IT'S A WRAP
As much as I wanted to be on the Friday the 7th call I had a more pressing item I had to complete... principal photography. After we shot a few scenes on green screen on August 31st we had the 7th, 8th and 9th to complete everything else.
Getting a house that could serve as housing for some of us as well as the location for 3 different scenes was a Godsend. Scheduling went well and we knocked out the night scene on the 7th and the remaining items on the 8th and 9th. We ran into a few glitches like hot to shoot a reflection in a picture with a 360 camera (Insta 360 Pro) without getting the camera's reflection and still show the big reveal of the story. Thankfully myself the and the great team I put together find on the spot problem solving one of the beautiful things about filmmaking as it yields amazingly creative solutions.
The goal now is to have a rough cut together by this Wednesday, the 12th, so that sound design, composer, 3D Modeler and UNITY developer can all begin mapping in their contributions to the prototype while a higher res, with transitions, and opening is worked on. We (all 14 of us) are excited to show you guys and the world this narrative film/VR experience hybrid.
blog post #10
This week we realized that time is ticking, and we decided to purchase some extra assets in the store for use instead of building everything from the scratch. It's actually a much better solution for newly develope VR games to start with. We are able to spend less money on arts in the beginning, and we are able to fasten the speed working on interactions.
We also reviewed the interaction parts we are planning to work on with UX designer and received a few good advice. We put a script together and decided to add some animations to guild the player how to make those interactions. We are hiring animators to help us work on the prototype.
This week we realized that time is ticking, and we decided to purchase some extra assets in the store for use instead of building everything from the scratch. It's actually a much better solution for newly develope VR games to start with. We are able to spend less money on arts in the beginning, and we are able to fasten the speed working on interactions.
We also reviewed the interaction parts we are planning to work on with UX designer and received a few good advice. We put a script together and decided to add some animations to guild the player how to make those interactions. We are hiring animators to help us work on the prototype.
Heading into this week, I'm feeling a little frustrated at my current progress. I've lost a lot of weekends and energy due to family emergencies recently, which is when I'm able to do the lion's share of work. Which is part of the deal when you have responsibilities to other people. I made a strategic use to miss my free blog post two weeks ago, and the break was much appreciated. I definitely spent too much time working on the movement mechanic (I'm going to finish everything else before looping back to that). Still I'm going to hopefully be able to sit down and jam out everything I want this week for the prototype review, which is mostly content and system stuff (tracking resources, UI, puzzles, dialogue). Thankfully, I always like to leave some padding in my schedule to allow for things to explode now and then. I'll definitely be using it.
I did recently get around to playing Not Tonight, where you are an immigrant bouncer in post-Brexit UK. I felt it was important to check out considering they're trying to do a lot of things outside of VR that I want to hit with my piece.
I really enjoyed the tone, which was funny and goofy while never holding back from its depressing context. I felt like the interactions and UI hit just the right feeling of being slightly overwhelmed, and I definitely took notes!
A lot of reviews complained that it was like Papers Please but political, which I found odd, since Papers Please is incredibly political, but I think the reaction comes from the game being set in post-Brexit UK, which feels closer to the player than a fictional soviet country. This reinforces my perception that there need to be more pieces that highlight the struggles immigrants are going through without distancing itself from the US. There needs to be American Flag in view so people know that these are problems happening on US soil, and we can't ignore them.
I did recently get around to playing Not Tonight, where you are an immigrant bouncer in post-Brexit UK. I felt it was important to check out considering they're trying to do a lot of things outside of VR that I want to hit with my piece.
I really enjoyed the tone, which was funny and goofy while never holding back from its depressing context. I felt like the interactions and UI hit just the right feeling of being slightly overwhelmed, and I definitely took notes!
A lot of reviews complained that it was like Papers Please but political, which I found odd, since Papers Please is incredibly political, but I think the reaction comes from the game being set in post-Brexit UK, which feels closer to the player than a fictional soviet country. This reinforces my perception that there need to be more pieces that highlight the struggles immigrants are going through without distancing itself from the US. There needs to be American Flag in view so people know that these are problems happening on US soil, and we can't ignore them.
Devblog #10
Project Title: Kitten Justice
Type: VR Game
Genre: Comedy/Sci-Fi
After that I received a review, I reviewed a lot of things in the game and updated the script. I added more detailed on the story, characters, gave them more unique details. Working on upgrading reward system, which would allowing to upgrade player’s weapons and spaceship.
Also I was focusing on the 3d models some of the characters to make them more interesting and prepare for the animation.
To speed up workflow on the project I have delegated part of the modeling work to the freelancer. He has already done part of the work and I'm happy with the result. I’m assuming we’ll finish with the 3d assets in the next 2 weeks. And also I hired animator Julian, who’s working on the animation of the characters. Meanwhile Troy is working on the mechanics for the game.
One of the questions I'm more concerned is the locomotion in the game. One of the stages in the game, the player will have to shoot and control the ship at the same time. I’m going to figure out what the best way to do this.
I’m incredibly grateful for this project, I’ve learned so much and still learning.
Best,Sasha Alexandra
Week 10 / Dev Blog Post
We have been busy
adding many new elements this week and we're looking forward to submitting our
prototype for technical feedback.
The mid-point feedback was super helpful and greatly appreciated! Thank you to the entire LaunchPad Team! 🙂
We've had some more encouraging
developments with our project this week.
A statewide school
in Oregon is "very excited" about adding our project to their
curriculum in 2019. They have reviewed it with their administrative team and
are looking forward to offering it next year to their students.
It is motivating to
have the first school we reach out to so positive. They were able to easily see the potential
for their student's development even though they do not offer VR as part of
their curriculum… yet.
Yay for VR in
education!
This is the
beginning!
Week 10 - Improving Art & Design
- Graphic design work
- Polishing models and art
- Improved player progression
- Added a few new models
- More user
testing and feedback
Keith Patterson
"Have a Beach-Tastic Week!"