My name is Dylan Levy-Gantt, I am the head game designer for the title “Elementalist”, and this is the first game design blog post for the semester. First off, I am extremely proud of my team’s energy and willingness to provide the utmost effort throughout this process through Game Design 495. This atmosphere of collaboration and trying to outdo each other results in work that anyone should be proud of to show off to a possible job. Now, to talk a little on my headspace moving forward in the project. 

    This first sprint has been a huge sign that we are working on something meaningful and moving in the right direction. Mechanics like player dash and wall jump were immediately on point and required little to no tweaking of the variables. 2D art and animation is absolutely stunning, resulting in a super clean and stylized theme parallel with that of my inspirations for the game. We turned the game from 2D to a 2.5D meaning the levels will be comprised of 3D textures and player models but the physical effects of the abilities will be stylized 2D, similar to Super Smash Bro’s Melee’s way of dealing with special effects in game. Not being in charge of the trello means I can focus on progressing the game in the direction I want rather than micromanaging everyone's time and losing track of my own. This has resulted in nonstop creative vision and great ways to expand on the type of game I truly wish to create. 

    I wanted to create a game where the player has full mechanical control over movement and freedom of level exploration. My main inspirations for the game are Celeste, a single player platformer, Castle Crashers, a multiplayer beat em up, and Katana Zero, a super fast paced hack and slash platformer. These games are some of my favorite to play and if I can make a new game inspired by the best features of those titles, I would be super proud. 

    Overall I am super happy with the direction the first 2 weeks have gone and am extremely excited to see where this energy can take us moving forward. It is crazy to see my idea over winter break blossom into a collaborative, competitive, and meaningful experience for everyone involved. My biggest fear is having someone think their time is being wasted but every time  I come to class everyone goes straight to work and even stays after the class is over.