Designer Blog 2

Hello Everyone!

Sprint 2 for my team ended up being very productive and we had a huge milestone in the process of developing Perry’s Pies. We have created our first prototype/ build for the game. It is a very important milestone for us because not only do we get to see the game come to life a little bit, but we as a team get to see our work that we have done come to life. Another major milestone we had was within our animations. Animations, such as Perry jumpscaring the player, were created and we couldn’t be happier with them as a whole team! If you would like to hear more about the production and all the wonderful efforts our team has made to create our first prototype, please head on over to Brad Farris’s producer blog post!

In our prototype, we wanted to mainly focus on Perry and his mechanics, because that is one of the biggest features of the game. We also wanted to focus on the level design and making sure that Perry was able to maneuver through the levels and not get stuck on environmental things within the levels such as mock boxes and being able to get around corners. We also wanted to make sure that the levels were also big enough for the player to get through it and also be able to run away from Perry in the environment as well. We also had to make sure that they were big enough because Perry is chasing the player and it isn’t really fun to be chased around in a small environment where there isn’t really anywhere to go. 

We had big milestones in our animation department too! The department was able to get the player’s point of view of being jumpscared, which was really cool for the team to see and really skyrocketed motivation even more than what we had before! They were also able to get other cool animations done as well such as the patrolling crawl for Perry, an idle animation for him, and the throwing animation for attractions. 

In this sprint, I have learned so many different things that come with being a Designer. In past classes, when being a designer, you weren’t just a designer. You also had to do other things such as modeling and programming due to how small the teams were. The same would go if you were a producer as well. In Perry’s Pies though, as a designer, I don’t have to do all those things due to how bigger the teams are now. While it is nice I don’t have to take on those extra tasks, it makes it a little harder for me, in ways, because that is what I am used to doing in the past classes. On the brighter side of things though, not having to focus on those tasks has helped me focus on making a beautiful and organized GDD and other cool designing things. 

Another struggle I have encountered in this sprint along with learning to just be a designer, is being able to step back from being a producer and not thinking as a producer. In past classes, I have mainly been a producer (it’s one of my favorite things to do!), so stepping back and letting Brad handle the Jira board and assigning cards has been a huge learning experience for me. Another thing I am learning from not being a producer is teaching myself how to not limit myself with design. Since I had been a producer multiple times in previous classes, I hadn’t realized I had also been doing things like designing in a producer mindset and thinking about whether a design piece was out of scope. One way I had been able to combat this mindset habit was through conversations with Brad and him reminding me that I am a designer and I do not have to worry about scope as much as he does (Thanks Brad!). 

Something that I have also learned in this sprint is how to deal with the industry standard pressure put on me by having such a large team depend on me for the entire game and the feeling of the game. Don’t worry though, this is what this class is designed for! (haha, cause I am a designer right now too….*cough*  bad joke I know.) By having such a large team depend on me, I’ve learned that details are everything when it comes to communicating with larger teams. The more detail and consistency you have when it comes to the documentation and communication, the less questions are asked and more work is done. In other words, time is very critical and stuff is always having to be completed and moving 24/7. 

Overall, I am happy with how Perry’s Pies is turning out and I am so thrilled that we got our first prototype done and very cool animations done. Sprint 2 really made me focus on being just a Designer and not try to do all the other jobs as well, like in the past. Now that we also have a playable prototype, it is up to us to now implement and change things needed for the levels and Perry’s mechanics.

See ya later!

Abbey Mendoza

Game Designer