We skipped unlucky number 13 and leaped straight into 14, luckily for us.

Most of the group is very tired after yesterday, as it was quite a long one for all of us. As such, we all know that we haven’t been at our best game, but have been doing our best.

Our programmers have finished up the menus that were supposed to be in the game and are currently working on UI implementation as well as continuing on with the environmental hazards. The Hazards are going well, as their speed and movements are looking really smooth so far.

Our artists have been working hard to finish up the two new characters as well as the various animations. Almost all of the animations that we need are done, and the characters are being skinned and prepared for rigging and animating.

One of our Designers went on a short vacation and will be back on Tuesday next week. In the meantime, it’s just the two of us keeping a watchful eye over the project. We started the day by finishing up the last sound-effects and spent the rest of the day mixing. We also noticed that one of our takes wasn’t saved and we will have to re-record it once our third designer comes back, as it’s her who voiced the character. But it won’t take long to re-record them, as it didn’t take long to record them in the first place.

And with that ends day 14 of the project, and we’re beginning to close in on the deadline.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my gamedevs gave to me,
Twelve jokes that weren’t that funny.

And onto the blogpost of day 12.

Today the programmers have been continuing their work from yesterday, making plenty of progress. They haven’t stumbled upon any issues either, which is always nice to hear.

Out artists have been hard at it, working mostly on texturing and animating characters.

We designers have been recording sound-effects and voice lines for the various characters in the game. We’ve had plenty of fun doing so, as making voices and saying random stuff in said voices is quite the blast.

But aside from all that, we also had our go fika today rather than tomorrow as we’re going on a field trip to a game studio in Uppsala and won’t have time to work at all during that day. During the fika, we sat down and played kahoot!, choosing various different quizes to take. I’d say that it was quite fun for all of us, as we all had quite a few laughs.

With that ends day twelve, and I won’t be making a blogpost tomorrow due to the field trip, but we’ll be back on thursday for day 14.

It’s the beginning of the third week as well as the first school day in December.
The Christmas spirit is already at high and the fireplace has but an ember.
‘Tis the season for caring and gifting.
And the gift we’ll be giving is a game made for spirit-lifting.

Rhymes aside, it’s time for blogging.

Today was the day we had our Proof of Concept presentations, which went well. We got plenty of good feedback on how to improve our game as well as a few tips on how to proceed. The other groups also had very interesting and fun looking games, of which I look forward to seeing once they’re finished.

But since only the afternoon went towards presenting the various games, the morning was spent working more on the game. We also decided on adding a dash mechanic in the afternoon, after hearing feedback from the teachers.

The programmers fixed the few errors that appeared last friday during testing. They have also continued working on the menu’s as well as the environmental hazards that roll across the map.

The artists have continued working hard on getting characters rigged, new characters modeled and UV-mapped. In fact, the two new character’s models are already finished and just need UV-mapping and texturing before being rigged.

Us Designers have been discussing and practicing for the Proof of Concept-presentation to esure we got everything we wanted across. Besides that, we’ve mostly been discussing how to proceed with the SFX and have decided to record our own.

And that’s about it for today, and now it’s the three week stretch before the game should be finished.

Just like that, the second week and it’s sprint comes to a close. The Proof of Concept has been pushed to monday next week, giving us more time to get to a more presentable position.
But let’s get on with what everyone did today!

Today our programmers continued working on the the character select as well as finishing the win and lose states, two tasks meant for next week. The win and lose states being finished means we should have a functioning game loop.
They have also been tweaking with the sizes of the maps and the characters to make it work with the code, with help from the artists to tweak the sizes in Maya.

Our artists finished the final tasks of the week and dove head-first into the next set of models. They also made a small poll for what character concepts we should use for the next set of characters, ending up with a robot and a lizard cowboy that isn’t Rango.

Us designers continued working on soundeffects, namely for the new set of characters as well as fixing sounds for the slightly odd eelien character.

Lastly, we all had a final meeting for the day where we playtested the current build of the game. It was working very well using the placeholders with only few minor bugs that our programmers know how to fix. With this we’re ready for monday and will very likely end up with a finished game by the end of these five weeks!

But now the weekend calls!

Why was 6 scared of 7? Because 7 ate 9! Hah, funny joke!

Anyways, onto today’s blog post.

We were down one designer today unfortunately, but we’ve wished them a speedy recovery and kept up the pace.

Our programmers have begun tweaking with old stuff as well as doing tasks meant for next week, as they are very much ahead of schedule. We, of course, don’t mind that, as it just means more time for playtesting and bug smashing.

Our artists have continued working on textures for the first map, rigging the first character for animations and finished the textures for the second character. Thusly the second character is also ready for rigging and the character artists have begun sketching on the next two characters. This means our artists are also doing very well on the schedule, as there isn’t much left on the environment as well.

Us designers got something to do today, as the friend that was going to make our sound effects had something come up that prevented that. As such, we got the fun tasks of making our own and finding royalty-free sound effects online. We managed to find a bunch that can be used as placeholders if anything, but we may decide to make better once later on in the project.

But with that, this blog post comes to an end and tomorrow will be the deadline for our Proof of Concept!

I don’t have a joke for eight unfortunately, so I’ll just jump head first into the blog-post.

Today our programmers managed to finish the attack function, meaning that the biggest hurdle of the project has been overcome. Well, that’s apart from any bugs that will innevitably show up as development progresses. They have also made a primitive level select menu that will be improved upon at a later date.

The artists have finished one of the character models and textures and has been sent to another artist for rigging and later animating. The second character is nearly done and only needs texturing before being rigged.

Us designers have been continuing fixing the in-game text as well as gathering references for animations and placeholder soundeffects.

We also had another bonding hour where we ate gofika and played some more Maffia. We managed to play two rounds this time, and so far the Maffia has won every time. It was really fun though, and it was a much needed hour of rest for all of us.

And with that, the eighth day comes to a close, and with it this blog post. Till tomorrow!

” …and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.”
– God, Six days of Creation: Genesis 1:3–2:3

Rather than resting, we have made some progress on the game and it’s about the time for another blog post!

Our programmers have been working hard today and seem to be getting pretty close to finishing a playable version of the game soon! They also have put up a tab on how many goats they need to be compensated with at the end of the project, hence why they haven’t requested any yet.

Our artists have made plenty of headway by getting close to finishing the first environment and the two first characters. They have also made a good example of how our UI should look. Everything seems to be going along splendidly according to our time schedule as well.

Lastly onto us designers. Today we have continued to work on VFX and in-game text. We also made a finished design for the UI, which we then gave to the artists to finish up and polish. I have also personally planned on making simple animation examples tomorrow for our artists to use as references for the character animations.

That is all for today then, and onto tomorrow we head!

The number of the beast. Hell and fire was spawned to be released!

After a needed break during the weekend, it’s back to developing and blogging!

The day started with a brief meeting to establish what everyone will be doing as well as what we strive to have finished by the end of the week. We also decided on what two additional heroes we will be adding along with the original two.

After the meeting finished, our programmers dove straight into the attack function so that we have it finished by Friday, as well as creating a player-manager.

Our artists continue to work on the assets for our first map as well as modeling and texturing our first two characters.

Us designers have started to look at VFX and what to add in that department, as well as making mock-ups for how the VFX could look.

The day has gone by fairly quickly, and lots of people are still a bit tired after the weekend, but tomorrow we’ll be back in full force once more!

Time for another update!

Staying in form, I’ll start with the Programmers. Today they managed to fix the controller input as well as adding hitboxes and collisioners for the environment. I’m starting to question what kind of magic they’re using, as there STILL hasn’t been any sacrifices.

As for the artists, they have started early on the models for characters as well as props for the maps. They were supposed to start with that next week, but finished all of the preperation early and jumped head first into the next tasks.

We designers yet again had to look for things to do, which mostly revolved around scaling the testmaps to properly work in TenGine as well as planning out example videos for how the animations should look.

To end the day, we all had a small meeting discussing what progress had been made as well as brainstorming some ideas for two additional characters to be added.

But with that, the first week comes to a close. Next week is a new sprint and hopefully everyone will be ready to continue!

Now that day four of the project has ended, it’s time for another blogpost!

I’ll start with the programmers. They have been doing well thus far, even without a goat. They have been hard at work with fixing the controller input for the character movement and giving us a JSON file for changing camera positions as of now.

Our artists have been working without the lead artist for the day, but have been doing well in making placeholders for characters and props. Though they have said that they won’t be able to go full force until next week, due to the issue with art direction. But that shouldn’t be an issue as we’ve fixed our time plan accordingly and still have plenty of time.

Us designers have begun to search for more things to do, as our current tasks are finished and we can’t really do any playtesting until we have a finished version of the game. Though as things look now, we will have a playable version of the game next week, so that should give us plenty to do!

I personally have been fixing a few things with my level designs as well as adding additional sounds to our SFX excel sheet, so we have some more basic sounds for if our sound designer doesn’t have enough time for all individual sounds.

But that is about it for today’s work. Tomorrow is the end of our first sprint, and one less week until we have to deliver our proof of concept, but I’m positive that we’ll have a playable version by then.