We are in our second week of the semester, and our team is making good progress on the game design pillar and getting ready for the 1/4 walkaround.

Game Design

This week our team drafted our first game design pillars document to lock down the foundation of our game design. The game pillars are included fantasy, game design/ challenge, and mixed reality.

Fantasy

Day of the dead and monsters. 

Monsters came over to our world to lend their powers to us and compete with each other to  prove which monster is the most superior. They sync with our bodies to battle each other

Game Design / Challenge

The game allows the players to challenge each other with strategies and physicality. While the strategy is imbued into the player choosing actions for their offense/defense turns, these strategies require the player to execute them at their will. Like table pool, this game challenges players who enjoy strategy and action to approach the game from their perspectives yet try to excel in both.

Mixed Reality

We see the potentials in MR that could blend the virtual and the reality well. As for the stylized virtual objects, they are vital to the game’s success since they are the “uncanny yet exciting” bits that spark from our regular lives. Besides the virtual scene, we wish to maintain the passthrough on the player and the barrier (furniture) objects in the arena since the player needs to utilize them physically in the game. Hiding behind a physical object to protect yourself from a virtual threat may be intriguing for both the players and their spectators. 

Art:

Based on the game design and art direction, our artist created concept art for monsters and the environment to be referenced in the game development process. Our team chose the style of Hanafuda, a traditional Japanese playing card. The art style has a bold color with flat styles, which can help artists to have better polygon control, saving time on texturing, and the bold colors are easy to follow in a busy room setting.

Programming

Due to the hardware problem, our team has delayed creating the tech demo. We are currently using one Quest 3 and one Quest 2 to set up the environment while waiting for the new Quest 3 to come by the start of next week. In the meantime, our team played a couple of mixed reality games to look for inspiration and the possibilities with the technology.

Future Plan

This week

• Setup the room for development and playtest

• Test the limitation 

• Watch device fabrication

Major Milestone (½ presentation)

• A playable prototype with implantation of mechanics, major art assets, basic VFX and UI