Assets

I've spent most of last week and this weekend working on the assets for my trailer.  I'm very close to being done, I just have the two characters and some icons left.  I'll also need to make and animate the interactive exercise, and re-produce the cursor. Tomorrow will be devoted to finishing these assets and working on art for my other final, and then Monday will be spent animating the trailer, to be done for class Tuesday. I'm very anxious to have this project done.

Trailer

Having come to the realization that I won't be able to have my game finished by the end of the quarter, I've decided to work on a trailer which will be able to effectively communicate my design. Yesterday, I storyboarded the trailer and started sketching up some UI designs. Since I'll be doing a trailer, the visuals will need to be top-notch. For reference, Loren referred me to Gangster City by playfish and The Agency by Sony. I really, really enjoy The Agency's UI design, and am drawing most of my inspiration from that, however Gangster City should be noted for the high level of reactivity to the user. Today, I'll be working primarily on getting those graphics done, so I can start animating and creating the trailer.

Revised To Do List

In an attempt to get as much as I can done and functioning, I have revised my To Do List, cutting back to the bare essentials necessary.  The following is my revised list--things in italics are being considered non-essential and will be cut if time does not allow, and things struck out are currently implemented and functioning.

• Narrative
• Areas
• Missions
• Programming
• Player Setup
• Interface
• Stats
• Areas
• Selection
• Display
• Missions
• Display
• Completion
• Loot
• Intel
• Interaction
• Success Rate
• Exercises
• Math Problem
• Energy
• Exams
• Timing
• Interface
• Treasures
• Collections
• Store
• Buy
• Sell
• Equipping
• Inventory
• Stats
• PvP
• Send Challenge
• Results
• Send Results

Back-Up Plan

As the quarter progresses, I'm becoming more and more aware of just how much there will be to program, and my confidence in my ability to get it done on time is dwindling.  I have spoken with Loren about this on a number of occasions, and I've come to the decision that, if I can't finish this on time, then as a back-up plan I'll be able to produce a trailer of the game, communicating my design and ideas visually.  The point is to have something portfolio-ready by the end of the class that accurately represents my game, and so if the game itself is not functioning, the trailer will do just as well.

The deciding point will be Alpha--at that time, I'll reassess myself, taking note of how much time it will take me to finish the game.  If I feel less than confident in my ability to get it done, then I will switch gears and complete the trailer.  If there is time after the trailer, I'll continue programming the game, but at the very least I need something complete and presentable for my portfolio.

To Do List

I've made a To Do List that I'm hoping is pretty fleshed out.  I'll update as I think of more things to add.  Right now, I've got the navigation between pages done, and the display of the areas and changing areas done.

To-Do List

• Narrative
• Areas
• Missions
• Programming
• Interface
• Stats
• Areas
• Selection
• Display
• Missions
• Display
• Completion
• Loot
• (Potential: Mini-game)
• Intel
• Interaction
• Success Rate
• Exercises
• Math Problem
• Energy
• Exams
• Timing
• Interface
• Treasures
• Collections
• Store
• Buy
• Sell
• Equipping
• Inventory
• Stats
• PvP
• Send Challenge
• Results
• Send Results

Server and Saving

I've got my navigation more or less programmed, though I found a better way to do it AFTER I'd finished things.  I'll be spending hopefully no more than a half hour streamlining it, so that I save time doing content in the future.

On the plus side, a good friend of mine, Nate, is helping me out A TON by writing the PHP script I'll need for saving and loading player data with an SQL database.  He's also hooked me up with webspace, which is awesome.

Tomorrow in class, I look to fixing the navigation, then continuing to work with areas and missions.  Hopefully I can get those displaying correctly--thankfully, I think it's the sort of thing where, once I do it once, I'll be able to quickly reproduce it for most of the rest of my content.

Real-World Return

Today in class, Professor suggested an awesome idea: use some sort of points system such that parents can deposit money for items which the player can purchase with points earned in-game.  The parent(s) can, essentially, "unlock" various prizes by spending money, but in order to actually "win" the prize the player must earn points through completing exercises, practice problems, and practice tests.  This provides a form of motivation that is not dependent on the player having interest in the game itself, and provides a real and immediate return for the player.

On a related note, the game is not necessarily tied to SAT math, though that is the base focus.  For my final presentation, I should probably include a note on how the same idea and systems can be adapted to any level of math.