Consistency is often the key to success, achieving your goals and seeing results. In the case of this project, our consistency in iteration and fleshing out details till we feel good about them has led us to our next stage. The team again got together to discuss different details pertaining to the narrative, the stealth mechanics and new features we had not previously discussed. Last Wednesday, prior to lecture, the team sat down and brainstormed further to help tackle some of the critiques we received during the previous weeks critique, as well as to further flesh out details we did not fully understand, and as well all know, the devil's always in the details.
The team clarified for the document as well as for ourselves, that the game will feature three variations of the overarching stealth mechanics. The first variation was aptly titled "active" stealth (a name derived from the player actively engaging a set key to hide behind an object), the second is physical stealth (physical in the sense you can stand behind a piece of terrain that you would normally be able to climb over and interact with as a platform), and finally there is cloaking. Cloaking is similar to "active" stealth as you press a key to utilize that mode, however it does not require you to be hiding behind an object and instead can be used while the player is in the open.
We (by we again, I mean the team) also worked on the document hours prior to its due date, consolidating ideas onto a singular document. At this point we also fully mapped out the in-game narrative that the players will play through. To keep you in the Dark (Age), I won't delve too deep into it, however it is outlined in the game design document.
I personally helped again with ideation and fleshing out different mechanics, elements and narrative features. In terms of the design document, I aided in the supplementing of text. I wrote many a paragraphs that make understanding our different mechanics and narrative components easier understood. For example, the switching, core loop and other primary gameplay sections were written by me, under the careful editing of our PM.
The most pressing issue I personally identified is the implementation of the various stealth mechanics and making sure they are working correctly as to not remove the player from the play space. Secondly, another pressing issue is creating the narrative in a manner that truly evokes the players empathy, and forcing them to relate to the plight of our main character, Solis. A important part of the game for me is to make the player enjoy the game world, to relate to the character and to immerse themselves enough so they enjoy exploring.
P.S. I didn't draw any sketches, most of my contributions were done through the writing in the document, and the ideation.
