organized, both with desk toys and team member "cells" created. Meanwhile, Sultans of Scratch also got to regroup and organize their newly expanded team into their respective "cells" as well.
At the start of Cohort 5's first semester, students were seated according to track - art, programming, production - so they could assist each other and get to know their fellow track mates better. When the teams were formed for pre-production, everyone moved to sit with their teams, but the track groups seemed to stick together still, although in smaller concentrations. Now, the number of teams has decreased but the partial separation of tracks is still in place. While this may seem counter-productive to isolate the tracks, each team has taken steps to designate a producer to act as a liaison between the art team and programming team and the production team, to keep everyone on the same page.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The Day of Reckoning
February 16th was a landmark date in Cohort 5’s history, full of surprise, triumph, and a bit of disappointment. Dan O’Leary of N-space was on deck to act as Executive Producer as our four game teams put forth their best effort to pitch the games they had been working on for the past 6 weeks. The FIEA Bridge was nearly at full capacity as the cohort, faculty, previous FIEAns and other special guests got to experience nearly 2 months’ worth of development on 4 unique projects.
Each team was allowed 25 minutes of presentation and question/answer time, during which they would have to convince Dan that their game was not only viable to create within the next 6 months, but that it was also worth the effort to keep it as a finished portfolio piece for FIEA and the cohort students as well. The teams showed amazing progress for the short amount of time they had been in pre-production, each one being able to show an in-game technical demo. Many unique prototyping styles were showcased, as well as different development and organizational methodologies. With no two games alike, Dan was faced with a difficult set of pros and cons to each one and had many options to weigh when considering his final decisions.
The presentations began at 1PM and concluded around 2:40, with most of the teams going out to unwind after a long weekend of preparation for this event. By 3:40, the call went out to all teams to return to The Bridge by 4:30 for the announcement. In that hour-long period, Dan met with the FIEA faculty and discussed each game individually, consulting the professors as to their knowledge of the teams’ capabilities and resources. Based upon what he saw in the presentations, as well as the input on the viability of each project as it related to the teams’ talents, the decisions were made.
One of the major surprises made at the announcement was the decision to cut two games, rather than the predicted single cut. The faculty decided that rather than allow one game to survive 3 more weeks and then get cut at Spring Break, they would rather see the energy spent on 2 games that would be seen through to the end of production. The next announcement was the official word as to which two games would see life through the end of the Summer 2009 semester…
It is with a heavy heart that we bid farewell to the recently titled “Hell Bound” (formerly “The Chain Game Project”) and Delirium. But as they say, when one door shuts, another opens, and the teams of Drifters and SoS are now doubled in size with fresh talent, more resources, and the comfort of knowing they no longer have to fear being cut. The producers and programmers from Hell Bound and Delirium have been reorganized into Drifters and SoS, with the artists to be assigned soon. Teams were encouraged to take the rest of the day off and take advantage of a little team socialization time before starting a new chapter in their game development with a bigger team.
There are no status reports this week, as Monday’s presentations were sort of an early progress report, and the teams are encouraged to take this week to analyze their new structure and put their newly acquired talent to good use. Tuesday will now be Drifter’s status report, while Sultans of Scratch will be reporting on Thursday, each team getting more time to present if need be. Look forward to more exciting, in-depth news about these two games as the weeks go by. Don’t be surprised if next week the teams announce some major changes and additions to their original plans!
Each team was allowed 25 minutes of presentation and question/answer time, during which they would have to convince Dan that their game was not only viable to create within the next 6 months, but that it was also worth the effort to keep it as a finished portfolio piece for FIEA and the cohort students as well. The teams showed amazing progress for the short amount of time they had been in pre-production, each one being able to show an in-game technical demo. Many unique prototyping styles were showcased, as well as different development and organizational methodologies. With no two games alike, Dan was faced with a difficult set of pros and cons to each one and had many options to weigh when considering his final decisions.
The presentations began at 1PM and concluded around 2:40, with most of the teams going out to unwind after a long weekend of preparation for this event. By 3:40, the call went out to all teams to return to The Bridge by 4:30 for the announcement. In that hour-long period, Dan met with the FIEA faculty and discussed each game individually, consulting the professors as to their knowledge of the teams’ capabilities and resources. Based upon what he saw in the presentations, as well as the input on the viability of each project as it related to the teams’ talents, the decisions were made.
One of the major surprises made at the announcement was the decision to cut two games, rather than the predicted single cut. The faculty decided that rather than allow one game to survive 3 more weeks and then get cut at Spring Break, they would rather see the energy spent on 2 games that would be seen through to the end of production. The next announcement was the official word as to which two games would see life through the end of the Summer 2009 semester…
Drifters & Sultans of Scratch
It is with a heavy heart that we bid farewell to the recently titled “Hell Bound” (formerly “The Chain Game Project”) and Delirium. But as they say, when one door shuts, another opens, and the teams of Drifters and SoS are now doubled in size with fresh talent, more resources, and the comfort of knowing they no longer have to fear being cut. The producers and programmers from Hell Bound and Delirium have been reorganized into Drifters and SoS, with the artists to be assigned soon. Teams were encouraged to take the rest of the day off and take advantage of a little team socialization time before starting a new chapter in their game development with a bigger team.
There are no status reports this week, as Monday’s presentations were sort of an early progress report, and the teams are encouraged to take this week to analyze their new structure and put their newly acquired talent to good use. Tuesday will now be Drifter’s status report, while Sultans of Scratch will be reporting on Thursday, each team getting more time to present if need be. Look forward to more exciting, in-depth news about these two games as the weeks go by. Don’t be surprised if next week the teams announce some major changes and additions to their original plans!
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