Spring break is over, and crunch time is beginning to set in to the team. This is the point that we will be challenged by. The team is ready, and the project will be finished.
Coming off of Spring Break, we knew that we would be in the final stretch. We have roughly a month to finish our third ward, add our music, sounds, and UI, not to mention develop a space in the gallery center and to build a poster for the game. While that really isn't too much, I can feel the anticipation rising in the team, and the rush to get everything in and polished setting in.
This, however, is not an issue for most of the team. The design team simply needs to add waves to our existing levels, and we will be ready to just QA and polish the project as much as possible for the remaining time in the project. Similarly, the art team is in a very comfortable place, putting out tons of assets, with the environment being finished and the characters being finished up. Music is almost complete, and sounds have been incredibly steady all semester. It simply, or not so simply, rests on the programmers to get everything in. I am very comfortable with programming and, a little, comfortable with blueprints, so I have offered to take on some things should they need me to. I would do this for any role on my team to help, though my art probably would not be quite up to the snuff our lead has set. Definitely would be a learning experience though.
In actual accomplishment news, we have the pirate ward functionally complete, and we have roughly half of the forest ward working as well. This is a great sign, as both of those things happened essentially this week. If we can keep this pace up, we might be able to get to polish and bug squashing even earlier. UI and sound have been getting into the game slowly but surely, and I know it's a confidence booster to the team when things like that get in. It makes the game feel more like a game rather then just a system or set of mechanics. Obviously the art helps with that, but it's things like the UI and sound that gives it a real polished and finished feel. It is really encouraging to me when my team's faces light up from seeing those small little touches that we love so much in other games.
Speaking of other games, I will begin doing quick reviews of games I have played recently in my blog, so here is my post spring break reviews (Disclaimer: These are my own views and I recommend you play the game before you make any judgements) :
Star Wars Battlefront: Cool modes, active community, pretty af, hard but fair. 7/10
The Descent, DLC for Dragon Age Inquistion: Adds very interesting new folds to the dwarves, likeable characters, didn't really make any decisions though, enemies were just sponges. 6/10
Shadow of Mordor (Haven't beaten, 75% complete): Dope af, simple combat, simple controls, enhanced by animation, polish and weirdly addictive collectibles. 9/10