Initial Plans for final project

1. Initial Plans
Rebecca Edwards

2. Pre-proposal
Tell me in no more than 30 words your initial thoughts about
your FMP? E.g. what would you like to do, etc…
I believe that I would like to do something involving animation,
digital graphics design or possibly special effects and centre my
project around the goth/monster genre.
Why have you chosen this as your potential project? I have chosen this as I have seen to be quite strong in creating
graphics using programs like Photoshop and enjoy doing this and
these subject areas also hold a great interest to me.
Who is the project for? Think about the intended
audience…basically, what’s the point of it/what is its purpose?
The intended audience will most likely be people in my age
demographic who have similar interests in areas within my project
as its purpose will most likely be to entertain this demographic
rather than educate it.
What about your project makes it personal and important to you? It not only concerns areas that are of interest to me but also will
convey a style that I enjoy or a type of product I enjoy, would
regularly watch or use etc.
Describe the tone/mood/style of your potential product[s] [which
techniques/characteristics are you employing?]
I hope to employ many techniques that I have learnt throughout
my year that concern my chosen projects and their required
software as well as creating possibly a calm yet dark mood
(depending on my chosen projects area) to better convey the Goth
genre rather than the horror genre closely associated, through
mediums such as the style of the product.
Why have you decided to work in this style/genre? It is a style/genre that I am familiar with and know of many
different types of products I could use to reflect on throughout my
process (for inspiration rather than plagiarism). It is also an area
that holds great interest to me and so I may be able to conduct
genre research to a greater extent.

3. Skills AuditName Rebecca Edwards
Which is your area of interest for
your FMP?
Video Games and Print
If you had to choose right now,
what would you make?
Provide some basic details on the
project, style, format, etc
Right now, I would choose to make a dark/goth or monster-themed game concept along
with promotional items that may attempt to explore a type of world and/or solve puzzles in
order to gain information. The concept would be created and animated in Photoshop,
displaying main areas of gameplay and outline what the supposed gameplay would consist
of. The game merchandise may consist of box art, t-shirts, posters, in game purchases and
other promotional items you would normally see after the publication of highly successful
games.
What production techniques most
interest you?
Animation, Graphic Design, Special Effects
What are your inspirations for your
project?
Goth genre, monster designs from past TV programmes I enjoyed/games I have played,
exploration games such as What Remains of Edith Finch plus the design and entire
gameplay and story mechanic of Sally Face, merchandise sold that is linked to popular
games. Monster High aesthetic and concept and possibly the old gothic themed show
Trapped (Ever After) in terms of not just style, but possibly the concept of the show and the
follow up game (now both unavailable)

4. I am good
at this
I am OK at this I am not confident
Team Working Joining in discussions x
Working in a group x
Influencing others x
Accepting the opinions of others x
Learning from others x
Knowing my roles and responsibilities x
Problem Solving Analysing facts x
Understanding why things go wrong x
Finding solutions x
Working to the requirements of a brief x
Self- Management Meeting deadlines x
Getting to class on time x
Being responsible for my coursework x
Working productively in class x
Not using my mobile phone in class x
Communication and Literacy Asking questions x
Listening to others x
Being accurate with spelling, punctuation and
grammar
x
Speaking to a group x
Communicating my ideas and concepts for
production
x
Speaking formally and informally in appropriate
situations
x
Writing clearly x
Application of IT Using computers to file and store information x
Using Adobe Premiere x
Using Adobe Photoshop x
Using basic computer packages like Microsoft
Word and Excel
x

5. Mood Board

6. Mood Board Analysis
How does your mood board inspire your project?
My mood board contains many references to the gothic genre as well as taking on many different alternative
styles or forms, something that I plan to achieve when creating my project characters, background etc. It also
does depict multiple similarities, such as a relatively dark undertone, not only in certain colour schemes, but
also in terms of the imagery used e.g. skulls, references to danger/death etc. However, for the vast majority of
these images, the topic of horror is not represented, as I intend for my project to purely display gothic images
in a more exploration oriented setting rather the horror themes seen in my previous video game project. I also
believe that some of the background images will give me inspiration not just in the games surroundings, but
also how I could stylise the game merchandise, using the theme of nature or ideas connected to it to add to the
products or inspire other assets that will be added e.g. The logo
How will your mood board influence your final product?
My mood board will mainly influence me in terms of the design of my video game, the layouts of digital assets
on my video game merchandise and any imagery I use for both. The character models I've included will help me
reflect on the initial designs for my characters, the pixel versions in terms of how I want the outline of these
characters to look and the numerous drawn designs in terms of these characters appearances or the colour
scheme I'd like to base these characters appearances off of, as I plan for my characters appearances to be
based on that of different types of monsters. Additionally, as I have referenced above, the background images
incorporated into my mood board will also help me to come up with a certain fantastical environment,
containing elements that can also be successfully incorporated into certain pieces of merchandise, in order to
create a stronger link between products.

7. Key Influences
Tim Burton's Cinematic Artwork
This area is considered one of my key influences as I plan to
reflect on a lot of these different movies and their artwork when
coming up with concept ideas for my game characters and
environment. The almost extreme types of characters and
environments that Tim Burton has created (due to being the sole
storyboard artist on many of the films he has created) may help
me when I produce my own character designs, the "monster"
type the character is or the colour scheme that could be used to
reflect that particular character e.g. How in the movie "Corpse
Bride", the character in question is all coloured blue, conveying
not only a version of death, but also one of beauty and innocence
due to the light monochrome style. I have decided that this will
influence my project as Tim Burton is well known for his movies
having affiliations to both the Goth and Fantasy genre and for
also having a very distinct style when creating characters, opting
for either a gaunt, thin look or multiple variations of body shapes
and style, which more than often do convey where the characters
morality lies, which I may look to emulate with my own
characters. Furthermore, there are many aspects of this artwork
style that could possibly be implemented in a pixel style without
fully plagiarising the artist, such as the large eyes with tiny pupil
centres.

8. Key Influences
Monster High
I believe that this particular subject will also influence my
character design in general in terms of how each character has
their own unique look and how each type of monster is clearly
defined in each characters look. The characters may also help to
influence my own projects colour scheme(s) in terms of each
character being allocated a specific colour scheme that further
reflects what type of monster they are. This will influence my
product as this series conveys a style similar to what I want to
convey, in terms of easily recognisable monster that don't seem
to pose any horror-related threat, as I plan for my game to be
more exploration/narrative oriented. Additionally, this series
could also influence me on what type of monsters I could add
into the game e.g. Vampire, werewolf, gargoyle, without having
to plagiarise these original designs and instead, create my own
specific characters based around the type of
monster. However, I may have to disregard the type of bright,
neon colours used for these character designs as I plan for my
monsters colours to be darker so to still retain the goth
undertones I have been interested in since the fist concept of
the project. Furthermore, I may not go too far with this type of
design as Monster High's target audience is mainly children
whereas my audience will mainly be pre-teen/teen, prompting
me to take more inspiration from Burton as his work is more
aimed at an older audience, even if some of the designs look
child like in nature.

9. Key Influences
Sally Face
Finally, this game will help to influence my product not as much in
design like the other two, but rather in terms of gameplay
mechanics. The 2D linier layout of this game is something that I
am easily able to replicate using the software I currently have
access to, the text bubbles is a feature I know for certain I can
replicate due to accomplishing a similar design in my previous
video game project and the interaction between characters or
choice based text may not have been fully covered or explored in
my previous project, but I plan to reflect on specifically this games
character interaction when coming up with dialogue and
responses. This game will mainly influence my project as it does
focus heavily on goth/rock themed assets and appropriately
designed characters as well as the main focus on the game coming
from the supernatural, ranging from conversations with the
apparitions to horror themed images that pose a threat in the
game (this horror aspect I will most likely disregard when coming
up with the full game concept and reflecting back on this game). I
also believe I could draw some inspiration from some of the
backgrounds if I choose to place my monster characters in a more
realistic setting or choose to use some of the background colours
(or an adjacent) to create more dilapidated surroundings.

10. Concept Sketches