Status-Update 1, Nov 23rd, week 4

During the presentation we got mostly feedback about level editor that we want to incorporate in our game concept.

After presentation, decided next meeting would have to be next lecture, the next week.

Until then, we had the following things to do that we had said to wait with till after the status update presentation:

• Benjamin: two more levels
• Someone explosive clone? (no-one right now)
• Antonio: menus (Benjamin said you wanted to look into that)
• Daniel: implementing graphics, look into businessplan
• Conrad: website (you said you could start looking at that?)
• Alex: synthesizing the story
• Make latex GDD - Emmeli

I made the GDD latex, which took so much time, because just copying and pasting is really time consuming.

I also needed to figure out how to get all the subsections I wanted, because latex only allows a certain number at first.

One team mate wanted to learn latex, so I might need to do a small how-to, if I have time. Otherwise I will make sure all the parts in the GDD latex code are well documented and structured, so that someone could look at the code and understand what does what.

I then shared it with the group on slack, since I we had decided to use an online editor that enabled sharing (Overleaf.com).

Planning the work thats left!

A part from fixing the GDD I wanted to plan the work that was left, that we would need to do the last two weeks. 

I wrote to the rest of the group, proposing that we put ourselves our own deadline at the end of week 5 to be completely done with the demo in good time

To do that we needed to first determine what features to include in the game for the demo, meaning what we think we will have the time to finish.

Second we needed to get the 3D graphics working so that it looks good ( which Daniel wanted to do) 

So, what things to implement for the demo, and then who does what, was what we needed to start the next week with deciding.

Other things to do were:

- Setting up the website (@Conrad wanted to do this)

- Keep filling in the GDD and fleshing it out

My reasoning behind setting ourselves an early deadline was:

• That way we can really focus on just testing and bugs the last week, which is also the presentation week. And since its still a Demo, so some bugs are probably okay.

• Also this leaves space for everyone to pitch in with writing the GDD, and reserving a good chunk of time for that is probably a good idea.

Eighth Meeting, Nov 22nd, week 4

We talked about what we needed and wanted to have on website, because Conrad had asked me to ask about it, and he had already said before when I asked that he could do the website.

We also prepared the, based on what we had written in the GDD.

Some parts were still missing, but it was enough for to make a presentation out of.

I made it during this meeting and discussed with the others what to have in it.

The things we discussed were:

--> The tech, because hadn't written anything there, so couldn't do too much  (before we had only decided we should have a extra part for physics engine)

--> Talked about state of the art /competitor games, and how much of it to have in the presentation

--> Marketing Plan, that I had written about, but needed to clarify parts of and wanted input from the others.

--> We also talked about pricing, level editor etc. Fleshed this part out a bit

--> Target group, where I also wanted input from the others.

We had talked about marketing plan and target group before, and then I had written in the GDD the things I retained from those discussions and concluded were important to talk about, but I wanted to make sure it was still the same vision as the others had, so that we were all on the same page.

Seventh Meeting, Nov 20th, week 4

In preparation for first status update:

We divided up stuff to write in GDD between us, so that we could use that for the presentation, and I then tidied that list and put in the corresponding section numbers.

The first status update was a great tool to get us to write more in the GDD, since it's more fun to code, plus the chaotic structure or sheer size of the GDD, wasn't easy to get group to write in GDD; but this helped.

I took on:

• Target group
• Marketing plan
• Management

And I wrote some about risk analysis too.

The whole list looked like this:

GDD:

• Levels (5.3.) - BENJAMIN
• Target hardware (6.1.) - DANIEL
• Interface (5.5.) - ANTONIO
• Development Hardware and Software (6.2.) -ANTONIO?
• Hardware (like PC, or whatever computers we develop on?)
• Software (short about like Eclipse and other software we use? git?)
• Game Engine (6.4.) -DANIEL
• LibGDx
• Physics Engine (6.5.) -DANIEL
• Box2D
• (contact listeners? Maybe not)
• Story/characters/personalities (5.2.) -- fill in those ALEX
• State of the art (7.3.1.) (copy from blogs!)
• CONRAD
• ALEX-copy paste about LifeGoesOn from blog
• Target Group (7.3. and/or 4.4.) -EMMELI (look at Alex’s blog)
• (also part of the Target sector?)
• Game Art (5.4) (CONRAD?)
• Marketing Plan (7.5.) -EMMELI
• We are not dependant on steam
• Could release ourselves and host
• Level editor /steam workshop
• Community sharing of folders, platforms
• Management (8) - EMMELI

We had also made list of other things we need to do, that we looked at, but decided to focus on GDD till after the first status update.

Thursday, Nov 16th, week 3

Later that week, Thursday, right before first demo

I made the presentation.

Sat with part of the group and merged branches, fixed stuff in the code

Laughed at the raggdoll physics and the crazy stuff

Here is two example videos.

In preperation for the Demo:

• I made sure we divided the slides of the presentation between the group.
• I made someone had the responsbility to bring a computer on which to play the game.
• I made some specific feedback questions
• I made sure someone would take notes on the feedback, because usually I take notes, but I wouldn't be there.

This week I learned a lot about git and branches, and using git in Eclipse, which I never seem to master, but I'm definitely closer to mastering it now, which is really great!

Sixth Meeting, Nov 13th, week 3

For this meeting we discussed some things about game.

One of the things we talked about was how to control death. Should there be a kill switch or not? We decided that, yes, we needed a kill switch, otherwise the clones couldn't be killed in the strategic places.

We also talked about:

• Should the player be able to move a corpse, or should do you need to die in exactly the same place?
• Should the exploding clone explode when it dies or when pressing a button of some kind, X for example.
• Should the explosion be instantaneous or have a little delay (too get cool chain reactions maybe)?

• Reset button if you get stuck.

We also decided about what controls to use:

• Arrow keys to move, <- , ->
• ^ to jump
• Space is the kill switch

I had asked Conrad to make levels, and he had 4 level-ideas, for introducing 4 kind of clones. Based on that we decided that this amount of clones is enough to demo the game, but that we might want to add one or two complex levels.

I also started to plan the First Demo, especially since I wouldn't be able to be there!

What needed to be done so that we would have a palyable demo?

Who would do what?

What things we were still missing, what was reasonable to do?

This is what we decided we needed for the demo:

• Implement some level based on Conrad's design
• We need clone-corpse types:
• one normal
• one bouncing
• We need the player to be able to move
•   Merge key-input with game.
•    Jump.
•    Kill switch (die).
• Coloring of the game art

It turned out the rest a of the group implemented more than this the night before the demo. It turned out well, but I made a mental note to be careful about this for the final demo, since we would need to focus on the GDD then as well, which we didn't need for the first demo.

We also talked about what was needed in the presentation:

• Quick update what the game is about,
• name,
• defining factors relevant to the demo
• Playable game
• Someone needs to take notes on the feedback we will get

Fifth Meeting, Nov 9th, week 2

This meeting we made sure everyone had the project up and running, because there had been some hickups with files that were needed to compile and run the project but not being included when in the github project.

We also started talking about and planning more details of the game, such as the raggdoll physics which I made a quick sketch of to help us visualize.

We also talked about the look and feel of the world, the camera position, the level design, if we wanted checkpoints for the levels or something else.

For the look and feel we talked about pastels, and how to distinguish between different clones, maybe having them in different colors, and what kind of light source we wanted.

We also decided that our game would look 3D but work like a 2D game.

This meeting I also made sure we started delegating programming tasks and design tasks for next time, in the following way:

• Raggdoll Player - Daniel
• A StaticObject class - Benjamin
• Contact listeners - Antonio (if he has the time)
• Player class - Emmeli
• Start drawing, designing levels , lo-fi - Conrad (and Alexander?)
• Cut scenes/drawing text - Alexander

I was to look at the Player class, which at this stage consisted mostly of the key input.

I wrote a KeyInput class, but couldn't test it on an object since I didn't have the raggdoll object, and I wasn't sure how the clones movements would be powered. After talking with my project members, it was by applying a force to the clone body that we would get it to move. However, at this point I had realized that LibGdX had an already implemented IsKeyPressed method, meaning that we could use that instead!

Before this meeting we had made the First Pitch presentation, where Alexander and I presented.

The day before I had drawn a two logo ideas, one based on Alexanders idea and one my own, which we included in the powerpoint.

 

We had also decided on a name for the game the day before.

We had the following names up for vote on slack:

• Playing with Corpses
• Clone Corpses
• Suicidal Corpses
• Euthanasia
• KamiClones

The more names we came up with, the more macabre they got, and in the end KamiClones, based on the japanese Kamikaze, was the one most of us liked best.

I had also made a copy of the GDD template and gone through highlighting the different parts in different colors depending on if I thought we would keep it or not. We went through it again, together, during the meeting and got a understanding of what we thought was relevant for our game and how we could organize the GDD.

Fourth Meeting, Nov 4th, week 2

This meeting I got help importing the eclipse project and got it to work with Daniels help.

We also formalized:

• Where we communicate: slack (but a few of us needed to get used to using slack , not having used it before)
• How often we meet? The lectures, plus 1 or 2 additional meetings per week
• Where we keep information? Drive

--> most of these things we'd already started doing, it was just good to really formalize it, that this is how we did those things.

The week before I had thought about whether we needed a formal project leader or not. I felt that it would be easier to formalize who's responsibility it was to organize what to do, and make related decisions, but proposed team leader instead of project leader, because it felt more accurate, and I still wanted to code, and I felt more comfortable with "team leader" than "project leader", which felt a little pompous.

The others thought it was a good idea that I be team leader, since I'd already started organizing, doing a timeline, taking notes, planning meetings etc.

This way, it felt easier to delegate things to do, make lists and make we sure we do them equally, without feeling like I was maybe overstepping my boundaries and stepping on toes. Even if no one felt that way, it's still easier to have a clear OK from the rest of the group.

During this meeting we also started planning the first presentation, the First Pitch.

I copied the template and we divided up the pages to do between each other.