H2Outcome? Successful! -- Week Ending 19 Nov

H2Outcome is a success! We completed a running version of the game in time for our presentation to Becky Menlove, Director of Exhibits at the Utah Museum of Natural History. Despite a few technical hiccups in getting the game working on their system, the pitch was well received. We'll be honored to have our game cycle along with a few others in the Utah Futures installation!

Creating this game in under a month has been a wild ride, but our team pulled together to make it happen in fine fashion. The multiplayer vision we invested in payed off, and we ended up with a product perfect for the 5-touchscreens-1-collective-projection installation. Make selections, see their results, receive rewards based on your decisions, and learn something while you're at it--that's been the goal of our project, and the team pulled it off.

We're excited for the opportunity to optimize the program a bit, and then to finally see it in action once it's officially installed for public use.

Many thanks to Becky Menlove and her staff at the Museum; to Boston Productions, Inc. for the research and resources they readily provided us; to the administration and faculty of the Master Games Studio at the University of Utah; and to our awesome team who pulled together under incredibly stressful circumstances to make this game a reality.

Check out the trailer below, then be sure to go play it at the Museum within a few weeks!

- Troy

Home Stretch and Due Credit -- Week Ending 12 Nov

With only one week of development and presenting left, our project has reached critical mass. With 90% of the pieces finalized, it's now simply a matter of fitting the puzzle together into a playable game.

For this post, we want to recognize the fantastic contributions of the individual team members.

- Kamron dominated the network coding and laid out overall tasks of the engineers.
- George implemented the ActionScript and Flash functionality of the player stations and how the clients communicated their individual effects to the game server.
- Eric scripted the animations that reflect player choices on the valley and implemented the list of choices and their effects.
- Ashley created the touchscreen art and layout, as well as the valley backdrop projection and its various states.
- Adam created icons to represent valley resources and awards given for distinct choices.
- Jesse acted as designer, blog creator, Flash mentor, and technical producer.
- Troy acted as designer, facilitated client communication, wrote game text, and worked as art producer.
- Our powers combined, we've nearly completed H2Outcome!

We're excited to refine the game until it's as fun as possible! We're officially presenting it to our client, the Utah Museum of Natural History, this Wednesday. Wish us luck!

- Troy

Managing Resources -- Week Ending 5 Nov

The game is coming along! Our engineers have the network and gameplay framework nailed down, so now it's all about plugging in the researched ecosystem data. With that step, the system reactions and game flow should fall into place, and our game will be on its way to technical completion!

Of course, I'd be doing a disservice to everyone if I didn't mention the artists' work. Without their efforts, the engineers' labor could never be seen or experienced. Luckily, our art team has created a slick, user-friendly interface through which to interact with the game. The gameplay is all about making smart water management choices, and their vision has made this process clean, simple, and efficient. Of course, they're also hard at work a gorgeous backdrop of the Salt Lake Valley as the main visual set piece. It's looking fantastic, and we're excited with the progress that's been made.

We've got one more week of hard work on development, and we can't wait to see the results as all the pieces fit together in the coming days. Check back again soon, but here's a shot of the touchscreen interface in the meantime!

- Troy

Clear Water Ahead! -- Week Ending 29 Oct

With two successful prototypes under our belts, we've rearranged ourselves and combined forces once again--this time to make a game for the Utah Museum of Natural History. I imagine that this is a new challenge for all of us...

The Team
- Team/Developer Name: Crystal Clear Entertainment
- Members
     - Ashley McMillan
          - Job: Artist
          - Status: One Year Older (Happy Recent Birthday!)
          - Skills: Vector art and stylized sprites
    - Adam Zaelit
          - Job: Technical Artist
          - Status: Ready to Rock
          - Skills: Animation art and scripts
     - Kamron Egan
          - Job: Engineer
          - Status: Hero
          - Skills: Combining programming languages into seamless programs
     - George Middleton
          - Job: Engineer
          - Status: Sweet Beard
          - Skills: ActionScript experience for well oiled Flash applications
     - Eric Levin
          - Job: Engineer
          - Status: Med-Student-Turned-Programmer-Extraordinaire
          - Skills: Doing the robot in Just Dance 3--and programming
     - Jesse Ferraro
          - Job: Producer
          - Status: East Coast Flavor
          - Skills: Flash mastery
     - Troy Johnson
          - Job: Producer
          - Status: Generic Utah Flavor
          - Skills: Talking to people

The Prototype (or, what had better be a legitimate game within 3 weeks)
- Title: Unnamed Water Management Educational Video Game (We've been so busy hammering out design details and development processes that we haven't solidified our title yet)
- Status: In hectic pre-pro/production
- Skills: Being a fun, new installment at the Utah Museum of Natural History!

We've been hired by the UMNH to create a game for display when they open next month! It is a one-to-five-player game that receives input from five individual touchscreens and displays the main game via projection on a large, rounded wall. Pretty cool opportunity for first-semester MGS students.

For our pitch, we took what we thought were the best elements from their original canceled game (water management choices, aggregate effects on the valley) and suggested new ways of presenting those elements more simply and fun. There's a timeline-focused game board that avatars move along with each choice they submit, crisp vector art, gamification in the form of awards and titles, and no "beginner mode" or other complexities that inhibit quick exhibit enjoyment.

That might still sound a bit vague, but we're excited to show more of what it all means next week. Plans are moving full-steam ahead, and we've got the team that can make it happen.

Check back often for updates on the progress of this exciting opportunity! And turn off the faucet while you're brushing your teeth.

- Troy

Rescued! -- Week Ending 22 Oct

The Prince's Repulsive Rescue is completed! Well, at least its prototype is finished. Team Repel is thrilled with how it turned out. The physics are accurate, the educational impact is evident, the market and achievement features are functional, and the artwork ties it all together with a sarcastic fairy tale tone. Had we the time and the request to flesh it out (or perhaps create a full game out of it), I think each of the team members would have a great time in full production.

But enough talk; check out the trailer and see for yourself why we were happy with the results!

See you next week with a new team and a pitch for Prototype #3!

- Troy

Repulsive Rescue, Indeed -- Week Ending 8 Oct

It's settled: The Prince's Repulsive Rescue. Gone are the forced names of our protagonist and not-so-distressed damsel. Instead, we've opted for the more generic, and yet somehow more relatable, Prince and Princess. Sir Wingman remains, however. You just can't ditch a name that perfect.

Beyond just the names, we've made significant progress on the game. Ashley's awesome visuals are in place, Kamron and Chris have implemented functional menus and game states, and the player actually controls the on-screen action! With a few physics calculations and a sense of humor, players can now catapult the Prince exactly how they want. Well, they can once they upgrade the catapult, purchase a telescope, and look up the equations in the in-game physics book...

The game will be finished and presented within a couple weeks, so keep a close eye here! Besides, you don't want to miss any of these awesome art assets, do you?

- Troy

Flying into Action -- Week Ending 1 Oct

Things are moving along smoothly. As a team, we’ve solidified the conceptual details of game flow and stage design. Engineers Chris and Kamron have established a convenient framework for putting the components of the game together, and Ashley has produced some incredibly charming artwork. Though it’s not yet in place, we’ve also secured medieval music to round out the ambience and tone. All things considered, the pieces are coming together in a promising prototype.

As a side note, we’ve reconsidered the names of some of the characters and the title of the game itself. It might have been a bit contrived and forced, so we’re thinking of making it more straightforward. We’ll update you as we make any changes!

- Troy