Capstone First Draft of the Design Document

Although I’m not going to share it with you here, the first draft of our design document for Cliff Climber is 99% done. A quick spit shine and it will be ready to turn in. Why is this important? Let me tell you.

The design document is the description of the game and mechanics that we have planned for it at this point. It is 40 pages of us describing how this game should look, act, and feel. It is also a living document that grows and matures throughout the development process.

For us, this design document is a way for us to articulate our view of the game that we will make over the coming months. Since we have a hard deadline for finishing each step of the development process we need to have a clear vision and clear milestones. That is what we think we have created and, pending instructor approval, that is what we are going to base our game on.

Next step is production planning and revisions to the document based on instructor feedback. Like I said, this is a living document.

Founding of the Just Us League

This month I have started work on my capstone project for Full Sail University. This is going to take up the vast majority of my time for the next several months, right up until graduation. I am so excited to be this far and can’t wait to see this game come together!

The project started off by being assigned to a group. I was lucky enough to get grouped with a great group of guys who have all hit the ground running. Sadly, the only roadblock that we have hit up to now has been me. I am currently on a vacation with my family that couldn’t be moved, but I am still doing everything I can with the limited amount of internet that I have to get my two cents added in.

The group has decided to call itself the Just Us League. We started off with CLAPP since the first letters of our last names can be used to spell CLAPP. Even though the name changed, however, we are still going with the original logo that we had for CLAPP. Everyone loves a good inside joke!

Aside from that, however, it has been smooth sailings. We are working on a climbing game that is most likely going to be in a 2.5d perspective. You will be able to find parts that can be built into temporary gear upgrades, tokens that can lead to bonus levels, and dangers galore. More on this later though.

Now, however, I have to get back to work on this thing and get back to my vacation. Five more months and this degree will be finished. That means five more months of stress, late nights, and far too much caffeine. The end is near!