Hello! Last week was a sprint towards the Alpha milestone and we got a lot closer to the game looking like it will be in its final state. For the most part, we finished "level 1" completely, but it's clear after the demo and some playtesting that the level is too difficult for many players. So this week we will be conducting more playtests and fixing bugs and tweaking UX features that the players found confusing. In terms of features and content for the alpha here is what each team accomplished.

Development

• 2 tutorials for teaching the players basic mechanics of the game like interacting and understanding the relationships between objects
• The PC that players must interact with to get the password that will unlock the control panel for the power generator
• Revamped title screen to include tutorial buttons and removed placeholder art
• Each time loop starts with time frozen, we found that this gives players more time to think about the problem.
• Incorporated the basis of the "hint" UI where players can hover over objects to review knowledge that they've acquired by playing
• Redone lighting to incorporate lightmaps which drastically improve the look of the game with little hit to performance

Art

• Concept/Reference drawings for the assets that will be used for level 1
• Assets for the Control Panel and the Emergency Power Holder
• The finished rigged model for the player character
• Wall panel texture and puddle image

Music

• The majority of the sound effects that will be used in Level 1

This week we will be fixing the bugs encountered during the playtests and addressing the user experience that made some parts of the puzzle hard to understand.