Week One - Group meeting.

Overview of the meeting: The aim of this first off the map group meeting was to decide what shakespeare theme we will chose, the style and gameplay. We decided to begin the planning and preparations for the first week, making gant charts and a style guide, to get a clear understanding of our game idea.

Firstly we discussed each theme topic, castles (Macbeth and Hamlet), shipwrecks (The Tempest) and forests (Midsummer's night dream). we all gave ideas and opinions on each topic, which we all had oppotunities to talk and be heard. we taked about relatable game titles for each theme and the type of gameplay/ mechanics they would have.

We ruled out the Tempest as an option straight away because everyone was focus more about doing either castles or forests. For Macbeth we talked about the game 'Layers of fear' and how we could create a similar gameplay style, with changing rooms and objects, making the player feel like the character is going mad. For Midsummer's night dream we talked about 'the stanley parable' and 'Journey', more about how it would be a comedy game with voice overs.

Afterwards we took a vote on which theme to choose and everyone chose Midsummer's night dream. Next we discussed in depth about the gameplay and mechanics, the style, story, characters, objective of the game and level design.

We decided on a level which would have four areas of clearing in a forest and smaller path areas linking between them. The four areas would be parts of the play, you begin at dust on a stage with a prologue of your objective written in the style of a shakespeare poem. the player begins collecting flowers, letters and as they progress through the level the light becomes getting brighter as if becoming dawn , where they reach the end of the game.

We also thought about mixing realistic with semi-stylised, which we would incoorporate painted set pieces and lighting in the forest which becomes progressively increased as the player explores deeper within the game, infering that it is becoming more and more like a dream.

we would have puck as a character talking and guiding the player through the game. Which he would pop up in places, for example in a tree or on the ground, talk to the player, then disappear. He would also have narration over the game, implying he is always around like a 'cheshire cat' character. There would aslo be several minor fairy characters with animations, which are not interactable. A stretch goal for our character would be to have a jump mechanic.

Our aims for now are character, environment design and thumbnails, concepts, level design and white boxing in engine.