Author Archives: Kentaro Hayashida
Keep calm and stay boaty
It has been a boaty ride. From concept design to prototyping and developing an actual game. There’s been a lot of bumps (or waves I guess) along the road (or sea I guess), but none that we weren’t able to overcome. A strong team with a common goal is unstoppable. Thanks to everyone who believed in boaty.
Making it happen
Testing session the day of the release.
Where it started
The Umibozu concept is very interesting because of its simple design and intriguing aesthetics. […]
Keep calm and stay boaty
It has been a boaty ride. From concept design to prototyping and developing an actual game. There’s been a lot of bumps (or waves I guess) along the road (or sea I guess), but none that we weren’t able to overcome. A strong team with a common goal is unstoppable. Thanks to everyone who believed in boaty.
Making it happen
Testing session the day of the release.
Where it started
The Umibozu concept is very interesting because of its simple design and intriguing aesthetics. […]
Is it boaty enough?
Testing is the backbone of any iterative project. Without testing, the product won’t improve. That’s why, in our project, there has been two major testing occasions where other students are supposed to test our game; one for the alpha and one for the beta release. In addition to the main test events, we are continuously testing within the group. I’ve also had the opportunity to let friends outside of campus test the game.
The player’s perspective
Some of the tutorial hints from the […]
Is it boaty enough?
Testing is the backbone of any iterative project. Without testing, the product won’t improve. That’s why, in our project, there has been two major testing occasions where other students are supposed to test our game; one for the alpha and one for the beta release. In addition to the main test events, we are continuously testing within the group. I’ve also had the opportunity to let friends outside of campus test the game.
The player’s perspective
Some of the tutorial hints from the […]
Boaty intelligence
The ocean is dangerous – it’s easy to get lost in the mist and monsters lurk under the surface. Well, they’re supposed to. They need AI in order to bring life to the game and immersiveness to the player. The AI defines how the creatures behave and how they can interact with the player. There are unlimited ways to do this, but all of them might not be boaty enough. Let’s get the boaty intelligence working.
Bringing sprites to life
The squid gang. […]
Boaty intelligence
The ocean is dangerous – it’s easy to get lost in the mist and monsters lurk under the surface. Well, they’re supposed to. They need AI in order to bring life to the game and immersiveness to the player. The AI defines how the creatures behave and how they can interact with the player. There are unlimited ways to do this, but all of them might not be boaty enough. Let’s get the boaty intelligence working.
Bringing sprites to life
The squid gang. […]
The agile way to achieve boatiness
Game development requires planning in order to be structured. The extra work required to do the planning is worth it because it makes the rest of the work easier. Going for an agile framework over a traditional one is usually preferred for software development.
Making it go around
Boaty.
In agile development, the product is broken up into pieces, with the goal being incrementally improving it throughout the iterations. An iteration is one of many work cycles in the development process. At the […]
The agile way to achieve boatiness
Game development requires planning in order to be structured. The extra work required to do the planning is worth it because it makes the rest of the work easier. Going for an agile framework over a traditional one is usually preferred for software development.
Making it go around
Boaty.
In agile development, the product is broken up into pieces, with the goal being incrementally improving it throughout the iterations. An iteration is one of many work cycles in the development process. At the […]
Boaty water like no other
The ocean is what the player is going to stare at for most of the playthrough. That is why a lot of effort was put into making the ocean look attractive. Some design decisions were made early on, while others came along as the ocean changed between versions of the game. Water would normally go into the art category, but I felt like I could do something interesting, favoring programming techniques instead of art. This post will be one of […]
Boaty water like no other
The ocean is what the player is going to stare at for most of the playthrough. That is why a lot of effort was put into making the ocean look attractive. Some design decisions were made early on, while others came along as the ocean changed between versions of the game. Water would normally go into the art category, but I felt like I could do something interesting, favoring programming techniques instead of art. This post will be one of […]
The making of a boaty boat
The Umibozu concept is about a game where you are in control of a ship in search of a mysterious sea creature. The player will be traveling the vast ocean, looking for clues and fending off monsters. Thus, most of the game will consist of looking at a ship and the surrounding ocean, so an early decision was made that it is important that it feels correct, or “boaty” as we like to call it.
The boaty feel
Image from a pre-alpha […]
The making of a boaty boat
The Umibozu concept is about a game where you are in control of a ship in search of a mysterious sea creature. The player will be traveling the vast ocean, looking for clues and fending off monsters. Thus, most of the game will consist of looking at a ship and the surrounding ocean, so an early decision was made that it is important that it feels correct, or “boaty” as we like to call it.
The boaty feel
Image from a pre-alpha […]