Joy Roodnick

I’m definitely going to miss this team, everyone is super AWESOME. The computer lab was like a second home to a bunch of us since we were there for so long. We experienced the rush to finish last night in which we had our first ‘team all-nighter'. It was a lot of work and a lot of fun. I find with these kinds of projects – especially in the summer – the more you put in, the more you get out. 

These past couple weeks have been some of the more busy times since the final final final deadline is approaching fast. There are many last minute changes. It seems like everything needs to be done, and it’s hard to know what to do first and what to just drop. It is also a time where lots of things can go wrong, and all the new ‘fixes’ cause the game to break. It is important to make sure you have checked everything before you push your code to the main branch.  Once we are done done the code, it will be time for the post-mortem and closing kit. The post-mortem will be a discussion about the overall process of the project: what worked well, what didn’t, and how we will make improvements in the future. Then we will create the closing kit – basically organizing everything having to do with the project into one convenient location for possible future use. That night we can sleep, and be well rested for the release party the next day. Presentations will be made, and even though I will miss the team, I will feel a sense of relief when the project is done. 

There are only a few more classes now, but I’m definitely not rushing enough. I know for sure that the last few days before the deadline will be filled with work and sleepless nights. If this project has taught me anything, it is that you are never done. Deadlines come, and you have to work with the time you are given.

Let’s try this again. Our first Beta wasn’t quite ready to be called ‘Beta’. It worked for the most part, but we were missing a few big things... one of our minigames for example.  We needed a new deadline, and for its level of completeness we decided on ‘Beta 2’. This was much more ready for testing, however still missing quite a few things. Once this was done, we could finally move on from Beta and start working towards release.  We will probably have a few more milestones in-between, but we’re well on our way to having a fully functional game.