Company Roles

Owner
Bryce Lowry

The Owner is the conceptual mastermind of the project. He is the originator of the project and as such is the reason for its existence. All matters of project requirements and design are subject to approval by the owner, and it is our purpose to create a product that embodies the vision he sets forth.

Project Manager
Matt Hess

The Project Manager is responsible for ensuring that each team member has access to the resources he needs in order to work productively each week. Under the direction of the owner, he conducts weekly team meetings an The Project Manager also keeps a schedule of all people and project resources. It is his task to provide the owner with development time and effort estimates, and to keep the uncertainty in development time and resources under control so that the project can reach all of its milestones on time and within its resource constraints.

First working week: Create a meeting agenda. Review the requirements document and address missing areas. Begin to prioritize desired features. Together with the Systems Architect, work out a timeline for project milestones and development throughout the semester.

Systems Architect
Seth Stewart

The Systems Architect is responsible for creating a top-down, high-level set of requirements for each component of software system, and for overseeing the implementation to ensure the system's integrity. He authors a specification outlining the purpose and performance requirements of each major piece of the software, and defines interfaces between these pieces such that teams can work simultaneously on different parts of the project, tailoring their work to meet the spec such that the resulting components are guaranteed to be compatible when integrated.

First working week: Hammer down requirements for each major part of the project. Establish guidelines for prototyping each part. Assist Project Manager to assist in developing a project timeline for the semester.

Physics
Seth Stewart

Matt Hess

The Physics programmers have the goal of creating an interactive system that simulates to some degree the world in which we live. This lends both an intuitiveness to the user interface as well as a bountiful opportunity for creativity. The system must be straightforward, predictable, reliable, efficient enough to run on most computers, and a joy to use. The physics system must run silently in the background of the game engine and facilitate rather than interfere with enjoyable gameplay. The extent to which actual physics simulation or some other modeling system is used depends heavily on research and investigation of new ideas.

First working week: Become acquainted with UDK and create a prototype or mock-up of a simplistic custom item physics model, paying special attention to the reality that these objects must be capable of being rendered, stored, and retrieved efficiently.

User Interface
Ben Williams

Mark Siebert

The User Interface developers will design and program the workflow of item creation from start to finish. The user interface is responsible both for giving the first impression of the workshop environment as well as for defining the behavior and effect of user input on the selections made and consequences that occur in item formation. Navigation and visuals must be consistent with the atmosphere of the game, as they can contribute powerfully to the game's unique look and feel.

First working week: In concert with the artistic lead (Bryce), create some mock-ups of the UI for item creation. Download UDK and play with it.

Animation / Visual Effects
Eric Hullinger

David Boudreau

Animation and visual effects are key to pulling off an interesting, unique, and delightful crafting experience. Much has been done in the visual effects sector of the video game industry, but so far it has served primarily as a backdrop or storytelling tool rather than as a creative element that the user can interact with. The visual effects and animations will in large degree enhance the believability and seamlessness of the item creation process.

First working week: Download UDK and work through some tutorials on visual effects. There are some powerful visual effects that have been made easy to implement, such as flames, sparks, and dynamic lighting. Investigate and experiment with methods of integrating these animated effects into the workshop environment.

Rendering
Nathan S.

The Rendering technician is responsible for ensuring that the graphical quality of the game at large is of high quality and that there are no rendering defects or other anomalies that would disturb the appearance and professionalism of the game. His role extends both to appearance and performance, always preferring more efficient methods of achieving the same or better visual appearance.

First working week: Download UDK and work through a tutorial. Suggested topics: texturing, bump-mapping, displacement- or parallax-mapping, or rendering effects. Present findings at next team meeting.

Environment
Spencer Kropp

The Environment developer transforms the zero-valued, pixelated backdrop default of the computer program into an interactive, believable, and seemingly limitless game world. (You know that checker board-looking thing that loads up whenever you start modeling or have an empty game world in a development environment? You know why you never see it in real games except checkers? This guy.) He scripts backdrops, terrain, scenery, ambient sounds, etc. and combines them with the foreground elements of gameplay. This role also includes in-game testing of other audiovisual components to ensure that they mesh well with the environment in which they are placed.

First working week: Download UDK and create a (simplistic) environment designed to approximate the look and feel of a blacksmith's shop.

Artificial Intelligence / Interactivity
Riley Monson

The AI / Interactivity developer investigates how to make a seamless link between user input, "level" or environment design, in-game interactive items (including the user's custom-built ones!), enemies in combat, and NPCs (in the storyline). He implements and tests the aspects of gameplay relating to these user-driven interactions.

First working week: Download UDK and investigate user-driven means of interacting with the game world. If you find yourself short of things to do that relate to the game project, feel free to join with the physics programmers in investigating means of implementing the item creation mechanism.

2D Concept Art
Bryce Lowry

Kat Lowry

Didn't you see all the art for the project pitch?

3D Modeling
Bryce Lowry

3D models are the bread and butter of a 3D game. Not too many items will have to be created for the initial demo of the game, however - just enough to convey the gameplay and make it presentable.

Sound
Ben Williams

Matt Hess

Pending prioritization. (All members of the sound team have other roles for initial project development.)

Documentation Team
Riley Monson

Wiki administrator. Ensures that features, designs, and implementations are adequately documented on the wiki page. This is largely the responsibility of the individual developers and contributors.