At the semester's outset, we established a plan to manage our time effectively, aiming to complete the game to our satisfaction by the year's end. Having already discussed our individual roles in the first semester, we had a general understanding of our respective workloads.

Our initial task delegation was as follows:

George:

·         Game Coding

·         3D Asset and Environment Creation

·         Sound and Audio Implementation

·         UI/UX Design

Reena:

·         Entity Design and Development

·         2D Asset Design

·         Cutscenes

As someone with no prior coding experience, I opted for Unreal Engine's visual scripting system, Blueprints. This seemed the most efficient way for me to contribute to the game's creation without a lengthy detour into learning a traditional coding language. I began by taking an online course to grasp the fundamentals, and then used YouTube tutorials for practical guidance. Gradually, I moved beyond simply following tutorials and started creating blueprints independently, applying what I had learned. This process, while challenging, was incredibly valuable in developing my understanding and allowing me to create more streamlined and effective blueprints.

Initially, I focused on simpler coding tasks, such as opening drawers and creating UI widgets. This allowed me to build a foundational knowledge before tackling more complex puzzles.

Meanwhile, Reena began designing the 2D assets, which included the phone, diary, laptop, and room posters. For the phone, we discussed the necessary apps and their content. We decided to leave the photos app temporarily blank, as Reena still needed to draw those images. In the first semester, I had written approximately four pages for the diary, outlining key information needed for the game's puzzles. Reena then expanded upon this, adding more pages to create a more authentic teenage diary. For the laptop's wiki and "Find a person" pages, I provided the text and the photo for the wiki, which Reena then integrated into the visual design to create realistic webpages.

Once I had the basic game coding in place, I started creating the 3D environment using Blender. My workflow involved modelling an asset, then immediately implementing and coding its functionality within the game. I repeated this process until all necessary elements for a functional game were in place (more details on the Blender work can be found on that page).

As the project progressed, it became clear that Reena might not have enough time to complete both the cutscenes and all the drawings for the photo album and phone. Consequently, we re-evaluated our responsibilities, and I took on the cutscenes. Given that I still had considerable visual scripting to do and both cutscenes were phone calls, I decided to present them in a style similar to a 999 call seen on the news. This would involve the audio recording playing with visual subtitles of the conversation (see the cutscene page for further information).

Additionally, with time becoming a concern, Reena hadn't yet created the game's entity. To expedite this, we adjusted our original plan, and I created some initial designs for her to review. This was intended to save time and give her a clearer idea of the entity's potential appearance (more details on the entity design can be found on its page). We also made the decision to forgo animating the monster to save time, opting for a different approach instead.