2019 Week 1: Build Journal

The moment the curtain dropped to reveal the 2019 playing field, Nemesis was instantly bursting at the seams with ideas on how to solve every problem they would face.  After a double speed read of the game manual, the team was ready for brainstorming. Ideas ranging from cranes to catapults were presented. The team split up into small groups, where every team member drew out any and all ideas they had.  Each small group made a design using aspects from all the contributions. The entire team reviewed all the small group designs, effectively giving the entire team insight into the ideas of others, and additional potential solutions to all of the tasks to be completed.  After two days of brainstorming, the prototyping phase was ready to begin.

The team decided that the main subsystems that needed to be built included: a cargo intake, a hatch intake, a way to place game pieces on the cargo ship and rocket, a drive train, and a way to climb.  Again, the team was broken up into sub teams, one for each subsystem. The sub-teams proceeded to build prototypes. Some succeeded wonderfully, while others failed. Ideas quickly evolved, sometimes coming full circle, or slowly transforming into an entirely new idea.  Some ideas were abandoned, while others branched off into completely new directions. Major progress was made with the cargo carriage system and the hatch intake system. Although these prototypes worked well, the team still tweaked them and made small changes to make them even better.

The build season to come will bring many challenges, but with some more hard work and determination, the team will thrive!