I started the week by drafting the Games Design Document – using a similar format from the one used in module 720 , so that it could be shared with the rest of the team and then expanded upon. I chose to put this format forward as it had a logical format that would be straightforward to follow. This would allow the team to rapidly collate and fix down our core gameplay loop and design pillars – keeping everyone focussed and working towards the same design goals.
Development continued with the pixel art side of things, with additional tiles and environmental assets still needed to flesh out the starting environment:
Raised tiles
Raised tiles would be needed to act as natural barriers, these could also be used to show potential new locations. An initial grid of twelve was made – with the outer sides showing a rock face, so that it would be obvious to the player that these were barriers. Each raised tile had a natural join between the rockface and grass to give a more natural appearance.
These could be used to only create rectangular shapes however, as additional inverted corner tiles would need to be created to make more complex shapes needed to develop any potential environment layouts. These would need to be made later.
Images 1 - 5: Raised tiles with rock faces pixel art assets (Will Ward 2021)
Image 6: Compiled raised tiles (Will Ward 2021)
Campfire tile
Images 7 - 10: Campfire tile and particle animation frames
It was important a campfire tile was completed early, as it would be needed to be shown for next week’s pitch. To get this completed within the timeframe, Pixel FX designer by Manuel Jesús Bolaños Gómez was used to create particle fire, as I assumed I this would save time.
Image 11: Pixel FX designer by Manuel Jesús Bolaños Gómez (2018)
The software could be used to create and render the different stages of the campfire – again, under the assumption that this would save time. The reality was that Pixel FX Designer’s interface was more difficult to use than anticipated and tutorial resources were lacking.
Despite the difficulty and wasted time, a small, animated fire was created that could be used for the pitch – in hindsight, I should have taken the time to animate traditionally as I believe that a better result may have been achieved within the same time.
Character pixel art
More character concept art was developed, so I was able to use this to build the in-game version of the tribal elder character:
Image 12: Tribal Elder (Debbs Norton, 2021)
Image 13: Tribal Elder pixel animation (Will Ward, 2021)
As before, I tried to keep as close to original concept as possible – I did however expand the Elder’s beard and made his body form more wiry emphasize his advanced years. The design was shown to the team for perusal and feedback. Once everyone had viewed it and the design was approved I developed one of the idle animations.
As it was discussed and planned that the Elder would be next to and in-charge of the campfire, I had the idea that he should start to panic when the fire gets low. The animation was designed to show the Elder flailing and panicking as the fire gets low – this would also give the player an additional visual clue that the fire needs more fuel.
Additional in-game assets
Additional detail tiles and in-game assets were also created to round out the level details and add points of interest and player potential interaction for the player. These included a small bush, a rock, a painted rock, log and an alternate detail tile.
Images 14 -18: various isometric in-game assets (Will Ward, 2021)
Norming
The norming stage of Buckman's model (1965) describes how agreement and consensus is mainly forming within the team and they respond well to the team leader, as well as big decisions being made by group agreement - with smaller decisions being down to individuals. Commitment and team unity should now be stronger too.
This week was quite intensive with regards to the volume of art assets needed, specifically so that we would be able to have presentable demo for week six. Regular written and voice communications (alongside the scheduled weekly meeting) happened between the concept artist, team leader and myself to ensure that ideas were not mis-interpreted and details were as intended.
This additional communication, as well as timely delivery of requested assets helped helped to bond the group further and begin to approach norming.
Rowley and Lange (2007) also explains that norming happens when “a sense of trust and cohesion returns to the team. Members agree on rules, processes and values, and teams begin to self-organize around decision making“.
Everyone's desire to make sure that the presentation was a success was key to this, as it gave the team a more immediate goal to concentrate on - whereas the overarching goal of completing the project could be seen as further on the horizon and needing less urgent action.
Another (personal) positive of this was, that it was finally beginning to feel like I was getting to grips with isometric 2D pixel art style as I streamlined the character design and developed a more consistent colour palette (some I should have thought of originally).
Moving into week six
Lastly, we would all have to finalise our preparation and pitch deck for the practice pitch in week six. Using Jason Della Rosa's lecture as a starting point and then comparing it with Brian Upton's GDC talk "30 things I hate about your game pitch" we discussed our ideas on the pitch with the group via Discord. After some additional research on pitch decks was discussed we agreed on the composition and layout - this was then collated and prepared by our team leader.
As the pitch date was drawing closer, the slides template and initial design style guide was distributed between us and further discussions were had with regards to who would present which slides. Unfortunately, not everyone would be able make the practice pitch due to outside commitments, so it was agreed that the three available team members would share the pitch presentation as equally as possible.
Presenting preparation
I was tasked with presenting the gameplay mechanics, business model and production timeline slides. Due to everyone's busy working and home lives, it would be difficult to arrange a practice session beforehand, however, we were able to discuss and plan reasonably well in our weekly meeting before the pitch.
Although everyone knew what they were doing and what needed to be presented, I believe it would have been beneficial to have a practice one - as I felt this would leave things a little disjointed.
Image 19: Keep it burning game mechanics slide (The Wild Branch, 2021).
With the game mechanics slide I was looking to follow Brian Upton's (2017) advice to explain how the game is different to everyone else's and concentrated on the campfire mechanics and resource harvesting and environmental effects of sustainability.
Jason Della Rocca (2020) explains that it's important to show your game has unique/innovative and compelling elements and show that you're already thinking about how it will be marketed.
Image 20: Keep it burning business model slide (The Wild Branch, 2021).
Demonstrate there is a market for your game (Della Rocca, 2020) - We discussed comparable games to include and agreed on the above. I used Steamspy to collate the data that I thought that should be included to demonstrate a healthy and growing market.
Image 21: Keep it burning game production timeline (The Wild Branch, 2021).
A timeline visual was used to show the key production milestones, which I would elaborate on and we agreed to avoid displaying potential budget figures due to a lack of time and experience in the subject - there wouldn't be any point 'digging a hole' and being unable to answer specific financial questions if the came up.
Once the presentation materials were completed and then collated, the panic of presenting could now begin...
References:
Chapman, A. (2021). Tuckman: Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing - BusinessBalls.com. [online] Businessballs.com. Available at: https://www.businessballs.com/team-management/tuckman-forming-storming-norming-performing-model/. [Accessed 17 June 2021].
D. Rowley and M. Lange, "Forming to Performing: The Evolution of an Agile Team," Agile 2007 (AGILE 2007), 2007, pp. 408-414, doi: 10.1109/AGILE.2007.28.
GDC, Brian Upton (2017). 30 Things I Hate About Your Game Pitch. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LTtr45y7P0&t=2s [Accessed 17 June 2021].
LENCIONI, P. 2005. Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Field Guide for Leaders, Managers, and Facilitators. Pfeiffer: Wiley.
LUKIĆ, J. M. and VRAČAR, M. M. 2018. Building and nurturing trust among members in virtual project teams. Strategic Management-International Journal of Strategic Management and Decision Support Systems in Strategic Management, 23(3).
ROGERS, Scott. 2014. Level up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.
Jason Della Rocca (2020). SWISSGAMES Pitch perfect : free online lecture. [online] Available at: https://swissgames.ch/2020/11/03/pitch-perfect-free-online-lecture/.
[Accessed 17 June 2021].
Notion. (n.d.). Notion – The all-in-one workspace for your notes, tasks, wikis, and databases. [online] Available at: https://www.notion.so/Pitch-Decks-f56e38c13fe6417f8379859e74367e1a.
SteamSpy - All the data about Steam games. (n.d.). Games sales. [online] Available at: https://steamspy.com/. [Accessed 2 July 2021].
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