Saturday, April 10, 2010: Spirit is still on track - hoorah! No, that's not a reference to Spirit Tracks! :) Our game is progressing very well - I'm liking the results. I'm having fun playing it, even at this early stage. Bob, our programmer extraordinaire, is rocking the house as usual. We added a new gameplay feature this week, which is working well. We continue to refine the AI and player controls. And, we have all of the "player variation" assets in the game now, which is great. We also implemented a large amount of the music audio, which not only helps us see if it accompanies the on-screen action, but also helps us gauge how much memory it all takes up. I now have three "levels" designed out and built in proxy geometry, and I'm happy with how they play. Gregg is working on making them look pretty, and the results are simply gorgeous. We're looking good for our milestone next Friday, April 16.
Progress on Face is also cruising along nicely. We have most, if not all, of the GDD elements now in place and we're now adding details to everything. This stage really helps solidify the vision of the game, which is extremely important. The aim here is to list everything that exists in the game, and add as much detail as possible on how you see it behaving in the game. This not only helps build your own sense of what the game is in your mind, but is also tremendously helpful for the publisher so they too can imagine the game. We're constantly measuring features against the time we have for the project, so it is vital from that perspective too. The scope of the game must fit the time and team you have to make it. Sounds obvious, but it is easy to lose sight of that and design a game that is bigger than you can handle effectively. We should have everything wrapped up with a bow for our milestone on April 23.
Our proposal for Red has been sent to the publisher, and they're evaluating it. They will provide feedback and we'll have some time to implement revisions. This will happen next week. Some key people from the publisher will be visiting us in the next couple of weeks to check on us - all part of their due diligence.
Hope you're having a great day.TTYL.
Jools
