Week 5 Devlog

This was the first sprint of the game's development and the first week that we all had our own tasks to get working on. As we planned the sprint it was clear what everyone was going to be doing and they all had the individual objectives for the week, myself included. I couldn't help but think that we need to have an overall objective for the sprint that would give us a clear deliverable. We had our pitch deck to start with a practice pitch coming in a couple of weeks and all we had to show was a very cool concept that we all agreed on. I really wanted to have a blockout at the least with some mechanics in place to show off.

With the agile principles in mind;

Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.

Working software is the primary measure of progress.

Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.

(12 Principles Behind the Agile Manifesto | Agile Alliance, 2021)

Am I being way too literal? The sooner we get something playable to Matty or even to Playtest the sooner we know if the game has legs. I am used to setting 12-week projects and I see what can be achieved but there is a difference, we are doing it in 12 weeks Part-Time.

Matty had said at the beginning that we should take our idea and aim to complete a quarter of this, we really need to consider the scope of what we are doing and discuss what is achievable further. We already decided to trim it to a Vertical Slice but I think we may have to cut down further to our core elements.

I discussed this with James, Elliot, and Nick in a short meeting, bringing it up through the development of the Objective Progression Chart. I felt that it was important that if we could agree specifically on what the objective of the slice would be, the aims of the player, and the specific mechanics of the level that we would be able to streamline and refine. I called Elliot and James initially to the meeting as this would affect the mechanics (James) and the Narrative (Elliot). I had no concerns about calling the adhoc meeting and it was certainly open to all, I just wanted to get this clear in my mind so that I could plan. Nick joined the meeting too, which in hindsight I should have suggested as his contribution enables me to work through my ideas without going on a tangent. The meeting wasn't too long and we agreed on a number of ideas, I asked the group if I could have a creative license to allow me to get my design ideas down, and then afterwards this would be up for approval. I wanted to be clear I wasn't stepping on toes or taking control. The Team is still getting to know each other's working attitudes and thoughts, I didn't want to bring in conflict although I wasn't shy about pushing my ideas forward.

By Completing the Objective Progression chart we will have the locations, the mechanics, the gameplay, and the narrative. Enough to get us a design to work from a focus on an end objective. This would fall in line with the MDA Theory as stated by (Hunicke, Leblanc, and Zubek, 2004) where from the designers perspective, the mechanics give rise to dynamic system behaviour, which in turn leads to particular aesthetic experiences. Paul was set on getting started on assets but we really needed to get our mechanics nailed down to then build on the gameplay. Then we would start to see progress in the development of the game. This week would really see that come into effect.

Image Source (Wilson, 2021)

We completed our first Sprint Retrospective, the general feeling was that the print went ok and that the team had finished most of the jobs on the ticket. We discussed the theory of having a holistic objective for the team in the next sprint and not be afraid of pulling up any design flaws. At the end of the week sprint, it is certainly clear that we as a team trust each other and the roles that we are playing in the development of the Game. I wanted the team to address some of their own personal objectives, maybe to discuss where this would be added into the work so that opportunities would be given to the team.

Image Source (Wilson, 2021)

The planning for the next sprint went smoothly with its main focus being the creation of the Practice Pitch Dec. I had already set up the document for the team and Nick had begun to format it. Our responsibilities were linked to what we had been mainly focusing on throughout the design phase. I had taken on GamePlay which makes sense as I would be continuing to design the play and look at a Beat Chart.

U730 board - Agile board - Jira (atlassian.net)

Agile Alliance |. 2021. 12 Principles Behind the Agile Manifesto | Agile Alliance. [online] Available at: <https://www.agilealliance.org/agile101/12-principles-behind-the-agile-manifesto/> [Accessed 17 August 2021].

Hunicke, R., Leblanc, M. and Zubek, R., 2004. MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research. [online] Available at: <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228884866_MDA_A_Formal_Approach_to_Game_Design_and_Game_Research>

Wilson, M., 2021. Team 730 Miro Design Board. [online] Miro.com. Available at: <https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_lAqibTY=/> [Accessed 17 August 2021].