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Reference List

Audience Research: Existing Games

Romano, S. (2017). Nine minutes of off-screen Persona 5 gameplay - Gematsu. [online] Gematsu. Available at: http://gematsu.com/2016/06/nine-minutes-off-screen-persona-5-gameplay [Accessed 3 May. 2017].

Abercrombie, D. and Abercrombie, D. (2017). Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc's The School Life Mode Adds New Storyline and Gameplay Features. [online] DualShockers. Available at: http://www.dualshockers.com/danganronpa-trigger-happy-havocs-the-school-life-mode-adds-new-storyline-and-gameplay-features/ [Accessed 3 May. 2017].

Audience Research: Nodame Cantabile

Cotvn.Net. (2017). Top 10 Anime về nghệ thuật hay nhất | Cotvn.Net. [online] Available at: http://cotvn.net/anime/bang-xep-hang-anime/top-10-anime-ve-nghe-thuat-hay-nhat.html [Accessed 7 Jun. 2017].

Game Research: Owlboy

Destructoid. (2017). I’ve met someone and I think I’m in love, his name is Owlboy. Available at: https://www.destructoid.com/i-ve-met-someone-and-i-think-i-m-in-love-his-name-is-owlboy-380579.phtml [Accessed 3 Apr. 2017]

Gaming with Rachel

Geforce.com. (2017). Borderlands 2 & Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Tweak Guide | GeForce. [online] Available at: http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/guides/borderlands-2-borderlands-the-pre-sequel-tweak-guide#1 [Accessed 19 Feb. 2017].

GameSpot. (2017). Mass Effect: Andromeda. [online] Available at: https://www.gamespot.com/mass-effect-andromeda/ [Accessed 6 Mar. 2017].

GameSpot. (2017). Resident Evil 7 Weapons, Story Details Confirmed by ESRB Rating. [online] Available at: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/resident-evil-7-weapons-story-details-confirmed-by/1100-6443066/ [Accessed 11 Mar. 2017].

Game Research: Owlboy

Twitter. (2017). Nintendo Life on Twitter. [online] Available at: https://twitter.com/nintendolife/status/865415477782130689 [Accessed 6 May 2017].

Indie Obscura. (2017). Press Start To Begin: Name These Upcoming Indie Games. [online] Available at: http://indieobscura.com/article/493/press-start-to-begin-name-these-upcoming-indie-games [Accessed 12 May 2017].

Game Research: Persona 5

Terencio, N. (2017). Atlus Updates Persona 5 Streaming Guidelines - Hey Poor Player. [online] Hey Poor Player. Available at: https://www.heypoorplayer.com/2017/04/27/persona-5-streaming-guidelines/ [Accessed 12 May 2017].

reddit. (2017). A Persona 5 Speculation Complitation • r/Megaten. [online] Available at: https://www.reddit.com/r/Megaten/comments/2uwvsx/a_persona_5_speculation_complitation/ [Accessed 12 May 2017].

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Evaluation

This survive/thrive project was much different than any project I had been given before specifically for the amount of freedom we had. The project inspired my product as it helped me shape the gameplay style about the character surviving through numerous levels. The theme would impact the project more as the project continued, such as the mechanics used in each level and the affect enemies had upon the player. An example would be the health, which decreases if the player comes into contact with either spikes or an enemy. This goes with the theme because the player now has to focus upon ‘surviving’ in the game.  Overall, I felt by having this set theme this ensured I could focus upon enriching this experience of the player  about them ‘surviving’ within my game.  

Research

Research played a large role in terms of how the game would eventually turn out because as I learned more about the industry and similar games, it changed my view on certain aspects of my own game. For example, after analysing Owlboy (Game Research#1: Owlboy), it encouraged me to make use of more mechanics within my game like hazards and health packs.  This was also shown in the other games (Gaming with Rachel) such as in Mass Effect where the player can interact with the spaceship and in Borderlands where the player is able to pick up numerous weapons. After witnessing these effective mechanics, this made me aware just how important interactivity parts of games truly are, therefore emphasising the need for mechanics within my own game.

This kind of research was carried out throughout the project as I analysed various forms of media ranging from books, television and gaming. I felt it was necessary to not lock my research strictly to the games industry, as it allowed me to find out information that isn’t as clear in video games. For example, the half-real book I analysed (Book Research#1: Half Real) focused on the matter of the different worlds of fiction and non-fiction and how to effectively divide these two parts. This led me to have a better view upon how I could implement this into my own game, by adding certain real to life objects whilst being in a very fictional world.

Despite these research methods benefitting me, I feel I could have researched more in particular areas such as primary research as while I did make a survey, I could have done an interview to gain more detailed information about the game. I also could have considered more research to do with audio, as I felt I focused more upon the mechanics despite this being an important part of a video game. Finally, I could have analysed more into how video games are marketed to help with the design part of my project.

Pre-Production

Pre-Production covered a large part of the project as this was where all the planning took place. This covered planning the level design for the game, discussing the features of the game and plans for how it would be laid out. For example, I created a Game Development Document (GDD) because it covered lots of information about our game including mechanics, game outline and story. This provided lots of information about our game and therefore showed the reader as much about the game as possible. I also made several level designs which indicated to me the positions of objects and hazards as the player played through the game. This was a great help in the development process because I could just translate each design into GameMaker, therefore cutting time in the process. Another part I made was the One Sheet because this made the project into a visual representation highlighting key information about my game such as PEGI rating and Interactivity. This helped me especially towards the start of the project as it made the project much clearer in terms of what I was making and by highlighting the information made the progression much smoother.

I felt the pre-production I did create went well because it heavily helped during the production of the game as well as make things clear for both me and Tain.  I still feel could have improved it however by preparing myself more with the actual code for the game as when it came to the production, I was still learning about GameMaker so by researching it more could have improved the game as a whole. I also could have gone in more depth in each level in terms of preparation which could have allowed the level to be more fully featured. Finally, I could have prepared the audio for the game such as making an audio map because this could have allowed me to place audio much easier into my game.

Production

For my production, the main objective was to create a fully functional game more advanced than my previous games and hopefully expand on what I had learned in the last two projects to accomplish this. In this regard, I did create a fully functional game with different enemies and hazards that the player must avoid throughout their adventure. I felt the format being a platformer went well because it allowed me to add a variety of enemies throughout the game and allowed me to use my knowledge from my previous in good use. The player movement worked well as described in my play tests and the power up mechanic I learned in my Survive/Thrive Project worked great in this game. The health bar also was also successful, despite this being the first time that I have implemented one in my game, as it successfully would decrease if a player was in contact with an enemy just as planned. I feel the character selection was the most successful part of the game because it was an important factor of my game being able to give the player more options rather than just locking them into just one character. This also helped in terms of targeting towards both genders as both the characters in my game were of opposite genders.

However, in my project I was met with many challenges that hampered my progression of the game, which can be seen in my bug fixing list. Luckily for many of the issues encountered, I was able to find a solution such as the enemy not affecting the player despite being in contact and why the health bar wasn’t showing. I also could fix parts that were stated to have issues within my first play test (Play Test 1.0) like the enemies falling into holes and missing sprites which improved the experience of the player as shown in Play Test 2.0. Some issues I wasn’t able to solve at the time included the camera view which made the whole game into a visual mess whenever switching level or the gravity feeling floaty. I feel if I had researched into GameMaker more so, this could have negated these issues as I would have been more aware how to solve these issues and this could have improved the game. Finally, a large issue with the game was the lack of audio in the game in which as a result of the lack of planning, I wasn’t able to apply any to my game.

The final product itself differed quite differently to my initial idea, such as I had planned for the game to have had 9 levels in which we ended up making 4 longer levels. This was to save more time for working on other parts of the game and to make each level last longer in turn. Certain aspects like the health bar and character selection worked better than expected, however I feel I could have made the game fast paced. This was due to the following a more platformer based approach which is why I didn’t feel it was necessary. I feel the game also didn’t turn out as expected in terms of appearance as I expected for a more darker tone and therefore feel it didn’t quite meet our target audience. For it to have appealed, I feel it would have needed a more mature theme in both gameplay and appearance similar to how the game analysed were. Next time, I feel I would have taken another approach during the development of the game to hopefully achieve what I was aiming for, such as making the game a more endless runner rather than a platformer.

Conclusion

Overall, this project taught me many things in which are bound to assist me in the future. One was teamwork skills in which I felt developed throughout this project working with Tain. I learned that the communication between the two of us was key, and was a large part of how we was even able to finish the game. I also learned to be not as ambitious in which I feel I should have focused on a simpler game overall. Finally, I learned a lot about the industry of games like how important a target audience and the amount of research required to truly succeed in targeting towards them.

My favourite part of the project was the problem-solving aspect with the bugs in GameMaker because it gave me a challenge to learn how to solve errors with code and how important certain attributes are and I felt this was a big learning process as well. I felt the most challenging was coordinating as a group, because when we lacked communication this caused confusion during development such as with the sizes of each room causing more time than it should have.

The skills such as coding, teamwork and researching I hope to make use of in future projects and learn from the mistakes I made in this project such as being more organised and communicating better with those I work with. Finally, I hope to bring the knowledge of the programs used in this project to create a more successful one.

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Bus Stop Poster

After creating the game, I decided to work on a poster for the game in which would work as an advert for the game. This shows a slogan for the game in which I think was effective for attracting an audience to the game. The reason as to why I chose a bus stop was because the game is primarily focused on appealing to college students therefore this increases the likelihood of them seeing it. 

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Gaming with Rachel

Throughout this project, each week we would analysis and play a game as a class therefore giving us the opportunity to experience a selection of games. Her are some of the games:

Borderlands 

Borderlands is a first persona shooter made by Gearbox Studio in which has an open world layout for the player. Players can interact with loot throughout the world, collecting miscellaneous items such as weapons and armour. 

Mass Effect Andromeda

Mass effect is a sci-fi adventure also being set within an open world. The character is customisable meaning the player can make the character look as they please. The player then is tasked with exploring planets, whilst defeating enemies found throughout the levels. 

Resident Evil 

Resident Evil is a horror game which takes place within a haunted house and the aim is to stay alive and avoid certain creatures in the game. The game makes use of a narrative driven beginning, in which to introduce the player to the scene. 

What did I learn about this research?

This research would help me in terms of gathering ideas for my own game such as seeing the way each level is layed out. It also shows how these games make use of their environment such as Resident Evil being based around a haunted house and Mass Effect within space.

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Play Test 2.0

In my first play test, I had some criticism that helped me in solving the problems within my game and I felt an effective way to see if I had improved the game was to have another play test. 

1. What do you think to our game?

The feedback I received was much more positive showing that the game had improved their opinions of the game. Some of the feedback included ‘fun and easy to play’ and ‘much improved from before’. This shows that the game had overall become more fun. 

2. Do you feel the game suits my target audience?

This feedback didn’t differ much from before though it did improve from before, with players stating that they still felt the game was a  childish and that ‘could be darker’. This implies that the theme itself wasn’t suited towards my target audience and that I could have added certain parts to make it appeal to them.

3.  Did you encounter any glitches or bugs? 

The feedback I received was much smaller for this than the last play test showing that there wasn’t as much problems as there  was in the first one. The only problem was that the health pack would glitch, which is something I am able to fix. 

4. How do you think the game could be improved?

The feedback I received was more about adding mechanics rather that taking them away such as adding a ‘timer’ and adding more’weapons to the game’. This implies that the audience would enjoy the game more so if it had these attributes within the game.

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Production Diary #5: Menus, Character Selection and Final Level

After I had sorted out the sprites and health bars, I wanted to created the final level to my game. In doing so, we thought that the final level design should be simple in regards to layout and to focus on having a difficult enemy as an obstacle. With this in mind, I began creating the level after Tain had completed the background. I wanted to create the enemy first, by giving them the ability to shoot projectiles at the character. This was done by giving the enemy an event to shoot in the left direction of where he is facing and for this projectile to harm the character if in contact. This means the player must avoid both the enemy and projectiles.

Next after completing the last level, I wanted to add menus to the game as well as a character selection. In order to do this, I created new rooms to occupy the menu. I then created buttons that would cause to move a room if they were clicked. This allowed me to give the player to choose when they want to start rather than being thrown into it. After creating the rooms, I then imported the artwork Tain had created for the game. 

After adding the artwork, I realised it wasn’t in the resolution for the game making the image look quite squashed. This is where I went into Adoe Photoshop to adjust the sizes so that they would suit the game. 

After making the menus, I began adding a second character ‘Tain’ who would appear in every level if the player chose him. I achieved this by making a second objects and rooms for each enemy and level so that if that particular enemy harms the character, it will affect only one of the characters. 

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Audience Research: Nodame Cantabile

In order to learn more about my audience, I wanted to research into another form of media to see what they do to appeal to their audience. I chose to analyse an anime called ‘Nodame Cantabille’ because it is an animation about college students sharing this theme with my own game. 

The animation is made to look quite ‘mature’ such as within the characters clothing being quite smart similar to what an adult wears. This is shown throughout the first episode, with the main character shown mostly black clothing with a shirt. This leaves the connotations of the player being quite serious and professional, in which typically wouldn’t be the case if they were to target a younger audience. 

The colours of the animation also support this with the main colour pallet being made up of neutral colours like brown and beige colours. This is shown throughout as not many colours are used to show. This also shows that it is catered towards an older audience, as other anime make use of vivid colours to attract their audience. 

What have I learned about this research? 

By analysing this anime, I learned how the animation uses small connotations to show clearly who its audience is such as including alcohol and smoking as well as overall the theme of the anime. I also learned how much of an impact a theme can have on an anime with the music theme being prevalent throughout. I hope to apply this to my own game by attempting to stick with a theme like this animation has, in my case being about survive/thrive.

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Production Diary #4: Sprites and Heath Bars

For the next part of the game, I wanted to begin adding the sprites as this was a flaw stated within the play test. First, I had to import all of Tain’s sprites in which he created within a different program, then name each one respectively. This meant the sprites could now be applied to the objects of the game. 

Next, I applied this to each object individually, such as both the character objects and the enemies. After adding the sprites, they automatically changed in each of the levels to what they should look like. 

After adding the sprites, I decided to make the HUD to the game. First in order for the health to exist, I needed to set my players health to 100. I did this by adding a set health action within the create event of my character. Afterwards, I wanted to make the health bar appear. To do so, I created a blank object and gave it an event to jump to position of the character. This means the object will appear just above the character. To actually make it appear, I added a Draw Health event to make the health bar visible. Finally, after making the health I added events to enemies to subtract health if in contact.

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Change in Organisation

At the beginning of the project, I created a gantt chart to plan out all the work from pre-production all the way to the evaluation. I believed this was a good method because it showed me what weeks I should be working on a particular research or productivity. 

However, as I continue to go through the project, I felt the chart wasn’t as effective because editing the chart proved quite difficult which would take time editing it. I also felt it didn’t show the title as clearly as I would have liked, therefore also consuming more time. Finally my biggest gripe was the fact there wasn’t a place where I could tick afterwards once I had completed a particular task. 

Instead if this, I decided to use a more traditional method to organising my productivity as I felt it would suit me in terms of how I am and would allow me more flexibility. I chose to make a checklist within Microsoft Excel, to show a list of all my tasks as well as a week I should have completed it by. I also added a status part to tell myself what my current progress within each task was. Finally, this method will allow me to add tasks if necessary  and allow me to put more information such as where I would be presenting the project. Here is my checklist:

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Audience Research: Existing Games

In order to appeal to my target audience, I needed to analyse existing games that they liked. This is to determine exactly what I should place within my own game that they would enjoy such as certain mechanics and art style. I chose to analyse these games specifically because they all feature a cartoon art style despite being tailored to an older audience similar to my own game.

Persona 5 Persona 5 makes use of an Japanese animation style for the characters similar to those found in manga and anime. The main colours used are red and black, which are often associated with ‘danger’ and ‘death’ as well as ‘love’ and ‘passion’. This indicates that the game focuses upon these darker themes that make the player interested in the fates of these characters and story of the game. It also shows that by making the game of a mature theme, this shows that the game isn’t for a younger audience.

The game play itself caters towards this audience such as with the main character starting college. This shows that the game being based around this age, as it makes the player emphasise more with the character therefore increasing the bond between the two. The game also showcases aspects of student life such as studying and in class also expanding upon this.

Dangaronpa

Dangaronpa also makes use of a Japanese art style however it uses a more simpler art to clearly illustrate the characters emotions throughout. The main antagonist is a Evil Bear who traps the students within the school, controlling their actions. This is anti-stereotypical because bears are often seen as a cuddly toy and dolls are usually shown to be demonic instead. I think this suits the audience based upon the premise because it gives a horror sense to the game by making the player feel sympathy for the students as they battle their way to escaping. 

The colours of Dangaronpa are much more dull in comparison to Persona 5 implying that the atmosphere of the game is more sinister which goes with its evil premise. For example the bear has both a white and black side showing how corrupted this character has become. It also highlights the dark side also leaving connotations of evil. 

What have I learned about my audience within this research?

The main aspect I learned was the appeal of darker themes to each game such as being involved around death and suffering of the main character, whilst also showing on the other side to clearly show the characters  redemption. I also found that despite the games having a cartoon style, the mature theme of each still appeals to this older age group. I also found that Dangoronpa’s twist on beings that would normally be considered as ‘innocent’ was effective because it gives the player a different perspective of what would normally associate with them. 

How will I apply this to my own game? 

After learning about these darker themes, this gives me ideas in terms of how my game should look if I wish to appeal to my target audience such as the semiotics of my game and how the consistently of the design affects the player. It also showed how I could apply this to my own cartoon style within my own game such as the items and characters. Finally, it shows that by making the game about a college student, this in turn can  have a positive impact upon the player as it will them to be more immersed within my own game.

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Play Test 1.0 Results

In order to receive information about the current state of my game, I did a play test to see whether the game would be enjoyable for the player. The play test includes questions all about the game such as game mechanics, the target audience and their general opinion on the game. Here are the results:

 1. Do you like this game?

This question was for a general opinion of my game in its current state. The result is that most people liked the game, despite the game not being finished. I hope the amount increases once the game is completed during my second play test. 

2.  Do you feel the game suits my target audience? 

This question was to see whether the game suited my target audience in terms of challenge and style. The results were that most felt the game was ‘too easy for my age’, and ‘could add more parts to make the game harder’. In order to improve this, I could add more hazards through the game as well as add health to my game to make it so the enemies slowly kill the player if in contact. 

3.  How do you feel about the game mechanics? 

This questions was for more detail about how the mechanics work so far in the game such as the fall and the controls of the game. The results were that so far ‘the mechanics work quite well so far” and “suited the game nicely”. This shows that the mechanics were successful and that by adding more of these could improve the experience of the player. 

4.  Did you encounter any glitches/bugs? 

This question was to see if there were any notable glitches or bugs through the game. This would help me in terms of finding problems with my game adding an efficient way of sorting them if needed. The results highlighted these problems:

- Enemies falling off into holes in the ground in final level

-Gravity feeling quite ‘floaty’ 

-No health in the game

-Missing sprites

5.  What would you rate the game out of 10? 

This question was to receive more feedback in terms of how much the playuer enjoyed my game as a whole. The results gave an average of ‘6′ which shows some players liked the game but many of its flaws let the game down. I hope to improve this when I finish the game.

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Production Diary #3: More Levels, Bus Stop and Hazards

In this session, I wanted to add more levels because I had successfully made the walls and enemies. This meant I could easily place the enemies and walls within the next two levels because they contained the same properties as before. I based the levels around my level design as well as the background. This meant the walls actually wouldn’t appear in the level but rather they would be invisible as the background shows where the player has access to. 

The next part was the fall mechanic in which I wanted to set it so if the player were to fall off, then the game would restart the level. By doing so, this adds challenge to the game as the player will have to avoid falling underneath the level. I made this by creating an object named ‘obj_hazard’ with the mechanic to if the player makes contact with this object it would restart the level. 

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Production Diary#2: Enemies

During the next session of production, I began to add enemies to my game, as I believe they are a important part of the game to provide both difficulty and choice to the game. 

First, I created a sprite named ‘spr_enemy’ which will be the actual image of each enemy. For now, as I didn’t have access to the sprite just yet, I made use of a red block as a placeholder. I created an object of the enemy and named it ‘obj_enemy’ to turn the sprite into a working object in the game. Afterwards, this would enable me to add the code to the enemy, adding the movement left to right automatically as well as adding an collision event so if the player makes contact with the enemy, it will cause the game to restart.  This is to make sure the enemy knows that this character is an enemy that should be avoided.

Next I added the enemy within the first room to allow them to appear in the game, letting me see if they were working as they should. The result was good in which the enemy moved to the left towards the player and would also move in the other direction once they had collided with the wall.

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HUD Analysis (Wind Waker HD)

Heads Up Display (HUD) is part of the user interface overlay shown in games in order to show useful information for the player such as health and  items collected throughout the level. This can be useful because it allows the player to see information whilst still continuing playing through the game therefore saving time of having to go to another screen. This also can immersive the player more so as they are able to spend more time playing the game.

However an important factor is that it shouldn’t distract the user from the core gameplay which could affect the overall experience. This is due to if the HUD distracts the player, they won’t be able to focus upon the gameplay itself such as it could be blocking where they need to go, or where the player is currently aiming for 

An example used here in the Wind Waker HD, in which shows the health in the top right corner along with the magic bar. I think this is a suitable position because this information is arguably the most important information found on the heads up display. It also doesn’t distract the player due to the size and location. In the other corners, weapons and rupees collected are also shown giving more useful information to the player.

How has this impacted my own game?

This has helped me in the development of my own game because it showed me how effectively a game makes use of their own heads up display, and has shown a way in which I could apply it to my own game. For example, I could add the coins counter in the top corner of my game so that I don’t distract the player of my own game. Finally, it showed me how consistent the them of the HUD is throughout the game showing me how a heads up display should look like. 

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Moodboard

How has this impacted me during the project?

At the start of the project, I used a mood board to assist me in producing ideas for the game. The images used show aspects that are considered during the development  of my game including the level designs for the game and similar game styles I will wish to follow. It also shows my target audience being college students making me aware of who I should appeal the game towards. Finally, the character select image gives me an idea on how I should execute that particular feature.

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Book Research: Half Real

For my research, I wanted to study about how to make my world more imaginative to the player, as the game’s setting is mostly realistic. By researching this topic, this should help in terms of making the setting more interesting to the player. 

Half Real is written by Jesper Juul, who discusses the importance of a video game being “half real”. He states that ‘we play by real rules while imagining a fictional world. We win or lose the game in the real world but we slay a dragon (an example) only in the world of the game’. This means that despite the game being a fictional experience, it has certain affects in the real world to the gamer. It is important to distinguish the differences because the aim of a video game is to take the gamer from their normal life and place them into a different world. This ensures that their experience differs from their real life. 

 Throughout the book, it covers several different areas, which are common features for video games. One example is about making certain rules and choices interesting. The book quotes a famous one line description being: “a game is a series of interesting choices”. This is interesting as in many ways a game is about what the player chooses such as whether they wish to go on a certain path or if they wish to evade or defeat an enemy. It could also be referring to how a player plays the game as we all play a game differently. 

Jesper Juul talks about how games follow a similar pattern and how they are ‘ruled and make believe’(Juul, 2011). He also discusses the importance of fiction used within video games in which this pattern he disagrees with:

1. Rules are what makes a game a game. 

2.  Fiction is incidental to whether something is a game. 

3. A game can be interesting without fiction.

4. A game with an interesting fictional can be a terrible game.

5. Therefore, fiction in games is unimportant.

He proves this by comparing certain games and showing that the problem isn’t necessarily whether the game but rather the way the game is connected to the gameplay. I personally agree with this, as fiction is heavily used within most video games and I feel this adds to the players experience by taking them more so out of the game. 

How will this impact my own project?

This book has helped me think about the rules in which my own game as well as the way I will implement true to life aspects such as the items of the game yet allow the game play to remain fictional.  For example, I plan now to make the items more relatable to the player such as adding a backpack for the health pack, and making the projectile a bus ticket. This will hopefully fuse both realistic and non realistic parts together because while they have the appearance of our world, it will contain parts of another world with the aim to make it more enjoyable.