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a couple incompletes

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what masks can do

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shop it easy style

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skulls are indicative of function (and sick ass aesthetic)

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dragonian story beats <3

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still sketching quick, following value and carving strokes digitally. tactility doesnt have to be purely metaphysical!

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magical beans from earlier this year

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thumbnails

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quicksketch cont.

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sentientObject

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quicksketches

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all of my art pieces from spring ‘23

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Group 1′s Bicycle Day

Draw psychedelic images for the other player to guess in order to find your way home. The more trippy elements you incorporate during the one minute you have to draw, the harder it will be for the other player to guess and will give you a competitive advantage.

Iteration Process

The idea was solid but trying to find a base layout for the cards that would result in playability is the most time consuming element, as well as finding ways to manipulate images and experimenting with test drawings to see if they resulted in the desired effect. Once these came to have their own sort of template, we used our own images combined with editing tools to experiment with visuals and construct more “challenging” cards.

Cohesion and aesthetic are central to the game's thesis which is difficult to create simplistic prototypes that still hold the same weight as more fully fleshed out ones. The game hinges on the images themselves and creating non-usable images is more time consuming than it is worth. It made more sense to chip away at making more and more cards that we will eventually be able to use than making a bunch of throwaways that would have to be remade each iteration. We did save time by not sweating the actual card layout however, as the images themselves serve the same purpose.

Problems

Currently, there aren't any fully fleshed out prompt cards created, rather a few sample prompt images and short guessable descriptions. Additionally, our idea to provide variety and choice into the gameplay is not fully fleshed out as of yet. The game board is also not really fully implemented. We definitely communicated on a regular enough basis, but mostly worked congruently and came back with our individual findings.

Outside playtest results brought useful insight into the first impressions of the prompt cards, as well as the results of sample “special space” or “stranger danger” rounds. Taking a step back and seeing how a fresh faced player approaches each round, as well as the readability of any prompt images we have created thus far and what elements are most immediately recognizable. The time limit was implemented to encourage quicker more intuitive gameplay as well as drawings having common visual shorthand.

Butting heads a bit on some sections since both of us are pretty dedicated to this project. It mostly comes down to different creative styles, but the more we worked together the more we were able to use our strengths and compliment each other.

Solutions

Simplifying the game at every step possible, without stripping the game of the fun, to clarify the games core by combining separate initial ideas and overlapping systems bringing cohesion and solving logistical considerations. It definitely was more productive to not just talk together about what needs to get done but rather just trying it and seeing what we can use. We communicated to each other about our individual findings and experimentation, and consulted each other before making any final gameplay tweaks.

Changes

Each prompt card creation is easier and more streamlined, but finding a groove definitely took time. Streamlining their creation was easier after gathering raw images out in the world, as well as inspiration. Not putting off making these assets would make figuring out the game surrounding them easier to comprehend from a design standpoint. I did personally do better this project than in the past with this, but coming up on the final deadline without a mass quantity of the main playable game cards is definitely a hindrance, since we can’t really fiddle with many mechanics based on non self game tests.

The scope is still a bit big and a lot will most likely be scrapped by the final version, or at least scaled down. We have done a good job with not focusing on the dressing until the meat is fully established, but there definitely are a lot of loose threads still present.

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group 3s Caught Up Confections postmortem

Game Summary

Use ingredients to complete as many recipes as possible without making too much noise in order to earn cash and win the charity bake sale. Using equations to calculate the amount of time each step takes and the noise it produces and taking the gamble of speeding up the process while risking all your hard work.

Target Audience 

 Since baking games are usually all ages friendly our demographic being College students created a special problem, but the stealth component helped age up the premise itself since baking quietly and not getting caught appeals to  young adults that still have to sneak around at night, AKA college students. This also differentiates itself from projects aimed at younger audiences since the baked goods don’t have too much creative freedom the way a cupcake decoration game would.

Iterative Design Problems

Being behind the clock stifled creativity and always playing catch up. The only time this really worked in our favor was when we had a super productive game test session and fully fleshed out the game to play-ability and understand-ability

Trying to construct the stealth braking system all together. We had a lot of ideas but we couldn’t feasibly implement them without having a core mechanical system to calculate the inverse nature of time vs noise, yet it was difficult to design this system without tangible components. Stuck at a wall we just made the components and played with some random numbers and concepts that we could then translate into a mathematical equation. One of the things most work shopped in various play tests were the equations themselves and the scale of the variables used.

Burnout was also a major factor in the time it took to solidify the game. It required good chunks of time to get in the rhythm of things and we would try to squeeze designing into large, dense blocks of time without adequate breaks since we were on such a roll. By the end of the session we needed a break from the project for a bit to re-calibrate and come back with fresh eyes.

Task Completion

The first couple versions of the rule sheet didn’t contain a fully playable version, more the components and rules without much consequence. It helped having these rules to base self play tests on since internally we understood the “jist” of the game, but translating this to play tests meant players were more confused than anything.

Since the first week was just ideological it was easy to just bypass making any real progress on the game and focus on brainstorming. But since we had a very basic set up figured out the first day, this brainstorming was kinda pointless since it wasn’t related to any tangible systems or mechanics.  We rushed like we were super behind the entire time because we mostly were.

The project kinda got completed all at once, after converting simple paper prototypes into Photoshop versions that were easy to clone and adjust, it became much easier to make changes on a large scale and have the game feel more tangible and instantly recognizable for the player. Some assets were never fully finished or fleshed out since focus at that stage in development was on clarifying the rule sheet for better player understanding.

Task Completion Solutions

Getting things done without worrying about doing them wrong or straying from the initial vision of the game. Every time we made progress in this project, even if the change had to be retracted later down the line, brought us one step closer to having a playable and fun game. I enjoyed how the focus shifted throughout the process and resulted in something more fun then we anticipated, since the game was pretty bare bones in comparison to what we set out to make. Simplifying vision and scope assisted in this regard.

Even though we thought creating the numerical system would be difficult, using tools such as spreadsheets, tables, and just doing the math on paper with assistance from written out statements of what we were trying to achieve the system came easier then we thought it would. No doubt it was difficult but I definitely have a better understanding of how to implement a system with multiple moving parts.

Personal Development Changes

With testing makeshift game versions, we sometimes gave too many leading hints to play testers as they were so confused by the not fully fleshed out game mechanics and rule sheet that didn’t clarify all common questions. We used these questions to fill in these gaps, but it didn’t provide a fully independent analysis on the readability of the rule sheet. 

Making something bad to be fixed or even scrapped is more productive to the final product rather then perfecting the idea beforehand. There was less of this for me personally this time around, with deadlines being missed mostly from outside factors. However I do wish we had a working version a bit sooner so when I spent my time pondering out in the real world looking for inspiration I would have a clearer idea of what direction the project should be headed in. Just trying everything and seeing what sticks is easier said then done but I believe I challenged myself and my perfectionism this project.

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postmortem unit 1

Group 12’s Two Stack Solitaire 

A modified solitaire game where the main goal is to complete two piles of cards instead of four. The game ends when both piles are effectively sorted in the correct order and within their own color stacks. Cards must be alternated by house and sorted in ascending order.

The target audience is a single player who would like a more challenging version of solitaire. It never evolved past a simple modification, so I wouldn’t sell this to someone looking for something too radically different from the original game. But for a player that wants a modification that will require them to plan more thoroughly and has less room for error this version provides a concise challenge. Without drastically changing the core solitaire procedures, making the win condition more specific requires the player to focus more on revealing the game board itself to avoid getting stuck on a foundation, since instead of being able to randomly dump cards into said foundations, players must collect both cards of a certain value (for each color) to progress.

In the beginning, bouncing between brainstorming and play testing without anything to really show for it was disheartening, but after changing our scope it became much more manageable. Sketching out ideas was good to get the wheels turning but nothing could be concretely figured out without actually playing the new version. Worrying about creating a too boring version ended up being its downfall since so much time was wasted creating a version that didn't even work. This led to some frustration and some burnout. Walking away from the project and finding inspiration helped in some ways, but in others just led to more convolution. A balance was necessary in order to incorporate the creativity that would make the project engaging as well as the diligence and simplicity required to make it easy to understand and, well, playable. 

Evolutions of the rule sheet were never really completed in a timely manner. Meetings usually fell through because of other commitments so we never really got the chance to work together cooperatively outside of class. This led to miscommunication and not hitting deadlines. Deadlines were often too vague and didn’t inspire much urgency. This led to just finishing it quickly right before the hard deadline. The playtesting itself wasn’t really completed on time either. Constantly feeling like we were behind schedule didn’t exactly foster creativity. More stress was counterproductive and encouraged some avoidance.

Splitting up tasks evenly and having more of a solid game plan moving forward. It was more of a conversation of “We will get this done by (date)” but not really going into the “how” of it. As development progressed, the project was broken down into more digestible chunks which made it easier to tackle. I also think having more personal agency and just working on the project even if it wasn’t perfect would help alleviate some of the stress involved. Practice does make perfect, after all. 

Starting small and not getting stuck in my own head. I am definitely creative and I have this issue with every medium, but it severely hindered my design ability. I changed my focus to be more concise and focus on what works. I think just keeping ideas simple and evolving rather than starting too large and scaring myself out of it will keep me on a more realistic and productive path. Walking away from the project to give myself some room to dwell and think passively is an important part that I neglected in some stages of this project. Even finding inspiration in the world helped make some things click for me even if I had to wait a few hours to be able to get home and actually implement them.