Here it is, week four of the project, and we’ve come to some sobering conclusions.

One. We’ve spent so much time learning how to use Unreal Development Kit that we haven’t actually constructed any tangible assets with it. At this point, we don’t feel we have enough time to build all the assets we need for Burst in the time we have left – at least nothing that would resemble the game we envisioned.

Two. If we can’t work with the UDK, we’re not sure we want to keep working on Burst. We feel that the game wouldn’t have the same intended effect, and the last thing we want to do is go full-steam ahead on something we don’t feel passionately about.

And so we make the executive decision to scrap Burst, even though more than half our development time has passed and the concept has been approved.

And so it’s back to the drawing board, with four of seven of our allotted weeks down. A scary thought indeed, but also a strangely liberating one.

With three weeks to build an interactive game from scratch (in the midst of also working on CODE Live projects for our Building Virtual Worlds class), we feel pretty overwhelmed. We start joking around nervously, and someone (we think Ryleigh) comes up with an idea for a game where the user would care for and raise Jordan.

As we joke about it some more, it suddenly doesn’t seem that bad an idea. We think about likening our game to the children’s virtual pet Tamagotchi, and then Ryan comes up with the name, “Managotchi.”

We unanimously love this idea and talk about it some more amongst ourselves. What if we created a turn-based strategy game where the user becomes a parent of said Managotchi, choosing how to care for him? What if in addition to Managotchi’s health bar, we included other aspects, such as happiness and intellect?

We return to talk to George Johnson, unsure how he’ll feel about our radical departure from our previously approved concept. But thankfully, George tells us he really likes the idea, and thinks we can have a lot of fun with it. We tell him our focus will be on strongly developing the character of Managotchi, as well as enforcing his relationship with his parent/user.

Jeff and Ryan begin work on a spreadsheet that includes a list of activities, actions and foods Managotchi could engage in, as well as numeric values for each. We want this to be a strategic game, where the “parent” has to make smart, informed choices if they want Managotchi to live a full, healthy life – but we also want every opportunity for him to have fun.

We spend the remainder of the week fleshing out this list via a couple of sit-down meetings and late-night Skype meetings.

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