Luke-Headland evaluated their game design project. Their research helped decide on an abandoned house setting and informed lighting and gameplay design. However, they felt they could have researched level and animation design more. Their planning allowed for game elements and contingency planning, but they think scheduling could have been improved. Time management let some stages be completed quickly but overall management was weak. Feedback praised graphics and atmosphere but suggested more varied animation, characters and audio. The game appealed to its target audience through horror elements, complexity and character dialogue.

1. Evaluation
Luke-Headland

2. Research
• Strengths:
– My research helped me come up with the overall design and theme of my game. I looked into images
of different abandoned locations, as I wanted my game to be set in some sort of abandoned location. I
first began by looking into factories, and then started looking at abandoned houses. As my game was
an escape room styled game, I thought an abandoned house location would work best, so I began
looking more into the abandoned house images and gathering different styles and ideas that I could
implement into my game. After looking at different settings and locations, I then started looking into
different existing games. I looked into games that had similar themes to what I wanted to create, I
looked into the lighting, and how light was used throughout the games to achieve the perfect horror
atmosphere. I also looked at the design of the game and how it looked, and what locations and areas
worked well with the gameplay, which helped me decide if the same styles would work for my game.
• Weaknesses:
– One of the weaknesses with my research was the fact that I didn’t look into much of how I should craft
my levels in Photoshop. I already had some experience with creating a pixelated game in Photoshop,
but I felt I could've expanded my knowledge and could've created something of higher quality,
whether it be the animations or creating the general background / stages. I also think I could have
looked at other animation styles, as my game was very limited on animation, specifically character
animation. One other weakness is that although the research helped me decide on the style of my
project, it didn’t really give any help as to how I should start creating the levels in my game, and how I
should animate and draw them to look as professional as possible.

3. Planning
• Strengths:
– The planning allowed me to decide what elements and details I wanted to implement into my game. I
was able to be more detailed with my project and expand on my ideas. Planning out three different
ideas that I may have wanted to do was also helpful, as I was able to chose what I wanted to make. I
was also able to carefully plan out the design of my stages, as well as animations and the plot of the
game. I planned out all the things that I was going to implement into my game which gave me a clear
indication of different things I needed to make on Photoshop to add to my game, like text, speech and
menus. The contingency planning and health and safety planning gave me an indication on how to act
when making my game, as well as all of the things I should so, such as saving and backing up, to make
sure that I would not lose any work. Thanks to this planning, I didn’t lose any of my work and kept it all
safe in the same location so I would never lose it.
• Weaknesses:
– One of the main weaknesses with my planning I think was the time scheduling. I think if I had a time
schedule I would've been able to plan out my work better, as I feel that I spent a bit too much time on
certain things, and I could have spent more time on other things as well as spending time refining my
work, changing and improving it, as I still think there are a lot of things that could be improved. I also
think I could have added some more detail on the planning for my game, as I had added a lot of things
that I didn’t actually plan on adding. I think I need to be more open when planning and try to plan out
every aspect of the game and every feature it could have.

4. Time Management
• Strengths:
– One of the strengths with my time planning was how I was able to plan out when I was going to make
my stages and how much time I should spend on them. I a lot of the stages weren't time managed, but
for the ones that were I was able to get them done quite quickly. My first stage was time planned and I
was able to get it done in just two lessons and I think if I time planned all of my other stages I would’ve
been able to have made them quicker and spent less time on them. I luckily managed to complete my
project in time considering I didn’t have a very good time management plan. One other strength to my
time management was the audio portion of my project. I planned on spending one night mixing the
sound effects and music and managed to get it all completed in the short time I had.
• Weaknesses:
– I think if I planned my time management better I could have done a lot more with my project. I feel like
I could have added more detail, as well as other stages to make the game feel more in depth longer. I
also think that if my time management was better, I could have added more overall detail on the
stages, animation, dialogue etc. and I also could have spent less time working on certain stages, as I
felt that I took too long to create some of my levels / background which slowed down the overall
production of the game. I think if I had more time to produce my work I could have maybe created
some different characters and objectives for my game, as it feels very restricted as far as characters
and combat go. I could have also made the objective a little more interesting, and maybe have added
an antagonist / obstacle to the game that the main player had to avoid or they would lose the game.

5. Technical Qualities
One of the similarities that my game has with another
game ’Home’, is the overall dark atmosphere. Both of
the games have very deep dark lighting with a lot of
blacks. Even with light the games still remain quite dark
which adds to the overall atmosphere and horror aspect
of the game. Another similar thing my game shares is
the lack of UI / HUD. The lack of information on the
screen gives the game a realistic tone and makes the
player feel as though they have to make decisions for
themselves. They are also very similar combat wise, and
rely on the players decisions to move forward in the
game rather than the aspect of combat. One difference
with the two games is the colour. The colour in my game
is very vibrant and catches the players eyes, where as
the colour in ‘Home’ is very tame and desaturated. I
chose to have vibrant colours to show off how decayed
and old the house stages were, as well as giving them a
creepy green hue to add to the atmosphere, whereas
the colours for ‘Home’ are more desaturated because of
the ghost / ghoulish theme of the game, and makes the
player feel cold and uncomfortable.

6. Aesthetic Qualities
I’m really happy with how my game looks,
from the lighting to the background / set
design. I think the house design works
perfectly for the genre of my game and the
theme I was trying to go for which was horror
mystery. I think the backgrounds are very
detailed and are the highlight of my game.
They look very real and old which was the
design I was going for. I also really like the
colour choices and patterns. They really add to
the horror aspect of the game and add to the
overall unnerving atmosphere of the house. I
also think the overlays / dialogue boxes work
well, and I designed them so they look natural
and look as though they are a part of the
game, with the use of dirty grungy textures.
One thing I think I could have improved upon
is the variation in colours, as all of the stages
lighting follow the same colour pattern, and I
think it would have looked better with
different colours in each room.

7. Peer Feedback 1
• Lighting – Very dynamic and mixed with the colours
very well.
• Graphics – The levels were very detailed and looked
very professional.
• Animation – Animation was smooth but could have
been more varied.
• Weaknesses: Improve walking Animation and add
some extra characters.

8. Peer Feedback 2
• Strengths:
– The graphics of the game are really good and I like the transition effects and
how it transitions smoothly into the next scene. Also the range of dark colours
within the game is really good because it gives it that kind of horror feeling. I
feel that the background of the game set the tone straight away. It gives of the
spooky start. The character stands out well compared to the dark colours
behind him. You can clearly see what is happening and what the story line is.
The game also has a clear objective.
• Weaknesses:
– I think when the character goes through the door you could maybe add like a
door opening sound affect to help improve the audio a little. The story line is a
little bit quick and they could be a variation in the audio, such as a change in
the soundtrack. Sound effects with the rain and door unlocking would have
also been a nice touch.

9. • Strengths:
– The morbid colour scheme along with the eerie music greatly impact the
feeling I have as the external viewer and actually increases the tension of the
video. Along with that, the motions of the character work well to give the
impression of motion, rather than him just nonchalantly sliding around on the
floor like an inflatable dummy, this in turn adds the realism of the animation,
despite the obvious 8-bit design.
• Weaknesses:
– Aside from that, just the length of the video falters the quality of the product
and doesn't’t give much in the way of content for the viewer to submerge
themselves in. On top of that, some elements of the video are much higher
resolution than the surrounding 8-bit theme, which somewhat takes away
from the effect it had on me.
Peer Feedback 3

10. Audience Appeal
I think my work has appealed to my target audience very well, I have added a
lot of horror / thriller elements to my project, and my audience can tell what
genre the game is a part of. The game is also more complex than a lot of other
games, which fits with my target age range and is suitable for younger adults,
as they will understand the mechanics better. The game also has an
interesting character element to it, where the audience can get to know the
main character via dialogue, and elements of the game are made clearer to
the player because of the dialogue. Another way in which I think my game
appeals to my target audience is the challenging aspect to it. I think it gives
my audience more of a reason to play the game, and will make them want to
continue and keep playing it until they have beaten their record. I also think
this element suits both my social status group and psychographics, as the
challenging aspect of the game will provide them with a lot of entertainment
time, and also time to respond to how well they are doing in the game and
how they can improve.