Game Start! The First Team, the First Prototype

Here we are, right in the middle of the first week of the Entertainment Arts & Engineering Master Games Studio at the University of Utah. This blog is dedicated to chronicling the events of the Projects 1 course (...and beyond...) as we band together to form development teams and create game prototypes over the course of the semester.

As one of seven students in the producer track of the EAE:MGS, it is my responsibility to maintain a blog (this blog, in fact) that details the development of each game that I help create and the progress of each team that I am a member of during the next 17 weeks. Being that this is the first week and the first post, it's probably obvious that today I'll be posting about the first team and the first prototype that I have the pleasure of being a part of...

The Team
- Team/Developer Name: Lords of Awesome (This has never actually been decided on by the team members, but that's what first popped into my head. After all, these guys are awesome... Lords.)
- Members
     - Dan Priestly
          - Job: Engineer
          - Status: Stud
          - Skills: Mastering events and triggers
     - Anurag Bhagwat
          - Job: Engineer
          - Status: Dude
          - Skills: Matching art to game environments and perfecting mechanics
     - Chris Muñoz
          - Job: Artist
          - Status: +50
          - Skills: Designing levels, layouts, and general art assets
     - Troy Johnson
          - Job: Producer
          - Status: Present
          - Skills: TBD; typing words

The Prototype (or, what we hope turns into the beginning of a legitimate game)
- Title: YOU Can Save the World!: Environmentalist (Like our team name, this is also a working title that I came up with because we had yet to decide on a title as a team. We'll keep you posted on whether or not this sticks. At least it's exploitable for future YCSW! titles.)
- Status: In early development
- Skills: Running on Mac OS. And only on Mac OS.

As you may have now guessed, we're developing this quick prototype (4-week development cycle) on iMacs using Power Game Factory. It is a fairly straightforward, occasionally intuitive program that allows users to create sidescrollers and platformers akin to those from the 16-bit era. Besides the creation tool/program restriction, we were also tasked with basing our prototype around some sort of serious theme; hence, the environmentalist angle.

Now that you have a little background on the course and the project, let's get down to the nitty-gritty...

Knowing that we'd be creating some sort of action-platformer (because of the Power Game Factory requirement), we were able to skip a fair chunk of the usual brainstorming steps inherent in coming up with a game concept. We really got started by listing a few serious issues that we saw around us, from immigration laws to pollution to Reese's Peanut Butter Cup trafficking (some were more serious than others). Finally settling on an environmentalist message, we got to work thinking of mechanics that would make our game educational, fun, and able to stand on its own as a legitimate game.

Then the production began. Chris got to work gathering and editing assets to see exactly what kind of style we wanted for the game and to ensure that they would match up with the tools that PGF offers. Anurag and Dan were quickly able to explore and get a handle on the various triggers, event options, and platforming mechanics that we'd be implementing to create solid, exciting levels. I took the reins of the educational aspects, researching and figuring out the best way to present important environmental information to players.

With all these pieces coming along, within two days I was able to put together a game pitch that we presented to the other teams. By that time, Dan and Anurag had already built a playable (short, but playable) demo of some of the core mechanics that define our game. (See above for screenshots from that demo, in which the player can pick up bits of trash to extend the timer and, thus, the player's life.)

From there, we've all got plenty of work to get moving on. I've created asset and task lists so we can keep an eye on the status of each job, and I'm making progress on the educational texts and tutorials that will pop up at certain in-game events. Chris is hard at work on creating a massive image of the basic level layout.  Anurag and Dan are busy making sure that collection, force field, and projectile mechanics are ready to go once we import all the necessary assets.

That's it for this week! Check back soon, and we'll keep you posted on the progress of the project and how we're getting along. I anticipate great things from these guys.

- Troy