Week 2, Sprint 1

Development this week has been more on the lines of the visual content of the game. The core game design has been set. The tester and the lead game designer will be doing some paper prototyping to check what needs to be changed. I will be working with our sound guy to produce an audio/visual demo for Friday.

MFA and Edward Hopper

Went to the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston today. It's really amazing when you're presented with such a large magnitude of amazing pieces of art. Edward Hopper's works were on display, which was a major bonus as I like his work a lot. His play of light, perspective and space is really interesting.

What I did not expect is that so many of his works would be on show. There must have been at least 50 pieces, including of course his very famous ones, like Nighthawks. Apart from that, the rest of the paintings in other galleries were equally inspiring. Turner's "Slave Ship", some of Manet's work, Monet's work, the list goes on. The architecture in MFA is really amazing as well.

Saturday

Weekend is the best time to explore. We don't work on weekends and the days are extremely long, which is ideal. I managed to head down to the old naval shipyard as I wanted to have a look at U.S.S Constitution - built in 1797 and one of the first ships in the U.S Navy. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but as I was walking across the bridge, I could see it's imposing size from quite a distance.




It looked even more magnificent close up.
That is definitely one of the most ornamental pieces of history I have seen here so far.

Lunch Break

Weather was perfect this afternoon for sitting outdoors for lunch, as my shoes suggest.

Brainstorming

Past few days have been spent brainstorming on the game itself. We have been exposed to various elements of deejaying and have spoken to a few DJs, just to get an idea of what the experience is like (both good and bad). That has helped a lot in our idea generation.

Made more headway today as compared to yesterday in terms of the idea content. That's great news for us.

Tomorrow will probably be spent coming up with one or maybe two ideas and developing some of our current ideas.

The evening weather here was great, I thought there would be a thunderstorm but there wasn't. It was nice and breezy though, that was cool, especially while walking across Charles River on Harvard Bridge.

Phase 1

Yesterday was considered the beginning of phase 1 of our project, where we moved to the space where we will be working. For the next 4 weeks, we'll be based in an architecture studio. I quite like the space.

Prof. Henry Jenkins gave us a brief talk yesterday as well. He is the head of the CMS programmer in MIT and is definitely a very good speaker. We got a lot of insight into the whole Gambit programme and what he hopes will come out of it.

I've received my first "product backlog". A product backlog comprises of the tasks one has to complete within the next two weeks. I'm quite excited about the things I have to do, one of which will be coming up with the overall user experience. Apart from that, I'll have to work with the sound guy to understand how sound can affect visuals.

Walk

Boston is truly a city where people walk more then anything else. I have never walked so much over so few days before. It's fun though, the weather does suit walking very well.

Our first "sprint" begins tomorrow. That's when our project proper begins. This past week has been filled with lectures to mould and gear us up for the project. Most of the speakers were very good, with very informative lectures. These ranged from Character Design, to the whole process of learning in a game.

I like Boston fire engines.

MIT Day 3

Work is getting into gear on our prototypes. Today was quite a long day, had quite a few talks on GUI design and usability issues. I'm definitely learning more on HCI and how to go about idea developments in groups. For example, how not to be "married" to your idea; something I have definitely been guilty of. Game scope and production were other equally important issues covered today.

The approach to work is truly professional, which I think is great. Nothing is meant personally at all and nothing is (or should be) taken personally.

Weather here was fantastic today, temperature hovering around 12-15 degrees Celsius. Walking across Harvard Bridge was especially fun because of the strong and cold wind whipping against my face.

Boston, Day 1

I'm finally at MIT. What a long journey. But what a campus! As it was our first day, we took it fairly easy. Went for lunch nearby, had a 3 hour gaming session after. I played this board game called Vicin, it was my first time playing it.

In the evening Bin, Fezz and I decided to walk around certain parts of Boston and Cambridge. The atmosphere is quite amazing, managed to walk past Berklee College of Music as well. Did a little (very little) grocery shopping, will probably get more supplies tomorrow.

3,2,1 Blast off

I'll be flying off in a couple of hours to MIT!

Lasalle Graduate Show

Went to the Lasalle Graduate show opening last night. Very impressive! Was great to meet up with friends, a few lecturers and look at the work. I liked the whole setup of the various spaces and how everything was done up. Just a couple more days till I fly off....and I'm yet to pack! :) Might pack tomorrow I think.

T Minus 6 Days

It's 6 days till I fly off to Boston. Really looking forward to it. The experience, people I meet, everything. Will post pictures as often as I can when I am there.

Will be working at MIT for 9 weeks, building gaming prototypes.