Newsletter (11/17 – 11/21)

Weekly overview

The following week we were coming up to softs, and made plans as to what we wanted to include in the build for it. We knew we had a lot of work to do and prepared for a push over the weekend!
 
Production
James spent some time looking at what the team was hoping to include in the actual build for softs, and then checking with team to make sure all the parts were integrated. He also lent a hand at trying to create some other smaller assets for the game such as the lichen that the caribou feed on. He also provided a cage for the lemming and some idle animation for when it was inside.
 
Design
Christian began working on the tutorial which we needed to include in the game. He began by outlining just what he thought would be in the tutorial and the steps the players would go through. Following that, he made the 3D models actually move in the log book, hoping students would be more engaged on the log book pages. He then spent a lot of time actually implementing the tutorial, hoping to get some feedback from softs on it.
 
Art
Eric spent much of his time looking finalizing the terrain for softs. He began by importing it once or twice, seeing how it felt underfoot of the player and how it looked. He then imported the final terrain over the weekend, feeling like it was in a good place. After that, he textured many of the animals that needed to be textured before softs. Shashank traveled for a conference this week, but not before leaving the team with some rigs allowing for animation over the weekend.
 
Programming
Levi spent time blending the skyboxes from day to night. The day night cycle is something we felt like should be in the build, including being able to adjust how long the day and night are. After that, he worked with Ken to implement it all into the main scene that we spoke about before.

Ken worked hard to include all the animals, and integrate the tutorial from Christian and the day night cycle from Levi. He also tied in some UI to make the player understand just how the day night cycle works in the game and the Arctic.
 
Next week
The following week, we have softs on the Monday and receive our feedback on the Tuesday. The week may be followed by a bit of a break for the team over thanksgiving where some may travel to see their families.