Evaluation

Overall to conclude I feel I’d made a lot of great progress towards the game concept of Pippy’s Bird-Person Shooter. I created a solid proposal, games design document, pitch, prototype menu, promotional video and other pieces of artwork (like menus) for said game. As explained in the previous development entries, my research into all these different game design theories, as well as with me physically playing and analysing games in my gameplay journal, has helped me realise what elements really work in a game (like customisation and variety) and what don’t (such as repetitive gameplay mechanics and tedious rules).

I feel with all these materials collated I’ve come up with a very creative and innovative game in Pippy’s Bird-Person Shooter, as it fills the void in the games industry and fits snugly into a largely untapped market in the video game world (colourful shooter games for both adults and children). It’s a very feasible game idea, especially since it has the recognisable and iconic characters in that water-coloured visual style, to make them easily recognisable at a glance, giving it a good potential boost in popularity. I’ve also followed various professional practises when creating all of these materials, such as the healthbar in the gameplay screenshot being a heart (commonly used in semiotics to represent health) and my pitch not being too long and wordy, which is a great example of my personal development as I’ve spent so much time researching all these different elements and I applied them effectively- which is something that would be done in industry.

Creating these assets has even helped me improve my skills with different pieces of software, like Photoshop for my gameplay screens and Powerpoint for my menus as I used them for many hours at a time. I learned a variety of different skills using those pieces of software, such as blending transparency, various keyboard shortcuts for different tools and how apply layer masks in Photoshop to give things a unique look. In Powerpoint I also learned various keyboard shortcut and also many good ways to structure your pitches (like having questions at the end and using the text on the slide mainly for notes). These are skills I can take forward with me into the future, and apply them into different assignments in the course, and into the workplace beyond that.

Overall to conclude I feel I’ve created a fine set of work that really showcase many angles of my game idea (from the plot/story, to the concept to the game’s main menu). I’ve ended up with a good quality concept here that has the potential to be taken into the future, and with a well-rounded development team behind it the game could be a great success!

Development Blog Week 5

This week I created some more prototype designs for my game's levels and HUD on paper, as well as a flowchart showing the structure of a typical multiplayer game.

First was my mock gameplay screenshot, which will be useful to be put inside both my pitch and games design document showcasing what the general layout of the game would be while it's played. I tried to follow a good guidelines of semiotics with this image, using pre-established symbols used throughout various games that I then twisted to fit into the style of the game; like using a heart to represent health and controller buttons for abilities, but they're designed in a way so they're twisted to the style of the game, while still being easily identified by the player. I posted for feedback on Facebook about my gameplay HUD and mock screenshot. This is what my fellow students had to say:

Gus: "Think it looks good. use a photoshop filter for the background.  use the  filter tool or cut out or something else to try to cartoon it maybe not sure if it will work for it though."

Ben D: "It's good for what you're trying to do but the background doesn't exactly fit, make it more water-coloured."

Clare: "Very cheerful and lots of colours, maybe bit too much with the background too. fade the background a little? and add a light strip to go behind the icons to make them easier to see? Just like framing the picture... make the hud stand out a bit more."

Tom: "All my criticisms are the same as everyone else - background could be more fitting, make HUD stand out a bit more (perhaps use a more cartoony set of images for the abilities HUD at the top right?) - otherwise, it works, ahaha. DEFINITELY go with Gus' idea for filtered backgrounds though. They look faaaaaaab~!"

Here's a finished image of this draft design, which takes on board the feedback offered. A big piece of criticism was the realistic background, so using a stylised filter in Photoshop I gave the woodland forest a much more cartoony feel. Likewise, I added black borders around the HUD icons following Clare's advice to make them stand out more:

Also, even though I'd thought I'd finished my design document, I made some amendments following some feedback from both Clare and Gus. In my GDD I further talked about the rules, design (using my level design draft, HUD draft and flowchart), following feedback from Sue I also expanded on my asset list and I reorganised my GDD further, splitting up various points into subsections to be read and found much more easily. This is especially important who may want to reference a specific point in the design document, but don't want to read through one huge main 'gameplay' section to find it. Instead the gameplay section is split up into multiple parts (like AI, controls, etc), so this way everything's just much more organised and people can cut directly to the information they need.

Gus also suggested that I expand out my asset list into more detail (listing exact characters and abilities), rather than me just saying there are 16 characters for example, which will be very useful if the project gets developed as an easy guide for every asset in the game that needs to be made. Likewise, Clare suggested that I space out my synopsis at the start to cover the full page, so instead of having two big, blocked paragraphs they're spaced out into one or two sentence sections, which is much more digestible for the reader.

I made a flowchart for the game as a draft design to show the flow of the gameplay in a typical online match. As the player’s character spawns, proceeds forward, kills/gets killed and finally reach the game’s objective point. It really helps present a visual representation of my game’s base structure, and also promotes a good flow channel: since there’s always something going on to keep the player occupied!

I made a pitch for the game concept, and also a video trailer to go in said pitch to help engage the audience further. The video essentially explains the basic premise of the game in a quirky manner, with subtitles to go along with the audio I order to make the experience enjoyable by everyone in the class. With it I utilised various assets I'd produced for my game over time (like the aforementioned gameplay and HUD screenshot), and also with a video created in Sony Vegas to briefly showcase and explain what the game's about. I tried to make the pitch upbeat and lighthearted to match the theme of the game, while also having more serious sections to why people should invest into the game and why it's a feasible idea to produce. I feel it’s a very engaging pitch, and with me also not putting huge blocks of text into the slides with them being supplemented by images, means that the audience is a lot more focused on the pitch, which is a good example of a professional practise.

Development Blog Week 4

I wrote about AI, legal analysis, physics, scheduling requirements and the asset list in my GDD, finishing it off nicely.

The AI section talks about AI in the various gamemodes, and it's important to specifically have the online multiplayer modes be playable offline versus bots. This way it helps appeal to a wider range of personally types, since some people may not enjoy the competitive aspect against real people, and may want to play the game anyway for the story mode and multiplayer gamemodes against AI characters. It gives the player more choice in how they play the game. The game's physics also enforce this large appeal, where it's slow enough to be grasped by a new gamer but strategic enough to be enjoyed by a hardcore player. To follow on from this, the slow and floaty mechanics may not have much realism to it (apart from heavier characters falling much faster, giving more weight to their jumps), but they really do enforce how important the rules are in the game. Having it be fast-paced and chaotic would completely break the natural flow of the tactical shooter gameplay, and having it play more sluggish and cunningly as a general rule help show the importance of why this design choice was made: so it doesn't feel unfair to play.

My scheduling requirements really drill in how the game's concept is created, as well as how all of the game elements are balanced. Since I mentioned how any elements that are found to not work as intended or within the game's structure (such as an ability with an unworkable concept) are sent back from the production stage to pre-production, it means that the game's core idea could be constantly changing as ideas come and go on how to improve bugs, or just make the game a better experience to player.

To also increase readability, I added bullet points below each section (AI, gameplay, physics, etc) following peer feedback, and also my research into what makes a good game design document. I originally had huge blocks of text for each portion of my GDD, and while it's good to communicate lots of detail about the game to cover all bases, in an industry setting it's actually quite detrimental to just have lots of text. Because a design document can be considered a 'bible' for your game, developers throughout the game's life are constantly going to refer to it for their work. And these developers are not going to want to read through paragraphs of text to find the one small detail they want hidden away in a paragraph. Because of this these bullet points below every segment should help summarise what I'm talking about without wasting much time, and if someone wants to find out more they can, making the whole GDD much more streamlined.

How to Pitch a Game Concept

When trying to sell your game idea, a pitch can be a great way to stir up interest which also exhibiting the core idea of what your project is a about. For example, you could be a smaller indie studio trying to sell your idea to a larger company to get your game published, since you may not be able to afford to create the game within your own team. That's why it's important to follow various guidelines in order to deliver a good presentation which grabs the interest and attention of your audience, since you can have a lot at stake if you don't deliver one to the best of your abilities.

A big major sticking point compared to other pieces of documentation for a game, is that a presentation shouldn't be too 'wordy' and not just contain slides upon slides of text. As researched by journalist (Hyatt, 2012), presentations shouldn't have any more than 6 or 7 words per line on a single slide. This can cause your audience to drift off and lose interest, since they'll be wondering why you're just reeling off paragraphs from a board when they're clearly capable of reading it themselves. But seeing all this text will just put people off, especially if they're supposed to be reading it from a long distance, like the other side of the room. Likewise this text should be readable, (in a big, clear font to match the minimal use of printed words). It's all well and good filling up your slides with bright colours and imagery to catch the attention of the viewers, but if these decorations essentially detract from the message you're actually trying to give by being distracting and daunting, this makes it harder for the viewer to understand what's going on. Having pictures and colours there just for the sake of having them, can mean that they're doing more harm than good. Sometimes less really is more.

Your pitch also doesn't have to involve just a presentation, it can include other elements like role-playing/acting, diagrams, quizzes or hand-outs. Having someone stand up and reel off a PowerPoint presentation can get strenuous for both the presenter and audience, no matter how good your idea is. Constantly mixing up the flow of the pitch with a variety of things to keep the audience entertained a good rhythm going benefits all parties involved. As talked about by (Leung, 2014), asking questions is especially useful in a pitch as not only can you get feedback and advice from expert in things to improve on for your game (with a pitch being a great opportunity for constructive criticism), those asking the questions will also feel more engaged and involved with the project on a more personal level and get more invested into the idea as a result.

Another thing to note is that for a games pitch there are various things to consider so you're sure that you're giving enough relevant information to your audience. You don't want to pitch a load of irrelevant facts and trivia about your game, your pitch needs to have substance to it and do a good enough job and getting the core idea of your game across to your viewers. You want to communicate not only your game idea and why it's good, but specifically why it should be invested in. You should talk about what makes it unique and why/how it'll go on to sell well to make the publishers more money. You're not just selling the game, you're selling an idea and also a part of a business. As a general quote to go by: "You pitch should needs to provide an overview of your business along with all the key factors investors or buyers are going to looking for." (Smarta, 2016).

Development Blog Week 3

This week I also created a poster evaluating the use of visual style in my game as a draft design (shown below), and how it affects it. This is useful material for the advertising of my game idea, since it can draw the user in with the artistic, bright and water-coloured visual style it advertises (which I also explained in my GDD), while also telling the user what visual style actually is. It also includes a range of the character designs seen in the game, while also showcasing which 'team' they're on with the invisible split down the middle and coloured background representing both sides.




I also talked about semiotics in my GDD this week, with a big focus point being the team colours. Both the Blameless Birds and Devious Dinos team have a distinct look and colour scheme which is shared across the game's various menus and interfaces using colour-coordination. The birds team focuses on shades of blue (such as the healthbar and abilities bar being blue when playing as a bird), whereas dinosaurs share a hue of red. This helps tie them into the main characters of each team, since Pippy is Blue, while Hector (who is arguably the leader of the Dinos) is a shade of red. Various features like the listing of team members on the scoreboard show in their respective colours, and help enforce these colour codes to make both teams instantly identifiable as feedback to the player so they know which side they’re on before they can even see their character, while also just being visually pleasing.

There are also great colour theories behind red and blue since these colours generate a different mindset for the player to match the team they’re on. As the birds (blue) are defensive, and the dinos (red) are attacking - red generates angry and powerful playstyles which wants the player to conquer the enemy bases - while blue tends to be more cold and calculating, as player work together to strike down their foes and prevent enemy advancement. These two colour choices are cleverly designed and really suit the more offensive and defensive nature the two contracting teams have.

I also discussed the marketing and competitor analysis in my GDD, which was very much based off my previous research in this blog as to what techniques proved to be more effective than others. Since the game has such a broad target market, appealing to children, teens and adults, social media is a great way to reach these big social circles. Social media is a big one when it comes to marketing, with the game having various social media channels on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram, while also owning a Youtube Channel to upload the latest news and trailers to in a video format (which can then be shared on the four social media platforms). This is great for reaching out to as many potential fans as possible, and is a good way to keep everyone up to date with the latests development news about the game. Things like posters (such as the one I made above) will be useful in an advertisement campaign, having them placed in real-life locations with links to the social media pages will be a great way to increase the game's buzz using word on the street as people tell their friends about the upcoming game.

For the competitor analysis I talked about how this game could carve out its own niche that doesn't seem to be touched upon in the shooter genre. There are your typical shooters games like Call of Duty, Battlefield and Titanfall, however those are all very realistic and violent games aimed at a hardcore male demographic. Other games to be aware of are Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare and Splatoon, both colourful shooter games for children. However this game has the edge over those in the fact that there is a lot more depth to Pippy's Absurd Bird-Person Shooter. Compared to the other two this game has a lot more depth to its gameplay mechanics which can be mastered over time as players easily pick them up, but take time to master and excel at. This game can be played by children and casual gamers, but it also has a lasting appeal to more serious people who play games, and the competitive gamers who are sick of most shooters having a gritty, realistic visual style may want to take a look at this game as a nice breath of fresh air while still keeping the competitive edge to it. This is where I feel that my game has managed to beat out the competition in its own ways.

Lastly I began the prototyping of my game, and created a demo menu layout in Powerpoint which is designed to be just like navigating a real menu for the game! It includes smaller details like loading the game on PC to start it, and also incorporates the three main menus of the game: singeplayer, multiplayer and options in great detail as you can navigate through the different screens. Creating your UI designs before production is a useful technique even in industry, since the entire base structure of the game's menu system is essentially already created, and once the game production has started it just needs to be recreated again in engine following the same layout without worrying about crafting your core menu structure potentially months later into development. I also asked my peers for some feedback on my menu as a whole, and these are the responses I got:

Gus Best: "In all seriousness it's good. Just a quick thing I can think about that you could add in a final version would be the "Are you sure you want to exit/to windows" when you click to exit the game."

Tom Fabry: "I gave it a look, and it looks pretty good. Like Gus, I cracked up at the "Phoebe's parents and children are dead!" gag
I posted my comments in the reply so my wall of text won't be such a big issue, haha. There are a few comments here, hope they're helpful!
Otherwise it's really good actually, well done. Definitely improve this, and I can see it getting a lot of positive Perhaps lessen the number of slide transitions, they can get distracting and makes menu navigation very slow (especially on the options menu)
- Like Gus said, use some verification tools for actions such as quitting or saving. Yes/No will suffice.
- Upon selecting the Dastardly Dinos team, the game says "Devious Dinos" - keep it consistant, I'd just use Devious Dinos because you only have to update the font for this
- Perhaps include some more loading screens? After retrying a few times, I noticed the PT/Boneshaker ones appeared all the time no matter what. Add some variety in these to make the Prototype Menu more interesting.
- A nitpick; with the Graphics Toggle screens, try to make sure Pippy is consistently the same size and position on each slide. The low quality Pippys and the higher quality ones are not quite the same size and position and its a bit distracting
- I'd perhaps toggle the size of the Swirling Loading Symbol and any "back to x" options. "Click to Title" on the main menu noticably overlaps with Options.- Perhaps improve the font choice and colours? Make it look a bit more colourful than simply Blue and White. Pippy's a wacky game, make your menus wacky!
One thing you could do Adam is explain what each of the game modes mean. Noobs like myself might not know what "Robin It" or "Give it a Nest" means from just the name alone"

Ben Musgrave: "found it halerious when the jurassic park scenes turned up, and the tips were inspired, i have no clue what all the multiplayer game modes actually are. for the most part though it was great. loved the character select screens, looked like you spent a long time on them. also, make the powerpoint 16:9."

This is a lot of useful information for me to take away, and I made the relevant changes to my Powerpoint UI for the different parts I feel that needed to be changed. A good point Gus brought up was having a confirmation dialogue box for when the user is closing the menu, I never thought of that so quickly added the feature. Clicking quit accidentally and ending up at the title screen could be infuriating for the end-user! I also took on Ben's suggestion of changing the aspect ratio to widescreen, and while it did take a while with moving around various assets on different slides, in the end it was worth it. As most users will be playing the game in widescreen so it's important to replicate that experience early on.

A few of Tom's comments I also amended as quality of life fixes, whereas others I feel at this stage are fine as they are and don't need changing. A big one he mentioned were the screen transitions between slides, mentioning how they were quite long and took a lot of time. I fixed this by not removing them entirely, but drastically speeding them up to make navigating the menu a much more snappy, yet clean, process. I also amended a few of the other nitpicks he mentioned, like making the font colours readable on all backgrounds and making the character on the low to ultra graphics settings showcase the same size throughout. To top it all off I added descriptions to the online game modes, since people wouldn't know what they are otherwise!

Overall though I feel I created a decent and professional menu, which already wouldn't look too out of place in an actual game with just a few tweaks needed here and there (like replacing the Powerpoint exclusive elements such as the transition effects).