Evaluation for Video Game Project

1. Evaluation
Connor Wiffen

2. Research
I begun my research by looking at Video Games that were similar to the concept I wanted to use for my own
project – this helped me see what colour schemes (Blues, Purples and Greens) gameplay elements like
controllable ships and the types of combat I would implement into the game. The variety of existing Video
Games looked at allowed me to have a wider perspective on what type of genres can be included into the Space
Game concept from First Person Survival to a Real Time Strategy style of game. The research also gave me a
sense of the type of graphical style SCI-FI games adopt so I wasn’t starting the pixel art creation without an
aesthetic.
However the usefulness of the research was limited due to the fact that the three of the four games were fully
3D and fleshed out with high quality graphics whilst we were limited to Pixel Art so any of the adopted styles
would need to be adapted to fit that circumstance. To improve my research I would look at more games with the
same pixelated style to see how they create a compelling viewing experience for the player to be fully invested
in the world of the game. Another limitation of my research was in the Audience interviews as the questions
didn’t particularly provide any new insight on what game people would prefer to play due to both of the
interviewees essentially answered in the exact same way so if I were able to I would improve the results by
asking a larger number of people with a varied interest in video games from multiple genders to have a clearer
idea of what should and shouldn’t be included in my Video Game.

3. Planning
During the Initial Planning Stage of the project I had a few ideas for a game which included a side scrolling
action game where the player controls a Dragon, a Time travel puzzle game where the player completes puzzles
in different eras of time and finally the idea I eventually went with – The Space game where the player takes
control of a spaceship to fight and explore in a galaxy of turmoil and beauty. As part of the planning I created a
mind map of these ideas and expanded upon the final choice with more details like the story, gameplay and art
style to better flesh out the premise in my mind for when I was creating the game. The planning also included a
Mood Board of elements (Ship designs, How other games presented space in a pixel format and HUD
placements) that would influence my own game. Including these aspects in my planning helped me to have a
starting point for the project to build upon as the weeks and ideas progressed. However, looking back at the
mind maps there is a lack of detail in the written ideas on the chosen game as I kept most of them in my head
instead of typing it up so if I were to do so – I may have had a more consistent creation rather than stitching all
of my ideas together as the production continued. I initially planned out a schedule to follow but that didn’t
particularly go to plan due to some parts of the production taking longer than anticipated.

4. Time Management
As stated before I did create a schedule but didn’t follow it very well towards the end of the project due to
some parts of it going wrong, for example because I was doing a lot of the work at home as well as at College
it meant that I was switching between versions of the Adobe programs I needed to use so the files would
either be corrupted in some way or not open at all which prevented me from doing certain parts of my
production when I wanted to which did affect my schedule a little bit. I did still manage to complete my
project on time for the evaluating part of the segment which correlated with having the final week be
focused on it. Towards the end of the production weeks I did begin to fill in the gaps of including a main
menu to make the showcase more game like but if I had more time I would’ve added a pause menu and
created a demonstration of the player controlled ships being moved around the space levels but at the
beginning I thought it would be too much for me to do in the time given so extra time definitely would have
improved the specifically game aspects of the Video Game showcase but I think what I have is a good
example of the concept I was going for.

5. Technical Qualities
Big and Clear
Title
Use of full caps
Space
Background
Selected option
shaded
The main menu design and game concept in general was inspired by that of Faster Than
Light so it’s not surprising that it shares a lot of the same features but there is a clear
difference in the amount of detail behind the menu to keep the player’s interest as in mine
it is just a static picture of my stylised space.

6. Technical Qualities
Action shown with
the sprites flashing
Layouts are similar
with health bars and
placement of the
player and enemy
characters
Necessary information like
the Attack Menu are on
screen. Unlike with mine
where it isn’t as clear.
More
stylized pixel
background
Simplistic
background

7. Technical Qualities
Up and down movement
Completely blank
background –
Foreground is where
assets are.
Combat done in a separate
mode
Combat and
movement is
done at the
same time
Side Scrolling gameplay
Detailed
background –
Only player Ship
in the
foreground

8. Aesthetic Qualities
I think the Main Menu design is simple but effective as
all the options are clearly visible as the pixelated text
isn’t too fancy in design and the blue contrasts well with
the black of the rest of the text which I do see as a
strength but the fact that it is simple could also mean
that it doesn’t catch the attention of the player or tell
them anything about the game itself other than it being
a game based in space so if I were to have time to
improve it, I would definitely add a few Spaceships and
spacey like objects to leave more of an impression.
Another improvement I would make is to the font of
the Game’s title as I have had a few peers say that they
couldn’t quite make out what it is supposed to say due
to how stylised it is so I would make the letters,
specifically ‘A’ more defined so the title can be read as
“Cassiopeia Vega”
This segment of the animation represents a slice of
the gameplay where the player can control the ship as
it flies through space. I wanted to make the
background of space more aesthetically pleasing than
just plain black so decided to be creative and stylize it
by making it a mixture of purple and light blue to put
emphasis on the astral part of the game whilst also
being appealing to the eye. If I had time to improve I
would definitely make the backgrounds more active as
it would add extra life to the overall game and
improve the experience for the Player.

9. Aesthetic Qualities
This is a screenshot of the combat gameplay of the game which I took heavy inspiration
from how games like Pokémon does its combat with the player being on the left and the
enemy being on the right as the status bar which I tried to give a futuristic look includes
the standard information essential to playing the game like the ship’s Health, Ammo and
Special Attack with their own bars respectively but if I had time to improve them I would
make the Status bars more distinctive so that players can tell the difference between the
enemy’s and their own while having it so there isn’t an over abundance of green on
screen. The background however is where I personally think I did the best job with taking
a creative approach to representing space whilst also giving an interesting location for
the action to occur. As with before I would’ve liked to have made the background more
active with possibly the stars shining for example. I think these improvements would
make the project a lot better.

10. Audience Appeal
When creating everything for the game I took into consideration the target audience I started with at
the beginning and the findings from my interviews with two people, although the answers I got didn’t
particularly help with what I was going for due to both of them being along the same lines as my own
preference in a game to include customisation and a more open narrative where the player can do what
they want within the limit of a game. As my target audience is Teens aged 15+ there is implied violence
with the ships battling and exploding but nothing too major in that department so the game can be
enjoyed by a number of people without the violence turning them off but it should still be appealing to
the teenage audience. The graphics are simplistic enough to be able to run on any device like a
smartphone or tablet which many teenagers frequently use – the simplistic controls and objective is
ideal for a pick up and play attitude as Teenagers frequently switch between games and having it not
contain a specific narrative will make this gameplay style fit the game even more while the simple
controls of attacking and moving make it easier to master.