2. Research
One strength of my research was the research I did for skyrim and fallout 4. As I was
only talking about the engine and the pickups system I could talk about the two games
because the use mostly identical controls and physics. The pickup system is mostly the
same but in fallout you access the menu differently through a computer on your arm
called a pip boy. This mix gave me more games to link to and incorporate in my own
animation and therefore gave me more inspiration to work from.
Another highlight of my evaluation was including the show I was basing the game off.
It wasn’t very difficult to include this in my research as it too is an animation as well so
I could talk about most of the things that I could talk about in a game like the angles,
lighting, location and about its diverse characters and colour wheel.
One of the weaknesses of my research was that I could've included another pixel art
games because I believe this would've linked more with the one I was creating and it
could of improved the look, angles and the overall feel of the game.
3. Planning
One of the strengths of my planning was the
mind map I included in my initial plans
powerpoint. This helped me brainstorm some
ideas and let me choose that I wanted to create
an adventure game based on the big lez show.
My planning helped shape my product and let
me decide what I wanted to do and what I didn’t
want to do .
One weakness of my planning was the mood
board, I think I could of included a wider range
of photos like related to colour and not actual
games.
To improve next time I will include colour
related pictures and maybe do two pages
instead of one to increase my overall database
for inspiration.
4. Time Management
I believe this is the best projects in which I have managed my time. Compared
with my other projects anyway. The animation included more than 450 slides
and that and post production took me around 24 hours to do which is quite
time consuming but I had it completed days before it had to be in which gave
me more than enough time to complete this evaluation unlike other projects
where I'm slightly still behind on. I believe my product could be improved
with additional time. I think I could've created a more diverse speech
animation and give the look of the player having choice.
5. Technical Qualities
One of the strengths in my animation is the walking animations for Lez. These consisted of more
that 6 different versions of the character changing in every frame. This made a really smooth
animation. One weakness of my animation was the first fight, the blood splatter was very slow
moving and blocky and only lasted a couple of seconds. Whereas the second fight with 'Brutus'
the gunfire was more rapid and so was the animation which gave a more real look. After this
'Brutus was left with many gunshot wounds in which I animated his arm falling off and then
he falls to the ground quite comically. To improve the realistic game feel I also added loading
screens which switch from 3 different higher quality 8 bit characters throughout different loading
screens in the animation.
I believe I could compare the technical features in my animation with the ones that were created
in the 1986 legend of zelda NES game. This is because they both follow 2D moving characters that
are made out of low quality pixels so also both the characters have 6 basic animation patters to
make them look like they can stand straight in front of the screen and also stand facing away. The
4 more animations for the movable sprite are two or more to walk right and two or more to go
left which both games share.
6. Aural Qualities
Some of the strengths in the use of music in the background, the song I used for the theme song was
made by me on beebox.com which provided a light setting. When I introduced the choomahs in the
game I changed the music to a dark, fast paced rhythm which I also used in the fight scenes. One of the
weaknesses of my sound effects was the 'aw' said by Clarence said in the dialogue in Donny's shop, this
didn’t fit in well which made me feel like it was lacking a realistic speech tone and length. The first
dialogue I included in my animation was a hum from Lez and a collection of words he puts together in
the show which comes down to a 'wadyatalkingabeet' In an Australian accent. The next speech is a
sentence by Brutus who's voice I recorded from someone in the class telling the protagonist characters
that 'we will be back'. As the characters walk they have sound that I recorded from tapping on my
microphone on my headphones which just made the animation seem more convincing. The last piece of
dialogue was the one dollar scratch card bit that I recorded straight from the show.
I don’t believe my games sounds compares with any other specific games, my game mostly obeys what a
game can include to make it more realistic like: footstep sounds, gunshot sounds.
I feel like I could of added more speech sounds when moving around and interacting with in world
pickups. I also could of added speech between the characters while moving around and fighting.
8. Aesthetic qualities
I believe my work looked good enough to make the audience believe it was meant to look like a
game or believe it was actually a playable game. Although the game was based on a online show I
had to incorporate key features into the animation which meant adapting and fitting it into an
8bit workspace. My favorite visuals of the animation has to be the loading screens I created. This
is because I could add a lot more detail into the characters but also keeping it low quality to make
it still fit into the style of the game. The Choomah I made looks the best I think because I included
a shadow on the side of him to improve the depth and perception of the sprite(235). Other
aspects of my game I believe were good interpretations from the show were the first location
where Lez and Sassy's houses are, I created a background in which any 'big lez show' fan would
recognize(1).I would improve the look of the inside of Donny's shop as it looks a bit bare(4). I
would do this by changing the angles of the sides of the walls to more square and add more
posters and objects that were included in the show. My animation is meant to represent the big
Lez show so all the colours I use are colours that were used in the show. And the enemies in my
animation are the main enemies in the big Lez show which terrorize the town in which the
characters live in. The choomahs come in all shapes and sizes so that’s why there is a big one that
has a name(8).
9. Audience Appeal
The main way I appealed to my target audience, which is basically the fans of the YouTube
series "the big Lez show", was by basing the game on the show. The way I did this was
setting the background in well known places of the show like Lez's house at the beginning,
then Donny's shop where a lot of memorable scenes took place, Clarence and Donny
himself make a cameo appearance and are reenacting a scene from the show. I also added
some iconic one liners and speech taken from the characters. The ones the audience may
like and recognize is the one sassy says at the beginning and the dialogue in Donny's shop.
A common enemy that the main show focuses on is the invasion of the 'choomahs' these
yellow, deformed, Homer Simpson like creatures reek havoc In the place where the
characters live and I thought that would be the best thing to include as anyone who has
watched the series will recognize them.
Editor's Notes
What were the strengths of your research? How did your research help your product? Discuss product research and experiments.
What were the weaknesses of your research? What could you have done better/improve? What effect would this have had on your product?
What were the strengths of your planning? How did your planning help your product?
What were the weaknesses of your planning? What could you have done better/improve? What effect would this have had on your product?
Did you manage your time well? Did you complete your project on time or would your products have improved with additional time?
What would you have done if you had more time to produce your work?
Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the technical aspects of your work; level of detail in the pixel art, smoothness of the animation, complexity of animated elements.
Compare your work to similar existing products (pixel art games/similar genre games) and discuss the similarities and differences
Consider putting your final piece(s) in the centre of a page alongside an existing product- Use text boxes and arrows
Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the audio elements of your work; amount of different music, music complexity, amount of sound effects, quality of sound effects, use of dialogue.
Compare your work to similar existing products (pixel art games/similar genre games) and discuss the similarities and differences in the use of audio
What other audio elements could you have added? What would have made it better?
Does your work look good? Was it creative? What aspects of your game’s visuals do you like? What would you improve? How would you improve it?
Consider use of colour, if you can tell what your art is meant to represent, backgrounds, characters, pick-ups, enemies etc
Discuss the strengths and weaknesses
Put your final piece(s) in the centre of a page and analyse them
Use text boxes and arrows
How have you appealed to your target audience? What specific bits of content would appeal to your target audience.
Put your final piece(s) in the centre of a page and analyse them
Use text boxes and arrows
Consider using you https://yougov.co.uk/profileslite#/ to develop your audience description