Impulse Post-Mortem

We presented Impulse to the makers of the Haptic controller yesterday, and it went pretty well. I was a little bummed that I wasn't able to get all of the puzzles in that I wanted, like boxes that you had to push around, and little robots that moved around the level that you had to avoid. Regardless of the lack of these objects, the main feature was there. The consoles and the doors.

This group started off pretty well, and I think that had something to do with the fact that three of us had worked together before in previous projects. I worked with George in prototype 1 and Ashley in prototype 2. Ashley and George worked together in prototype 3. We already had a feel for how we each worked. We had our regular stand up meetings whenever we got together and a sit down meeting at least once a week at see our progress thus far and discuss obstacles if needed. It always helps out when we know what we need from each other and Josh provided a way for us to do so. Another thing that helped was having some filler art from the start that was in the same dimensions as the "final" art would be. With that in hand George and I were able to make the levels and test out the motion and flow of the player. George and I got together and discussed what the game flow would be, and how we could break up the assignments so that we weren't stepping on each others feet too much. This helped a bit at the beginning so that we could get the program moving.

As far as set backs go, there were a few that mostly involved testing the code with the actual Game Controller instead of with our xbox controllers. Some of this was due to the fact that we only had one controller in the lab and we had to wait for it to be available in order to test it out. It's also very apparent that it is a new technology. We also had to compensate for a lot of "noise" that the controller had. For example if you pushed up, left, down, or right, the value of the thumbstick would still fluctuate anywhere from .7 to 2.0. Once one accounted for this variance the program would act appropriately.

I consider this project a success and I am very grateful for my team. We did well.

The Next Big Thing

Our new groups have been decided and we have been presented with what we need to do for our next Prototype. Essentially we are going to be making a game using a new type of controller that has Haptic feedback called "flesh stretching technology" or "tactors". There are little nubs on the joy sticks of the controller that move under the thumbs, giving the players a new output from games. We are to utilize this technology. One thing different in this prototype is that there will be a specific person in the group that will be the official game designer. The choice of designer was made by each person pitching a game that would use the "tactors". After each person in our group made a pitch it we decided to use my pitch.

The game we will be making is a puzzle game. A person is trying to breakout of a facility by bypassing several locked doors. The doors can only be opened when the player "inputs" the correct code using the thumbsticks of the controller. The code is found in consoles throughout the level and given to the player through the tactors. So if the player feels the "tactor" under their left thumb go right then up, the code for the door is right then up using the left thumbstick. As the player progresses through the game the codes become more complex and even broken up into different parts in separate consoles. The consoles are color coded and the door has a pattern of colors depicting the order in which the codes need to be displayed.

I'm really excited to work with this group of people. I've worked with our Artist Ashley previously on the Repelzul project and the other Engineer George on the Germinators project. The only person we haven't worked with before is Josh the Producer.