Date : 20th February, 2015
So, this week was pretty important for Team Illusions. We had to buckle our-self up and start working on the initial phase of the development.
We actually took some time off in figuring out what the technology actually does. We also took time to figure out what interactions work with this technology and what does not work. So, by now we know that, we need two important things : 1. Bright lights for markers to be tracked and be stable 2. Proper type of image markers (they require dense texture).
We started the week by simplifying the tower defense game idea that they had. So, we went through a very short brainstorming session and looking through what the technology can offer, we decided upon a simple idea.
The idea was: There are two start points for two players. There is one image that instantiates a small field. There is another image marker, that both the players are provided, to generate minions. What they have to do is, generate as many minions as they can, and send it over to other player’s start point.
How is it played: So, when the player holds the second marker in-front of the camera, it generates the minion. The player then, has to tap on the control pad to get the minion on the start point. Once, it reaches there, the minion starts running to the other player’s starting point. The one, who send more number of minions, wins the game. We also used virtual buttons to start the game.
The programmers worked on this prototype last week. The prototype was pretty stable. Our artist gave few models to get the work starting and made a couple of image markers. While the other team members, tried to figure out how to use different visual effects into the game and also, what more interactions could be done using this platform.
We are trying to follow an iterative development process. So, this week, team would add more features to this existing prototype and try to see what again works and what does not work. The team would also be working towards halves, as we have a spring break coming up in the next 15 days.