(This reflection covers the third week of semester, from Monday March 14th to Sunday March 20th 2016)
As a result of the week 2 pitch, the lack of scope in the ideas that we have pitched as well as the fact that not everyone on the team was completely sold on those ideas, at the beginning of this week, my team sat down and finally decided upon a concept to go forward with for this year. This involved us laying all the ideas that we had been brainstorming out on the table and independently voting on each idea through 5 criteria on a 1-5 scale:
Passion: How much we want to work on the idea
Scope: How well scoped we believe the idea is
Novelty: Whether we think the idea is unique or novel
Display: How well we think the game would look as a final product, visually
Engagement: How well we believe the game will engage the player
Of all our ideas, the idea for a “faster-than-fast”-paced hack and slash (codenamed Snip-Snap) came out on top, scoring highly in the passion, display and engagement categories. With this definitive outcome confirmed, we got together as a team to talk about the idea, particularly in terms of setting, and to get everyone on the same page.
As we were conducting this meeting however, it was becoming clearer that some members of the team have been somewhat unsatisfied with how some design choices are decided - myself included. In particular, there seemed to be an issue with the way in which the design brief of the idea seemed to have a level of finality that was not indicative of everyone’s input, but rather the member who had written it up. We sat down and considered how everyone felt on the matter, honestly and openly, and made real strides as to how we conduct ourselves with each other professionally.
The main takeaway from this particular meeting was that everyone in the team should be able to be critical of each other, without anonymity. For example, a real issue the team had was the setting of the game. Initially, the game was based in a “sci-fi, matrix-like world.” Our lead artist in particular however, did not only thoroughly dislike the setting, but also had strong doubts that he could illustrate this world genuinely and was concerned that he would not connect to it. Gracefully, the designer who came up with the idea agreed that the setting was more or less mediocre, and agreed to work with our artist to create something more collaborative between the two, and furthermore between the rest of the team.
This new setting comes in the form of a world in which giant bees threaten the existence of all humans. A blurb that I wrote up (but ended up going unused) sets up the setting and narrative well: Deep in the woods, the mild-mannered honey bee has discovered a source of pollen so potent, magical powers have been bestowed upon them. As they expand their Giant Bee Temples into human civilization, you, a small adventuring child, have been exposed to their magic honey and are now the only one able to stop the bees from making Earth their new hive.
The player will explore various settings, notably these “Giant Bee Temples,” in an attempt to push back the bees. Gameplay comes in two phases: hack and slash combat, and exploration. The hack and slash combat is tight and fast-paced, with a series of dash attacks, dodges and blocks being utilized by the player to eliminate swarms of enemies quickly and efficiently. Exploration comes in the form of typical dungeon gameplay, with the player progressing further through a dungeon to the goal (which may be a boss, extensive combat phase, etc.).
With this new concept, new setting and new working title in hand (Beeblade) we charged on towards the third and final pitch, and were essentially told something that we all knew and we all knew had to be fixed: that our game was not unique. Adding onto that, we were told to look into the ways setting can be integrated into the game mechanics. Alex said that there was no connection between the setting/narrative and the gameplay of the game, and went on to give us a great example in something simple like the protagonist being able to swim through honey due to this magic honey that they have been exposed to.
In the next two weeks, we’ll be looking closer at these types of mechanics as we further iterate and put together a game design document. As currently the setting is the most unique part of the game, we need to squeeze as much as we can get out of that in terms of gameplay elements, while also looking at how this can affect, vary and make the hack and slash mechanics interesting.
As Laz said to us, we’re now weeks behind some of the other teams, and it’s really time to knuckle down and catch up.
