During the first two weeks since assembling the new team we have played and discussed the original game in detail. All with the mindset of understanding what works and what doesn't, so we can make the second iteration as good as we can. We have decided on polishing the combat system and allowing for more weapons and items to be used. We also came to the conclusion that the enemy behavior needs a redesign to be much more of a threat. After studying Hades for a bit I realized that every enemy needs to put some pressure on the player to keep moving. I want to design the enemies as to make standing still the most dangerous thing you can do.  

I'm also very interested in adding more variety to the rooms themselves, both by exploring better room generation, with shapes and traps. And also by trying different types of challenges in each room. So far we landed on two new ideas for rooms types, a tug of war room where players need to kill enemies fast in order to pull a cursor to their side, and also a zone control rooms. Another idea that we discussed but are still unsure about is a room with some sort of sports themes. I originally pitched a volley room but after discussion with the team we shifted to something more pong-like. However, this is still a shaky idea. 

Still in discussion is how to best proceed with the first prototyping phase. We have been instructed to all work on our own prototypes instead of working together on the same one. I feel like it would be wise if every prototype focused on a different aspect. Especially since there are many aspects necessary to show off the full concept of our game(combat, enemies, items, room progression, online aspects). On the last prototype I spent a lot of time on the combat system. This time I'm more interested in working on the aspects I feel we're the weakest before, the enemy AI and room generation. 

I'm starting to build a small prototype with just characters, and a very basic attack working online. The plan is to share this with every team member to help out with the individual development and kickstart us all with a common base. I want to make it as organized and easy to read as I can as to not start this on the wrong foot. I've learned from last time how quickly things can get messy once the project grows, and I think a good base using composition would go a long way in keeping the project scalable and understandable. 

This weekend I'm also trying to get in touch with some friends that I consider to be prime potential clients for this type of game. They play a lot of games together online, both party and competitive. And are usually open to trying smaller indie titles as well. They also expressed interest in being part of development of a game in such early stages and liked the concept of the game very much. Hopefully I'll manage to get them to play the original prototype this weekend and get them to fill out the previous feedback form alongside a new one focusing on what other games they enjoy playing together, how long their play sessions are, and how often they play.