Written by Yushan Yao
Class Communication：
Yushan and Derry talk about Level Design:
Derry, who was responsible for level design within the team, felt that the layout of the supermarket in the first version was too generic and uninteresting for players, so he designed a second version, as shown in the image.
Derry and Yushan discussed the feasibility of the new supermarket layout. Yushan put forward a different suggestion. Yushan believed that whilst the layout could differ from that of a standard supermarket, it should not deviate entirely; the setting needed to make players perceive the space as a supermarket rather than something else, as the current design resembled a maze. Furthermore, Yushan felt that the design offered players only a single route to follow, which was too monotonous. The design features only one entrance and one exit. When a player’s stress level is too high, they cannot quickly leave the space to perform other actions, which would significantly increase the failure rate and cause players to lose patience with the game. This is the suggestion Yushan put forward to Derry from a third-party perspective.
Following discussions between Yushan and Derry, they reached a consensus. They agreed that some obstacles could be removed to create more pathways for players. Multiple exits would be added to ensure players can leave the area promptly.
Yushan and Derry talk about shopping car:
Following Thursday’s playtesting, Derry and Yushan both realised that players had to collect items one by one and place them on the self-checkout counter. Firstly, this does not reflect the normal shopping process; secondly, players found the process rather tedious.
However, Yushan and Derry proposed different solutions. Yushan suggested adding a shopping trolley to the game, allowing players to place all their items in the trolley and proceed to the self-checkout area to pay for them all at once. Derry, on the other hand, suggested implementing a backpack system, whereby collected items would be transferred directly into the backpack and the player could leave immediately.
Yushan believes that the backpack system goes against normal shopping logic. Since this is a simulation game in GDD, it still needs to replicate the authentic experience of real life. Furthermore, I have already implemented the interlocking mechanism between the checkout area and the opening and closing of the gates; using the backpack feature would require a major overhaul.
Derry believes that the Backpack System offers a simpler gameplay experience, requiring fewer actions from the player.
Finally, Yushan addressed all of Derry’s concerns and reached an agreement with him to go ahead with the shopping trolley scheme.
Slack Communication：
Yushan and Derry talk about import FBX files:
Derry completed the build of the greybox in Blender. However, Yushan encountered issues during the import process. This was because Derry had sent the entire level to Yushan as a single FBX file, which meant that UE5 was unable to locate some static meshes, causing UE5 to report an error and resulting in the loss of the previous Blueprint sections.
Yushan therefore reiterated that, for the final official modelling, all objects must be split into separate FBX files before being sent, to prevent static mesh objects from going missing.
Yushan also invited Derry to a meeting on Thursday to discuss the matter with Ross.
Yushan compiled a list of all the items required for the game and sent it to Derry in the form of a document. The document specified the deadlines and formats for these assets.
Group talk about players feedback：
Derry summarised and categorised all the player feedback and shared it with the other members.
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