Introduction

For the most part, this week was spent polishing the existing mechanics and assets for the in-class presentation on 4/6. In terms of main gameplay, we were able to completely finish the day cycle and have most of the week cycle finished as well, with the exception of some of the functionality of the weekly summary panel. Considering the team continued to have technical issues with the collaborative software, progress did not go as smoothly as we’d have liked. However, the game is in a good place where the only things that need to be adjusted in the main game mechanics are some of the UI and feedback elements and the visuals of the game.

Programming

This week, programmers had some technical issues working with Git. For example, the scene was not being preserved between different branches, thus leading to a lot of headache every time the game was updated. Therefore, programmers switched to Unity collab for version control. Programming finished up the full game cycle including the day (week) cycle and the week (month) cycle. The end-of-month summary panel was completed aside from tax and insurance functionality. There is still some polishing that needs to be done to the cycle, such as adding more visual indicators that the shift times are different from lunch time. Additionally, some of the UI of the monthly panel will change, but functionally, most of the work is there. In terms of implementing dialogue and the written script, Lila and Sue’s first levels of dialogue were added during the lunch shift. Now, when the player taps on the respective sprites, they can choose how to advise the employee. Some art assets were also put into the game, like the character sprites in the back alley. Lastly, programmers implemented a simple camera pan to move between the main store and the back alley to differentiate shifts and to give a sense of continuity.

A screenshot of the task assignment screen

The first iteration of the monthly panel– the total income is on top, while the expenses are on the bottom

Art

Art focused this week on getting sprites finalized and creating some other assets for the weekly panel. The sprites for the first three employees were finished and put into the game, and the sprite for the fourth employee will follow. In the future, artists would also like to animate these sprites so that they are not just staying still as the day moves forward. Also, artists want to spend the next week tweaking the sprites so that there is a consistent style between different assets in the game. While a lot of work was put into the sprites this week, artists also started working on assets for the weekly panel and finished up polishing assets for both the store and the back alley. In the next few weeks, artists want to focus on finishing the UI assets for the weekly panel and start working on other assets to make the store more visually appealing.

In store sprites of the first three employees

The fourth employee for the game, Miles, an aspiring pastry chef

Prototype

Our prototype has the main game cycle fully functioning. Essentially, the player can now go through the whole main game, save two mechanics. Right now, because tax and insurance payments have not been implemented, the player is still missing part of the game. However, they are capable of running through the first few months and still paying off the loan. Furthermore, for two of the characters, the first level of conversation has been implemented, as well as some fluff interaction to make the employees more personable. The player can access these interactions in the lunch break area. In our prototype, we also included some UI elements that are not permanent, but get across the idea what we want the player to be aware of. For example, the bread and money assets are going to be polished in the upcoming weeks and made more appealing in general. Furthermore, right now, the text indicating what shift it currently is is unclear and not appealing, so we’ll also be fixing that in the future. Essentially, the goal with the prototype moving forward is to tweak a lot of the mechanics and make the game more visually appealing, including adding a start screen and narrative to fill in the gaps of the game. Additionally, there is not a lot for the player to do right now, so we’d like to make them more invested in the game through the use of minigames. The prototype is not as far along as we’d like, but the team thinks that the main mechanics have been put in fairly well.

Production Schedule

Taking into account how much we were able to accomplish for the prototype this week, we realized that we had to cut a few features of our game. Our timeline for the rest of the semester is as follows, although the feedback that we receive may change the schedule. Understanding that the minigame can become a project in it of itself, the minigame will be the first thing that will be cut from the game if we cannot stay on schedule.