The document discusses the student's initial ideas for their final project, which included either making a film or video game. They decided to make a 2D side-scrolling platformer video game, as they had experience with that genre from previous projects. They created mind maps of potential ideas and enemies. A mood board provided inspiration for forest/city level visuals and potential box art designs. While building on past experience was a strength, the genre may lack originality.

1. Initial Plans
Thomas Battams

2. Initial Reaction
My initial thoughts to this is that at the moment, I am still somewhat unsure about
whether I should do something film related or something related to games. I am going
to look at some ideas in order to see which one would appeal more, however at the
moment I am leaning more towards games since it would be a lot easier compared to
anything film related, since all I’d really need to make the game is Photoshop, whilst
with a film I’d need to organise a lot more things in order for it to be good. As I had
done A-Level Media before starting this course I have had prior experience with
creating Film Projects (specifically Trailers), however with the limited amount that I
can work with, I feel like I would be better off trying to create a Video Game,
specifically I will try and improve on what I had previously made during the last
rotation, as well as the original advergame that I made at the start of the course.
Last Rotation
Original Advergame

3. Mind Map
Initial Ideas
One Idea could be a 2D Side-Scroller where
you work your way from one side of the stage
to the other, similar to that of Mario or Sonic.
This would expand on the project that I did
earlier on in the course.
Another Idea is to make a shooter, where
you’d be trying to get to the end of the
stage whilst having to either avoid or fight
through various waves of enemies.
Another Idea is to make a fighting
game, where the objective would
pretty much be to beat the other
player.
Another Idea is to make a
game similar to Undertale,
where you go through the
game having the option to
fight or spare everyone you
encounter. It would be like a
prequel to the original game,
which would focus more on
one of the six human souls
that fell down after Chara.
Another possible Idea is to create
a small RPG where you’d have to
level up in order to beat the boss
at the end of the stage.
Another Idea is to create a
Puzzle Type game where
there isn’t exactly an
objective, however there are
a ton of puzzles that can be
solved, this could range from
card games, to games like
Tetris.

4. Mind Map
Final Idea
The Idea that I am going to go
through with is to do a 2D Side
Scroller, the objective would
essentially be to get from one
side of the stage to the other as
fast as possible, whilst having to
get past various enemies and
obstacles.
The Level Design would be
a bit more like Mario as
there wouldn’t be a larger
emphasis on speed like
there is in Sonic, rather be
more platform based like
Mario, Megaman, and
Cuphead.
Enemies would change depending on what area
you are in, for example in a forest the enemies
would be Wild Animals, in a factory they would
be robots, in a city they could be the mafia or
police. However due to the basic storyline (being
similar to any other 2D Platformer), there could
also be a mixture of mechanical beings added
into the levels, and the second Act’s boss would
be as well (first would be a mixture).
As well as creating the
game, I will also
produce some things
to go along with this,
such as disc/box art,
posters, and possibly a
Steam page to go
along with it.

6. Mind Map Discussion
After comparing various ideas, I have decided on developing a
2D Side-Scrolling Platformer, similar to those I had made in the
previous rotation and the Advergame, unlike those this would
also include some Box Art to go with it, these would primarily be
created using Adobe Photoshop, with the Audio being added in
through Adobe Premiere.
With this idea I mainly wanted to expand on what I had made
on the previous rotations, however I also wanted to change
some things that were in the others in order to make this idea
more unique, for example the themes of the level.

7. Mood Board

8. Mood Board Analysis
Is there any repetition in the images you have collected? Repeated
colours/images styles/fonts/tone/mood
• Based on the images that I have gathered, there are two main level
themes, either a forest/plains level or a city level. For the most part the
visuals of the forest levels are quite bright and colourful, the colour
scheme has mainly been blue, green and brown, due to the amount of
levels that have been set in some sort of forest or countryside area.
Meanwhile the city levels are usually darker and mainly have grey colour
schemes with different colours mixed in for the surrounding buildings. I
also added in some real images of cities and forests in order to get a
better look at what the colours and tone of the stage could look like, and
the results were quite similar to how the games looked.
How will your mood board influence your final product?
• The Mood Board helps to give me a general idea of what I should be
making for the final product, for example a level set in a forest/field area
would be ideal, as based on the mood board it seems to be a staple to
platformers, however having a level set in a city would not only be quite
good to use in terms of graphic design, it would also mean that the level
design could incorporate the buildings into it.

9. Mood Board

10. Mood Board Analysis
Is there any repetition in the images you have collected? Repeated
colours/images styles/fonts/tone/mood
• All of them show the main character(s) on the front cover, the
colours used are usually quite bright (with a couple exceptions).
Most of the covers show off something that would be a feature in
the game, for example Crash Bandicoot shows off the different
games featured, Shadow the Hedgehog shows off the gun feature,
and Super Mario Odyssey shows off both Cappy and the locations
featured in the game.
How will your mood board influence your final product?
• The Mood Board helps to give me a general idea of what I should be
making for the box art, for example the main character would need
to be included on the cover, and something involved with the game
would be needed as well, for example what one of the stages may
end up looking like.

11. Mood Board

12. Mood Board Analysis
Is there any repetition in the images you have collected? Repeated
colours/images styles/fonts/tone/mood
• I selected some different themes for what could be included as enemies
within the game, such as robots, cars, turrets, and police/the mafia. I have
done this in order to get a more broader perspective on some of the
different enemies that would be faced within a city level. In terms of the
robots, they were added in as they would be the primary enemies faced
within the game, whilst the others can be examples of the theme I’m
using for the game (city theme).
How will your mood board influence your final product?
• This Mood Board helps to give me a general idea of what enemies should
be included when it comes to the game, I will base some of the enemy
designs on what is shown in this mood board, for example I’ll add in a
Turret that would be somewhat based on the Turret and Mech images
shown.

13. Strengths and Weaknesses of Ideas
Strengths
- I have done a similar type of game before, so not only do I
have some experience, but doing another Platformer would
mean that I can improve on any mistakes from other attempts.
- The base for the game is already there for me to use, I just
need to add in my own ideas to it.
- There is common themes with the Box Art, meaning that it’s
quite easy to plan out what to add to it.
Weaknesses
- It’s essentially just the same idea from the rotations, it’s
unoriginal.
- I haven’t done Box Art before so I may struggle when making
this.