qwertyuiopas

1. Research
SAM SCHOETTNER

2. Existing Product
Inside
29 June 2016.
Inside was released last year, it has an extremely
simplistic style the colours are very dark and teal,
this makes the character stand out, even though
his shirt is only slightly red and especially not a
very bright red, it is enough to lift him from the
background.
Another aspect of the game is that it uses lighting to lift out objects you should interact
with, for example the safe in the picture. This makes the game a lot more immersive and
all-together more dynamic. The teal colours combined with the lighting and the redness
of his shirt help lift important information out from the background, another example of
this is (again) the safe, even though it is green and a little bit teal, it is a brighter green
than the rest of the background, this makes it stand out, but its not offensively bright.
The game has no onscreen HUD or overlays this again makes the game far more
immersive and there are less distractions like a health bar or a weapons slot etc. The
style is very different to other video games therefore the uniqueness of the game can be
quite marketable and audience will want to try it as it stands out from the over saturated
FPS, MOAB type of games. The game is generally a side scroller game however it
does have aspects of an aerial view in it when solving puzzles. Overall the games
simplicity and colour scheme are very immersive and give the game a unique quality.

3. Further more the game uses a
Young male character this is
Because their target audience would be
(predominantly) young males, so they can
Relate to the character and put themselves
Into his shoes, in addition to that most young
People in general spent a lot of their time outside running around in forest and fields etc.
So the game makes you feel like you’re that young kid again, going on a little adventure.
Of course another appeal factor is the gameplay itself, the game has intricate puzzles
and tasks that are difficult, but they are easy enough so that you stay immersed as when
you play a video game and you start getting angry or annoyed at the game, you instantly
loose immersion and that is generally not something you’d like within a game. This is
why the previously mentioned colours are extremely important as they give you subtle
hints on where to go next, what object to interact with etc. To use another example, in
the image above we see the little chicks, their yellow widely differentiates from any other
colour on the screen, even the red shirt looks grey, furthermore the chicks are flurrying
around the characters legs, now while that may seem like a little add in for fun it is
hugely important as the chicks help you progress in the game. The game uses mostly
diegetic sound, so rain, footsteps, wind animal noises machinery sounds etc. Even
though there is some scoring of non diegetic sound, the primary focus tends to be upon
the diegetic natural sound, which is extremely immersive as it makes the game fell more
realistic and less cinematic.
Inside
29 June 2016.

4. Existing Product Jetpack Joyride
1 September 2011.
Jetpack joy ride uses dark a
relatively ‘monotone’ background colour
with brighter foreground colours (the zappers)
this helps you see all the obstacles well,
furthermore the game uses red explanation
marks at the right hand side so that you can see
approaching missiles and prepare for them,
these will start flashing
faster and faster like a count down. All obstacles are in the foreground elevated highly
from the back this is done so that they are perfectly visible. The game uses a catchy
tune with a heavy beat to ‘hype you up’ and keep you in the flow. This is a very popular
choice for side scrollers as side scrollers tend to be very quick paced and tend to speed
up as they go, therefore they often have very upbeat music with a heavy base line. They
will also often have punchy sound effects that are often exaggerated and unrealistic but
more energizing. Therefor the players will be more excited and ‘hyped up’ while playing
the game, and this will make them want to return to the game to play it again. Often time
the developers will put a lot of effort into the sound as it is easily overlooked but
extremely important, for example the song used in Jetpack Joyride, is extremely catchy,
it works well for the game, and it gets stuck in your head. This will then cause the
audience to want to return to the game.

5. Existing Product Little Nightmares
28 April 2017
Little Nightmares is an
extremely new game I personally find it
looks extremely nice and the style is very
unique, this is because it uses the game
engine ‘unreal engine 4’ which is known
for creating hyper-realistic lighting and
graphics (see next slide for and example
image) This gives the
game a unique quality as the lighting and shading will have a very realistic life like
quality, the game also uses more diegetic noises than a scored music track, so you can
hear the characters footsteps you can hear screams moans objects moving, bubbling,
scratching etc. However when the game does use music it is often very simple humming
and pulsating that changes intensity and loudness depending on what is happening in
game. This quality of sound, combined with the brilliant shading and colouring of the
game, creates a very immersive experience. The scene is usually set very simply, the
background colours tend to be very dark or grey/dull, this makes the yellow costume of
the character stand out against the background. Furthermore the game gives the
character a lighter which they can light at any give time, this acts as sort of a key light
illuminating the character lighting up its foreground, but keeping the darkness behind
him. This is extremely visually pleasing.

6. Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T7cuRA4DRw
The game uses focus pulling to bring attention to certain parts of the area that are
important, because you can hide there, or interact with it somehow. It also makes the
game look neater and better, as it is less straining on your eyes in the sense that the
game guides you where to look and blurs what isn’t necessary rather than you having to
figure it out. The combination of the lighting, sound, focus, mise en scene and colour is
what gives this game so much appeal, they developers definitely benefited hugely by
using unreal engine 4 as the unique look could very possibly be on of the games biggest
selling points.
In focus
Out of focus

7. Images created using unreal engine 4

8. Existing Product Samorost 3
March 24, 2016
Samorost 3 is a puzzle point-and-click adventure game which has a very unique look.
Similar to the tell tale games, this game has a drawn fantasy look, it’s a side scroller it is
a 2D isometric sprites game it uses very detailed graphics on everything but the main
character. I think this could be done to make the character stand out from the finely
drawn/designed background. The game occasionally uses Context Sensitive
perspectives when doing puzzles (see next slide for an example) The game has a very
organic feel to it, the mise-en scene is very simple, it has a very even lighting from
above, the costume of the main character is extremely bright compared to the back
ground, and the foreground is blurred to give this game a 3D effect.
NPC and background
(highly detailed)
Main character
(very simple design
and bold white colour)

9. Context sensitive example

10. Research Analysis
 What common features do the researched products have?
 All the games had a very minimal layout and HUD the most complex
HUD belonging to Jetpack Joy-ride which was simply some alert arrows
coins collected and distance travelled. They all had as little HUD as
possible and as much game as possible, another feature they all had in
common was to create a backdrop that was different enough to make the
character stand out well, whether that was using colours or like in
Samorost 3 making the character a lot bolder than the background it
worked well in all of the games. All of the games researched (except for
Jetpack joy ride) are puzzle games, where you play a small character
either physically small or figuratively small (the child in INSIDE) and you
figure things out solve puzzles etc. In the games I researched Jetpack
Joy ride really was the anomaly, it was a side scroller, shot-em’ up style
video game. Where as all the others were puzzle, adventure platformers.

11. Research Analysis
 What aspects of the research will you include within your on work?
 A very common theme was the unique look and colour, shading work
within the video games I researched. This is something I am going to
include in my video game, I want to include key lighting, I will try to
include focus/blurring, but I am not sure how difficult that will be to
achieve with pixel art. Another thing I would like to implement would be
to use very little music and make the game very sound effect heavy, as it
is something I enjoy when playing video games and I think something
that suits a lot (but of course not all) video games. I will most probably
include the Context sensitive puzzles in my video game as I think that
will work quite nicely with a pixel art game and it will give the game a
new level of detail. Further more I will include the bald character design
from Samorost combined with the colour difference between character
and background used in Little nightmares and INSIDE.

12. Interviews

13. Interview 1
 Q: Is it better to have one big boss that you fight throughout the game or a bunch of
medium bosses with different abilities mixing up the way you have to play? which do
you prefer and why?.
 A: I prefer both because I prefer mixing up the game a little throughout but then have a
big boss to fight at the and using all of the skills I learnt playing the medium bosses
 Q: Do you prefer games where you can choose to play as a character (male female) or
do you prefer it when you are given a character where you can’t tell the gender or face,
so you have to imagine what the character looks like? Why do you prefer one or the
other?
 A: I prefer choosing a character so then I can judge how good they will be looking at
their ability throughout the game.
 Q: In a puzzle game would you rather have easier puzzles, but lots of them to keep the
game flowing well, or would you rather have hard puzzles but fewer of them.
 A: Lots of easier puzzles just to break the game up.

14. Interview 1
 Observation: The audience leans towards a more personal
experience where you choose the character and keep interest in the
game by fighting lots of little bosses leading up to one big boss or
completing lots of easier puzzles.
 What this says about my audience: My audience is driven
more by story and immersion than game difficulty, they would rather
have a personalized story driven game where they complete lots of
task than a harder game that is less immersive but more difficult.
 How will your product appeal to this audience: It will
appeal by creating a game where I you can choose your own
character, I will have one main boss that can be defeated at the end
to finish of the game while throughout the game there will be lots of
puzzles with mini bosses. This will keep the puzzles simple, but a
sense of difficulty will be brought about by the bosses presence.

15. Interview 2
 Q: Is it better to have one big boss that you fight throughout the game or a bunch of
medium bosses with different abilities mixing up the way you have to play? which do
you prefer and why?.
 A: I prefer to have one big boss that you fight throughout the game. This is due to
making the game more difficult, creating the game to be more competitive.
 Q: Do you prefer games where you can choose to play as a character (male female) or
do you prefer it when you are given a character where you can’t tell the gender or face,
so you have to imagine what the character looks like? Why do you prefer one or the
other?
 A: I prefer to choose the character I am going to play. This is due to giving it more of a
personal touch, making the character more suited to the person playing.
 Q: In a puzzle game would you rather have easier puzzles, but lots of them to keep the
game flowing well, or would you rather have hard puzzles but fewer of them.
 A: I would prefer easier puzzles and lots of them. This is because they give you breaks
through out the game. This is because if they’re too hard people will become stuck and
give up.

16. Interview 2
 Observation: The audience prefers a more personal experience
where the game is a little easier but has a coherent narrative
throughout, the audience would rather have lots of easier puzzles as
it breaks the game up and therefore will reduce the chance of
someone rage quitting. The audience also prefers having
customizable characters.
 What this says about my audience: They are more
character driven, they want to play a game that’s personal where the
end result is beating a boss you’ve had since the very beginning.
 How will your product appeal to this audience: I will have
one main boss throughout the game puzzles will be easier but I will
have mini bosses to keep them on their toes and aware, also I will
have a customizable character.

17. Bibliography

18. Bibliography
1. Harrison, India-Rain. (2018) Target Audience
Interviews (conducted on 28/11/2017)
2. Whitehorn, L. (2018) Target Audience Interviews
(conducted on 28/11/2017)
3. Playdead (2016) INSIDE
4. Halfbrick Studios (2011) Jetpack Joyride
5. Tarsier Studios (2017) Little Nightmares
6. Amanita Design (2016) Samorost 3