Hey! 🙂
Here’s a new post from us. Let’s talk about what we did this sprint – the fifth one, which means: only one sprint left! The most important things for this sprint were the decision-making in both story and art. Also the framework and GDD (Game Design Document) are improving and the UI gets more and more shaped as well.
But let’s start from the beginning. One remarkable fact is that the mini-games has returned. (I know, a bit shocking right?) But let me explain why. At first, we thought that the mini-games were not the best fit, because of the ‘humoristic’ tone of voice and the users didn’t understand the actual goal and importance of the AIM mission. But after a few talks with ESA, we realized that throwing away the mini-games concept that instantly could be a pity because it definitely has some potential.
Our contacts from ESA thought that the tycoon game itself was not enough to tell the whole story about AIM and that there was too much focus on building your space centre. By implementing mini-games you can let the player experience the breakdown of the AIM mission. From building the satellite to researching the asteroids in space and using the laser communication.
This doesn’t mean that the tycoon game is out of the picture though. We’re still going for the tycoon game but with a few mini-games added. Also the whole idea of building your space centre stays in place.
Testing the Art Style
Brûn and Yuna tested the art style of the game this sprint. They made four digital prototypes of the four different art styles. After that, the participants gave feedback through an online survey. They also did a small test in person. This test was basically showing the four art styles on a A3 paper and let the people pick their favourite. This was to confirm the assumptions they had. The test results are included in a research document.
#AIM 1
#AIM 2
#AIM 3
#AIM 4
…and the winner is: #AIM 3 !!
Testing the Story
I tested the storyboards (from the previous blog post) with the target group. I used an online survey and I tested in person too. The results were conducted in an infographic, which you can see over here.
..and the winner is: HUMANS : 2nd Story !!
Now let’s show some buildings Yuna made this sprint. They look awesome, don’t they?!
Buildings
UI (user interface)
And finally the UI. Brûn was working on this a lot this sprint. And if you ask me, this looks great as well. Oh, and not that you guys think Tarun and Michel didn’t do any things, they worked really hard too! 😉  Michel worked on implementing everything in the game (framework) and Tarun was busy with balancing. Balancing is about the progression of the player in the game, with other words the scoring system. Let’s have a look at the UI:
Alright, these were the most important things for this sprint. Next sprint won’t be that different. We’ll be working really hard on finishing the game on time.
Hope you liked this post.
See you in a couple of weeks!
Ciao!