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

Prototype 2 Has Begun -- Week Ending 24 Sep

Within a week of completing our first prototype, we have already banded together in new teams and started work on the second of four game projects for this semester. Let me introduce you to the new hotness...

The Team
- Team/Developer Name: Team Repel
- Members
     - Ashley McMillan
          - Job: Artist
          - Status: Girl Power!
          - Skills: Charming toons and polished fairy tales
     - Kamron Egan
          - Job: Engineer
          - Status: Superhuman
          - Skills: Handling more work than should be humanly possible
     - Chris Bright
          - Job: Engineer
          - Status: Spread Shot
          - Skills: XNA master
     - Troy Johnson
          - Job: Producer
          - Status: Comfy Chair
          - Skills: Sticky-noting

The Prototype (or, what we hope turns into the beginning of a legitimate game)
- Title: Prince Alarming's Repelzel (Repelzul?) Rescue (We still haven't determined how we plan on spelling the captive princess's name.)
- Status: Alarmingly Charming
- Skills: Teaching freshman mechanical engineering concepts (We hope this turns out to be true.)

This time, our game is meant to be used to teach freshman mechanical engineering concepts. Perhaps it could be used for in-class exercises, perhaps as homework, perhaps simply as a practice tool. Whatever its eventual use, it must be complex enough to actually teach while still being as fun and engaging as a video game is expected to be.

We were able to pitch our concept to a ME faculty member during the week: Prince Alarming is trying to rescue Princess Repelzel by launching himself from a catapult into her tower window (apparently her hair isn't long enough, after all). Of course, she's not that easy to win over, so she requires him to collect goodies and treats of monetary value during his flight. If he doesn't have enough cash when he reaches her, she tosses him back out so he can try again. Unfortunately, Alarming isn't quite smart enough to figure out the engineering and physics behind his catapult, so he employs his best friend, Sir Wingman, to do the calculations and set-up for each launch (players essentially take the role of Wingman).

With that premise, we now have plenty of work to do--figuring out the best type of catapult to implement into the game; setting up a market and upgrade system; and creating beautiful, goofy art to tie it all together.

Check back often for updates on the progress of our educational game. Hey, you might even learn a thing or two.

- Troy

We Did It! -- Week Ending 17 Sep

We have officially completed our first prototyping phase, and, therefore, we have wrapped up development on Clean-up Crusaders!

We presented the prototype on Wednesday, and everything went relatively smoothly (all things considered, of course). The latest build was definitely the closest to our original vision for the game, and all the gameplay features required for it to stand out were present. In particular, the verticality and aerial gameplay shone (albeit with occasional camera issues), and the trash-collection-time-boost mechanic hit right on target. Though the art was not representative of our ultimate goal, it was certainly satisfactory, and it generally gelled with the feel of the game.

Now that it's complete, The Lords of Awesome are going to enjoy a light reprieve until next week's game project begins. While you wait for that, here's a brief gameplay video for you. Enjoy!

- Troy

Almost There! -- Week Ending 10 Sep

The mechanics are scripted, the level is laid out, and 95% of the assets are in their proper places. From here on out, it's simply a matter of testing, tweaking, and polishing.

Oh, and the prototype/game now has an official name! Are you ready for this?

Clean-up Crusaders! (However, it is still a YOU Can Save the World! video game--we don't wanna lose the franchise power.)

Sounds just like a cheesy clone platformer aimed at elementary school children in the '90s, right? That's because it pretty much follows that mold. Our goal is for it to be nostalgic for some, educational for others, and genuinely interesting and fun for all. Though it might seem to follow an older style in certain aspects, we've implemented some creative platforming elements and end-of-level rankings to add replayability. (I just realized that I might have already told you some of that. Well, it's probably even better than the point it was last time I mentioned those features.)

We're just about ready to start preparing the official presentation for this coming Wednesday, so here's a final preview, art assets in place before the project is officially complete:

- Troy