Success! -- Week Ending 3 Nov

We did it! The team pulled together (not that there was a problem with discord or disunity or anything in the first place) in our final short weeks, and we nailed it! Last March of the Dodos is a fully functional, pretty, and (most importantly) fun experience! I'm proud to be a member of Naturally Selected Studios.

I won't bore you with minute details at this point; instead, I'll let a few videos do the talking. Besides that, keep up with us on Facebook at facebook.com/LastMarchOfTheDodos, on Twitter via @dodosgame, and on our official website at dodosgame.com. Cheers!

- Troy

This is It! -- Week Ending 27 Oct

We're down to our final days before we submit Last March of the Dodos to IGF! It's amazing how much can be done in such a short amount of time when every member of the team puts his/her best foot forward. While there have been a few scares and worries along the way, we are incredibly pleased with how the game has come together, and we're stoked about what we're sending to the good folks at the Independent Games Festival!

The levels are ready, the traps are awesome, bouncing Dodos from boot to hammer to landmine is a blast, and the gameplay is accessible for everyone. We can't wait to let the public take a crack at it!

While it's only a glimpse of how the first/tutorial level takes shape, take a look at the videos below to see Last March of the Dodos in action at last!

- Troy

The Home Stretch -- Week Ending 20 Oct

For serious. A week-and-a-half until IGF submissions are due. And you know what? We'll be ready for it! The team has really pulled together during these past few weeks, and we're down to our final batch of tasks. Over this last stretch, it will be all about putting the levels into the game, balancing all the mathematical scoring features and trap costs, and testing like crazy (not that we haven't been testing along the way).

In other words, I'm incredibly proud of our team. We present the game's progress to the faculty and other students one final time tomorrow before crunching out the last 10 days, and I am excited about the product we'll be putting on display. Wish us luck as we push through to the end (not the IGF is the end--we've still got 6 months to make this baby shine until we publish in the spring)!

- Troy

A Few Additions -- Week Ending 29 Sep

This late in the game (no pun intended), I would typically do everything I could to avoid making significant changes or adding features to a project. As it turns out, we did everything we could under the existing design, and we still needed a little extra something to get it where we think it will really stand out.

With that said, we've tacked two more main features onto our IGF release backlog, so watch out for them! The first is a revamped meta game, wherein the Doins have more influence on playing more of the game and thereby having more fun destroying Dodos. They have a purpose in reaching the final levels where Dodos are in great abundance, and the layouts are constructed for optimal Dodo combo-ing and vaporizing.

That last bit leads into the second addition. Many of the traps are now being tweaked to allow for precision Dodo bouncing, thus giving the ability (and encouraging) to create more deliberate trap-to-trap chain combos. It should turn out to be a blast (again, no pun intended).

Check in over the next four weeks to see how the game wraps up for IGF!

- Troy

Team Evolution -- Week Ending 22 Sep

We received an unexpected surprise this week, but one that has certainly benefited us--Charlie Mimnaugh has joined our team! With his design sense and Maya skills, we expect great contributions from him as we tackle our last five weeks before the IGF submission deadline. In fact, he's already taken a few of my newest level designs and made whitebox models to drop into Unity.

Which brings me to the next point. Up until now I have struggled with getting a good grasp on how our levels should feel, what would make them the most fun, and how to really let all the features shine. However, because of a fairly simple paradigm shift (no doubt brought on by using some level planning strategies taught in Joe Bourrie's virtual worlds class--thanks, Joe!), these goals have become clear. Now that we have these new levels, it's finally really evident how all the pieces come together. The gameplay has been there for weeks, but without a refined space to use those mechanics to great effect, it was difficult to enjoy the whole experience as intended. And it is good. :)

In short, combining the new levels with the steady flow of new art assets, we're starting to see the true face of our game appear. It is incredibly exciting, after the months of work, to see our intentions take truly playable shape. Awesome.

Five more weeks, and we can't wait to see what we can make happen in that time!

- Troy

One Step Closer -- Week Ending 15 Sep

The deadline for IGF submissions seems to come almost exponentially faster with each passing week, so we're working our tails off to get everything into the game that will make it stand out.

One of the big features implemented this week is the ability to select which character you'll use before entering the chosen level (see the newest concept art for our Hunter class). The engineers are really hitting their tasks out of the park, and gameplay is almost entirely complete. They've even added a number of features to our engine that will make for incredibly smooth design implementation when building the individual levels.

We've created a few extra test levels, and we're using them to determine which chunks are the most fun with our particular gameplay style. From there, we're actually building each successive level with a specific trap in mind, trying to design them to teach the player step-by-step how to use them all.

And that's what we'll be doing next week. Keep an eye out here for test footage soon!

- Troy

Art Feature -- Week Ending 8 Sep

Just wanted to pop in and mention that things are rolling along well in the art team! We got some solid concept work from everyone, including our new outsource members, and some of the assets have moved into full 3D production.

Remember how I mentioned that in order to add a bit of fun to the narrative we opted to create a few avatars for the player to select? Check out these ideas from the mind of Dave Gilder.

Sasha has revisited her Dodo designs and offered a smattering of whimsical takes on her original. Simple and to the point--a range for us to choose from when we select and model our final version.

And both Sasha and Becky have mocked up a stylized take on the environment and world itself. What do you think of the color palettes and geometry of the set pieces?

The game is really starting to come together! Stay tuned for more!

- Troy

The Steady Push -- Week Ending 1 Sep

Not much new to add this week, but just a quick moment to say that we've recuperated from the summer completely now, and development is in full force. We have updated, revised backlogs and new schedules that should keep us on target and in great shape to polish a solid, fun product to submit to the IGF.

Further, we've got one more new addition to our team, artist Becky Pennock. Her work speaks for itself, so we're chomping at the bit to show you some of her images next time. We're excited to have our new teammates, and we can't wait to see the extra level of polish that their efforts will bring to our game.

- Troy

Together Again -- Week Ending 25 Aug

Welcome back! We've been on summer hiatus from our thesis game, Last March of the Dodos, but we're reunited and ready to bring our game to the next level (yes, I just said that). Based on test sessions with several different groups over the summer, we've re-evaluated a number of aspects of our game. After deciding that we are on the right path to where we want to end up, we're confident that we can make it all come together by our end-of-October IGF submission deadline.

While the engineering team is focused in large part on fixing bugs and addressing overall functionality, we've also got them working on a new shop feature that is available in real-time so that players can purchase traps as they need them--at a price, of course.

From the art team, we've established some concrete rules for creating concepts and true assets. We feel that we struggled to find our style early on, but that by following our new criteria we can make a truly cohesive, exciting aesthetic to display the in-game carnage. As part of this, we also have a new outsource artist who is helping us complete all the assets we'll need. Please welcome Sasha as you take a look at some of her ideas!

Finally, we've also determined that we need a true face for the players as they go about hunting the last surviving Dodos. Look forward to some artwork depicting the shady characters who are bent on leading these adorable (but not too bright) island fowl to their  ultimate demise!

- Troy

Only Days Left! -- Week Ending 21 Apr

The art flowed this week, and many of the assets are now in place, not to mention a slew of hilarious sound effects! Brandon modeled a sweet new level for our upcoming alpha demo, and it looks great in the game engine. There's a great vertical element to it, and it should be a blast to see in action once the engineers finish laying the pathfinding system onto it.

In addition, all sorts of smaller (yet necessary) features have been implemented from the engineering side. Four of us put a ton of work into cracking out a fun menu GUI, and now the project actually feels like starting up a software product and jumping into a real video game. It's incredibly rewarding to see things falling into place.

And it's a good thing that they are, because we give our official presentation to the original MGS cohort in a matter of days! Jesse and I are going to spend some serious time hammering out the best presentation we can, and we plan on letting our fantastic team's product speak loudest of all.

We're excited to put the final touches on the alpha build of Last March of the Dodos, so keep an eye here for its official debut!

The Physics of Fun -- Week Ending 14 Apr

Chain reactions in Last March of the Dodos are awesome! The engineers have implemented the ability for players to combo Dodos from trap to trap. This includes everything from the physics of knocking the Dodos throughout the game space, allowing them to be hit with successive traps as they flop around, and keeping track of increasing score multipliers with each trap collision--until they finally come to rest and poof out of existence. With just the physics of some of the traps alone (the mine, for example), it's a blast to send a group of Dodos flying in every direction, and then to watch them bounce around the environment like ragdolls. Other enjoyable scenarios we've discovered include shooting a Dodo with a cannonball so that the force carries it up and off a ramp into space, luring Dodos with bait up a ramp so that they fall onto a mine as they drop off the end, and simply watching them repeatedly run into player-positioned walls until they figure out they're solid and adjust their course.

The individual features involved in these reactions will, of course, require a hefty amount of tweaking to make the experience as fun as it can possibly be. At the moment, the force of many collisions is on the high side, so it's somewhat difficult for a player to precisely calculate where to place the various traps in a chain. Further, creating engaging level designs has proven to be part of the challenge in this process (not that it's ever easy) since there are so few limitations with how players can use their traps at the moment.

Additionally, art assets keep coming along, too. We now have models for the boot, ramp, walls, mine, bomb, environmental fixtures like island huts, and--of course--the impressive Dodo! All the pieces are coming together nicely to make for an incredibly promising alpha build of the game.

Can't wait!

- Troy

Good Thing We Planned for Debugging -- Week Ending 7 Apr

Don't be too scared by the title of the post. Things are rolling steadily forward with Last March of the Dodos. The game is in great shape, and the player can now easily make selections from a clean, focused drop-down inventory to place a wide array of traps in the Dodos' paths (or force the Dodos out of their paths to trigger said traps).

Unfortunately, some of the new functionality of trap chaining has added a bit of extra work to programming the physics of those chain reactions. The engineers are on top of it, but it will take an extra bit of time to get everything in perfectly functioning order. Luckily, we scheduled an extra week of development time strictly for the purpose of overcoming such challenges and debugging everything until it runs smoothly--silky smoothly.

In addition, we've got even more environment, trap, and Dodo modeling completed, as well as a basic map of the menu and gameflow progression. The game marches forward, so check back next week for a new video demo of Last March of the Dodos in action!

- Troy

Alpha Is Imminent! -- Week Ending 31 Mar

Last March of the Dodos is in great shape! Significant progress was made this week by every member of the team. We've got several new mechanics ready to go (chaining, scoring, and more), not to mention several additional trap types available to the player.

In addition to the direct development of the game, even more of the design details have been solidified as our process has evolved. Trap chain potential has been fleshed out to the point that we can now envision emergent gameplay beyond our original designs; that is an exciting prospect!

More models and concept art continue to come to life as well, and it's fun to see how the aesthetics are shaping the gameplay itself.

Another playable build is on its way, so keep an eye out on Last March of the Dodos!

Organizing to Conquer -- Week Ending 24 Mar

Though little visible progress has been made on the game over the past few weeks (Spring Break, GDC, and a few other delays are at least in part to blame), we've actually nailed down a lot of planning, team structuring, and optimizing of our existing game code. In addition, we have an updated Dodo model in the game, so kudos to our art team for the concept progress and continuing implementation of assets!

From a design standpoint, several features have also been more clearly defined, and the team seems to have the same vision of what the game can and should be. We've put into action our customized Agile development process in which every sprint will end with a new build of the game. This way, each week will result in more and more features of our target alpha design being playable. With this methodology, we can efficiently and effectively scale the design to something that's realistic as we work through the coming weeks.

Speaking of design, we've also got several potential level designs sketched out and in the modeling process. Thus begins our quest to find great layouts for chaining traps and machines together and to generate some truly devious Dodo destruction!

- Troy

Forward March! -- Week Ending 3 Mar

Whoa, double meaning to the title of this post (maybe even a triple meaning!).

Pre-production is in full swing! Everyone's ideas have been collected and communicated (not to suggest that inspiration won't hit us with more along the way), backlogs have been formulated, and a release backlog for our alpha version of Last March of the Dodos has been settled upon by the product owner and the team.

Though official development is scheduled to begin in a couple of weeks (GDC is next week, and Spring Break is the week following), several of the team members have gotten a head start on nailing the process. Particularly, Derek, Kamron, and Felix have been hard at work selecting the appropriate development engine and plug-ins necessary to make our game design come to life. At the moment, Unity Pro with the A* AI path-finding plugin looks like the winner (what we were using in the prototyope, but a more robust version). Coupled with the art skills that run rampant in the team, we can't wait to see what our talented group can produce over the next two months!

- Troy

Marching On! -- Week Ending 25 Feb

It's official! Last March of the Dodos was greenlit and will move forward into full production as one of three thesis games our cohort will develop! The hard work and unity of the team paid off with the professionals and faculty alike, and we are pumped to see what we can do over the next 10 months with twice as many developers as we had for the prototype.

We're in the middle of brainstorming and constructing an updated product backlog right now, so there's not a lot of new content to display. Fortunately, that makes this the perfect opportunity to introduce our new team members!

The Team
- Team/Developer Name: Naturally Selected Studios
- New Members
     - Brandon Rees
          - Job: Artist
          - Status: Sweet beard (1 of 2)
          - Skills: Maya master and broad game dev knowledge
     - David Gilder
          - Job: Artist
          - Status: Sweet beard (1 of 2)
          - Skills: Mad drawing abilities
     - Derek Higgs
          - Job: Engineer
          - Status: Pumped up (the jam, that is)
          - Skills: Amazing work ethic and dedication to finishing tasks
     - Felix Lau
          - Job: Engineer
          - Status: Industry-employed
          - Skills: Problem solver extraordinaire
     - Eric Levin
          - Job: Engineer
          - Status: Med school eligible (but he chooses to be here!)
          - Skills: Self-teaching and incredible capacity for retaining new information
     - Jesse Ferraro
          - Job: Producer
          - Status: Fresh-faced and fancy free
          - Skills: Mass media design and team leadership

Sadly, Jorge Elola was assigned to a different team, so he'll be employing his talents elsewhere. We wish him the best but miss him here at Naturally Selected Studios!

- Troy

A Successful Team Effort -- Week Ending 18 Feb

The prototype is complete, and it has been demoed and presented to our faculty, peers, and the professional panel...

And we couldn't be happier with how it turned out!

We received and incredibly positive overall response to our concept and to our presentation. The theme was well-received, as was our implementation of it. While there were certainly some design concerns and some critiques of a few mechanics, most of the comments from the professionals were suggestions for future iterations and compliments on what we had built thus far. If they are making suggestions for consideration n future work, we'll take that as a good sign that we might actually have a shot at putting future work into this game.

Kamron, Jorge, and Chris have done a phenomenal job making this game come to life. Their weeks of work have turned into a great product, and it's been an honor to work with them.

As for the future, we're all stoked to see which games become our theses, and we're excited to team up with more of our peers to really create something special. If one of those thesis projects turns out to be the full production of Last March of the Dodos, well, that would be pretty sweet... Okay, it would be awesome. :)

Here's to the future!

- Troy

Imminent Extinction -- Week Ending 11 Feb

Last March of the Dodos is playable! There's a white-boxed level in place, the Dodos are making their way to their destination, and the player has full control to set traps and watch the Dodos disappear as they die. Only minimal chain reactions are possible, but seeing them in action is pretty cool: place the pie bait, watch the Dodos cluster in large numbers, then--BOOM!--drop an explosion in the middle of them. :) And it's all guilt-free!

Beyond that, we also have a solid vision of how we want our environments to look. Above is a waterfall in Mauritius, the home of the now extinct dodo bird. It's a shame that such a beautiful place has such a dark past.

We present to the faculty and the graduating cohort on Monday, so we're looking forward to how we can clean up our presentation for the professional panel on Wednesday. We can't believe time has flown by so quickly, but we're happy with our progress, and we'd love to continue work on such a fun concept for our official thesis.

Wish us luck!

- Troy

It's All About Style -- Week Ending 4 Feb

We had a couple meetings with our professors and with each other this week, and we came to the conclusion that our game needs to ooze style. Not that we didn't assume or want that before this point, but it was sort of a distant consideration, second to getting the game functioning properly on an engineering level. We realized, however, that even the mechanics need to feel stylized--the physics reactions, the trap effects, the whole package need to be a part of the aesthetic as much as the art style. While that doesn't change much of the work we've done up to this point, it does put a little different spin on the way we think about the project as a whole. Rather than the art and the engineering being two entirely separate pieces, we are starting to recognize just how much collaboration every aspect of the game needs across all the disciplines involved.

That said, it's a good thing that each of the team members has some understanding of what each of the others is doing and is capable. Kamron and Jorge have worked together to figure out how to get traps to place at the player's will on any spot on the level, Jorge and Chris are working together on the 3D modeling of the Dodo, I've been helping Jorge and Kamron lay out algorithms for how the traps function, we've all worked together to determine the final designs of traps and how the Dodos look, etc. We've proven to be a good team so far, and I expect the next (also last) week-and-a-half of development to turn out a great prototype.

The game has playable pieces at the moment, too, though not that fall together into a cohesive game yet. By next week, it will actually play like a game, so take a look at some more concept art in the meantime. Aren't they cute?!

- Troy

Becoming a Team -- Week Ending 28 Jan

There wasn't really a question about the work part of our development this week (we planned on doing a lot of work; we did a lot of work), we weren't entirely sure what would set this week's work apart from any other week.

The answer came in waves, beginning with the definition of what we want to accomplish with Last March of the Dodos. With help from Roger, one of our executive producers, we came to realize exactly why we're making the game: to experience the joy of calculated mass destruction without any of the usual guilt that comes as baggage. Note the three facets of that definition: 1) the joy of mercilessly destroying cute things, 2) a fascination with deliberate mechanical intricacies, á la Rube Goldberg, and 3) the alleviation of any guilt that might otherwise accompany any sort of dodo-cide. Basically, we are making Lemmings the way that it should have been done in the first place (okay, Lemmings was a great game in its own right, but this is gonna be sweet).

Thus, we came up with a team motto as a razor for any work that we do:

And we're not one bit sorry.

In other news, the engineers have the Dodos stoically marching toward their desired freedom now, and you can check out some of Chris's concept art.

Wish us another great upcoming week!

- Troy

Last March of the Dodos -- Week Ending 21 Jan

The brainchild of Kamron Egan, Last March of the Dodos made it through the selection process to be one of seven prototypes the cohort is currently developing as a pitch for our official thesis. Congratulations, Kamron!

In one month, two of the seven will become group theses and enter full production and development. As a team, we're determined to make Last March of the Dodos a standout game, and we think we've got the right combination of concept and team to make it happen. Continue on, and you'll see what we mean!

The Team
- Team/Developer Name: Naturally Selected
- Members
     - Christine Olinquevitch
          - Job: Artist
          - Status: Max ammo
          - Skills: Adobe Illustrator and free-hand drawing; also Portuguese

     - Jorge Elola
          - Job: Engineer
          - Status: Super soldier serum
          - Skills: Maya wiz and system engineering; also Spanish and some Mandarin
     - Kamron Egan
          - Job: Engineer
          - Status: Ain't no dodo
          - Skills: Ridiculous ability to work more than humans should be able to (still); also engine manipulation
     - Troy Johnson
          - Job: Producer
          - Status: Not poisoned
          - Skills: Facilitation and communication; also Swedish

The Prototype (or, what we hope turns into the beginning of our thesis game!)
- Title: Last March of the Dodos
- Status: Ready for detonation
- Skills: Tasking players with dodo-cide. Classy.

Kamron came up with the concept years ago, and now we've got a shot to make this game a reality. Think "Lemmings meets God's Playing Field." The player must ensure that the last of the dodos are extinct at their cosmically appointed time. Unwilling to accept their fate, the dodos will do everything they can to escape. Over time and experience, the dodos will actually learn to avoid the traps that the player sets and adapt to dangerous environmental conditions. Can you bring balance to the universe by ensuring that their species goes the way of the dinosaur when they're meant to?

It may be grim and politically incorrect, but the concept should be a blast. Christine is working on some goofy art, and the whole style will be comical and tongue-in-cheek, so hopefully it will feel quite light, all things considered.

Kamron and Jorge are already hard at work engineering the AI of the dodos and getting level layout tools functioning. Besides task and process management, I've contacted a musician and sound engineer to hopefully get a sweet soundtrack. This game will thrive on the atmosphere and tone we create, so we're excited to show off what we've come up with soon!

- Troy