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Team Postmortem

Postmortem: Make Earth Great Again

Introduction

Make Earth Great Again started as a class project designed to teach the fundamentals of documentation and team management. Given our team composition, which was writer / designer heavy and light on developers, we decided to make a visual novel. From the beginning, we set a few clear goals we wished to achieve:

·         A compelling, dynamic story that draws players in, set in an interesting world.

·         Expressive character art for both human and alien characters.

·         Exotic background locations to set the story in.

By the end of the project, we felt that we had achieved our first goal of a dynamic story and an interesting world, but due to scope issues, communication breakdowns, and task dependencies, we fell a bit short on our other goals.

What Went Right

1.      Brainstorming Session

The first step of our brainstorming process was to toss out the prototype we had from a previous project and move on to something new. Given our new team composition, we decided to make use of our writers and create a visual novel with a complex story. We felt that we had enough artists to populate exotic environments and feature interesting characters, and that the coding side of a visual novel would not be so strenuous as to overwork our single developer.

Once settling on a visual novel, we began discussing possible themes or settings we’d like to explore. After bouncing a bit between sci-fi and fantasy stories, an idea was brought up by one of the writers that immediately struck a chord with the team—the main character should be evil. Not an antihero or a lovable bad guy, but a genuinely evil person. The team loved the idea, and we latched onto it immediately. Next up was a discussion of narrative complexity. We played with the idea of allowing many branching storylines with separate endings, or even the same story simply told by different characters, before deciding to go with the simplest, cleanest approach.

By the end of our brainstorming session, we’d settled on a basic plot premise, a rough idea of our setting, and concepts for a few characters. The entire session functioned smoothly and the team worked well with each other through out. The energy we had from that first meeting carried over into the work we all did during our first milestone.

(An early concept for the HUD, based on the brainstorming session.)

2.      Story, Themes, and Setting

The narrative work didn’t stop after the brainstorming session. We’d decided on a sci-fi story in a dystopian universe featuring a human terrorist as the main character, but that was all we had. The next few days were all about the writers. They got together to flesh out the narrative beats, laying out a world in which humans are oppressed by the equalitarian alien government that had taken up residence on Earth.

The story’s defining themes were nostalgia and the innate human desire to compete for success. Missy, the game’s protagonist, longs for the days when humans competed in a capitalist society to prove who was best. This felt like a fresh perspective to the team, who had grown tired of modern stories touting the same themes of equality and peace over and over. We wanted to work with a new idea, and explore the truths and fallacies associated with Missy’s unpopular opinions. All of this, combined with our concepts for a unique human-alien world, kept the team excited throughout the production process, and was one of the highlights of our completed work.

(The Resistance HQ, where Missy plans to take out the alien government.)

3.      UI Artwork

Another highlight of our development cycle was the UI artwork that we received. Given that a visual novel is, at its core, a series of interfaces that allows the player to make limited choices, we felt that we needed impressive UI artwork to keep the player interested and to make the game screen more interesting.

Luckily, this is what we got. After defining the game’s themes and characters, our artists synthesized the narrative team’s core concepts with their own ideas of how an alien civilization might impact humanity’s art style. They incorporated a sense of mystery and eeriness into the menus and HUD to better allow the player to empathize with Missy’s plight.

This showcases one of the things that the team consistently got right throughout the dev cycle—namely, combining the various talents and artistic styles of our artists and writers to create a unique, interesting world with coherent motifs and an overarching sense of unity.

What Went Wrong

1.      Visual Effects

While our art team got it right, for the most part, regarding the style and delivery of our characters and settings, one thing that we missed the mark on was our use of visual effect. Early in the development cycle, we planned on incorporating particle effects into our backgrounds to give them more life-like motion, as well as to add to the ambience. Unfortunately, we soon found that to be impossible based on how our developers were building the game (we were taking screenshots of 3D environments to use as backgrounds, so moving particles couldn’t have worked).

To substitute for our missing particle effects, the team tried to incorporate some visual HUD effects in terms of screen flashes and shakes. Unfortunately, due to the rather static nature of the rest of the artwork, and the inherently slow pace associated with a visual novel, these effects often came across as jarring and out of place. Because of the late stage at which we decided to incorporate these type of effects, the screen flashes did not have an accompanying sound effect, and thus felt incomplete. Similarly, the screen shakes only shook the HUD, and none of the background art. As these were supposed to represent explosions in the game world, this created a disconnect that did not serve the purposes of our story.

2.      Time-Gated Decisions

Another design-related element that didn’t go perfectly to plan were the time-gated decisions we implemented. These were originally designed to create a sense of urgency and responsibility for the player. However, for a number of reasons, this attempt failed.

For one, we implemented the time-gated decisions on dialogue options that really weren’t all that urgent (for instance, choosing whether or not to come downstairs for pancakes). This made the moments where things were urgent feel less so. Secondly, some of the time-gated decisions were set to choose a random option if the player didn’t answer in time. This resulted in an undesirable loss of player agency. Finally, other decisions like this were set to loop continuously after the time ran out, essentially negating the time mechanic and any urgency that might have come with it.

Whether we should or should not have used time-gated decisions at all is a discussion for another time, but it is clear that the way in which we used them was ineffective. These decisions ended up being more of a distraction than a tool by which we fostered immersion and player investment.

 3.      Communication and Transparency

The final and perhaps most important of the things that didn’t go right for us was the communication and transparency of the team as a whole. Given that this entire project was an exercise in documentation, tracking, and communication, this failure stings.

The first area we noticed this problem was with our scope document, where each member of the team was supposed to report the hours they worked on each task. After a few mishaps with team members entering numbers in the wrong columns, the producers decided to close the document for edits, and have team members post their hours in comments instead. This seemed to create problems for team members who didn’t know how to comment in a Google Sheets document.

However, the problems with the scope document were only indicative of problems elsewhere. There was a disconnect with some members of the team and the producers, where certain tasks would be completed but no worked hours were reported. This resulted in documentation that didn’t accurately represent the work that the team had put in. Similarly, there were instances in which people were confused about the tasks they were supposed to complete, or where they worked on the wrong tasks at the wrong time.

If we were to start this project over, the first thing we would do is implement a new system of reporting hours. Clearly, the last system was not optimal. We would want a system whereby there is no confusion about who has to work on which task, and where reporting hours is convenient, intuitive, and does not make any extra work for the people completing each task. Perhaps the best way to do this would be to use production software such as Jiro or HacknPlan instead of relying solely on Excel. We would also try to open more clear channels of communication than simply relying on Discord and text messages.

Conclusion

Though communication was a major issue and there were many times at which our documentation felt incomplete, the team is happy about the product we created. We were able to implement an idea we all liked into a world we’d created, and despite the multiple hiccups we experienced, we eventually produced a game that satisfied, at least in part, the goals we had set out to accomplish.

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Personal Postmortem

This month’s team was a lot harder to work with. More for the fact that communication wasn’t to the scale that we should have been at. With our weekly estimates of an overall grade for the team’s work, we seemed to always be under. Later finding out that it was mainly because of lack of communication. Going through the Game Design Masters course, we have been taught that communication can make or break a team. We did manage to maintain a respectful environment where everyone was free to voice concerns and solutions for certain issues that arise. This increased the overall group contribution when encountering tech issues, people issues or needed to make changes to our design. The experience gave me an opportunity to see the documentation side of design and problems that may arise as a result of internal and external issues.

Overall, working with the team was both a challenge and a enjoyable experience. As I advanced further into my career, I am better prepared to take on team based projects where I am the Lead. Using methods developed throughout my course, my confidence in team building and management is more profound than it was before starting my degree. The build came out a little less than expected but with what we had, I believe it came out pretty well.

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Postmortem: Gravity Guerillas

Introduction

Gravity Guerillas started as a class project with a focus on prototyping. We were to start with a paper prototype, take what we learned and apply it toward a digital prototype, then use consecutive iterations to clean the game up and inch closer to a final vision for the game. Given our team composition and the prerequisite that everyone had to put in equal hours toward the project, we decided to establish a few clear goals:

●      A game with a single, simple mechanic that allows for complex emergent dynamics.

●      An aesthetically appealing setting, with humor elements spread through-out.

●      A game with a short play time and lots of replayability.

Ultimately, our mechanic created interesting gameplay and complex interactions, however we fell a bit short on our other goals. Our prototype did not fully convey the tone and humor we were hoping for. Also, our playtime was a bit longer than we anticipated.

What Went Right

1.     Brainstorming Session

Our initial brainstorming session started out with four primary game ideas. We played with the idea of an endless runner, a reverse tower defense game, a platformer / shoot-em-up, and a gravity-based shooter, which we eventually settled on. Using scope and production time as the primary condition allowed us to move away from the more complex ideas of reverse tower defense and the shoot-em-up. Then, a discussion of which idea can be used to create more novel gameplay resulted in us dismissing the endless runner and moving toward the idea of a 2 player, Bowman-like game where players launch projectiles at each other. Rather than using the traditional approach to this (everything falls downward), we decided to place the game in space and use actual planets as gravity wells that attract and redirect projectiles.

By the end of the brainstorming session, we had settled on the game genre, the setting, the backstory (thanks to some creative ideas from our writers, who desperately wanted to write about space monkeys), and we even had a name: Gravity Guerillas.

An early concept for game aesthetic and level layout (storywarren.com) (vignette1.net) (S_8) (Hedfiles.net) (Zeldawiki.org) (cloudfront.net).

 2.     Setting & Art Style

Right from the start, we had a clear direction we wanted to take the game. The backstory involved secret clans of gorillas sent to space during the Cold War in an attempt by both the US and the USSR to find new habitable star systems before their opponent. In reality, all we were trying to do was pit space monkeys against each other in a banana-flinging, gravity-based catapult game.

The art style, then, was developed to incorporate both the inherent silliness of space monkeys with the nostalgic, propaganda-esque artwork of the Cold War.

We accomplished this through creative use of the colors of the US and the USSR as well as incorporation of gorillas in poses that we would normally associate with humans or soldiers. This humanized our characters, while also highlighting the ridiculousness of the aesthetic that we were working with.

3.     Paper Prototype

It can be difficult to create paper prototypes with a high level of fidelity to the final product, but thanks to the nature of our game, we found this part not only easily managed, but also helpful. Because the game is not reflex based, and instead relies on predictive action, the paper prototype allowed us to model the same choices players would make in the digital game with high accuracy. Working with the entire team, we created a physical version of our game with turn-based movement and mathematical calculations to determine speed and gravitational pull. In the end, we managed to accurately replicate what we foresaw as being the core mechanics of the game.

4.     Scope

Our core mechanic is simple enough that it didn’t take the developers long to figure out a way to make it work in-game, but allows for enough variation that we were able to create an entire game around it. Level design plays a huge role in how the game is experienced, and different level designs let the game to feel large without expanding our scope too far. Keeping that mechanic tight also gave us the opportunity to explore other features (such as colonization and invasion) that expand the dynamics of the game without blowing scope.

5.     Final Level Design

Level design was a struggle for us early on, but by the time we reached out final prototype iteration we had figured out what needed to be done. A star system with an odd number of planets, some habitable and some not, each with varying sizes and differing strengths of gravitational fields, creates an interesting level. We wanted to force the player to use the gravity to hit shots, but give the rare opportunity to make a straight shot if the timing is right. We also wanted to keep the levels balanced on both sides so that neither player has an advantage in terms of planetary layout.

What Went Wrong

1.     Where is the Humor?

While we decided on an aesthetic early on, and were able to create art that aided us in presenting that aesthetic, we struggled with incorporating truly humorous writing and art into the game. Scope-wise, it quickly became apparent that we wouldn’t have the time to implement written dialogue or in-game barks, and this meant we had to convey all of our humor through art. We struggled to create animations that added humor to the game, and the final versions of our UI art, while arguably humorous in a sardonic, wry sort of way, didn’t quite convey the silliness that our game concept begs for.

2.     Early Level Design

Early on, we struggled with creating interesting level designs that allowed us to truly test the limits of our game mechanics. From the paper prototype onward, we had to consistently revise our level layouts to allow for more interesting gameplay decisions, as well as to prototype the different functions a planet could plausibly have.

We started off very basic, not realizing how much of an impact planet location and the size of each planet’s gravity well would have on gameplay. We experimented with symmetrical and asymmetrical level design, with multiple planet types, and with moving objects versus static objects. While we did eventually end up with a solid final level design, the iterations we struggled through in the beginning cost us time and effort that could have been better spent elsewhere.

3.     Balancing Capacity

With a team composed of mostly writers and artists, it was important from the start to make sure that everyone had work to do. We were creating a digital game, so it was obvious that our developers would have plenty to do, but it became a difficult job for the producer to find tasks for the writers to work on. This only became more prevalent as it became clear that we wouldn’t be able to work a lot of the writing into the actual game. In the end, writers had to learn some dev skills, or apply themselves to level design and production in an attempt to use all of our capacity efficiently.

4.     Design vs. Development: Communication

The final thing that went wrong with this project was the disconnect between what was originally designed, and what made it into each of the prototypes. Communication increased with each subsequent iteration, but from the beginning it was clear that the devs didn’t have the clearest idea of what the designers wanted. This resulted in a few clashes between team members that had to be resolved, as well as a few steps backward by devs in order to accommodate the vision that the designers originally had. The final prototype is the most faithful to the original design, but that accuracy could have been increased if time had not been wasted ironing out these problems early in the development process.

 Conclusion

We struggled through a number of hiccups and set-backs, but in the end, the team was proud of what we were able to complete. We had a working prototype with interesting and entertaining game mechanics, attractive aesthetics, and an overall design that we were all happy with.

 References

[Digital image]. (n.d.) Retrieved February 6, 2017 from http://www.storywarren.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/space-1.jpg

[Digital image]. (n.d.) Retrieved February 6, 2017 from http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/all-angry-birds-sprites/images/6/64/INGAME_PLANET_BASE

[Digital image]. (n.d.) Retrieved February 6, 2017 from S_8.png/revision/latest?cb=20130419170730

[Digital image]. (n.d.) Retrieved February 6, 2017 from http://www.hedfiles.net/planet06.png\

[Digital image]. (n.d.) Retrieved February 6, 2017 from https://zeldawiki.org/images/thumb/a/a6/Air_Cannon.png/120px-Air_Cannon.png

[Digital image]. (n.d.) Retrieved February 6, 2017 from https://d1v8u1ev1s9e4n.cloudfront.net/56918a98c9605e3321d16ba9

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Personal Team Post Mortem

            I would rank my overall personal experience working with my team on this project as being a 4 out of 5. Much of the stress came from balancing my capstone projects along with my class project. Having to stay up late nights to get things accomplished before due dates. Being Producer and the UI Artist brought on new problem solving scenarios, which helped me to better understand the best methods of organization and time management. My teammates all worked hard to come up with a working product that displayed our combination of ideas and elements that was originally discussed from the very beginning.

           Though the product is far from where we envisioned it to be, but it shows the diligence that my team and I put into creating it. I would say one thing that would change is our communication tactics. I felt with everyone having so much to focus on at onetime, we all kind of forgot to check in with the team as part of updates and new implementations. Having worked with each other before, there has definitely been an improvement on overall understanding on the team’s work ethics. As time advances, I believe so will our product as a whole.

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My area of research throughout my time in Full Sail Universities Game Design Master’s Degree will be primarily directed toward the social aspects of gaming and what positive/negative effects can arise because of extended periods of online game play. Focusing on the two main styles of online play, Competitive and Cooperative game play. I feel this is an important topic of research considering the number of new players that join the online community, either via console, PC or Mobile. The direction that the gaming industry is headed toward could depend solely on online play and without understanding the social elements tied into competitive and cooperative game play, it could experience online community fall outs in genre’s relating to MMO and MMORPG’s. In my month four class, I researched how people can start to display anti-social behavior because of a relationship with their in-game avatar. Showing no regard for their avatars well-being since it doesn’t affect them directly. Believing that Extended periods of this could result actual offline practice of the same behavior. My plans to continue this research will venture further into what people experiences could potentially impact their everyday life when not engaging with an online community. My capstone is related to User Experience, based on researching what people like and dislike about games. Understanding the social elements of play, closely relates to the user experience in the overall online community.

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PTM Mastery

Project and Team Management was a class based on discovering how people personalities effect the overall teams relationship and the development process. This gave me abetter understanding to what makes a good leader in the workplace. Adding on to my overall grasp of the concepts described throughout my Master course, such as Motivation, Team building, Problem-Solving and Personality Types. This class brought factual data toward the types of personalities commonly found in teams and without getting an understanding of what these types are, motivating techniques for each type and a clear understanding of the proper approach to these different types of personalities. Learning team-building activities and techniques that are designed for different types of focus, meaning: Motivation activities, Team communication building activities and Trust building activities. Many of the skills gained in this class are closely related to building and maintaining a strong team that, through experiences and understanding, complete tasks with the upmost quality, the least amount time and resources. Since I have a natural fascination with understanding the human mind, this class was directed toward my overall learning goal. The capstone I have chosen is based on human/technology interaction, that is focused on bettering games by giving people the opportunity to make sound observations based on gameplay and specific focuses of the test. While going through the rest of my Master course, I will be using the knowledge gained in this class to further my research into the psychology of people. If I am to become a leader, the next steps that I take are vital in making my leadership techniques effective and meaningful. Not only for me benefit, but for those in my team as well. Once I have the ability to understand people with sound reasoning for the choices and changes that are chosen to be made. 

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Mastery

My time in the Research and Team Dynamics class brought me to understanding the importance of research on supporting and validating my findings. Bringing me to select the Positive Effects of Social Gaming as my topic of research throughout my time at Full Sail. This class put me into a healthy learning experience teaming up with classmates for a trial run through the game development process. Using the motivational tactics, team problem solving and social understanding to better increase our capabilities as a team instead of as individuals. This taught me Leadership values that keep the team motivated and trusting that we will accomplish the goals we have set out to. Whether it be increased quality of work or motivated team members, leadership can take form in many ways but utilizing it to progress in a positive manner has been proven to enhance flow. The capstone I have chosen will be User Experience, which is understanding what makes people crave the games they do and how can it become better. The choice behind this was simple for me considering that I am very interested in the psychology of people in general. Having the tools to guide me toward further knowledge of this topic will always be a top pick of mine. Beyond this course I plan to continue my research into human social interactions while gaming to advance my skills when creating my own game in the near future. 

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Something that helps to keep me motivated and working ever harder for my goals, even when things just don’t add up at the moment. 

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My 12 month journey through Full Sail University. 1 down and 11 more to go.

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This is definitely one of the shows to contribute to me wanting to create my own. I still watch it sometimes just for a laugh. 

Home - Bitter Empire. (n.d.). Retrieved August 20, 2016, from http://bitterempire.com/harvey-birdman-attorney-at-law/ 

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Papaly Blog: 

https://papaly.com/#board_id=deeb42d4d12e46e8a173580438761470

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-hudson-085072a2

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Mastery Journey

Throughout my Masters degree at Full Sail University, I will be discussing, posting original and inspirational posts to help you to see what I do. Though Im in Game Design, my interests go from A-Z when it comes to learning new things. This blog will be the perfect place for anyone interested in what I do, to come see how I grow and Master my abilities. A year is a lot of space to grow and I plan to use it wisely. Starting with a Bachelors in Computer Animation got me into wanting to create not only Animations, but games as well. Getting the opportunity to make it happen is exactly what I plan to do before it’s all said and done. On my journey, I will encounter obstacles that could prevent me from completing my task at hand and how I will overcome these are solely up to me. While sometimes the obstacles may seem heavy, choosing to embark on this journey was a decision all my own and I plan to see it through. I see myself as not only going down this journey for me but it’s also for everyone that believed I could go far with whatever I set my mind to. Never quitting, which is what you will see throughout my journey of the Masters degree in Game Design. Even with this not being the one and only journey I have in life, I know this will be challenge all it’s on but, I would not be here if I had thought I couldn’t do it.