CAGD 470 - Blog Post 1 - 9/14/2025

    The first of seven sprints is now over, and it was very different from what I was used to. On the last few games that I worked on I was primarily a programmer and did not really dabble with much of anything else but this time there were some conflicts so the group member who was supposed to become the producer ended up having to step down from the role, before we found out he was stepping down he did mention that he was also a programmer and that he could help out with programming if we ever needed it. Then, when he took a step back, we needed to find a new producer in the group, but nobody wanted to do it, so I volunteered to become the producer because if I did not, then we would have had three programmers and down either a 3D artist or a level designer. I am really looking forward to the rest of the semester, but also a little worried, as this is my first time as a producer, and all I have ever seen about the role was what was shown and never any of the other behind-the-scenes work. This will definitely help with improving how I write user stories so that the person working on them understands what they are making. This is all going to be a big learning process for me, and I know that something like this does not always happen, but we have to make it work and keep on making this game.

    What I was doing during this sprint was mainly some of the producer work like making enough cards for a few sprints with my designer and I will be sitting back down with her so that we can finish the whole backlog and get it all completed so that we can accurately judge how much needs to be done and if we need to either add features cause there isn't enough work or remove or rework features later on down the line when we are getting close to the deadline. I think that my team did a wonderful job this sprint, and they were able to get the base of our features complete and get some concept art finished. Overall, I think that they have done great, especially being fresh off a three-month break and then getting back into the groove of everything.

    Other than the producer stuff, I was able to get around to creating a visual effect for our player when they use their dash ability. The look that the designer wanted was more of a solar power kind of feel because our player uses the sun as a resource for dashing and double jumping. I think it will look really cool when the game's aesthetics are all finished and you get to see the darker character using light to fuel their abilities. I am almost complete with a visual effect for the double jump as well, and with that, I am going for more of a burst of solar energy, so I really hope it turns out good.