SPRINT 6 - Final Polish 10%

John

Coffin

Factory Workers

Scarecrow Enemy

Tutorial

Level 01

Tutorial Level

Level 01 Layout & Block-Out

Finish Level 01

Sculpt, Rig, & Animate Harvester Boss for Level 01 Boss Area

Complete Level 02 Level Design and Level Itself | Swamp & Swamp Village

Sculpt, Rig, & Animate Witch Enemies for Level 02

Finalize Concept, Sculpt, Rig, & Animate Final Boss

TAXES ON VIRTUE

IN CLASS CREDITS

Kodiak Clifton - Project Manager

Sarah Ross - Tech Engineer

Mike Cannon - Lead Character Artist

Gert Slevin - Art Director

Hugo Martin - Environment Artist

Joseph Branderhorst - Environment Artist

Tyler Lund - Environment Artist

Byron Lacy - Lead VFX Artist

Anna Johnson - Pre-Production Manager and Environment Artist

Nathan Ahn - Level Designer and Playtester

OUTSOURCE CREDITS

Beth Latta - Sound Director

Aidan Jones - Sound Designer

Albert Shami - Sound Designer 

Snow Gillett - Sound Designer 

Dylan Ferguson - Composer 

Gabriel Buckner - Character Artist 

KC Gomez - Character Artist 

Jin Qian - UI Artist 

Mae Harmon - Character Concept Artist 

Michelle Kim - Illustrator and Storyboards 

Malcolm Chan - Character Concept Artist 

Shayla Hammer - Character Concept Artist 

Ari Zaritsky - Concept Environment Artist 

Austin Bookman - Character Concept Artist 

Angel Harris - Character Concept Artist 

Derek Guardado - Trailer Illustration 

Ponta Haghighi - Mocap Director

Valerie Manning - MoCap Clean-up and Animation 

 Alexis Cole - Mocap Clean-up and Animation

Elif Unveren - Animator 

Maddy Rose - Actor 

Parks Braid - Actor 

Lilian Brownlee - Actor 

Mariaeliza Lopez - Actor 

Olivia Hardeman - Voice Actor 

Tyler DiNinno - Voice Actor 

Ben Mauney - VFX Artist 

DESIGN

The overall design is very strong, we have a very clear aesthetic and everything is mostly cohesive, unforeseen problems come from not communicating level ideas clearly enough and having clashing ideas

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we have a strong narrative design, but by its nature, it’s a little obscure on purpose to the player, and that’s a hard thing to balance. i would’ve probably switched the order of the game. perhaps starting in the farm instead of the factory? there are definitely other ways we could’ve structured it that might’ve been better, might’ve been worse. 

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Our design is very strong and has a good sense of aesthetic and game identity. Continuous playtesting and open team discussion has helped us a lot in terms of design. 

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at first, scope felt really large despite the outsource team size we had. we had a lot of ideas, but also a lot of conflicts and confusion in the design. it took a while for us to be able to really get a grasp on what the final vision should be and the steps to get there. lots of trial and error, testing, etc. i think if we were to do this differently -- we have a loonngggg list of just all the finalized ideas and visions so that we can refer to it for clarity / as well as just generally communicating with one another in the server so that anyone could answer what questions we might have had 

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when it comes to design, it is pretty solid, though there are times where the layout of the map struggles to handle the player and how the player interacts with things. There needs to be more planning for spacing.

Strengths: Tension with resource management with coffin, Strong narrative design elements forcing the player to make moral choices, throwing coffin is a lot of fun.

• Weakness: The game isn't very scary or tense with regards to the enemies, Limited replayabilty though in fairness this is a student project.

• What I would do different: I would suggest playtesting sooner.

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I'm happy with how its going but i dont think the feel is quite there yet. most of that is juice tho so we'll get there 

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Overall, the design was very good. The world was well-developed, and it was evident that a lot of passion and care went into this project. If given the chance to revisit, I would consider changing the camera angles, although I appreciate the third-person perspective. The design has not yet reached its full potential, but I am confident that we will achieve this in the next quarter.

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Strengths are the fun visuals of throwing the coffin, weaknesses are that the game is not scary as intended and there is no difficulty once players know the keybinds. 

SCOPE

The scope was a little too big, we anticipated on finishing level 1 but that didn’t happen, hopefully next quarter

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i was expecting to have put the tutorial behind us awhile ago but i underestimated how much attention it would need. either way, i think we are on track to have the farm and swamp mostly for studio 3

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The scope was too large at the beginning but I feel like the team recognized and pivoted well towards a more realistic timeline for both Studio ii and Studio iii. 

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like mentioned in question 2, the scope was initally too large for the quarter. expecting a whole level by midterms was asking for a ton and we could not totally reach that point. we had to push produciton of tutorial further than anticipated and eventually had to have people working on both the tutorial and level 1 at the same time (which isn't awful, but was not what we had initially anticipated). i think with the pace that we are currently at though, we will still be able to get to the final boss for both level 1 and level 2 by the end of the next quarter. we have had some substantial updates for level 1 (even after we had to totally rehaul the design of it), so i have a ton of confidence in the completion of this game

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Originally, I was worried about the scope being too big, but seeing how quickly things have come along this quarter, I am confident that this is doable for our class.

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I believe the scope easily could have been too if we didn't have the all star team we already have and the contributions they made. 

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i think we got this. we did about 1 and a half levels this quarter so i think we can do it again next q. it really helps that kodiak got started early on the mechanics

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The initial scope was overly ambitious, encompassing a tutorial, the first level, and a boss fight all within the first quarter. In hindsight, this was a significant undertaking for such a limited timeframe. Despite having a sufficiently large team, downsizing and minor issues prevented us from realizing the desired scope, which is acceptable under the circumstances.

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The original scope of having the boss fight this quarter was too large. I feel level 1 could have been more complete if we had known the map layout earlier. 

PLANNING

Our planning at the beginning of the quarter was definitely our strong suit, towards the middle of the quarter it started to fall apart with level 1

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a lot of my planning revolved around setting a general scope for each sprint, and then trusting people to break up their general tasks into more specific ones. overall, i think this went super well. the check in channel helped a bunch

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The planning was a success due to the regular sprints and later the daily check ins. I never felt like I didn't know what I was supposed to do. 

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i think with the scope -- the planning could have been better. like mentioned before, there were tons of times in which there was confusion and contradiction with what people were working on and ideating. i think the planning of each level has gotten better though as we have been learning from our mistakes and overall communcating better with one another for the most part 

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Things were planned well, near the end we had a good grasp on what is possible for a project like this, and adapting when necessary to work within those constraints.

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Initially, we had a hard time gauging work flow and establishing communication though once these issues were fixed in midterms the rest was smooth sailing. 

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overall we did really well, there were a few instances where lists had to be re-worked or werent properly utilized 

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The planning phase was well-conducted, but there was room for improvement in communication. Certain areas within the planning teams experienced subpar communication, although the upper leadership managed to maintain order effectively. I am pleased with the team and greatly enjoy working on this project.

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The initial requirements for the class like jira and the wiki weren't helpful to the team, and figuring out their transition wasted time. Going into next quarter may be difficult as we are not using our new spreadsheets as they were intended to be used. We may be asked to change our method again entirely. 

EXECUTION / TESTING

I discovered speed tree and have been having a blast learning the ins and outs of the program, my workload was always very manageable and I was able to pump out assets at a good rate, unforeseen issues were definitely pipeline related when it comes to unreal, there needs to be a huge talk about that

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coding is hard. you can never predict what will be easy or hard to code if you’ve never done it before. i anticipated this so i wasn’t too frustrated when things broke on me. i wasn’t expecting to have so much involvement with the mocap or sound stuff but i think it’s been good for me! i learned a ton. 

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I had difficulty implementing the metahuman rigs in game, as they are made more for portfolio pieces than real time projects. This caused a stall in the animation implementation, so if I were to do it again I would test the rigs around midterms. 

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i think a lot of difficulties that arose for me were the fact i was also taking studio 1, as well as having issues in my person life to where i had to move -- which caused a lot of issues in just getting things done as a whole. there was also a ton of miscommunication that was happening in which i had to fix things that hadn't been working. personal issues and the miscommunication were some of the more surprising issues and most detrimental to my time and getting things done. i continue to discover my ability to help my team though best i can and do my best to make sure that they are putting out their best work. its a ton of work, but with studio 1 finally behind me i will be able to not only support my team but also work more along side them and pump out assets 

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Over the course of this project, I have become more confident in my tech ability, and helping to make the game more optimized. I have been doing a lot of bug fixing and important things that, though they typically aren't noticed, help to make the game function. Going forward I hope to be able to use my skills for other parts of the game.

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I think execution as mentioned previously was rocky with standards initally not being met but as time went on we discovered groupmembers strengths and weaknessess 

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stellar. i am very happy with how everyone on the team has been working

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The execution and testing phases could have been improved. Having additional playtesters would have been beneficial. Personally, this project has broadened my horizons and enhanced my self-awareness and capabilities. My skills as a 3D modeler have improved significantly, and I am proud of the effort I put in during this quarter. I am eager to contribute more in the next quarter to create the game we envision. The workload was manageable for me, as this was the primary focus of my studies.

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I did a lot of odd jobs and hole filling, before focusing entirely on sculpting. I didn't really improve any skills beyond powerpoint and zbrush. I should have kept my tasks to one or two at a time initially to save on stress. 

SUPPORT

Kodiak and gert were definitely the main go to when things went poorly, it probably caused them some stress so I’ll try and discuss with others

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i would take a deep breath, get a snack, and take 10 minutes to myself. luckily, everybody has been total troopers through everything which has greatly helped my stress :3 thanks guys 

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When things weren't going well I talked to Kodiak or Gert to share my concerns and figure out a new plan of action for whatever issue we were facing. 

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i communicated best i could when things were not going well as i discovered who would be best to communicate each issue with. i also did my best to take issues in my own hands and do my best to fix them in order to allievate other team members 

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What always helped me was voicing my concerns and asking for help. A lot of the times when I was stuck or struggling, talking to others who knew the situation better not only helps me then, but helps me to do it by myself later on.

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We communicated what standards needed to be met with the parties involved and established roles from there. 

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i think we did a good job of having each others backs 

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I felt the support was very well managed. There were never any moments when I felt overwhelmed by the amount of work assigned to me, which I attribute to our strong team, especially within the environment art section. I primarily worked with Gert, Hugo, and Joseph, and all three were very considerate and open regarding work matters. They also provided excellent feedback and constructive criticism. 

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Friends, hobbies, etc when things got stressful. 

COMMUNICATION

Communicated between the art team was fantastic and amazing, the environment team has been amazing to work with and I enjoy it so much there have been no issues

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it was all over the place for awhile , but once we started doing the check in channel and stuff around midterms (?) i think it got better. stuff still fell thru the cracks but it’s a step in the right direction. for studio 3 , i’m going to get everybody in the loop on design decisions as they’re being made and finalized so everybody can voice their support or objections for big decisions 

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I had a lot of great communication with our outsourced animation team, because they were on discord regularly and also at Monty a lot. They told us immediately when there were issues to fix in terms of the rigs and the retargeting. 

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as the quarter went on, the communication amongst the team improved and the flow of the project was improved. playtesters were giving fantastic feedback and helping us improve our game to make the flow of the game itself better 

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I always double check that my tasks and fixes are green-lit before implement, and showing off what i have done for feedback.

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Communication was poor for half of the quarter but eventually the problems were resolved. 

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ideas were communicated well and questions were always answered 

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Communication initially seemed unstable. Many behind-the-scenes activities were not known to us until halfway through the quarter. Afterward, we all became more transparent with each other, which, I believe, improved our communication. 

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Problems with communications were addressed throughout the quarter. Transparency with the whole team was something that should have been day 1. 

LEARNINGS

This was definitely a success, this project has pushed my artistry and helped me develop new skills that will be very useful for the industry

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SUCCESS! we got SO MUCH DONE THIS TERM! and with everything i learned, studio 3 is going to be even better 

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I'd say this studio was a success. I think everyone on the team is prepared for Studio iii, as we all grew into our roles and know eachother's working habits.

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huge success. despite everything that had been going on we were able to produce such a beautiful and interesting game. i am confident in our team going into studio 3 and cannot wait to see the final outcome of our game 

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Overall, Success! I have enjoyed the work I have put in for this project and it has been a good experience.

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I believe that this project was a success, we set our goals and achieved them 

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it was successful 

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I gained a significant amount of knowledge from this project, particularly in adopting new systems and software, as well as broadening my expertise in already familiar software, especially Maya and Substance Painter. I am very proud of the effort invested. 

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I learned a lot. Success.