Semester 2 Week 2 (1/24-1/30)
This week we learned a valuable lesson in the value of communication when we realized that the Orbit movement behavior I had written did not fit with the vision the Lead designer and lead programmer had of the behavior. This week I have rewritten this movement behavior to be more in line with the intended design and taken on the role of QA Lead. While the rewriting is valuable it does feel a little like treading water to be redoing so soon after writing it. The work meetings thus far this week have produced good progress and each time I feel much further ahead with my work than I started. The math for calculating an orbit is rather fascinating as I am discovering with Nick's* help.
My current schedule of curricular and extra curricular activities has cramped my available work time on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. I am currently looking for ways to adjust my schedule so as to have longer contiguous work times on those days.
As we head towards green-light, my role in the team has been evolving towards supporting programmer and QA Lead. I have been supporting Nick as we attempt clean up and simplify the movement system though I have been concentrated on the Orbit movement behavior in particular. As QA Lead I am taking on the responsibility of making sure that we get to QA each week and that we receive useful feedback from testers. I ended up with the position because I was curious and willing to explore the role and it was felt by the team that having one of the programmers be in charge of QA might help us ask better questions of the testers since I would have a better idea of what we are looking for.
*Nick is the team's Lead Programmer.
Friday, January 29, 2016
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
New Day, New Team
Semester 2 Week 1 (1/18-1/23)
Joining a new team is always hard, and the dissolution of the old team still hurts a bit but liking everybody on my new team helps a lot.
I was drafted onto the Serpent Shadows* team and I wasn't sure if I would get along with my new teammates. The team meetings we had during break really helped me get a read on everybody and by introducing me to the team erased any fears I had of not getting along with my teammates (at least on my end). The other important part of our meetings during the break was that I was introduced to the workflow and speed the team operated with, which helped ease me into the team when the semester started.
This first week of work was both an experiment and a warm-up period for the team. We wanted to implement 4 new movement behaviors and use them to help integrate the story with the game play more than it was initially. The movement behavior I worked on was referred to variably as the Orbit or Gravity behavior. This behavior activated when the player was tapping or clicking near the dragons head, the dragon would then begin orbiting around a nearby point. This behavior created a gravity slingshot style of movement which required great precision to arrive at the desired location.
The programmers on the team familiarized ourselves with the code base during this week as well. The base movement system in particular was revamped during the week.
*The game the team was working on is a Mobile based endless runner where the player controls a dragon protecting 4 orbs from the hostile environment you find yourself in. The art is done with shadow puppets and this creates a somewhat ethereal quality in the game.
Joining a new team is always hard, and the dissolution of the old team still hurts a bit but liking everybody on my new team helps a lot.
I was drafted onto the Serpent Shadows* team and I wasn't sure if I would get along with my new teammates. The team meetings we had during break really helped me get a read on everybody and by introducing me to the team erased any fears I had of not getting along with my teammates (at least on my end). The other important part of our meetings during the break was that I was introduced to the workflow and speed the team operated with, which helped ease me into the team when the semester started.
This first week of work was both an experiment and a warm-up period for the team. We wanted to implement 4 new movement behaviors and use them to help integrate the story with the game play more than it was initially. The movement behavior I worked on was referred to variably as the Orbit or Gravity behavior. This behavior activated when the player was tapping or clicking near the dragons head, the dragon would then begin orbiting around a nearby point. This behavior created a gravity slingshot style of movement which required great precision to arrive at the desired location.
The programmers on the team familiarized ourselves with the code base during this week as well. The base movement system in particular was revamped during the week.
*The game the team was working on is a Mobile based endless runner where the player controls a dragon protecting 4 orbs from the hostile environment you find yourself in. The art is done with shadow puppets and this creates a somewhat ethereal quality in the game.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)