The Tip-Top Club: Sorcerer's Apprentice Boardroom

ThemeParkPriest

ThemeParkPriest

Well-Known Member
ThemeParkPriest's Boardroom Review
Check out my ThemeParkPriest blog for the full post (including pictures and project links)
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1. What did you feel were your Top 5 contributions to the game and why?

Stanza 7 (Hanna-Barbera Arcade)—as an avid fan of Hanna-Barbera cartoons, I decided to take responsibility for developing two of the main attractions for our arcade. One was the Secret Squirrel escape room. I thought through logic puzzles and tasks for the guests to do in that room in order to get out. I also designed the Wacky Racing augmented reality attraction. I only became familiar with some of the other AR racing technologies from what my teammates had mentioned. I designed even a custom race track that would be used in the attraction.

Stanza 10 (“Trial of Terror” Musical)—our team needed a Project Manager when the one who had been assigned said he needed to step down. The timing seemed right for me to volunteer to do it, especially as some of my teammates (who are generally pretty active in the game) were busy that week. Although it could have been done in summary fashion, I ended up writing most of the script and some of the song lyrics for the musical. I also was the one who suggested the playbill format for our final product. Below is an illustration I put together focusing on the 8 "puppet" jurors (who would be joined by 4 audience jurors).

Stanza 12 (“The World Above” Pavilion)--my availability was a little limited for this stanza (as I was at a conference), so I took one of the minor attractions at our air/aviation pavilion--a film and walk-through exhibit of aviation history called “The Sky was Their Limit.” Relying on my transportation background, I specified the content of the film and exhibit giving extra detail to an airport design area, which enters into more of the edutainment focus of EPCOT Center. At my teammates’ suggestion, the film and exhibit was revised in 1996 to feature the character of Ludwig Von Drake and make the airport design stations interactive (through the use of kiosks). Although we missed out on first place, my part was praised by the judges as being the best fit for EPCOT.

Stanza 8 (LEGO Hidden Side Ride and ‘Boostro’)--This was my first attempt at drawing a map for an attraction queue. I used a base map that Outbound put together. I think it turned-out as professional as some of the maps of the veterans, so it shows the technical ability to make maps. Although we did not put together a map for the attraction itself (as there was some miscommunication), we did enough on our project to get the victory. I also helped to create the backstory for the attraction by creating visual aids that were used in the queue.

Brainstorming--Starting with Stanza 4 (following my retreat), my team was very successful with victories in Stanzas 4, 6, 8, 9, and 10 (with results TBD in 13) as well as close losses in Stanza 7 and 12. That might be the best track record for any of the competitors (or at least very similar to @Tegan pilots a chicken). I think my biggest regular team contribution is in the brainstorming PMs. Besides offering my own suggestions (like the winning idea for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in Stanza 9; see below for the the candy squid tank that was found in the ride) or the setting for our Stanza 13 land in a Blue Sky Disneyland), I also focused on how to best work with my teammates. I would especially track the messages and work of 1st-time teammates so that I can know how they operate (and help them to succeed if they needed some help with their tasks). I typically defer to others when assigning roles, because I believe the weakest part of the project is the one that gets overlooked. While I was on Team Time, I usually paired-up with @Sharon&Susan knowing that my interest in dark rides plus his strengths in map-making and being detail-oriented would work well together.

2. Which project did you struggle with the most and what (if anything) did you learn from it?

Stanza 2 (Narnia and Nightmare Before Christmas)--Besides the bad team dynamics we had that round (e.g. moving the brainstorming to Discord app for a short time even though not everyone had access to it), we were rather unbalanced with the tasks. Many of us newbies ended up with designing Narnia, whereas the Nightmare Before Christmas section had several veterans. I learned that the success of a team project requires that work loads are balanced as to the skills and availabilities of the teammates. Although something seemed wrong about our narrow approach to Narnia (i.e. having everything in the land including the two rides set to the story of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe), I couldn’t quite convince my teammates to broaden the scope of the land. I learned that I should try to anticipate the critiques of the judges and those who would be reading the project later This was my first time designing attractions in the game, and I realized afterwards that I needed to provide more details in my descriptions. I also was frustrated by my lack of technical skills, although I made progress by creating a drawing (first by hand and then aided by Paint on the computer). As my teammates changed the name of the shop a couple of times near the deadline, my drawing was cut from the presentation. I returned to the competition in Stanza 4 with more ideas of how to use Paint and Microsoft Word photo editing to get graphic designs that I wanted.

FYI, due to being on retreat, I missed Stanza 3 (The Meme) and most of Stanza 4 (Indiana Jones Coaster).

3. If you were to advance, do you anticipate any exams/trips/work in your way that would take precedence over the game?

If I was to advance, I have no time away until after the finals. As the start day of the Quarterfinals is Easter Sunday, I will be pretty busy that day (between ministry at church and time with family), although I should be able to get the stanza prompt and check-in with my team a little bit. As Lent (the 40 days before Easter) is typically the busiest time of year for priests. Therefore, I should be at least as available (if not more available) for the playoffs as I was in the regular season. I would say that I am pretty invested in the game as evidenced by this teams and results page I kept in my journal (had I known better how team swaps were to take place, I would have designed the page differently).
 
Solaris Knight

Solaris Knight

Well-Known Member
1: Top 5 contributions, in no particular order except for 2 and 1

5: Working on NNY even if we didn't win, was fun. I wasn't able to make Zapp to the Future as descriptive as I wanted it, but I think the concept was solid enough, and honestly, if I had to create one thing from this comp I've worked on to the actual parks, it'd be that.

4: The Marvel Arcade was fun for similar reasons, being able to flex my comic nerd muscles to work on a prompt like this. While we lacked the sheer volume of impressive details of our Distinguished Competition's arcade, it was still a very fun out-of-the-box prompt for us to work on.

3: Spectacular Spirits was my first project to work on, so it has a special place in my heart as the greenest rookie in this comp, my first time really getting my feet wet with a group project.

2: The Wonka Test Kitchen was mainly my concept, it really was what put us over the top of Stanza IX I think, since one of my favorite aspects of theme parks is the unique merch, which Wonka has in spades.

1: Trial of Terror felt like my baby, since it was my concept, with a bit of inspiration from Hulk, so I felt like an unofficial project manager on that one. I was happy we won because it felt like I put my best effort into it

2: The hardest project was obviously stanza 5 since I was busy still adjusting to my new job, so there was a lot of communication. What I'm learning is to balance things better with communicating and deadlines while working with others. Usually, I'm a bit of a lone wolf going off on my own because I want to be self-reliant, sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't, but I need to be more determined about when it works out.

3: No, I work on the weekends, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, so I should be fine working on stuff. I do feel better suited for stuff like 1SC than SA though. I'm a very terse writer, so working on very detailed projects is not my strong suit.
 
JokersWild

JokersWild

Well-Known Member
Honey Bee said:
Here are my answers!
Click to expand...
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TheSquirrel

TheSquirrel

Well-Known Member
1. What did you feel were your Top 5 contributions to the game and why?
The Shops in Surf Swell Beach
The Whip In Trolley Park
DisneyQuest
The Prize Counter
The Mario Shop

2. Which project did you struggle with the most and what (if anything) did you learn from it?
Forecast Follies because I didn’t do anything except the closing paragraph of our project

3. If you were to advance, do you anticipate any exams/trips/work in your way that would take precedence over the game?
No
 
montydysquith-navarro

montydysquith-navarro

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Seeing as we're upping the ante here with our boardroom reviews...


After @Honey Bee gave their statement to the jury, they then join the others at the bar who have already given their boardroom reviews. "Did you see that old-timey looking guy?" asks @Sharon&Susan, subtly gesturing to an elderly man holding an important-looking dossier and dressed in an outfit that screams "scholar": long coat, long-sleeved shirt, sweater vest, all the works. He looks slightly out of place with the younger population currently up and about the old Tip Top Club. "I don't think he's one of us", they say as they manage to open an old wine bottle they found on the bar, which they then proceed to pour into (newly cleaned-ish) wine glasses to serve to those waiting.

"What makes you say that?" asks @DashHaber. "Well for starters, I don't recognize him." "Neither do I," says @ThemeParkPriest. The other players look at him strangely, as he just refused a glass and instead brought out his water container to drink water from. "It's Holy Week." he simply explains and shrugs.

"Next!" @AceAstro shouts from the jury table. The man then begins to walk up to the table, when @D Hulk suddenly lept on the table, surprising everyone with a well-executed box jump. "HULK SEE STRANGE MAN! HULK WANT TO SMASH STRANGE MAN!" "Down, Hulk," chides Ace as he squirts Hulk with a water gun, "We don't smash potential friends." The slightly bemused man begins to introduce himself. "I am Oliver Knight from the National Archives of the United Kingdom. I am here today to personally deliver something to the 'Boardroom', whatever that means.", says Mr. Knight.

"That's us!" says @Outbound. "HULK GETS PRESENT?" a suddenly restrained Hulk asks. "Seeing as you wanted to 'smash' him on sight, I think not." "AW." Ace then gestures to the bulky-looking folder that Mr. Knight is holding. "Who is it from, Mr. Knight?" Ace asks. "The Highhurst Estate, one of the oldest houses in England, has made an arrangement with the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts to have this dossier presented to you three." "Highhurst? That sounds familiar." Outbound chimes in, "It's like Downton Abbey right?" "Well, yes, but Highhurst is not fictional. It is a real estate."

Mr. Knight continues. "What is peculiar about this dossier is that it was specifically instructed to be delivered and opened on this specific day at this specific time, despite it being created in the early 20th century" "That's curious," says Outbound. "We've never had a letter, let alone a dossier, from the past before." The archivist then hands Ace a pair of latex gloves, who then put it on before getting handed the dossier. "The dossier was created by Montague, the Ninth Earl of Highhurst. Perhaps it is related to your little competition that you are holding here?"

"Montague, as in Monty?!" the trio says in unison. "You seem familiar to him, based on your reactions," Mr. Knight replies with a single eyebrow raised. "Well yes, I was literally in the same team with him in the last stanza," said Outbound. "Are you implying he managed to go through all thirteen stanzas while living in the 20th century?" "Perhaps he did. Perhaps the answers you seek will be in this document." Mr. Knight then begins to leave. "I trust that document will be in your care, sirs." Thunder then claps, and the room is briefly plunged into darkness as the power goes out.

"He's gone!" yells @Tegan pilots a chicken as the lights in the bar flicker back on. "No, he's not. He's over there waiting for the elevator." quips Sharon. Mr. Knight then waves goodbye, as he steps into the elevator and leaves. "Geez, I hope he doesn't get stuck in here..." mutters @TwilightZone to themself.

"Well then, let's get to the bottom of this, shall we?" says Ace, as he flips open the dossier.

TO BE CONTINUED...​
 
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