Development Log
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Initial Development and Prototyping
During our first phase of development which lasted 4 months, we were able to implement a majority of the major mechanics in a playable form such as the debate system, overworld movement and interactions, rhythm mechanic, overload and pacify mechanic and the emotion thresholds. In terms of art assets, we had the UI mostly completed, the tutorial and hub area backgrounds complete, a majority of the overworld sprites complete and a majority of the debate sprites complete. Because of the progress we made, our focus for the next stage of development will be on completing any remaining mechanics and art assets along with implementing some additional mechanics and narrative context which was recommended by playtesters.
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Second Stage of Development - Sprint 1
For the first sprint of this stage of development, the team focused on designing the mechanics as well as working out the new development plan for the mechanics and new art assets which will include 7 new enemies and 4 new levels. We were also able to fix a number of remaining bugs and implement a few remaining unimplemented features. Lastly, we were able to complete a majority of the remaining overworld sprites. Our focus for the next sprint will be to finish any of the remaining mechanics and art assets from the first stage of development so we can focus on the development of the new mechanics and art assets such as the player's turn minigames. If we keep this early momentum up, we are confident that each new addition will be made in an appropriate amount of development time.
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Second Stage of Development - Sprint 2
Over the course of our second sprint we focused on completing any remaining tasks and art assets from the first stage of development as previously mentioned. We were also able to implement a number of new enemies and 2 new levels themed around anger and sadness. Now that we have completed all of the previous tasks from the first development stage, we will be moving onto the development of a number of new mechanics, including 5 player's turn minigames, another new level themed around pride, 7 new enemies and numerous new art assets as previously explained. We were able to keep up our momentum in this sprint so we hope it will carry through to the next one.
Second Stage of Development - Sprint 3
For the third sprint we focused on starting development on our first new major mechanics such as the player's turn minigames and the narrative system. We also improved a number of our initial levels and implemented all of the remaining enemies from the first development stage. We then designed all of the new enemies and came up with plans as to how the final boss will function. With these tasks completed we will be moving on to completing the player's turn minigames and narrative system along with implementing the pride area. We will also start production on the new enemies as well prepare for our external testing session in the coming weeks. We are confident that we will our objectives in the next sprint as we are currently meeting all of our goals on time.
Second Stage of Development - Sprint 4
During the fourth sprint we were completely focused on finishing the implementation of the narrative system as well as the player's turn minigames in preparation for the external testing session. We also produced the backgrounds for the pride themed area. Lastly, we began to produce the first of the new enemy models and animations as well as the new UI that will be required for the new mechanics. Following on from this sprint the group will be focused on completing the external testing session and gathering all of the most relevant feedback from the session. We will then be acting on this feedback where appropriate as past feedback from earlier testing sessions has proved invaluable in making positive changes to the game. The group will also be working to implement the save and healing points along with producing the background assets for the pride themed area. Lastly, we are planning to complete the sprites and animations for the antagonist along with producing the UI needed for the save and healing points. Due to issues with the programming of the save and healing points mechanics. However, its implementation may need be pushed back if they are not fully implemented by the end of the next sprint.
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Second Stage of Development - Sprint 5
As previously mentioned, the group has been working on the save and healing points, pride area background assets, antagonist sprites and animations and the UI for the save and healing points during this sprint. We were able to complete all of these tasks, except for the implementation of the save and healing points as the programmer working on these systems had numerous problems with bugs that lead to the group deciding that this tasks would be completed at a later date as previously mentioned. Despite this, a significant amount of progress was made in other areas with work beginning on the new enemy particle system and the fear area backgrounds. Lastly, a number of bug fixes and improvements were made in response to the feedback gathered in the external testing session such as the choice to include a more detailed tutorial. Our goals for the next sprint are to fully finish the enemy particle system, the new tutorial, 3 new sets of enemy sprites and animations, the fear backgrounds, the remaining debate backgrounds and any other remaining UI. We also hope to begin working on some of the other new features, such as the unique dialogue prompts. We are confident that we will achieve our goals for the next sprint because of an Easter break which allows the group more time to work on the game.
Second Stage of Development - Sprint 6
For the sixth sprint during the Easter break, the group worked on finalising the remaining character sprites and animations, the final backgrounds for fear area, the debate backgrounds, the final background assets for the overworld, most of the remaining UI assets and, the enemy particle system. All of these tasks were completed except for the enemy particle system. along with this a number of new enemies were implemented into the game. We did however, run into a few problems regarding the implementation of the new tutorial system as well as the new unique dialogue prompts because of the extensive programming required to make these aspects of the game function. Finally, we continued to make improvements to Argumental in response to the feedback gathered in the external testing session. These mainly involved a few issues with level colliders that were quickly fixed. Our goals for the next sprint will be finish implementing any remaining mechanics, features or art assets such as the final enemies, save and healing points, unique dialogue prompts and the new tutorial system. We are confident that we will complete these tasks because of the groups clear direction on what additions still need to made to Argumental.
Second Stage of Development - Sprint 7
As we mentioned in the last update, our objective for this sprint was to finish the implementation of the remaining mechanics, features and art assets. We were able to implement all of the remaining art assets and animations as well as a majority of the remaining mechanics and features. The only mechanics that were not fully implemented were the save and healing points and the new tutorial system. This is because of some complications relating to the the save points not functioning fully as well as the complexity of the code required for the new tutorial system. Our goals for the final sprint are to finish implementing the save and healing points as well as the tutorial system and then release Argumental onto Itch. As long as we keep to this plan we are certain that we will meet our final objectives.
Second Stage of Development - Sprint 8
By the end of the final sprint we were able to complete all of the remaining tasks as well as fix all of the problems with the save and healing points and the new tutorial system. The problems were fixed by using some of the code from the unique dialogue prompts for the tutorial system and by correcting a small error in one of the scripts being used to implement the save points. We have also released the game on itch and can be downloaded from the following link: https://pixalotl.itch.io/argumental.
Thank you for following the development of Argumental.
