Forums Thread

First order of business can I have everyone check the estimated times on their agendas listed in their role.  You can use the sprint screen to view all agendas on this sprint by role on the right.

Second thing after reviewing the agendas does anyone see anything listed that at this point can not be done or an agenda that needs more information.  If so lets open the floor to discuss it and get the information on these now.

On my end, an outline in 9 hours is very doable-I anticipate it will not take this long

can you give me an estimte please

5 hours will likely be fine for me too. I will be aiming for something more sci-fi and futuristic, up tempo and rousing so, if I'm way off, please let me know and I can get working on something more appropriate. If you can give me some examples of what you think would fit here then I'm very flexible.

I also worked on background sound for the menu selection screen mentioned previously with blacksmith and machine sounds. No problem if we don't need it anymore though :)

Sean 

7 hours should be plenty.As soon as the outline is done I'll move on to chapter 2

@Matthew ok that has been adjusted to 7 hours

@Sean Awesome sound like a good place to start, as far as the blacksmith noise keep them for now the agenda was tabled for a bit. Once we get to the menu screen we will need them we are going to do these GUI screens for the game in order starting from the first one the logo screen and following the flow chart on the Game Design Document for the rest of them to follow.

@Johannes

I have answered your question in the game design document below. Some of your question have been combined or separated so I can directly answer them.

Focus of the Game

                Think of this game design document as Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart does not only focus on just electronic store. They have many different sections to sell products. This game will be the same way; we will work on all aspect systems to the game. Each system will be as separated from the game as possible. But when playing the system together you get a game that has a lot of different ways to entertain the end user.

Starting Point

                To start we will be focus on the entire graphical user interface of the game. This will be completed before we move forward. The next step we focus on will be probably PVE and all aspect of it. We will focus on each section one at a time. The order of these more depends on the programmers and the functionality of the game engine. I will leave this up to them as they are coding it and need it in a certain order to help build this application like Legos.

Combat / Exactly Want We Want

                Will more likely compare to LOL. But work like Mech Warrior Online. We are going for a 3^rd person over the top arcade like game.

Design Goals

                Right now our sprint is the goal we set new goal on every sprint. Do you have something else in mind? Or directly related to design alone?

Commander

                I like your idea of the award system vs. punishment lets make that change.

Scope

                We should have a meeting about this I am a little confused. The listing there is just a general concept idea of what will be involved. We will focus on what they can do in the graphical user interface when that screen comes up for development.   Which are the firmware, pilot, and bay screens of the graphical user interface flow chart.

Freedom/Close Game Design Document

                Freedom comes at a cost to the team. All changes now and forever will pretty much be what the team choice as there is always a downside to modifications. The game application itself will not change genre we will be creating the game play mention in the “Combat” section above I mention. If a choice has to be made and no one inputs a complaint about it etc or if a choice has to be made because we are split then I will make an executive decision at that point. But I want the teams input if any. So any modification to what we are making should be placed here in the kanban first.

@JamesF
First of all
I really like the atmosphere here and how well everything is organized. It doesn't feel like I'm working with hobbyist here, its very professional! ( even though I haven't seen much right now, just wanted to say it )

Scope
Okey, if these are just concept ideas its no problem.
I think of more specific ways to do it, I test it in the prototype soon.
Same thing with every other aspect of the game. I try to specify as fast as I can every aspect we want in the game

Design Goals:
Yeah I have something other in mind. Game design goals mean what we want the game to be like. At this part im not talking about the mechanics we make, I talk about the goals we make for the aesthetics ( MDA Framework), what the player "feels" when he plays the game.

P.S: funny you mentioned lego, I think I make the boardgame "mechs" lego figures :D

@Johannes

I'm glad you like the environment and I loved Lego when I was younger :)

As far as the MDA lets make a section in the GDD that way it is separated from the mechanics for the programmers logic.

@Melissa

The newsletter look great however the formatting (Line Breaks / Spacing) of the ones below need to match the others ones.  I have sent this back to you.

http://www.thoucurator.com/team/viewnewsletter?newsletterId=8

http://www.thoucurator.com/team/viewnewsletter?newsletterId=9

http://www.thoucurator.com/team/viewnewsletter?newsletterId=12

I wanted to let you guys know-though nothing is posted yet I am writing-I will post when I have a more substantial amount polished.I pretty much scrapped my outline after chapter 2 since I wasn't providing much opportunity for game play to mesh with the story line.I will have something post worthy by tomorrow evening.If you want or need something sooner I can give you what I have and fix it later.Peace

Am I right in thinking that Matches will be held on maps like most MMOs? I am currently writing with this in mind and planing on putting multiple map opportunities into the story.I am using Earth,the Moon,Venus,Mars and some Moons from Saturn.The story Disaster will take place in orbit around Jupiter.Let me know what you think as this will effect my writing.

@Matthew Yes they will be something like MMO's but more closely probably LOL.

@ James-I think an RTS/Shooter/MOBA is an awesome idea-which is what I see this as if I am understanding right.The Bottom line is that game play will restricted to arena like situations and not an open world.

I wanted to come to the group with my idea in as far as pursuing the splash screen.  Personally, I think we should pursue a three screen progression that first is simply our logo.  I think this separates the company from the game and allows each to be its own entity but also gives credit to those responsible, US. Second screen could be the (now) login screen art in which the Shoulder weapon light and mech eyes get brighter if there is a way we can write a code for that in the game.  And look into adding some dust movement as well.. all of this simultaneously happening while the game is "loading"

After the loading completes, we go to our NEW login screen which i am going to try to integrate the splash screen art style and comic panel style together.  This way its cohesive with the comic story as well as stays close to the ominous feel I've given the art submitted for the (prior) login screen.  Thoughts? Suggestions? Questions? 

Love that idea Mel.  You guys are doing a great job with the communication and questions!  I love all of your enthusiasm :)  Keep up the good work!

@Mel

The idea is great in my opinion however until the entire graphical user interface (GUI) is created I want to keep things simple with static images etc.  Once we have the GUI we can come back around and make sprints for special effects.  These effect of dust and the eyes brightening will take some research and development time from the programmer role.  Lets put this idea as a pending agenda and keep pushing forward.  There maybe other areas of the GUI we want special effect for so this might be a little bigger undertaking and I want to have as much of the information of what needs to be done before coding starts to make the code flexible enough not to be come more complex then it already will be and so we are not reworking code algorithm to make it do something new if we can plan it from the start.

@Melisa

Will you take Mel idea and make an agenda for it please.

Just finished the agenda.  It's pending until we need it.  I"ll add more details to it later when we are ready to assign it.  

I have a medical emergency in my family- I will post what I have.I'll have more tomorrow but getting accomplished what I wanted to tonight is an impossibility.

Is there a wiki for the outline?

@Matthew Their is not wiki for the outline you can create one in the menu under wiki.

 @Melisa I have approved the newsletter can you set all 12 newsletter to public = true

Created and posted what I have-I have scrubbed and rewritten this a few times-let me know what you think so far-once again I should have something substantial by tomorrow evening

I've uploaded a rough outline of the music for the splash screen. I worked off the work done by Matthew and the outline but it's possible my vision is not what you see right now so any feedback is welcome and will help me get closer to what we're aiming for.

There is no loop point yet and it needs mixing and mastering but that will be done tonight. Also, how long does this track need to be, do we know?

@Sean Wow bud very nice and a 2 minute track that is awesome I think this is long enough and has enough variation in it to be used.  I would like the end and start to blend just a little better so that when it loops its not as noticeable or make it softly fade out but other than that I think its right on point.  Nice job

@Matthew Please review the liaison on Story Chapter 1 Wiki first just want to make sure we are all on the same page

@Matthew ok so I will read this from start to chapter 2 non-stop to see if I think it flows together as a story.  Probably late tonight before I can get that done.

Alright awesome. The outline is very basic. I will start work on the actual script once the outline is finished. 

@James I can read the story tonight and get back with Matthew.  Newsletters are finished.  

@Matthew Sorry about your family situation.  Thanks for updating us.  Let us know if you need time to take care of anything.

@ Melisa-Thank you-the family situation seems to have leveled out a lot. I am writing the rest of the outline as we speak

@Matthew here is the notes i have for you after reading chapter 1 and 2 together and looking at the outline.

Chapter 1-

Page 3 the few of us that remained stood in the ruins that remained 

Can we change one of the remained to another word?

Page 4 and 6 both have the same exact wording

Lethal conflict and it’s horrifying consequences did not usher in a Golden Age

Also: it’s should be its

Page 10

As the explode against the hard earth

Need to reword this somehow

Notes: I love the way you describe what the image should be.  The images flow really well with the story and will be easier for our 2d artist to follow.

Chapter 2 and 3 outline

Both look great and I love the way the story is flowing, I like starting out in a garage because that will be a big part of the game play.  Keep up the good work.  I like the style you have for chapter 1 and would like for chapter 2 and 3 to have the same format. 

@Melisa-excellent catches-I've fixed them,let me know what you think.

Thanks James, good stuff. I've polished it up a bit with some panning just to give it a bigger sound. It's mastered and should loop seamlessly now too.

I'll upload it now and let me know if we need to change anything.

@Everyone I will be out of town on a business trip for the next 4 days and will return Tuesday if you need anything reviewed Melisa will be here to help.  I will try to check in from time to time but the next 4 days will be limited.

Is the outline visible?I just updated it-about half done.Please let me know what you think and please critique. 

I am going to overrun the allotted time for the outline-is this a problem?I am completely willing to work off the clock.I should have left it at 9 hours-I am sorry for the inconvenience.

@matthew the outline looks great and i can see it.  Not any critiques yet but i will look over chapter 2 closer when you get it done.  Great job !  The time frame is fine, we never really know that's why it's an estimate.  Just record your actual time so the next sprint we have a better idea.  Take the time you need and give yourself credit for the work you did.  Don't work off the clock! :)  

Alright cool. I'm pushing to wrap up this evening and start chapter 2. 

@Melisa & Matthew I have set the estimate back to 9 hours

@ James- awesome. Thank you. 

@ James and Melisa- do you have a problem with cybernetics in the storyline? It wouldn't factor into game play unless you want to do that. I have some ideas that could make the story more compelling. I can give you some more details if you'd like

 @sean-music sounds amazing.  great work!

@Matthew, give me a PM about what you were thinking and we can figure out if it goes with the current flow.  I don't want to add too much and take away from the solid base we have right now but lets see what you were thinking and how we can use it.  

@ Melisa and James-sent a PM re the cybornetics

@Melisa
Since the gameplay is not virtually tested, we cant be sure if the gane even has a solid base. Im just saying it could be an option even changing the base since we dont know much about it right now

@Melisa, thanks I'm glad you like it! Looking forward to the next sprint

@Johannes

You're right, we can go pretty much any where we want with the story line right now as long as it stays within the game design document (or we are able to modify the document to fit)  I looked over Matthews ideas, i like them we will wait till James gets back and has a chance to look over it too and then we will present it to the team before we make any final decisions.

I'll write up a more coherent discription of my ideas. Should I make a wiki? It seems like it will be longer than we would want as a sprint post. 

go ahead and make a wiki matt. that's a good idea

I will offline for the most part today and Sunday. I will get the outline do and the wiki of ideas up tomorrow. I should also have time to start chapter 2 if all is a go. I will make a wiki for that as well if I need to. 

@melisa  the public personal we still need to review all the pages like the home page.  Such as we don't use xna anymore and the public home pages says we do

Due to the storm here in Topeka last night I got called into work-I'll be on this afternoon/evening.I'm sorry, I wanted to get  caught up today, not sure I'll have time to do all I wanted to do.

On the up side I will be on tomorrow. The obligation I had got cancelled so this weekend might not suck after all. 

Alright guys we are half way through this sprint.  7 days left.  Does anyone see any reason why they will not be able to get their part of the sprint done this next week?  Keep up the good work!  You guys are awesome :)

Giving it my 110%- this week has been exceptionally bad for writing- hopefully next week will be less hectic. 

HI! The assignment I have for this sprint should be easily done by the end. It's been a long week, but I worked on it today, and will do so again tomorrow.

So to continue the consistent pattern of getting completely screwed by this week- I have once again been called in- I should get some writing in this evening but this weekend has been a complete wash. I am really sorry, weekends are my most productive time.  This could be a serious obstacle to me accomplishing the goals of this sprint. 

@matt are you finished with the outline?

Not yet. I'm hoping to get some done tonight if not all. This week has been horrible. I'm hoping the week ahead of us goes a bit better. 

Outline is finished and posted! I like the premise so far-but please comment,critique and question

I'll start chapter 2

@Everyone I am back from my business trip.  I will be reviewing everyone sprint agendas.  We have 5 days left counting today to get this sprint done.  If you have anything holding you up from finishing your agenda that is assigned right now please let me know.  We will move the pending to the next sprint.  Lets just get the ones we are all assigned as of right now done by Sunday. :)

@Johannes Will you please upload the last GDD you have so we can review it please.

@Mel I love it I am going to close out your agenda nice job.  I will get his in the code later tonight.

@Sean The music is great I have approved your agenda as well.

@Matthew Do you think your agenda will be done by Sunday or should we move it to the next sprint?

@James- I don't see any obstacles to getting the agenda finished by Saturday. I started chapter 2 last night and in terms of story it's pretty short. 

some bad news-my PC is still an idiot and the teamviewer won't work on the Chrome OS. I'm not sure what to do.I'm sorry for the late notice.

@The 2D Artists-In my writing I am giving descriptions of what the page or panel should like-if you have a more  interesting idea for what the visual should look like,by all means lets discus it.

@Team We seem to be dead-lining at the moment with us pushing forward.  I think the next sprint we will try one week sprints with a max number of 5 to 6 members and a total amount of no more then 40hrs of est. work which would equal to no more then 8 hours of time per member on the sprint.

Any agenda that would be est over 8 hours will need to be broke down to smaller task. 

This seems like a good base line for us.  Does anyone have any thoughts on any of this?

Might be smart to break it down a bit.I've had an abnormal time due mostly to last weeks storm,which has had me working 10 hour days for the last 12 days. The work is pretty physical and so it has been a lousy environment for productivity.

@Matthew can you submit all of your work for this last agenda so we can review it.  I will create another agenda for this objective for the next sprint.  When your done submitting everything submit the agenda for "Request Review" status.

@James and everyone really-everything I have written on chapter 2 is posted and submitted for review.I am currently working out how to write the battles.I will be off and on today and writing as I am able.Tomorrow I have to work and then I head out of town till Sunday evening.I am ready for whatever you want on the next sprint.

 @Team Johannes  is out of town on vacation this week so lets go ahead and table his agenda on this sprint.  We will review it once he is back I think Sunday and create a new objective based on it for the design role.

I want to thank everyone who participated in this sprint all in all the work that was done is excellent and we accomplished a lot as a team.