Day 1

This was pipeline day we only had about 4 or 5 hours allotted. Our goal was to start a shared repo, spin up an empty version of the game and set up deployment commands so that we can quickly share and update code remotely throughout the week. We got this done in only an hour using create-react-app and GitHub pages. We spent the next 5 hours getting a player character on the screen and allowing them to push other objects around the grid.

These two things weren't hard to implement using our custom engine but, since it was built previously by a single team member, we spent a considerable amount of time getting everyone up to speed on how to code using the pre-built engine.

All of us have full-time jobs and families to care for. We spent about 6 or 7 hours this day, working late into the night. We  both felt that we pushed a little past our daily burn out time that night. The last hour of coding was possibly counterproductive. We resolved to improve the next day.

Day 2

This day we committed to getting in most of the games core features, debris generation, combat, and the fire spread mechanic. We worked about 12 hours together and we're very pleased with the results. We're able to get half the core features in and even took on a new team member who happens to be passing by and interested in helping.

We did much better at stopping before getting burnt out this day. The next morning we felt well rested and ready to finish core mechanics.

Day 3

We only had about 5 hours to work this day. We worked on UI and layout as well as more mechanics. The main goal for this day was to complete the core game loop, even if we were still missing core mechanics.

Though we still didn't have explosions or projectile capabilities, we completed the game loop by ensuring the player had a win condition and once that condition was met the level would reset at a harder difficulty.

Day 4

We only had 3 hours this day and since both team members were starting the work week. We could only plan on at least 2 hours of development per night from here on out. We completed the explosion mechanic, and parametrized level difficulty so tha tit could increase appropriately  after each stage.

We ended the night with a game-breaking bug and couldn't pin down when it happened. Thankfully had git to recover and pin down the issue. This is also when we noticed we may have a significant performance problem and had to optimize sooner than expected.

Day 5

This was another 3 hour day due to work schedules. I spent most of this time frantically debugging any issues that came out of nowhere, as all bugs do. We realized that with each iteration of level generation, the game chugged more and more to the point where it was unplayable just 2 minutes into gameplay.

We didn't plan on optimizing anything until the end but this was a huge barrier to working on core mechanics. So one of us debugged and eventually fixed the issue, while the second teammate worked on UI.

We ended the night a little frustrated at how slow progress had gone over Day 4 and 5. We resolved to re-prioritize the most important, incomplete things: UI , information display, and projectile mechanics. At that point there was still no way to interact with the fire or fight against it. The player could only run around and try to save NPC before  being consumed.

Day 6

On day 6 we met for a solid 2.5 hours. Spirits were up as we continued to chip away at the main game loop and missing UI elements. By the end of the day we realized that, even though we had our fire, citizens to save, debris, and water shooting / dampening mechanic, there was still no sense of player progression. That had to be the next thing we tackled.

Unfortunately we were at a point where many things wouldn't make it in by Friday night. Some of the bigger pieces include sound effects and music, procedural building generation, and a host of visual polishes.

Day 7

Play-testing and bug fixing was the name of the game on our last day. One team member found some a few juicy bugs with just enough time for us to squash them. After that we spent the last 20 minutes working on our Itch page and writing up the credits. All in all, we are happy with where the game is at. It's something we are excited to build on.