Today, we invited various GDA alumni who now work in the professional field to come on over and share their advice and expertise! However, before we get into that first we have some…
Announcements
Unity Night Part 2
A few weeks back, we had our Unity Night where we focused on the basics of the game engine Unity. This is because Unity is the game engine of choice for our Mock Studio development, so it is important for all members to be familiar with the basics of the editor. Soon, we will have Unity Night Part 2, hosted by our department producers. This will be similar to the first Unity Night, although it will be more specifically oriented to Taco Cat’s development. More details on this will be revealed next meeting, stay tuned!
Taco Cat Playtest!
Speaking of the next meeting, next general meeting will be our first Taco Cat playtest! Here, all the departments will be showing of their work in person to get feedback. Note: While this event is called a playtest, not everything in this playtest will be “playable” as we are early in development. Think of this more as a feedback space for all things relating to Taco Cat’s development. There will also be other games made by UCSC students (for classes, personal projects, or anything of the sort) that are also there for playtesting. If you want to playtest your own game, let us know and bring your own laptop/anything needed for playing/experiencing whatever it is you want to test.
Alumni Panel 2
Today’s alumni panel is more general, focused on getting advice from a wide variety of different perspectives. However, we have another panel planned for 2/17/2023! This one will be more focused on Portfolio and Resume review, stay tuned for that!
Mock Studio Updates
Along with the announcements, we’ve also go a whole lot of updates on the progress on Taco Cat from our different departments! Here are all the updates, buckle up.
Programming
What’s Completed?
The prototype for the generation of the driving minigame’s environment is complete!
What is Being Worked On?
- Establishing general Unity knowledge
- Generation of taco orders
- Being able to pick up and place taco ingredients
- The location system
- The time system
- A placeholder UI element for the Gas
What Needs to Be Done?
- Scenes for the
- Taco Ordering System
- Ingredient Pick Up System
- A visual indicator for the location & time during the driving minigame and taco making prototypes
Art
What’s Completed?
- The first version of Jamie and Alex concepts!
- The first version of Customer Concepts!
- Moodboards for establishing the style of the game are complete!
What is Being Worked On?
- Style Guide for the game
- Second version of customer concepts
- Concept art for the environment
- The friendship bracelet
What Needs to Be Done?
- Ingredient concept art
- Concept art for the interior of the Taco Truck
Design
What’s Completed?
- Most of the design docs are done! Currently awaiting feedback!
What is Being Worked On?
- Driving minigame!
- UI/UX wireframes
What Needs to Be Done?
- Physics of the taco making minigame
Sound
What’s Completed?
- Concepts for the sounds have been reviewed
- FMOD has been learned!
What is Being Worked On?
- More concept tracks, specifically for the taco making minigame
- Sound Effect concepts
What Needs to Be Done?
- Implementing FMOD
- Making more concepts
- More concept reviews
Writing
What’s Completed?
- Plot planning and outlining is completed!
What is Being Worked On?
- Final stages of the character concepts
- World/Story inspirations
What Needs to Be Done?
- Setting up new tasks
- Finalizing old tasks
Alumni Panel
For the privacy of the alumni, we have elected to not record the alumni meeting. However, we do have public slides here full of the information presented here as well as information relating to the alumni such as what they’ve done and contact info. Feel free to use that to get in touch with the alumni for advice on their experience!
And with that, we’ve concluded today’s meeting. See you next week!