So, this week has been a crazy dash to get things done. Midweek we were assigned our capstone projects. I was hoping for something in game design, and I can’t be happier with the results. I will be working with a team of two other people to create a VR Rhythm game.
So far, communication with the team has been somewhat difficult. One of our teammates is in a different timezone, but I’m actually glad because I want experience working with people around the world. I like the idea of working remotely, and this is an excellent opportunity to develop teamwork skills. So far I have learned that it is very important to have the whole team decide on a method of communication as soon as possible, and a standard for how frequently people should response. We decided on a 24 hour turnaround on any communication, meaning if someone sends me a question, they can know that I will respond within 24 hours at most.
The contact for the project happens to be the professor for the capstone class. This simplifies things in many ways, but at the same time I would typically communicate with a professor in a very different way than a client. For instance, I may talk to a professor for advice on how to communicate with a teammate if they are not being helpful, but that sort of communication would be very inappropriate and unprofessional to send to a client.
We had our first client meeting just earlier today to discuss some of the specifics of the project. To my surprise, it is extremely open to our own creativity. There is no specific look, or game play loop that is required, other than for it to be in VR, work on the Oculus Quest, and be a rhythm game. My mind is buzzing with possible options. With only 9 months to build the game, it is going to be hard to implement too much. I can already tell scope creep is going to be a struggle. It would be easiest to make some sort of BeatSaber clone, but we want to take it in a different direction, doing our own thing, developing something new.
I’m excited! Let’s have some fun!