Ogre is our holy grail, the Ogre graphic engine, with all of it's perks and advantages, have been of great value to this project.
ODE, Open Dynamic Engine (same as S.T.A.L.K.E.R) have made it possible for us to create the great dynamic physics that you can see in the game.
We have used Raknet to get a game optimized network communication.
For music and SFX we have used the great sound engine Fmod.
With the Ruby scripting language we have been able to create a versatile and dynamic game engine: this has made the game logics more manageable and available for our game designers. With Ruby we also allow the comminity users to modify the game in anyway they see fit.
The Heptico Team is divided into three departments, Tech, Art and Design. Each one of these departments have a lead role person who is responsible for his department. The lead in each department deals with the communication with the producer and the other leads. The producer is responsible for the scheduling and the overall project progress.
Throughout the ten week production we have written a new tasklist and detailed schedule on a weekly basis. We have used these documents as tools during the production.
Pre-production
In this stage of the production, a part of
The Heptico Team developed the game concept document, creating the game on a theoretic level. Pre-production went on for about five weeks. The working method we used, writing detailed documentation, allowed us to go back and read the GDD, and other documents, if details about any element of the game needed clarification. Another part of the pre-production was to make a rough schedule of the entire 10 weeks of production and to make a detailed planing over the first two weeks of the production.
Game Design Document
The Game Design Document inlcudes all information about the game. This means in-game objects visual properties and values, winning/losing conditions, controls, pre-game systems like menu settings availability etc. During the production period of the project we used the GDD as a database for all details we needed to know, especially when writing detailed schedules.
Concept Document
The Concept document includes a short description of the main features of the game, explains the game modes and winning/losing conditions. The document is short, about one page and also contains the platform accessibility of the game.
Task List
The tasklist is updated all through the production and post-production periods of the project. It has been a tool for us who have worked on Robot. It has been continiously updated, as earlier mentioned, by the producer and each of the leads. It contains working tasks for the whole team. The task list depends on the detail schedule, and vice versa. You look at your detail schedule to see what today's task is, whereafter you can consult the task list for a detailed description of the task.
Production / Post production
Robot has been in its production period for six weeks, followed by a four-week post-production period. During post-production, no features have been added; rather, the game has been polished and tweaked to fix bugs and finish half-done features. After the production period, there was a beta test from which we learned what really needed to be fixed or modified.
