Week 13

One week before soft opening.  Because of our two mishaps we were now about a week behind, meaning that at softs we would not be showing a “feature complete” beta version on Monday.  By our best estimates we can still reach this point by mid-week 14.

So, Allison continued with artistic revisions.  She has taken nearly all the pictures she need to take for the items, and has focused on editing the 3 minute and 30 seconds.

Glen and Elodie continue with server optimization and assisting the front end guys.  Xin and Jeremy have wedged in even more functionality, completely and successfully integrating all systems including photography and data entry.  They’ve added a help screen and even more textures from Allison.  Xin also continues iterating on the feel of the workspace, working closely with Chris to find new mechanics that answer problems raised by playtests.

Chris also worked with Xin to more clearly define some of the new menu pages, all the while continuing to update and clean the database.  As we test the different systems that add information to the database, we add a lot of “junk” entries.  If we don’t spend a little time each day clearing things out, it becomes a mess.

On Tuesday Rebecca was able to sit down and play with the app for over an hour.  She is cautiously optimistic about the app; the juicy way the app throws new connections on the screen really pleased her.

We conducted two playtests, one on Wednesday and one on Sunday (yes, we made it BOTH times).  In general we are getting good responses.  Kids understand what the app does for them, and during almost every test children are finding things they want to make.

We continued work through the weekend and are now certain that we can call feature lock next Wednesday and focus solely on polish.

Next Monday: Soft opening.