Preparing for Presentation

I will not be spending much time on development this week. Most of my time will be spent working with my group to prepare our presentation. We may also try to polish a few aspects of the game, but we most likely will not be making any major changes.

Finalization

There isn't much going on this week on my end of the project. I will be meeting with other members of the team to work on integration and bug fixes. The upcoming week will probably be used to work on our presentation.

Finishing Vein Game and Integration

This week I be finishing the Vein mini game; which will require me to create a solution algorithm that will be able to detect when pipes are assembled in a way that would lead to victory. I will also be replacing some of the place holder art assets.

This week will also be used to try and work on integrating my mini games into the main game.

Pipe/Vein Mini Game Development

This week I am working on my final mini game for this project. It will be based around the pipe dream type of games that require the player to connect a series of pipe sections to link one point to another. As of right now I have most of the groundwork set up for the game, and the only thing that I have left to do is devise a way for the game to detect the win conditions. I will need to develop an algortithm that will go through the connected pipes and determine if they manage to connect the start and end points. I originally was going to use a static "solution map" and compare it to the game map to see if the pieces were in the right places, but I quickly learned that many of the levels will have more than one way to solve them, and any win detection method I develop will need to take that into account. Next week I should have all of the code completed, and will focus on replacing all of the place holder art assets I am currently using.

Integration Preparation

This week I will be putting a few finishing touches on the code for my two mini games. These changes will fix some of the remaining bugs that are left, and make things easier when it comes time to integrate the various sections of the game. I have also added a few more art assets to the platforming game; which includes art for the various character animations.

Platformer Touchups & Pipe Dream Design

This week I am finishing the code for the platforming mini game; which will involve adding sloped tiles, fixing some collision issues with moving tiles, and adding in an end point that will transition to the next segment of the game. This week I will also begin designing a pipe dream mini game however development of this mini game likely won't occur until next week.

Beta Development

This week I have begun working on the beta stage of our game. I have tried to encapsulate my sections of the game a bit more, in the hopes that when it comes time to integrate everything together there will be fewer issues. I have also spent some time creating a few new tiles for my platformer.

There are only a few things currently missing from my mini games that I still need to add, and that will be my primary focus for the weeks to come. Afterwards I intend to shift my concentration from my own work to helping with integration.

Presentation

There is not much to report this week. I have completed work on my two mini games, and all that is left to do is prepare for the alpha presentation. My group and I will be meeting up later in the week to get things ready for Tuesday. I will probably try to select a few important aspects of my games to include in the presentation; I will also probably try to go through and add some more comments in my code so that it is a bit more understandable.

A Few More Tweaks

My platforming mini-game is completely functional now. However, I still need to replace some of the placeholder art, and I need to create the final "levels". I will be spending some time developing some of the tiles that will be used, but any actual animations will be done by Chris. I may decide to add a few more different types of tiles just to add a bit of variety (such as ladders, elevators, etc.), but for now I am satisfied with it as an alpha version.

Next Stage of Development

My first mini game is functionally complete; it still requires that some of the art assets are updated, and sound will also need to be integrated, but for the most part it is done. I have begun working on my next mini game; which will be a platformer with a food pyramid theme. So far I have some of the basic groundwork established, however I feel that this mini game is going to be significantly harder to code, and I am skeptical as to whether or not I will have it completed on time. My main areas of concern are wall collisions, moving along the ground at an angle, and getting the screen to pan as it follows the character through the level. This mini game will also require much more animation than the rhythm mini game. Despite my skepticism about finishing it on time, I do believe that I'll still manage to get it working.

Week 4 - Production

I have begun production on the rhythm mini game. I have completed the core functionality of the game, but it still requires a lot of fine tuning and adjustments before I can consider it working correctly. This week will likely be dedicating to performing the necessary tweaks, and trying to create the art assets that will be used in the final version of the game (all the current assets are using place holder graphics). I will also require a song to set the game to, but that will be taken care of by another member of the development team.

Begining Production

For the senior project I will be in charge of making two mini-games as well as helping with any programming issues that the other members may have. This week I will begin making a prototype for the first of the two mini-games. It will be a rhythm game similar in design to dance dance revolution. I have already researched various ways in which to implement the game, and now I just need to begin coding. I will probably have a basic working version of the game either by the end of the week, or early next week.

However, one issue that I need to resolve before I get started is consulting the other members of the team about certain parameters that our project will follow; such as what framerate and resolution we should be working with.

Initial Project Design

For my senior project I will be working with a group to develop a flash based educational game for a client. This game will be based upon several childrens' books that were written about various health issues.

This week will be spent working on the GDD, and determining the roles of the various group members.