Week 5 - 6: First Prototype, Playtesting, and the Beginnings of Asset Modeling

Summary

The fifth and sixth weeks of development were spent building a prototype to test the player mechanics and playtesting with three playtesting sessions. The prototype was built to accommodate the basic player actions of throwing and rolling snowballs, as well as building snowmen with two main functions. During playtests, while the team was focusing on observing the reactions to the snowman-building mechanic, the rolling mechanic caused the most issues and is currently the subject of much revision.

Individual Contribution

For the submission this week, I was primarily involved with the organization of the documentation. Before playtesting began, I was the leader in establishing the protocol that had to be followed when conducting the playtesting. I also wrote a good portion of the revised GDD including major sections of the Prototype Rationale and Outcomes section including design questions, type and rationale of the prototype built, a summary of how the prototype clarified the questions and the internal review design refinements. Aside from what was included in the submission for the first playable, I also began to make the process of 3D modelling. I began with the model of the protagonist, currently, he is fully modelled with most of the texturing completed.

Reflection

These last couple of weeks have shown the importance of playtesting. I think that it was vital to understand the gap between the design intentions of the development team and the result experienced by the player. The big, unexpected result came from the fact that though we were worried about how engaging the snowman mechanic was, most of the issues found centred around a core attack mechanic that the team did not expect issues to come from. Individually, character modelling the main character was beginning smoothly. Though I am a bit rusty in modelling humanoid characters, I am becoming more comfortable. A concern I do have is how best to model and rig the character’s cape, though that is an aspect I expect I will have to experiment with in the upcoming weeks.

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