Dev Log 1

Hello everyone!

As this is the first Dev Log there isn't all that much to write about. As of now we have finalized our idea and most of the game mechanics, which you can check out in the creative brief that we uploaded. We also have a good idea for our music direction, although there are still some aspects to iron out on the art side. We have a demo build ready, but we're having issues uploading it to this page, hopefully we'll be able to show you guys what we have soon though.

We expect development to start picking up in the coming weeks, specifically we're looking to complete the tutorial and the first levels, as well as the menu and loss screens in the coming weeks. We're also hoping to finalize our art direction and start getting models and texture into the game.

One thing we discovered was that it's difficult to pinpoint how exactly to make a game fun. One issue that we find ourselves questioning is whether or not our mechanics are fun for the player, and how can we add difficulty to the game without taking away that fun and replacing it with frustration and annoyance. Another discovery is that it is difficult to coordinate across multiple disciplines, especially when each discipline has their own idea for the direction of the game and what they want to do with it. Additionally, creating compelling movement options is difficult. A flowchart movement design (press the right button to deal with a specific obstacle) will not lead to a fun gameHopefully we'll have these figured out by the next Dev Log!

Specifics:

September 28th: On Monday the 26th we had a full team meeting where we ironed out some specifics regarding character concepts, gameplay elements (with a focus on figuring out movement options), and team logistics. We wrapped up the meeting with a better grasp on what the president will look like, camera behavior, and types of obstacles we want to implement.

Next steps: Receive feedback from the panel at the game pitch presentation, refine concepts as necessary, and begin iterating on the gamejam #2 prototype.