To be honest, this week has seemed rather light in terms of work load for me, but let me back up. Last week, the team told our capstone class and teacher our two primary ideas for a game. Both ideas went over very well in general. The team next decided that we should do some quick prototypes of each idea (one week prototypes) to test the waters for each of them. What we are looking for in these is viability and potential. This week, our programmers are creating the first prototype while the artist creates some concept art for it to give some examples of what the game could look like. The designer meanwhile, is looking into the genre of game (top-down, twin-stick shooters) for inspiration on level and systems design. Her goal is to find ways to hook the player. She is also beginning to think about the 'World narrative' - the way this game world would work as a setting and story piece. These choices to focus this way comes with our process of picking a mechanic and visual setting for the game, without having fleshed out a narrative or the driving factors of the player.
As far as my own piece in all of this as the producer on this project - I have worked with the team to set a schedule for meetings, check-ins, code-freeze and build creation. I also asked the team during the last meeting to set their own 'team-approved' expectations of each individual member of the team. I took these expectations and created and "Articles of Expectations for Individuals" document and shared it with the team. The articles include meeting and class participation, hours expected per week (estimated), expectation of consistent task completion, expectation of member to speak openly during meetings, and a set of agreed upon disciplinary actions if a member of the team doesn't meet these expectations. Discipline is straightforward as they will be approached by individual, then by team, and finally by teacher if they continue to fail in any area. While this all may seem a bit extreme, the team actually has responded very positively to this because it sets a system of accountability in place.
Another aspect I have begun is to think and research into the market for this first prototype. Unfortunately, this has proven to be very difficult as clear data for demographics of players is hard to come by with our schools resources. I can find very broad, general points of data but what I really want/need is data on similar games - specifically who buys and plays them. I am considering posting my own surveys online to see if I can gather this information myself. This will likely be my move once the team decides on which prototype to move forward with.
Beyond that, as I mentioned above, this has been a relatively slow week for me in terms of what's needed. Looking forward, I would like to begin a social media marketing strategy as early as possible for our game. That will likely be a task for me to begin either next week or the following week. For now, this has been another blog post by David - producer for Bullet Mullet.
Comments