Thomas created a video game for a class project. He began with pre-production work like researching similar games, developing initial plans, and creating experiments. Due to snow days, he spent extra time on pre-production including a proposal, planning, and experiments. During production, Thomas designed levels and began animating but had to cut content due to time constraints. He added sound effects and music. For evaluation, Thomas reviewed research, planning, time management, technical and aesthetic quality, and audience appeal. Though parts were cut, Thomas was happy with the completed animated game.

1. Production Reflection
Thomas Battams

2. Process
This week I have started on the Video Game Rotation, and so far I have
done a case study on a previous game, I’ve done the Initial Plans about
my own game, and done research on similar games.
The game I researched for the case study was Undertale, an RPG about
a human who falls into the Underground, and travels through the
Kingdom of the Monsters in order to try and get back to the surface. I
talked about the different features that needed to be included in the
game, such as the Graphics, the Story, the Gameplay etc. From this I
found out about Video Game Addiction and how people have
responded to the issue.
For my Initial Plan I had created three different ideas for a video game,
and then developed the idea that I wanted to make. This idea would
be further developed after doing the research needed in order to
know what I can or can’t do.
For the Research I had looked at four similar games in order to find out
what was similar between them that I could then use for my own
game, the games that I looked at for my research was Cuphead, Sonic
Heroes, Sonic Mania, and Super Mario World. What I learnt from these
was that the level themes were varied throughout the games, and that
a majority of the levels would be bright and colourful, with the
occasional darker level, after this I did primary research in order to see
what some people wanted to see from my game, and what I learned
was that people not only wanted a co-op mode, but people would also
like to see a story added into the game, with exploration being
something implemented into the level design.

3. Process
Because there was essentially no college last week due to snow
related issues, so instead of going into production straight away
this week, instead we ended up finishing off the pre-production
aspects, such as the experiments, the proposal and the planning.
For the experiments I had to create several concepts that were
similar to what I was going to make for the final product, this was
done in order to not only prepare us for creating the actual game,
but also to make sure we’d gotten used to animating with
Photoshop again since the last time we’d done something like this
was back in October.
For the Proposal I essentially just wrote about what I was going to
make, this was needed because it mainly explained certain things
such as what I was going to make, who it was going to be made for,
and how is it going to be made.
For the Planning I had to plan out certain things for the Production
before I could start creating my game, such as the Style Sheet,
Screenshot Layouts, Sound Effects/Dialogue, Music, Health and
Safety, and the Contingency Plan. This was needed since without
planning out what I’d need and what could potentially happen, I
would start to create the game and then halfway through I’d be
stuck as I would’ve had no idea of what I’d need to add in, by
planning it all out first, it makes sure that at the very least I’d be
able to go back to the plans if I get stuck on anything such as the
colour scheme or the sound effects.

4. Process
This week I have started on the production of my video
game, for the most part I have spent this week on the
designs and the stage, with the end of it being used to
begin the animation of the game, so far I think that it’s
going quite well, however because of the complications
with the snow earlier in the rotation, this has made it
more difficult for me to finish this on time, if i were to
add everything in that I’d intended to, this would mean
that I may need to cut some things out that I had initially
wanted to try and have in this game, mainly so I could
try them out incase I decided to make a video game for
my FMP.
In terms of the design of the level it has been fully
completed, however the animation has barely been
started and may end uptaking most of next week to
complete. I’m a little worried that the evaluation may
not be completed in time before easter, since i cannot
complete it at home since i have no way of accessing the
documents there.

5. Process
This week I was able to finish the animation of my video game, this included adding the sounds onto the animation
through Adobe Premiere, exporting it and uploading it onto both YouTube and Blogger, as well as this I was
thankfully able to finish the Evaluation.
For the Animation of the Video Game I ended up both adding and cutting several different things that initially were
either going to be there or not. For example I had to cut out certain enemies/bosses that would’ve been fought
during the stage, and the coins were a last minute addition added into the animation after it was over halfway
through, hence the main reason why not many ended up appearing, same for the only enemy shown in the stage.
Whilst this was slightly dissappointing to have because I wanted the game to be as good as I could’ve made it, at the
same time I’m still happy with the end result of the animation.
For the Sound Design of the Video Game I ended up using Adobe Premiere to add in several different sound effects
in order to give some more atmosphere to the game, for example sounds for picking up coins, hitting item boxes,
destroying enemies etc., I also got two different 8 bit music tracks from Youtube, one for the menu screen and one
for the stage itself, having two different themes not only helped to give the game some variety, but I feel like it also
helps to complete the game as a whole, since without any music, it would just be bland going through the levels
with the only sounds being the occasional sound of picking up a coin or firing off a bullet from the blaster if it was
equipped.
For the Evaluation I had to go through each individual aspect of the development of the game, whether it was the
Research, Planning, the Time Management, the Technical and Aesthetic Qualities, and the Audience Appeal. For the
Research and Planning I had to review all of what I did involving these two and review the strengths and
weaknesses of both, in order to find out what I did well and what could’ve been improved. For the Time
Management I essentially had to say if it was managed well (which I felt that for the most part it was even with the
extra issues given due to the snow) and what I would’ve done if I had more time to make the game. For the
Technical and Aesthetic Qualities, I had to compare my Game to a similar game (in my case I mainly used Sonic 1 for
the SEGA Master System and Game Gear, and Megaman 2 for the NES) and see what is similar and what is different.
For the Audience Appeal I went through the questionnaires that were done for the Primary Research, and I pretty
much stated what I added into the game from the results that would’ve appealed to the Target Audience.