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Meetings Updates
You will find updates regarding meetings here.
February 2nd, 2023
Brainstorm
A brainstorming session took place on February 2nd, these were the ideas proposed:
• A sneaking game inspired by Metal Gear.
• A minigame collection inspired by the WarioWare franchise.
• A side-scroller Beat 'Em Up game.
• An isometric snowplow game.
• A joust competition game.
• An educational game for children.
• A game that takes place at CCC, with an areal view of the campus.
• The minigame collection, with the theme of a CCC student, taking classes around campus.
February 3th, 2023
On Friday 3th, another creative meeting took place to officially announce that the project has entered the Pre-production stage and the following idea was chosen:
Tunnel Chasers (temporary name)
Idea pitch: A group of misfits students explore their school campus in search for secret tunnels, they must find the tunnels without getting caught, if they are caught on the scene the students must escape to avoid the consequences. *(Based on a true story)*
A few drawings were submitted as level design and game mechanics proposal. These have been posted in the #references channel.
What is the Pre-production stage? In ChatGPT's words:
“Pre-production is the stage of project development where planning, preparation, and organization of resources take place before the actual production begins. In the context of a film, game, or software project, pre-production involves tasks such as script writing, storyboarding, concept art, technological capabilities, early prototyping, casting, budgeting, and Milestone scheduling. The purpose of pre-production is to establish a clear vision for the project, determine its feasibility, and lay the groundwork for a successful production. This stage is critical for ensuring that the project runs smoothly, stays within budget, and meets its creative and technical goals.”
February 7th, 2023
A technical meeting took place today, Feb 7th 2023, to discuss and select a method to keep track of all data changes within a shared file.
The development team has come across a TIC80 limitation, since TIC80 does not offer the capability of multifile development, all team members are forced to share one cartridge file, `.tic`, for all different types of data input; be that code, art, or music. To overcome this setback, an alternative will be established and developed.
David, A.K.A @dkienenb#6089, will develop a Cartridge Data Assembler (CDA), a tool that will analyze the binary data contained within cartridge `.tic` files and based on the binary format, documented and made available by the TIC80 developer, the tool will extract, import, manipulate, and merge each corresponding data type coming from multiples files into one file.
https://github.com/nesbox/TIC-80/wiki/.tic-File-Format
The CDP tool is imperative for the project, and must be available to all team members by the time, or before, the project reaches the production stage.
February 8th, 2023
Dan Muck is currently defining a crucial aspect of the project, which is the Tunnel Chasers Code Style Guide.
The Code Style Guide outlines the coding standards that all team members must conform to when creating any code. Adhering to a uniform coding style and casing convention helps to maintain coherence and readability throughout the project and eliminates any potential difficulties encountered when reviewing code written by other team members. Establishing a consistent coding style is a best practice in code development and is viewed as a hallmark of professionalism.
The Code Style Guide will be included in the GDD on the Lab46 Wiki and the GitHub README file.
February 9th, 2023
All previous announcements were discussed to make sure everybody was up to date with the progression of the project. By the time the meeting took place, the CDA and the CSG were still work in progress and a few details were finalized.
CDA and CSG are currently available in the project's repository. For more information read the GDD on the lab46 Wiki or the previous announcements.
Game mechanics were discussed and the following ideas were proposed:
► The camera perspective of the sneaking levels will change to a top view.
► Overworld will have 5 accessible levels
► A Lifes system will be implemented, where the player will have the option to continue if they have enough lives.
► Key items will be scattered around the levels that will be used for the progression of the game.
► The game will have a Title Screen, a Select Your Character Screen, a Continue screen, a losing and winning Game Over screens.
► The goal of the game is to take take the sign inside the Main Tunnel and then escape successfully.
► Library will be the sneaking level tutorial.
► The Mechung Building will be the Officer Confrontation tutorial.
► There will be two ways to deal with an Officer, fight or flee.
► An Officer Battle system will be implemented, inspired by Pokemon battles.
► Officers can be distracted by donuts (TBC).
► A TunnelRun system will be implemented, inspired by Temple Run.
► The Science Building will introduce the tunnels.
► Inside the tunnels you will encounter Willem, the Pro Tip Turtle, or the Evil Alpaca (only payment requested by Sashami), if the Evil Alpaca is provoked, it will either ominously fade back into the darkness or trigger a jump scare.
► There will be five playable characters, and each will have different skills.
► There will be four types of officers patrolling the sneaking levels, ranging in different levels of difficulty.
► A mapping system (TBC)
The potential of adding more team members to the project was also discussed. The project will require one more artist and a music composer. Fortunately, after the meeting was over, David met Dylan. Dylan has joined our team as Music Composer and SFX Designer. He will be making all audio/music assets of the game. Welcome to the team! For more detail about the game mechanics please head over to the game-mechanics channel or the GDD on the Lab46 Wiki.
Creative Meeting
On Thursday 9th evening I had a meeting with Sashami, Art and Design Director.
We discussed the topics of level design, art style, color palettes, character design, background design, and map design. Sashami is currently working on sprite sketches that the programming team can use for the prototypes.
The art will be shared on the #pixel-art channel, and the `sprite.tic` file will be included in the `prototype/` directory in the repository.
More ideas were proposed for the game mechanics, topics to be discussed with the programming team:
► Have a fighting system similar to TLOZ, where the player carries a weapon to hit enemies at all times, instead of a developing a Pokemon battle environment.
► Save states, in case the player is defeated and have the option to continue, how far would they get backtracked.
► A sneaking button / crouch button, to avoid being detected by noise radius or to hide behind short barriers.
► The Objective Chamber, where the sign is to be planted, is located underneath the Arena (in reference to what happened in real life). Once the player plants the sign, he must exit the tunnels and will be confronted by the Boss of the game. A military grade Public Safety Officer.
February 11th, 2023
David finished the CDA yesterday, 02/10/2023, and it has been included in the repository.
As stated before, the Cartridge Data Assembler (CDA) is a tool that analyzes the binary data contained within cartridge, `.tic`, files and based on the binary format, documented and made available by the TIC80 developer, the tool will extract, import, manipulate, and merge each corresponding data type coming from multiples files into one file. This tool will be used to overcome the Tic80 one file per project limitation.
The assembler, `ticify.jar` file, is found within the root of the directory.
The assembler must be run on a CLI environment with the following command: `java -jar ./ticify.jar`
You will also find a `README.md` file explaining how to operate the assembler.
Creative Meeting
On Friday 10th afternoon I had a meeting with Dylan, Sound and Music Director.
We discussed the topics of the Main Theme, the CCC anthem, sound effects, potential musical references and inspirations.
February 22th, 2023
David, is currently developing the Confrontation System. The Confrontation System will be a “battle system”, where the Player will engage in arguments with PS Officers. During the arguments, the Officer will accuse or interrogate the Player, and the player must choose a response to defend or incriminate themselves. We are seeking out help for dialogue proposals that may be included in this system.
A Google Form has been created to submit dialogue proposals.
