The document evaluates David Lee's research and development process for a side-scrolling adventure video game, detailing strengths like learning from existing games and crafting original music, while acknowledging weaknesses such as limited research scope and time constraints. It outlines the game's narrative, design choices, and technical qualities, comparing them to classic games like Super Mario World, and emphasizes the intention to appeal to a wide audience age range through engaging visuals and music. Despite challenges, including the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the project manages to embody the essence of nostalgic gaming while aiming for a family-friendly experience.

1. Evaluation
David Lee

2. Research
• Strengths:
• One of the main benefits in conducting research for this project is that, in spite of my relative lack of
knowledge of how to develop a video game (despite having created a maze game in a previous project), I
was able to look at professionally made side-scrolling video games, such as Super Mario World, Super
Star Wars or the video game adaptation of the 1992 Tim Burton film Batman Returns, subsequently
providing me with a learning opportunity of how games such as these are structured and developed and
how each environment moves in conjunction with the character's movements i.e. in the third level of
Batman Returns, as Batman traverses from rooftop to rooftop, along with a building that is still in
construction encountering a number of Penguin's henchmen along the way before confronting
Catwoman, several other buildings (some being taller than others) that make up the Gotham City skyline
can be seen, before having to use his grapple gun in order to traverse the rest of the way, during which
the building directly in front of him takes up the full length and breadth of the screen.
• In addition to this, I also learnt how to create a fully original and synthesised piece of music for use in my
finished animation. To ensure this could be accomplished, I conducted an extensive amount of research
into the music of the games I had chosen to study and I immediately came to recognise that each carries
different tone dependent on the genre of the game i.e. as Castlevania is a horror game associated with
the character of Count Dracula, the music will carry a dark undertone of foreboding and dread for the
player. I would then take this research forward and write a piece of music which I felt to be suitable for
the finished product.
• Weaknesses
• Although I feel I was meticulous in choosing which side-scrolling games to research, I think it would have
beneficial to study other classic games that were well-known and sometimes lesser known than Super
Mario, but nonetheless popular with gamers of all ages, such as Earthworm Jim or Sonic the Hedgehog
and determine how their visual look and style of music makes them unique, thereby adding further
examples of inspiration which I would easily have carried forward into the development of my game.

3. Planning
• Strengths:
• Upon deciding that I would develop a side-scrolling game based upon the adventure genre, I
immediately came to realise that I could easily develop the game’s lead character and, subsequently, the
surrounding environment based on the type of story I had envisioned for the game. While I had
potentially toyed with a few potential ideas, such as a maze game (similar to the project I had developed
in Creative Media Level 2) in a city placed on lockdown in the midst of a viral outbreak or a sci-fi escape
game, in which the player has only minutes to escape from his ship, even a game set in a haunted house
in which an exorcist must find and subdue the evil spirits plaguing the house, I already knew what sort of
game I wanted to develop in which an archaeologist enters a temple in the jungles of Tenerife to acquire
a mysterious artifact and escape before the temple closes in on him.
• With the idea of an adventure game set inside an abandoned temple in place, I was able to determine
the look that I wanted for the temple almost immediately. To give the impression that it had been
abandoned for years, possibly even centuries, I decided to incorporate small albeit extremely important
details such as cobwebs interspersed throughout certain areas of the temple, water droplets emerging
from the leaking ceiling and small beams of sunlight (probably brought as a result of some of the rocks
falling) streaming into the temple’s interior. To add further authenticity to this, I made the creative
decision to have a few sunbeams streaming on to the cup the archaeologist is about to take, thereby
giving certain parts a more elegant and golden appearance than it actually would.
• Weaknesses:
• Although I am particularly happy with how the finished design of the temple turned out as well as the
design of the lead character, I feel that if I had more time, I could have drawn out a few hazards for the
temple to include such as tranquiliser darts which would, of course, have been non-lethal so as not to
scar any potential young game players. Additionally, I could also have designed a few different skins for
the character’s look as well contemplated making the character a woman. However, aside from these
small gripes, I still feel proud with how the product itself turned out.

4. Time Management
• Strengths:
• Despite experiencing a number of difficulties throughout the production, such as settling upon a suitable
design for the game’s character (who was intended to be a modern-day archaeologist), creating a piece
of music on GarageBand suited to the surrounding environment or even one layer getting mixed with
the other i.e. a small water droplet mixed with a bigger water droplet (similar to an incident that
occured during the development of my maze game last year), I was ultimately able to complete my
finished product within the limited timeframe I had using my knowledge of Photoshop as well as
consulting my tutor regularly to ensure the completed animation was of a feasible quality.
• Additionally, as I was developing a piece of music on GarageBand that would make the audience feel
uneasy and isolated (despite the fact it was only a short animation), I came to realise almost
immediately that I could create this feeling of unease by writing the score in the key of F Minor using a
combination of both the Taerung Music Bass and the Seismic Drum Kit.) Originally, I had intended to
compose the music on BeepBox but was convinced instead to utilise GarageBand following a discussion
with my tutor, feeling it would save considerable time on work.
• Weaknesses:
• Although I was able to complete the animation and upload it on to my YouTube channel, I was unable to
transfer the finished video on to my blog due to the coronavirus pandemic putting every educational
establishment, including York College, out of action. If I had thought to do so at the time, I could have
taken a week away from finishing the project following the start of lockdown and then returned to finish
it while simultaneously focusing on the development of my final major project.
• Additionally, although I am particularly proud with how the finished product turned out I feel, that if I
had more time, I could have created a few additional elements to make the finished product feel more
like a game. This would have included a timer, which would clearly display the number of minutes the
player would have to escape the temple before it collapsed in on itself, a lives icon showing how many
lives the player has lost(which would be dependant on the hazard he or she came into contact with, if at
all) as well as additional character skins besides the one I created myself.

5. Technical Qualities
Strengths:
Although there are a few minor elements which could have definitely
been improved with more time, I feel nonetheless that are moments in
the finished animation which stand out from the rest. One such moment
occurs halfway through the animation when the environment begins to
move back in conjunction with the character moving forward, thereby
giving the impression of movement despite the backdrop itself being
completely still.
One visual detail I am particularly proud of having incorporated into the
early stages of this product’s development was to have a few small
strands of sunbeam shine into the cave and hit part of the goblet the
archaeologist moving towards, giving it a somewhat golden appearance
and the illusion of being brand new again, despite its aged appearance.
Weaknesses:
While I do not see any way I could change anything
within the animation proper, one slight alteration I
would make in order to make the video slightly more
realistic, despite its nature as a 2D animation, would be
to have the water droplets fall to the temple floor with a
small drip noise accompanying it. Had time allowed, this
could have been achieved through the use of BeepBox.
Additionally, I feel I could have added in a few additional
elements to the video in order to make it feel more like
a game instead of simply being a short animation, such
as a heads-up display which would have included a
timer, a lives counter and a points counter.

6. Technical Qualities (cont’d)
Similarities:
Both my finished product (left) and Super Mario World
(right) are platform games set in a fictional location (in
Mario’s case, Dinosaur Island, my game’s case, an
abandoned temple in the middle of Spain), are viewed
from a side-scrolling perspective, prominently features
electronic music written to suit the respective tones of
both games and, of course, feature two-dimensional
graphics.
Both games prominently feature a goal or objective that
the player must reach in order to complete the game:
Mario must rescue Princess Peach (then named Princess
Toadstool) from the tyrannical Koopa King Bowser, while
the archaeologist in my game must retrieve the cup
within the temple and make his escape before the
temple starts collapsing in on itself.
Differences:
Super Mario World prominently features a heads-up display
in the top corner of the game’s screen, clearly showing how
many lives the character has, how much time they have to
reach their goal before the mission is automatically failed
and the amount of currency they have collected, which is
added up by the time they reach their goal. By comparison,
my game does not have any of these features. Originally, I
had intended to incorporate them into my finished
animation but due to the pressures of the project’s
deadline, I was ultimately unable to do so.
Despite both products being side-scrolling games, the size
of the screen in each of the respective games is vastly
different. Super Mario World features a much smaller
screen thereby allowing the player to see the environment
move as the characters do, whilst the screen in my game is
considerably wider, allowing for movement of certain
objects within the environment but not the full
environment itself.

7. Aural Qualities
Strengths:
One of the key aspects that I feel I have improved upon from
last year’s interactive venture was incorporating music into the
finished animation. This was achieved initially by extensive
experimental use of the GarageBand app, which was
particularly helpful in enhancing the quality of the video. To
give my piece the feel of a true 1980s Nintendo game, I decided
to utilise the Taerung Moon Bass synthesizer and set the tune
to the key of F Minor, which then paved the way for additional
elements such as the Seismic Drum Kit (which I would use to
create an additional beat for the music) as well as the pitch
band (to give the impression that an unseen game cartridge is
playing up) to be incorporated into the mix. The sense of
urgency and dread contained within the final piece helped to
give the animation a somewhat dark tone, similar to that of
Castlevania and even the Batman Returns video game
adaptation.
Weaknesses:
Due to time constraints imposed on the
product, I was ultimately unable to add coins
and/or hazards to the game, which ultimately
resulted in the finished product not having
sound effects, which could have been
potentially useful in creating a wide
soundscape i.e. Every time the archaeologist
picked up a coin, a pinging sound would be
heard but whenever he would step on the
wrong bit of floor, a hazard would be triggered
and a low horn would blare indicating the loss
of a live, as part of the heads-up display that
went undeveloped.

8. Aesthetic Qualities
One of the game’s visual aspects that I
am particularly proud with
incorporating and one I am happy to
leave unchanged, despite it being quite
a minor detail at best, are the
sunbeams streaming down on to the
goblet to give it a golden appearance,
which potentially may have been part
of the goblet’s original look, prior to its
sudden disappearance from history.
Despite initially having trouble in
determining the cup’s final look while
situated atop its plinth, the decision to
include sunlight (albeit small streams of
it) helped me to further develop the
look as I had originally intended.Although the temple’s environment, along with the objects (such as spider webs,
torches and water droplets) and creatures (spiders) inhabiting it are evidently crudely
drawn (which was meant to be intentional, given the project’s brief), I feel I have
nonetheless achieved the rare (but not uncommon) feat of capturing how a temple
might possibly appear after years of decay and neglect: Dark, dank and infested with
dust, cobwebs and corpses (the latter having been omitted so as not to frighten
children.), all of which could possibly have been brought about as a result of disease,
famine or civil war breaking out among its inhabitants, maybe even all of the above.
While I am undoubtedly pleased with how the visual
look of the temple’s interior turned out, I feel that, if I
had had more time to develop this project, I could have
had the video screen considerably smaller than it
actually wound up being, thereby giving my animation
the appearance (or close to thereof) of a true 2D side-
scrolling game, similar to the ones created in the 1980s
and 1990s.
Additionally, I feel that another element that could have
improved my finished product significantly, thereby giving a
game a more professional look despite its crude appearance
(see below), is the inclusion of a heads-up display which
would have seen elements as stated repeatedly in previous
slides, such as a timer and a lives counter, coming in to play. If
I could restart the entire project from scratch, I would not
hesitate to make the HUD the first thing to be mapped out.

9. Audience Appeal
Despite hitting a snag with completing this project due to York College closing as a result of the coronavirus lockdown, I feel
I have nonetheless created a game as best as I could that appeals to people of 14-19 years of age, along with young adults
(who, being familiar with side-scrolling games such as Super Mario as well as Zelda and Sonic the Hedgehog, will
undoubtedly appreciate the nostalgic value). True to my word during this product’s initial development, nothing graphic or
traumatising, such as spikes emerging from the floor or a decaying skeleton emerging from the temple roof, has not been
included. This was done primarily as an attempt to include children from the ages of 7-12 upwards, feeling certain elements
would not be suitable for children under the age of 3, which ultimately led me to include a spider hanging down from a
strand of webbing with a smiley face. Finally, the backdrop of the temple along with the archaeologist character,
popularised by the Indiana Jones films as well as the eponymous character himself, were developed with the intention of
attracting adventure fans who, regardless of whether they are into games or not, have an affinity for stories about people
stepping into the unknown. As the music I developed on GarageBand, to be incorporated into the finished video, was
intended to reflect this, I feel I have successfully accomplished this goal and thus can wrap up this project in a satisfied and
contented manner.