Fun, But Long Meetings

WEEKLY NARRATIVE

So this week I did a lotta level designing and web developing. Most of the web development was fixing bugs from last week, including showing all posts, along with a working tagging system. I also updated the team page so now everyone has a profile with descriptions of who they are and statistics about them. 

Level design wise I created a few floorplans, ideas for new mechanics, and had a lot of debates with TheOtherMatt™ about the direction of the game. Somehow both Matts ended up being the primary level designers, which is pretty funny.

Beyond that we came up with a new system for handling our design meetings so that they can be shorter and probably more realistic to what a real company would do. Now we have designers create and pitch their ideas, floorplans, art directions, and mechanics then have everyone else deliberate about what's good and bad and what we should keep. Before we were presenting and discussing at the same time, so it would turn into a lot of tangents and debates over every little detail. Hopefully this new meeting style will make things easier and shorter.

CONTENT WITH HOURS

• Fixing bugs on the website (7 hours)
• Went to 2 full team meetings, 1 design meeting, 1 programming meeting (5 hours)
• Designed in sketchbook and Adobe Illustrator designs for the hospital lobby, tutorial, and new ability: invis. (4 hours)
• Added everyone to the team page of the website with descriptions and statistics (5 hours)
• Created a time sheet that everyone can track their tasks on, along with aiding in workflow documentation (30 min)

WORKFLOW EXAMPLES

A Design for the lobby (not going to be used entirely)

POSITIVE OUTCOMES

• Fleshed out a lot of the design for the beginning of the game by making micro and macro level designs
• Had long, in-depth discussions of level design and direction for this game, which improves my game development vocabulary and level design skills
• Fixed a lot of bugs on the website so it's actually usable

NEGATIVE OUTCOMES

• Spent way too much time on certain discussions, which could have been more constructive and creative instead of critical and deconstructive.
• Still somewhat unsure of where to go in terms of level design and concrete structure of the beginning of the game
• The website still has a couple small bugs.

NEXT TASKS

This week I will stop doing so much web development and focus moreso on just level designs. With our new structure for meetings, I need to come up with a lot of ideas, and more concrete floorplan levels before the meeting instead of deciding during the meeting. It might also be in my best interest as technical director to familiarize myself with what the art and programming departments are doing so that they are tracking well. 

TOTAL HOURS LOGGED THIS WEEK:  23.5 hours