2 Projects - wha?

In my last post I mentioned how stoked I was to work on our last prototype. Working in the Unreal Engine, the lack of restrictions, the opportunity to choose our own team members and work with guys that I had enjoyed working with in the past, or guys I hadn't yet worked with but wanted to, as well as the chance to make whatever game we wanted was a pretty enticing proposition. So enticing, in fact, that I decided to work on 2 different teams making 2 different games. Not too bright huh? Knowing a little about Bob and Roger's expectations of students, and their desire to get us to think outside of the box, I didn't see this as a problem, and didn't worry about asking for permission.

We quickly organized into the teams grabbing individuals we had worked with and wanted to work with again, and started pitching ideas. There were a few great ideas pitched. I pitched one I was interested in making which explored the concept of wealth disparity and distribution. We riffed on this for a while until it turned into something I didn't want to make. We discussed some games made for the medical market using eye tracking software. The couple that had pitched it had some applications to the idea that I thought were really promising and I voted to work on their project. About half of the group didn't want to make a medical game and split off to make a platformer game that showed some promise. We discussed further the medical game and organized our team around that.

During this process Roger announced that one of the teams found themselves without an artist and asked if any artist was interested in joining them. I wandered over to see what games they had come up with to see if I'd be interested. They had a few generic ideas on the whiteboard, and some existing games, like mario kart that they were using for inspiration, but nothing that showed any promise. I was about to walk back to my other team when an idea came to me for a game. In one of my design classes I made a prototype of a platform racer. A driving game where the car raced around a track jumping and driving through a platformer type race track. This track had jumps to different levels, mazes, collectibles, hidden paths, etc. I said if they wanted to make a prototype of that game, I'd be interested in working on their team.

Needing an artist they quickly agreed that they'd be willing to make that kind of game. At that time Roger swung by the group and let them know that if they were to make a surfing game, that would probably seal the deal for me. Roger knew my affinity toward surfing games and animation and knew that I'd be a sucker for this type of game. I let them know I'd be interested in either a racing or a surfing or hoverboard game, but that surfing games, while I enjoyed them, were pretty boring to most people. I didn't want them to make a game they didn't want to make, so I headed back to work as they discussed their game more.

A couple mornings later I woke up with the idea of a hoverboard racing game where the track would mimic the path of a surfer on a wave, and the movements would be typical surfing movements of carving, turning, and catching air on a wave, while the player raced through the track collecting fish tacos. A game I would totally love to make. I drew up some designs, went to class that day and pitched the idea. While they were designing a hoverboard platformer, it wasn't too far of a stretch to do this, and they were all on board with it. (Probably desperate for an artist)

I went to my other group to talk about their game, and their game was so cool, I also wanted to be a part of that. So at that point I was on 2 teams contributing artwork and design ideas to 2 groups.