Group Supervision/ Team Webinars

1st Webinar – Meet Team – 12:00pm

June 9th. 2021 – Wednesday

The first time we met it was just the 4 of us, we all had introduced ourselves on the canvas platform, and gave a link to our blogs, or projects we have been working on, just so everyone was aware of what skills we had, or what skills we would like to develop, and to give a general feel of each others style.

The meeting today, was not productive, but it allowed us to see each other for the first time, and decide a time for a weekly meeting with our tutor, going forwards the supervision group meetings would be 6:00 in the evening, which suited everyone.

1st Supervision Webinar – with Giovanni – 7:00pm

June 14th. 2021 – Monday Week 3

This evening was a case of speaking with Giovanni, and giving him an update on what tools we are using, and what concept we are looking to develop.

Although something was not quite right with the team, the atmosphere was not pleasant. We all had put an endless amount of hours adding our new game ideas over the weekend, and I was the last to add mine, as I had technical problems, I couldn’t do anything, but continued to try and fix them anyway.

I added my concepts on Saturday and Sunday as requested so when we met with Giovanni the following day, we would know what idea/s we would be working with.

2nd Webinar – Team of 4 – 12:00pm

June 16th. 2021 – Wednesday

We are into week 3 now, and todays meeting started with trying to find out where the team leader was, as no one actually had any contact with her.

Anyhow we decided to make some decisions on what to start on, but we all had personally lost our focus.

We was not sure what she was doing, so I began to work on creating a Prehistoric Background. Whilst one continued to practice with Piskel creating a character, and the other two continued to test Unity out, and researched into 2.5D isometric layout.

2nd Supervision Webinar – with Giovanni – 6:00pm

June 21st. 2021 – Monday Week 4

We start week 4, by finding out for sure that the team leader has left the group and is being moved to another team. There was no communication from her.

From this point to move forwards, many decisions would have to made;

  • Vote for the next leader of the team of 4
  • Divide the google documents, Trello board, Miro, and the Game Development Document, and to amend the Team Composition.
  • Communication Strategy
  • Performance Goals

3nd Webinar – The Wild Branch – 12:00pm

June 23rd. 2021 – Wednesday

Todays meeting was a little confusing, as the documents were overly detailed, and many needed to be amended, and rearranged and since we spoke to our tutor a day ago, we agreed thats what would need to be focused on for the rest of the week.

I simplified the Trello board, and agreed to update the board for the guys each week, which would keep us in communication, this would mean every Wednesday we would be able to clarify who’s completed their task etc.

  • My tasks; simplify Trello Kanban Board
  • Start focusing on drawing a map for the game
  • Carrying on iteration process with Logo
  • Game name to be confirmed

3rd Supervision Webinar – with Giovanni – 6:00pm

June 28th. 2021 – Monday Week 5

Todays meeting was more focused on making sure that we are prepared for the Practice Pitch, due for Week 6, when we present to a panel of professionals.

We discussed where we were at, in regards to;

Plus I managed to show what I had been working on, and shared my contribution for the my first group of Isometric Tile Sets – my layered trees/ that could be used in two different ways. and would look like two completed different trees, especially with a focus on the time that we have to complete the project…

(Figure 1 Norton 2021 isometric Tree Tile Sets)

4th Webinar – The Wild Branch – 12:00pm

June 30th. 2021 – Wednesday

Todays meeting was focused on being ready for the Practice Pitch, and who will be saying what, throughout the presentation.

4th Supervision Webinar – with Giovanni – 6:00pm

July 5th. 2021 – Monday Week 6

Tonight is about showing Giovanni our Pitch Deck of 10 slides, shown in the Blog on Week 4 Pitching for Module 730.

We are Introduced to the three professionals, that we are practicing our pitch to.

  • Roman Ohlendorf is a Senior Technical Designer at PlayStation London Studio. During his career, he has worked across all design subdisciplines, including Narrative, Level and Systems Design.
  • Anisa Sanusi, is a Senior UI/UX Designer at Roll7 and Founder of Limit Break, a mentorship program for underrepresented people in the UK games industry. On top of being a BAFTA Games member and juror, she is listed as Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe and as one of GamesIndustry.Biz Top 100 Game Changers and Most Influential Women in the UK Games Industry.
  • Charles Batho IGD/UXD project manager/creative producer role making ‘games with purpose’ for BBC, C4, Science Museum and Wellcome Trust. Subsequent to this he worked in a couple of small startups as Head of UX and Lead Product Designer. His work has been nominated for a children’s BAFTA and also won numerous other awards including multiple BIMA game of the year. 

5th Webinar – The Wild Branch – 12:00pm

July 7th. 2021 – Wednesday

Today we looked back on how the Pitch Practice presentation went, and completed our retrospective questions;

  • 1) What went well?
  • 2) What needs to be improved?
  • 3) What needs to be removed?
  1. The practice to the professionals went well overall, all the slides we had in the Pitch Deck was clear, and easy to read.
  2. What needed to be improved though, was a better explanation of how the character moves and what the controls are?
  3. A little background for the story of how our game, Keep It Burning developed.
  4. Plus we needed to show either some kind of mood chart of what theme we intended to go for, or a game map.
  5. Nothing needed to be removed, just amended or added.

Our initial intention was to keep the pitch practice really simple, easy to understand, with a range of images and points to be displayed from the power point/ keynote presentation.

We did achieve this, and we was pleased with the outcome. It was my first time Pitching to professionals, so I was nervous, on the other hand, this time I didn’t have a lot to say…because of the content that was key to speak about, it fitted the other two guys more, as they had more experience then me in this area.

5th Supervision Webinar – with Giovanni – 6:00pm

July 12th. 2021 – Monday Week 7

Tonight I couldn’t attend, but the team was aware so I just watched the webinar of the meeting instead.

The key areas discussed were;

  • What was important to add to the Pitch Slide Deck.
  • An in-depth discussion about the health bar and how the mechanics were going for the game. (how they were working on making the fire have a particle effect.)
  • Plus they showed my Dodo, as one of the animals/ critters I had been working on. Below is the two colours I was going with, especially to add to the front cover design I had made. (but wasn’t used in the pitch.)

(Figure 2 Norton 2021 Game critters – Dodo’s)

6th Webinar – The Wild Branch – 12:00pm

July 14th. 2021 – Wednesday

This week we didn’t meet up – we decided to leave having a meeting as we each knew what we needed to be working on.

From the Retrospective after the Practice Pitch;

  1. The practice to the professionals went well overall, all the slides we had in the Pitch Deck was clear, and easy to read.
  2. What needed to be improved though, was a better explanation of how the character moves and what the controls are?
  3. A little background for the story of how our game, Keep It Burning developed.
  4. Plus we needed to show either some kind of mood chart of what theme we intended to go for, or a game map.
  5. Nothing needed to be removed, just amended or added.

I would be working on number 3 – and creating a black and white sketch of a storyboard with 6 slides, as a way to introduce the game demo, and give some detail behind the name and new artefact for Keep It Burning.

Plus I would be researching sound effects for the game Demo, and the Storyboard Intro.

6th Supervision Webinar – with Giovanni – 6:00pm

July 19th. 2021 – Monday Week 8

Tonight it was Patricio Will and I, the inventory was discussed. when you click the character picks up the logs/branches.

We show Giovanni, a demonstration. As each log or inventory item is collected, it is shown clearly on the stone slab at the top.

Will shared his pixel art, with the added squat movement and a work in progress isometric walk cycle.

(Figure 3 The Wild Branch 2021 Game Play demo – Screen shot)

Plus I got to share my black and white, Story board, that I had been working on;

(Figure 4 Norton 2021 Storyboard layout)

We discussed the idea of making the storyboard into an intro video to introduce keep it burning, for the pitch video presentation or the intro to the 3 minute game demo.

We all thought that I would use some text at the edge of each slide, and natural/ authentic sound effects, with each board in a sepia colour to give an aged effect, which I suggested, and we all agreed it would go really well with the caveman style.

But we were unsure of the time length it would take up? I had an estimated 1-2 minutes. We will have to wait and see..?

7th Webinar – The Wild Branch – 12:00pm

July 21st. 2021 – Wednesday

I shared my Video of my story board – in sepia colours, with only sound effects.

(only 15 secs long)

  • The whole team liked it, and I suggested where I thought it could go. We agreed at the start of the 10 minute pitch presentation video/ or in the middle somewhere. But after we watched it, and because it was so short. They were happy for me to edit the slides slightly to increase the time to 30 seconds. We then made a decision to have it open the start of the game demo instead.
  • Plus we discussed improving the emoji above the elders head. As you can see below. The elder being placed down stage right, helps the player to under stand that this is an action to do. Check the before and after screenshot.

(Figure 5 The Wild Branch 2021 The Emoji Size – Slide show)

We also said the fire now needs to start getting bigger, and reacting to the different things that are put onto it. I still suggested that we add colour for each item that is placed on their or some kind of effect, which would obviously effect the timer at the side to.

6th Supervision Webinar – with Giovanni – 6:00pm

July 26th. 2021 – Monday Week 9

Tonight with Giovanni, It was just Will and I, we concentrated on;

  • Showing him Phil’s version of the game so far, in comparison to Pats updated version, you can see the development of the progress so far.
  • I demonstrated Phil’s version on my iMac with Trackpad to show, when you click the character, he goes to that item. (action taken – either strips a tree to branches, picks up tiny rocks, green foliage of some kind or twigs) When added to the fire – a slow fire particle effect blows over to the fire bar to the bottom left hand side, and shows the fire bar increasing, to show you have more health/ time left.
  • I still couldn’t get Pat’s version to work – but got to see the video of his adjustments on Discord. (Character now walks 2 ways, then stops and breathe’s when you have stopped clicking the mouse/ trackpad. Emoji’s at the bottom were in colour, and elder was downstage right enlarged to show this is your quest.)
  • We also discussed the sound effects, and Giovanni highlighted the importance of when referencing similar games, to our audience, make sure we make it clear what it is we took from that game, and why it is similar to ours.

8th Webinar – The Wild Branch – 12:00pm

July 28th. 2021 – Wednesday

Today’s meeting consisted of reiterating any problems that we may have with the game, and working on solutions. The key problems we were focusing on were;

  • How to keep the player engaged..?
  • How the slight snow effect was working…Did it help to convey the urgency of keeping the fire alight..? or do we need more snow?
  • The size and place of inventory slab/ size is taking up to much room?
  • Changing the fire meter at the side as we found it to be a little boring and not that noticeable.
(Figure 6 The Wild Branch 2021 The Snow flake test – Screen shot)

7th Supervision Webinar – with Giovanni – 6:00pm

August 2nd. 2021 – Monday Week 10

Finally we are getting nearer to finishing the prototype, and having the artefact ready for the video demo.

  • Pat was introducing the crafting tree on Miro, that Phil and Will had been working on. Not to add to the game demo ideally, but to show in our blogs the idea of progressing throughout the game, if we were to publish it.
  • Plus we were in agreement that we still wanted to focus on how to engage the player more.
  • Will had been working on the UI fire at the side, to help the player focus on the timer, and have a better feel for the urgency of Keeping It Burning.

Problems remaining

  • The goose in the corner looks like a bug currently, as it is just stood still… It needs to have some kind of movement added..?
  • Plus we need to make sure the Pitch Presentation Video, shows what the design pillars are for the game..?
  • We were concerned where the game should be introduced throughout the Pitch Video, or if we could just show 3 minutes demo at the end..?

9th Webinar – The Wild Branch – 12:00pm

August 4th. 2021 – Wednesday

  • This week, I have been focusing on creating a World Map.
  • Plus we have been analysing what Pats Children thought of the game, if they enjoyed it, what they clicked on, amount of time they were interacting with the game, any similarities between the two, and most of all if there is anything we have missed out which is crucial to keeping the player engaged.
  • Also to start focusing on my 2minutes for the video pitch/ working on my transcript.
  • Stage 1
  • Stage 2
  • Stage 3
(Figure 7 : Norton 2021 World Map stages 1-3 – Screen shots)

8th Supervision Webinar – with Giovanni – 6:00pm

August 9th. 2021 – Monday Week 11

This evenings discussion was based on;

  • Showing the slides from the current pitch deck, that we would be working on.
  • Reconfirming, what is required from us, other than the 10 minute Pitch Presentation Video, 3 minute Game Demo, All Planning Documents, also original Pitch Deck.
  • Discussing the Pre – Production Grant, what it entails – Only including the production of a Game Demo.
(Figure 8 : Norton 2021 World Map stage 4 – Screen shot)

I added the below finished image to show, how my slightly detailed one, compared to the original “Location of Land by Kaskina“. You can see the similarity between the area domain shapes. (All stages of World Map Development in Week 10 M730)

(Figure 7 Left side; Kashkina 2021)

(Figure 7 right side; Norton 2021 World map)

10th Webinar – The Wild Branch – 12:00pm

August 10th. 2021 – Tuesday

  • This is our last team meeting, we debated on ways to show the crafting tree, on the Pitch deck Presentation.
  • We clarified the urgency of completing our personal transcripts for our individual slides we were working on.
  • We reconfirmed, some assessment details for Phil, and he showed us the slides he had amended for his part of the Pitch.

8th Supervision Webinar – with Giovanni – 6:00pm

August 16th. 2021 – Monday Week 12

The final meeting with Giovanni. . . we discussed the following;

  • The first 5 minutes of video – He gave feed back so we knew what was not quite working. (He suggested to make the cloud bigger to show more of the game in the cloud above, the Crafting tree wasn’t big enough, and the slide discussing the games we took inspiration from to be a little more clear.) But he loved the isometric view of the game, and listening to Pats intro at the beginning…
  • He was hoping to see the rest of the Pitch Presentation Video, but we knew it would be readying time.
  • He also confirmed that we don’t need to add credits at the end of the 10 minute Pitch Presentation Video, because we are writing transcripts.
  • He also clarified that when the Team Leader submits, all the Planning Documents, Video Pitch Presentation, and Game Play footage, that he must not forget to submit the original Pitch Deck, as this is important for the tutors and outside academics who assess our work.
  • They must be able to see, that we have taken on board the feed back from the professionals, to demonstrate how we have improved the Pitch Deck Presentation, overall and Game Demo.