Project '87 Postmortem

Project ‘87 Postmortem 

By: Zac Bogner 

Nov. 2019 

1 Year into Development

Master of Fine Arts in Game Design

Laguna College of Art and Design

2018-2020 

Project Contributors: 

Zac Bogner, Andrew Orozco, Amanda Joseph, Harold Blake, Ryan Powell,

Rei Nagaoka, Kim Grice, Richard Peraza, Sarah Morrison, Alyssa Sailor, Andy Mash.    

Project Overview: 

Project ‘87 is originated from a personal experience, where a father and son bond together inside a family owned garage. Since I have a good relationship with my dad, being around cars and helping my dad with working on cars is very special and I wanted to make something that can help build better relationships between those whom may not have the same outcome as I do with my experience with my father. I chose this project for my Master’s in Game Design Thesis.  (More info can be found here: http://zacbogner.com/project/project-87/ )

Proof Of Concept: 

Game Overview: 

Project ‘87 is a 3D  interactive experience set inside a family owned garage between a Father and Son at the core experience while maintaining their business of servicing cars. As a result, building a bonding relationship that is meaningful is the essence of the impact each interactive experience will have on the character of the son and non-playable character of the father. It is up to both to establish a closer bonding relationship to keep their business alive and strong. 

Project ‘87 will be unique for players. The game will feature multiple systems of interaction, and have stories interviewed within the gameplay experience. The father will teach the son the process and importance of servicing cars and maintaining a healthy relationship. 

The player is responsible for maintaining a steady relationship with the father. During the game experience with learning necessary tools and valuable tips to work on cars, the core of the game experience will introduce clients. Clients will have certain requirements to be met, and make sure that Bogner & Son’s Mechanics Incorporated is in prime condition for everyone. 

There will be conditions where each component or interaction tells a back story of the father and son relationship. It is important for these experiences to happen because not many people in the world are close with their father or even relatives at that matter. If there is a way to prevent toxic behavior within a negative relative environment then that is what I want to convey. Having a close relationship with my father personally is very life changing, because many people don’t have the same relationship that one person does with their father or relative. 

Inspiration and Influences: 

Some influences and inspirations reflect on the relationship between me and my father have. My dad is a car guru, and he is very supportive with my decisions in life. We have a great bonding relationship together, and we enjoy being around cars and working on them also. I have been around cars since I was four years old, and I remember working on my dad’s 87 Iroc-Z Camaro loosening the lug-nuts on the wheels. My father does not spend time with his father for certain reasons. One reason why, is that my dad was very passionate about cars, and my grandpa did not show interest in my dad's passion. My grandpa has recently gained interest with me and my racing interest and involvement with cars. The There are many other components that inspired me including some games listed below: 

• Heavy Rain

• Jalopy 
• Father and Son 

Pre-Production: 

The process that went into Pre-Production varied many challenging endeavors for the project. And the results were a great resource to reflect on and learn from. A large array of resources we accounted for in Pre-Production. Character’s were designed out, the father and son main characters. And a great amount of research was also gathered for development. During the Pre-Production stage, we recruited artist’s and additional outsourced help to get the project going. For development tools we used GitLab, and Github Desktop. For Communication/Management tools we used Trello, and Discord and Slack. We also used the Unity’s Technologies Game Engine, Unity. Also in Pre-Production we started to evaluate Marketing/Business Plans. We got a lot of the up-front work done even though the premise of the project had to be re-examined multiple times. 

Production: 

Production in the time the project was live for, the team cranked out a bunch of work from the concepts and milestones that were given and addressed. 

What Went Right: 

1. Experimenting: 
1. The Bonding Mechanic- this mechanic seemed like it would work well with multiple characters in the game. I really liked this mechanic because it was unique to the core game play, although it was difficult to follow through in the end.    
2. Production Methodologies 

1. Production Methodologies used were Agile and Feature Driven Development.  

1. Product Iterations 

1. Multiple product iterations were developed and tested. So the good thing is we can look at previous iterations and reflect on the problems much more effectively for future iterations. 

What Went Wrong: 

1. Maintaining Scope: 

1. Scope is one of the main factors that kills a project or makes a project successful. Balancing scope was challenging because when being the sole programmer, main creative, and project lead there was a lot to take on. And the result of it left me overwhelmed.  

1. Resources

1. Having the resources to get everything done in time was an issue. Since I was the only programmer on the team, and multiple pitches for additional help had failed, it was hard to do everything. 

1. Design Decisions

1. Design decisions really threw a curveball. I think the main reasoning to the project’s lifetime depleted by inconsistent design documentation and execution. 

1. Time Constraints

1. Time constraints had an effect on the project development, having a year to develop the game with the resources we had. The further down the year had gone by, the less time there was to implement the features. 

Lessons Learned:   

Although the project had never seen the light of day. I am still proud of the experience I have gained from leading a team, and constructing my own IP.