Designer_Devlog_5

Designer Devlog Sprint 5

As we are starting to get close to the end of our development cycle, the tasks that we prioritize are getting more and more important. This was the last sprint for us to add any new features or mechanics to the game. For this sprint, we focused on the most important aspects of our game and refining them. We had to finish up our final feature, the tool repair system, so that all we have moving forward is animation implementation and polish. I am very happy that we were able to end this sprint in a place that is quite comfortable. With no new features to add, all we have to worry about is trying to make everything we have already implemented look better, play smoother, and be even more entertaining. This is where I will need to use my skills in design to balance the teams and make the game run as well as possible. 

Through playtesting in this sprint, I learned a few things about our design that need changing, and I see the effects of previous changes we have made on the way that people play the game. We have made great advancements to our AI in the game which is incredibly important to our overall success. Our AI have been improved to make decisions that replicate ones the players will need to be making. AI will move toward touchpoints and away from the farmer. This makes the game better because it is all about convincing the farmer that you are an AI. With the AI moving in ways that match the players, it becomes harder for the farmer to distinguish who is real and who is a computer. This is a crucial aspect of our gameplay loop. The plan is to keep a programmer focused on the AI movement all the way until we launch. No other aspect of the gameplay is quite as important. 

With all of the hard work our team has put in, we have managed to wrap up all our necessary models, textures, sound effects, animations, and gameplay loops. This has made my process for this sprint be all about game balancing and the user experience. The game plays and flows as it should, but it lacks polish and detail. These were my main focuses for this sprint.One of the main things looked to change this sprint was finding ways to increase the odds of the crop players winning. The farmer is winning too frequently and I want the crops to feel like they have a fighting chance of escape. This forces me to make some design decisions. The first one that I made was to allocate a programmer to focus on the AI improvements. After that, I knew I needed to make changes to the touchpoints to improve the likelihood of crops successfully repairing. Some of the design changes that I made to try to balance the game as effectively as possible were: a reduction in the total touchpoint quantity, a slight increase in the speed of the crop players, and the implementation of the farmers tool durability and repairing system. All of these design changes were made with the specific focus of increasing the chances of the crop players survival.

From here, our next goals for the game will be to finalize our menu system so that it functions with fluidity and an easy to follow user interface. In this sprint, we got the menu system up and running, but some of the buttons lack functionality. We will also be focusing on animation and sound effect implementation. With these three major updates to the game, it will run smoother, look better, and be a more fun overall experience for the user. If we can get these priorities completed in the next sprint, our final sprint will simply be looking over our progress and seeing if there are any minor changes we can make the improve the flow of gameplay. I can't wait to see what the final product will look like!