Welcome, Who's Who, Where are we? (Ursula)

Formalities (grading etc.) (Ursula)

Background, history what we've done so far (The Fall Gang)

What do we need to do:

Identify what needs to be done (and when)

Identify individual jobs (we have a plan for this)

Identify what technology we will use. (Chris has a monkey wrench in Ursula's plans)

The BIG Picture:

The Time Line:

February 1: Define Low Res Game, Job assignments well defined, resources locked in

Midsemester (week 7): Low res 2 scene game assembled (ask them what we mean by that)

Crunch time: (week 12): High res 2 scene game assembled

Commencement (week 16): ??????

Weekly Procedure:

EVERYONE (that means everyone) gets an individual task list at the end of each class.

Everyone completes their task by Tuesday noon (no excuses).

This gives the Engine crew an afternoon/evening to assemble "dailies" (ok weeklies) which we review on Wednesday morning.

(see course outline for structure of Wednesday morning ---- no we do not do "work" we meet and communicate......)

Topic for the Day: The Resource Problem

Ursula's ski story. (what's the moral?)

I skied this weekend on brand new skis because over Christmas I couldn't do a thing. Where everyone else was just gliding down the hills I kept reverting to a snow plow and even then I felt like I had no control and everything was very, very HARD. At the end of the day I discovered that my skis and boots were shot. Fortunately I have a big birthday coming up and the resources to spend some money. New skis and boots made a huge difference this past weekend. I could "do stuff". However. There is a down side. I am was so "psyched out" by the bad skiing that I couldn't get my confidence up to really cut loose, so I just played on the green slopes until I could get down the entire slope (regardless of the 2 foot high munchkins zooming around me or the true novices splayed in the way) without ever kicking in a snow plow. By my last run I was tired, but exhilarated and looking forward to next time.

The moral of the story is that (1) you need good equipment, (2) you need to BELIEVE in your equipment, (3) you need to understand your skills, energy level, and your "head". THEN you can do something fun.

Resources:

We still have the pipeline problem: maya to engine.

What do we have available?

Greg's suggestion: skeleton tools etc.

Chris' suggestion:

I don't mean to throw a wrench into things, but do we want to take another look at Virtools? It was mentioned specifically as a good prototyping environment in the Game Architecture and Design book, so I revisited their site.

Click the "Online Tour" link on this page:
http://www.virtools.com/solutions/products/virtools_dev_new3_5.asp

If you read through the tour, it really looks right up our alley.

It just seems like it does everything we need it to do in a *much* more user-friendly way, like importing models, designing levels, developing behaviors -- everything. No arcane directory structures, terminal windows or compiling. Seems like it would allow us to focus on the big picture without getting bogged down in the technical drudgery. And it would allow us the flexibility to adapt as the semester goes on. As it says under the "test drive" tab of the tour:

Test Drive

Experience and test your project throughout the production process.

Concentrate on fine-tuning the gameplay, visual effects, sound and interactive behaviors.

See the results immediately, exactly as they will appear for your target audience.

The interviews under the "educational solutions" link on the sidebar are also telling:
http://www.virtools.com/solutions/ordernow/education.asp

The pricing is hard to decipher from their site. (There's a student version *and* an educational version?) Looks like you have to e-mail them for specific pricing. I did find it for $500 on an educational software site:
http://www.journeyed.com/itemDetail.asp?T1=34544243

The interactive 3D courses at ITP all used Virtools and students seemed to take to it pretty quickly. They also used Maya for modeling so I know they work well together.

I dunno.... it just seems a lot more straightforward, with a lot fewer potential potholes.

Virtools Serious Game Design Educational Bundle for $579:
http://www.mediaebook.com/ebooks/vdevbundle.html

Attend Virtools online training course for $295 and get Virtools free:
http://www.torcomp.com/products/product_detail.cfm?productid=7850\

Virtools in education:
http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=306081

Teresa's needs: sound/music records

Breakout sessions:

Which team are you on?

Art (chris)

Writing (chris)

Music (teresa)

Sound (teresa)

Engine (ursula)

AI (ursula)

Production Support (ursula)

What the groups need to identify:

Critical resource issues

Who is doing what

How serious should we take Chris' proposal

What do we need to accomplish for next time (in particular start a production time line in excel)

Report back: This is where we articulate (1) individual assignments beyond the group assignment, (2) who is meeting with whom this week.