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Meeting 9/1

First Info Session

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Agenda

1

Introductions

2

What do we do?

3

Member Roles

4

Attendance

5

Timeline

6

Wrapping Up

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1

Introductions

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Meet the board

  • Penn’s game development studio
  • Meets Saturdays 2-5 PM in Levine 307 and Wednesday 7-8 PM in TBD

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2

What Do We Do?

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Make Games

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Game Jams

Halloween Game Jam

Valentine’s Game Jam

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Speaker Events

Outer Wilds Dev Team

UPenn Alumni and Friends Panel

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Workshops

Intro to Unity

Advanced Unity Programming

Debugging Workshop

Intro to Blender/3D Game Assets

Unity Shaders

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Club Collabs

Penn SIGGRAPH Chapter

Penn Esports

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Trips

GDC

PAX East

PHL Gaming

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Photo dump!

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No applications required.

From our Penn Clubs page:

Whether you like programming, drawing, modeling, writing, composing, or anything else, we welcome anyone who's interested in any aspect of game dev.

While previous experience with any of these roles is expected, we will get you up to speed with any game dev-related stuff, and you'll hit the ground running on your very first game in a matter of days.

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3

Member Roles

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Org Chart

Member

Be in the Discord

Board

Admin, logistics, and mentorship

Perks

Get to work on our first and second sem games!

Name in credits for published projects

Eligible for events that require club funding!

Perks

Attend social events, chill in Discord

Dev

Programming, tech decisions

Artists, musicians, modeling, writers

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4

Attendance

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Attendance Policies

Member

Attendance not mandatory

For people who just want to observe or socialize

Everyone starts as a Member be default, nothing you have to do

All Members that successfully complete the demo minigame will promoted to Dev!

Dev

Attendance to work meetings (Saturdays) and check-ins (Wednesdays) are mandatory

For people looking to publish, compete, or learn technical skills

Active contribution and updates are expected.

Please let us know if you need to miss a meeting in advance!

Too many unexcused absences will result in a demote

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5

Timeline

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First Sem: Introducing PennBoy!

  • PennBoy Minigame Collection
    • Penn’s premier game console
      • Minigame Collection!
        • Like WarioWare, etc.
    • What will you do
      • You (and others if you choose) will make a 3D minigame of your design!
    • 3 week training period
      • Intro to game dev
      • Post training -> promoting to Dev
    • Collection will be published on itch.io

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Semester 1 Timeline

Week 1-3

Introductions, software setup and creating minigame

Launch Window

Weeks 10-14

Game Launch, Playtesting, Presentations

PennBoy

Weeks 4-9

Develop 1 minigame to completion

Training Period

Game Jam

October

UPGRADE Game Jam

Location:

Levine 307

Saturdays

2pm - 5pm

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Untitled Tank Game

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Semester 2 Timeline

Jan 18-25st

Design doc rundown, how our game works, planning

Launch Window

April 5th-26th

Playtesting, linking all levels together, game launch

Level Development Stage 1

Feb 1st-March 1st

Level planning feedback, development in groups (playtesting too)

Intro to Untitled Tank Project

Level Development Stage 2

March 1th-29th

Reiteration, continuous polishing and playtesting…

GDC

March 17-21

Location:

Levine 307

Saturdays

2pm - 5pm

PAX East

May 10… TBD

Game Jam

February

UPGRADE Game Jam

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Side Quest

While《Tanks》will be UPGRADE’s main game, we are also working on some other smaller games.

Introducing 《 Girlboss, Gaslight, Gatekeep 》(Remastered)

  • A story-driven, 2.5D, visual novel with rhythm battles where you fight werewolf and vampire love interests.
  • Playtime of ~1 hr max (short game).
  • Made in Godot

If any of you are interested in learning Godot + working on this game, please reach out to Faye at the 9/8 meeting.

CG art, made by Jackie.

Danganronpa-inspired rhythm battles.

Duck Detective-inspired 2.5D.

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6

Wrapping Up

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New member form

Please fill out this form to help us plan for this year!

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Questions?

About the club, Penn, classes, life, anything?

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Freeplay mode unlocked!

1

  • Join our Discord and follow us on Instagram @pennupgrade!
  • Club email is pennupgrade@gmail.com

2

  • Play our games at pennupgrade.itch.io if you want!
  • Stick around if you want to play Jackbox, try out the Steam Deck, and meet other peeps! ^.^

3

  • Feel free to come up to us if you have any other questions or concerns! Stay and chill, or you’re free to leave!!

Thanks for coming~!