Pick any gal vs Tanks

Hey !  Networked simple character selection is working in game now  !  I also managed to fix all the other little issues I was having too = ]  I guess I'm starting to get a  grip on how Mirror networking works.

So what do I have now ?

• 4 Character Models with pretty basic mixamo auto rig
• Basic character controller that is not customized for any of these characters yet
• Basic networking template including: teams, powerups, shooting, ai, character prefab switching
• Some random animations scavanged from free or previously purchased assets or mixamo
• Some fun effects here and there

What do I need to do from my plan: 

• Cutscenes: Intro / Ending(s)  ... I want to do something like comic style, I started writing some of this already but not finished, but I haven't really set up the art for it or anything ... I should probably just put up two walls of text and come back to this later, but knowing me I'll waste time on it, but its gated by having some world art, I am thinking of just buying an asset from the store for the environment, also I need the little robot critter thing + the magical girl lady.
• Gameplay: customize the controller for each character and decide on their powers 
• Gameplay: Replace the tanks with the goons, and get a model for the "boss"
• Gameplay: Make goons behavior not like tank ! hehe
• Gameplay: Work on gating movement to areas before all players have hit "ready" ( or whatever choice  they might pick from story)
• Gameplay: Character select, work on blocking more than 4 clients connecting, only allow picking a character that is not selected by another client
• Gameplay: create in game story sequences ( thinking just little balloons that pop up ) 
• Gameplay: look into switching teams ( for secret feature) 
• Gameplay:  organize level and where events and walls etc will happen 
• Network: add free relay / punch through service  ( 8 CCU , so basically two sets of people can play it ... probably wont need more than that)
• Network: add match making 
• Network: add network smoother
• Art:  I should rig up the faces of the characters for the cutscenes otherwise they will always look blank and lame
• Optimize: I should do LOD's of the characters and get all textures into 1 sheet, they are pretty unoptimized right now
• Optimize: I should pool the bad guys
• Marketing:  I should probably make a nice logo and some banner art etc. but maybe I can pull this off from the intro / comic / in game cutsceneish stuff ... probably not the logo ...
• Gameplay: characters should spawn as temp things (ghosts?) before picking their char

So I guess the question is what to pick next ?

• If I focus on gameplay first then I should get the enivronment setup, create the initial spawn zone  and figure out those parts concerning character selection/gating until all connected clients are ready.

• If I focus on story, I should probably write the whole thing down with the multiple branches and everything, then probably get the environment and map down where things will go 

I feel like the environment is a comonality between these two, as it will somewhat gate me ( I could just use boxes for everything though) , but I think its worth investing in just getting an asset since I think layout with the boxes would take substantial more time and would need to be replaced anyway if I wanted it to look good. I would love to just write the story with out the context of the enviroment, but since I cant waste time I think I'll get the environment and mold the exact story events to the environment with minor customization... Its not the greatest to bend your story to what you have, but it will make for quicker turn around.  After all I have the story main beats in my head, its just getting the actual details down and its hard to nail down until I can make sure they can actually happen with the small limitations... 

Alright, if you've read this far, hope your not too bored by my train of thoughts =] 

Till next update! 

-Erik