Our second week in the semester kicked-off with the team working to consolidate our favorite ideas and mechanics into a single presentable document. We had already begun to become attached to several themes. During our weekly meeting with our advisers Melanie and Carl, we presented these ideas, and explained how we had generated them. The feedback we received was that we needed to present our ideas in a state that was as fleshed out as possible, one that would give the client a more cohesive snapshot of the game we were imagining. We also chose our team name, Olympia.
On Wednesday morning we presented our ideas as a group to the client. We listed 10 concepts that we had isolated as the most exciting, then walked them through the core fun in the game and what we found most intriguing about it. Our client for the most part has few requirements from our game. They have left it very open ended. However, the feedback they offer is very useful to us. When they show interest in certain types of experiences, it also helps us shape our thought processes.
During this meeting we found that they were thinking of our experience in terms VR, and what that medium would bring to the table. This aspect of our project is still undecided, but knowing that they were excited about that possibility helped focus our brainstorming.
Wednesday and Thursday we honed in on two concepts that we were most interested in as a team, and that had not raised any red flags with the client. First, the idea of world creation through molding an existence from clay, or “slime” as we call it. Second, the concept of being a god-like character or having superhuman power.
On Friday, our design workshop with our adviser Melanie required us to consider what our ultimate goal is this semester. “To create a polished game that is fun and unique”. We also reviewed our values which included aesthetics, power, weirdness/craziness, fun, intuitiveness. During the design session we were encouraged to question these values, and review why we had chosen them. What other opportunities might there be beyond these options? This was the exercise that we closed out with on Friday, we questioned some of the assumptions we had built up during our brainstorming.
Next week we plan to pitch 3 different game concepts to the clients, and see if they are attracted to some more than others.