I was on the Design team for the development of Date the Prince. We were tasked to lay down the foundation for everything that needed to be done/created during the development process. The design team came up with all the elements that would make up the game, from the story to the gameplay and player abilities. 

We started by nailing the premise of the game and how we wanted the player to in the end "Date the Prince". With that in mind we discussed what the order of the levels would be and how the story would progress. We passed that on to the art team who gave us back some floor plans of how these areas could look. I designed the second floor with the help of art teams floor plan and with some changes I added for the sake of gameplay after playtesting the first design. I tweaked the second level several times so the shape made more sense. One of the initial problems the level had was that it was too large and didnt fit the scope of the level. I made a couple outlines and labels so that when the art team eventually did their pass they didnt make it all up form scratch. I also designed the prince's room but that task was passed of to art who took over the design elements through out the development. 

Once the Guard AI's were made I added them into my level. I did have to re implement them several times as they'd occasionally break. I slightly altered the guards through out the weeks, adjusting their path or adding in new ones when the level felt too easy or empty. I also added the hiding objects into the game which coding team made. It took a few tries to get the blueprint working properly so the hiding objects weren't fully implemented for a while. I added a door and key which led to the prince's quarters to finalize the levels puzzle. Avoid the guards, get the key, enter the prince's quarters, and leave unseen.

One of the final things we added which took the most work were level transition. They were super finicky and didnt work properly for the majority of the time they were implemented. After redoing them several times and communicating with coding, they finally were properly implemented. The other final detail we added to the level was music in the levels and sound effects in the corresponding areas, like fire crackle.   

We had several issues as a team. From the very beginning we were very disorganized and there was a lot of miscommunication. Everyone had a different idea of how the game would play, a big problem at the start was the level order. It had changed several times and we had to properly sit down and discuss what the official story path was. After we started documenting things more and communicating with other team members better, things started moving more smoothly and the vision for the game was easier to follow. We also struggled at the beginning with many of the students wanting to lead the design of the game and take charge, it took a while before everyone settled and let the team lead Bodie make the decisions.

Making this game was a great experience, I learned a lot about making a game in a larger group and how to cooperate with a team. I will take what I learned to future projects seeing the importance of communication and documentation, making sure everyone shares the same vision for the game.