Designing the Great Cow Race, Part 2: The Home Stretch

TelltaleGames

Now we find ourselves in the home stretch, barreling forward like a herd of high-spirited racing cows towards a finish line that a mere six months ago seemed impossibly far away. This is the part of the production when people start acting a bit like loopy marmosets, and one shot of espresso is no longer enough to see me through the day. Team members' communication skills start waning, and the most common response to any given question is "huh?" or "what?" Fatigue becomes an ugly fiend that we do battle with on a daily basis.



The other monster we are grappling with in mortal conflict is that devil you may have heard of, the one they say is "in the details." Oh sure, The Great Cow race looks and sounds lovely and it plays like a recently tuned baby grand piano, but there is a never-ending stream of bugs, small touch-ups and polish to address. Fighting the details devil is an ongoing dance of solving problems only to uncover new ones. Still, we seem to be making progress in this battle, pushing the creature further back than it advances day to day.


I began today by mistakenly ordering a small iced mocha instead of a more voluminous beverage (Translation: I'll probably have to venture out into the rain-soaked world this afternoon to purchase a refill). I arrived at work feeling somewhat bedraggled after a weekend of overseeing focus testers and testing the game myself. No sooner was I in the door than I was answering questions about whether I was satisfied with the way a certain scene looked, whether the way an item appeared would clearly indicate to players what they were supposed to do with it and how many shots of espresso were in my mocha (Too few).



I spent the morning updating documentation that helps us track who is doing what and whether certain things had been addressed. I returned a gaggle of emails and sent one to Bay Area Sound to request some further sound assistance. Dave Grossman and I discussed options for certain circumstances for one of the mini-games with Randy for a good ten minutes, only to have Randy discover when we walked away that everything was already programmed the way we had just described. Dave, Randy and I are very, very smart, but even geniuses can occasionally forget their previous acts of brilliance when they haven't had enough caffeine. Then Dave and I sat down and discussed our notes from the weekend's focus group, concentrating on any design issues that still may need tweaking. Fortunately this time our list was fairly short.



Somewhere around noon I realized I had forgotten to eat breakfast, and pulled out my delicious ham/sun-dried tomato cream cheese/basil sandwich and made quick work of it. Now I am writing this but am still feeling rather hungry. And I need more caffeine. Which makes me suspect I will soon drive over to Border's and pick up some another mocha and possibly a terribly tasty cookie as well. Even though said cookies aren't particularly healthy, they are nonetheless gooey and scrumptious.



This afternoon we have our weekly team meeting, during which Dan emerges from his office long enough to tell us we are all completely wonderful people of whom the mere thought makes his every waking moment a true joy. Then I will begin the lengthy process of writing up bugs from the weekend, during which I expect to have many interruptions with questions of various sorts, last minute emergencies, and impromptu tasks. I also at some point need to get started on some of the important writing details that will be required about the same time the game is released.



Yes, plenty to do, even this late in the race. But soon our adventure in game making will be complete and your adventure in game playing will begin. And that, my friends, will be a glorious day for all.




This continuing developer diary brought to you by Telltale designer and writer Heather Logas.





Learn more about Bone: The Great Cow Race - click here.