The entire premise of Phase 2 was to get all the information we could about our chosen topics and, whilst presenting our findings, get given feedback from the class on how we could turn the research into game ideas.
Phase 3 was the longest phase so far, lasting four weeks from Monday the 4th of November 2019 to the 01st of December 2019. It was all about using those four weeks to:
Firstly make as many general and 'throwaway' game ideas we could think of (or 'hundreds', as Adam put it)
The ideas of which would then be whittled down into three vastly different, solid and viable game ideas
Then, just like the phases before, the ideas would be presented back to the class for more feedback
These were the main three points of Phase 3, but we were also told that this was the optimum time to properly play-test ideas, experiment, explore, create and get immersed in all areas of our game ideas, as well as really think about storytelling, game mechanics, playing other similar games to ours and identifying the key themes within our chosen theme.
Above all, we were explicitly told not to over-complicate things at this stage, and to keep our ideas simple. After all, this phase was about surface and broad game ideas rather than coming up with a definite, concrete idea, which would come at a later phase.
The feedback we received from the end-of-phase presentation would act somewhat like 'market research', seeing what people really liked, didn't like, what they thought worked and didn't work about our game ideas, giving us all more of a solid direction to move forward with. We could improve upon what didn't work and expand on what positive feedback we had received, forming the foundations for a concrete, solid game idea to work on for the rest of the semester.
We were informed that our deadline for the presentation, and the end of the phase, was Friday the 29th of November 2019.
It was at this point that various people in the year started to form teams based on mutual understandings of their subject matter, as well as other personal reasons.
Since summer 2019, I had known deep down that nobody wanted to be in a team with me, but took no offence as I don't want to work on something I'm not interested in, and I don't want to make someone miserable working on something they aren't either. Because of this, I formed a contingency long ago stating that should I end up working alone, I would make a card or board game based on my favourite theme, the American frontier, to avoid working on code or animation, both of which I have little to no experience in. I can't code, and it would be foolish to attempt at such a crucial stage at that would only serve to frustrate me and make me lose weeks of time I could have spent working on physical board or card game mechanics, which I am good at. As well as this, I could focus on other subjects as art style, visuals and character design, which are my strongest crafts.
Working alone has never stopped me before.
I have to admit, I took a bit of a break at this stage so any solid work was done during the second half of Phase 3. Therefore, there won't be as much work to display as I would like.
Phase 3, Week 6
Week 6: 04/11/2019 - 10/11/2019
Week 7: 11/11/2019 - 17/11/2019
Week 8: 18/11/2019 - 24/11/2019
Week 9: 25/11/2019 - 01/12/2019