John Blau

(Currently under production).

Explore the quaint and musical town of Atoleiro in this 2D point-and-click experience. Started as a personal project in September 2017, Apollon Blue aims to be a reflective piece that examines the nature of being alone in an unfamiliar town for a few days.

• Exploration that influences dialogue options and other world elements.
• A vibrant and cool seaside town to explore

Made using Unity 2D and programmed in C#.

Concept:

Apollon Blue is based on my experiences studying abroad in Portugal last summer. For just a few days I got myself lost in a quaint and insular town named Gouveia. The town and its inhabitants in Apollon are loosely based on the places I visited and the people I met.

I knew that in the course of about three months I wanted to develop a five to ten minute experience that I could be proud of. 2D graphics were definitely the way to go because of the artists I wanted to ask to work on the project, and I figured that a point-and-click would fit the feeling of the game I was going for.

Process:

My goal from the beginning was to make Apollon a team project. I wanted the expertise of an artist to really bring charm to the town, and a composer who would make the quiet town filled with life.

I am making sure to set achievable deliverables for every member of the team, including myself. The deliverables mimic sprint goals in the scrum development methodology as they must be produced within a short period of time, and must be workable and complete.

Especially on a small team, I believe that communication and the visibility of every team member’s work are paramount to success. I made sure to designate time for the whole team to meet, as one-on-one time with me where work reviews could occur. Special effort was made so that the team could see firsthand some of the coding work that I was doing.

One aspect of this game’s design I stress is the contribution of ideas from both other team members. It is paramount to me that the other members of the team can express their own ideas and explore their styles within the game. The softer water-color palette of the backgrounds was not my idea, but came naturally as a result of the artist’s attitude towards the theme of the work. I am confident that allowing my team to express themselves through the work has made the game more compelling, and has lead to higher team morale.

The Team:

Production and Design: John Blau

Art and Animations: Elizabeth Dettman

Music Composition and Sound Engineering: Matthew Titcomb