I once again have had a playtest of the racing game. I got Holly to play it and provide some feedback on how best to improve the game.

As can be seen from her comments there is a problem with difficulty. I need to balance the game further, provide some sort of indication when objects are going to appear on screen. Especially the ones that move faster than the rest of the obstacles. I also could see that she struggled to understand the controls right away, this would be benefitted through a tutorial which I will implement just to give newcomers an easy understanding before they start the actual game.

Regarding my one sheet and one page

The final version of my one sheet and one page stayed relatively true to the original design. I tried to keep it consistent so if anyone were reading them one after another there wouldn't be any sharp juxtaposition.

As per my playtesters comments I have refined the game further. I focused on the gameplay aspects and the narrative. I still am to refine the graphic facility however I believe the title screen assists me in this aspect.

Gameplay refinements are as follows:

updated spawn locations, it makes it feel fairer. Everything should have a better spread across the board so they player feels more enticed to move around.

updated special attack, so it is not overpowered. It now acts as a cannon, slower fire rate but shoots through all floating objects.

updated lives to read as health, so it is easier understood.

The intent is to refine the graphics of the game, specifically the crackers that are flying around as they are not reflective of actual crackers.

On one hand, yeah, if you don’t like something—don’t watch it

Before starting our first Design Jam, I was not sure what to expect because I’ve never worked in a group to develop a brief/product. Since I do not have any prior experience doing such projects I had some concerns on what the process would be like. Having the stages of the design process outlined each week, while also using the the template of the brief as a guide, were helpful in keeping us on track and delegating the tasks as a group.

One of the challenges we faced as a group was trying to narrow down a solution to our question, which had a broad scope. Stages of the design process were also prolonged because our group had a tendency to think ahead or overanalyze small details. In the beginning stages we would often come up with a solution rather than focusing on the question at hand. During the ideation stage, and when trying to complete the brief, there were several times when our group would get sidetracked. Having another step in the ideation stage might have helped us stay on track and narrow down an idea more effectively.

Despite these problems, the communication within my group was strong. I was glad everyone was respectful of each other’s ideas and took into consideration each other’s suggestions. We made sure we were all on the same page before moving on the next step and if something was amiss there would be someone to challenge the idea/question. It was refreshing to be collaborating with a diverse group  as each of us learned from one another and brought out each other’s strengths. In the end the solution we came up with, the Companion Cube, results from a combination of each of our own experiences and knowledge. I wish we could have stayed in the same groups longer. Although getting to experience working with different people is important in expanding knowledge and teamwork skills, it would have been interesting to see how our group could continue to grow in the next jam. While I initially found the Design Jam to be intimidating, after completing the first jam I feel more confident to continue working on future Design Jams.

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