2. Research
• I feel that my main strengths of my research was the fact that I have a very good
general knowledge on games and I knew exactly where to find examples similar to
what I was wanting to create. I thought I found the information relating to each of the
games easily and after having a bit of influence I got onto talking about the games
easily. I feel that the research really did influence my game in a big positive way and
gave me so many ideas I didn't know which idea to pick. The weaknesses in my
research I would say is I did run into the same problem when reviewing each product
was finding out the age gap and rating which was not shown on any of the games for
the same website site I used. So I had to make a guess from playing and the
comments made on the game. I feel personally I cant think of many improvements to
my research apart from maybe using a different website to find similar games of what
my ideas were. The effect of this would probably give me way more ideas and could
have influenced me in another direction of what I actual chose for my final product.
• Getting information from my interviews was very helpful for me in getting an incite
into what people think and enjoy about my style of games. The only problem with the
audience research would be is that I did it later on and only got two peoples opinions.
Next time I could go round and ask students around the college. When actually taking
that information and implementing into my game was not the best due to the heavy
snow we had limiting my time at college. This made me miss a week of college cutting
my production in half so I had to made some unfortunate shortcuts to meet the
deadline of my work. My final bit of research that helped me out were my
experiments. Going back and practicing my previous skills that I had gained and
mixing them with the new skills I had gained worked out very well.
3.
4. Planning
• The strengths of my planning I would say were how quickly I began to brain storm
and think of what games I could create. Also I feel the mind map really did help
branch out and progress some of the ideas I had. Personally I feel mood boards
don’t normally influence me much but actually looking up and finding images to
use did give me ideas of how I wanted my layout of the game to look like. Writing
out my schedule for the whole rotation was helpful for planning because it laid
everything out in order that needed doing and helped me complete it all in the
correct time. I feel like my planning again really helped out a lot with shaping my
research and actually getting my work done on time.
• Actually executing my planning I would say I didn't really do that well. For the rest
of the week I didn’t actually know what to design or create, I felt stuck. When
thinking of how to begin my work I didn’t want to return to what I had created
before but I ended up involving the style but adapting it massively. When
thinking back I had an idea but just couldn't create it in the way I thought I
could've.
5.
6.
7. Time Management
• I feel that I always and have managed my time very well. I say this because I stuck
to my planning and schedule of the weeks and I have managed to complete all
my work and almost got ahead of time predicted. I know I keep mentioning the
week we didn't come in because of the poor weather but that put everyone
behind by quite a bit. I still managed to finish before our last day of production
and uploaded it to my blogger. I managed to finish my game by making some
shortcuts which would have made my game a lot better in my opinion but I'm still
happy with what I managed to make. Just to create of level and do all the
animations took a very long time and I didn't realise how long it was going to
take. If having the full time and additional I do think I would be able to improve
my work to make it the level I was hoping. By getting more time I could have
added more of the idea from my audience research to please the masses of
people who would end up playing it.
• If given more time I wouldn't have felt as rushed to produce a game and maybe
been able to manage on what to design and create al the factors I wanted to add.
• The main problem of the set back was me not really expecting how long just one
level would take with all the different animations.
8. Technical Qualities
The first obvious similarity
of both games is the
objective of having to
collect an item to then
proceed on through the
levels. With my game all I
did to get rid of the item
was to just hide it from the
layers making it seem that
the character has picked it
up.
The idea of having to puzzle the
level together was going to be
one of my main ideas I would
have liked to have added, if I had
enough time.
The differences between my
game and the existing product
would be that I have a health
bar and with the other game
its life or death you don’t have
a health bar.
Both games have one main
character and no other
characters involved. How I
made my character able to
move was by making all his
body parts a separate layer
and by doing that you can
make him walk.
Both game have obstacles to
jump onto and to get round.
Both have a door way to
go through to complete
the level. With mine I
made it easily just by
drawing two of the same
then changing the colours
once the gem was
collecting.
9. My game has more
detailed design of a level
but with less technicality.
It was nice and easy to
create and draw the level
but I took my time to
make sure it looked its
best. I used the pencil
tool on the smallest size
and the fill bucket.
In my game I have
stuff that damages
your health but on
the existing game,
you fall to your death.
With my game I have moving
animations in the level other
then the character.
10. Aesthetic Qualities
I think my work overall looks pretty good but some places could possibly have been given
some more attention. Such as the background of the level could have more detail to make it
look more athletically pleasing. I feel my game is creative with the platform moving up and
down and the roots of the trees moving about, being that it is an alien planet. My character I
would say is something I'm not very proud of but again is different to most game characters
you see. I'm not happy with it because its still kind if the same design as my last character
design. But apart from those few things I'm still happy with what I have created. Of course I
have things I would love to add to improve my game because I had a lot more ideas to
advance my game. The first thing I would like to improve about my game is the amount of
levels created. I say this because originally I want to have three different skilled levels
progressively getting harder but didn't have enough time. I also wanted to have a different
task to complete but the same goal at the end, which is to get through the portal at the end.
Having the different levels meant to have different planets with different layouts and also
have different animations like I had the moving platform.
When it comes down to my audio I would day that’s one of my favorite part of finishing of my
game. I say this because I love being able to create my own music and mess around with
different sound effects that I feel fit my game perfectly. When editing the audio for my game
it took a bit of messing around and to get the timings perfect but I feel like I had done it to a
good level but again if given more time there will be improvements. The improvements I
would say spending more time editing the audio and then spending more time on actually
making the sounds effects.
11. The other aspects I feel I have done well would be the health bar and the menu screen.
Even though yes they’re simple items to create but I feel like I have made them in a way
that suits my game very well. Going back to the planning of my game, the colours I ended
up using were only for the first level which was planned but I unfortunately couldn't
experiment with the other levels and other colours.
My strengths I would say are that the final product is a fully functioning and does include
all the requirements. I feel that the character movement and animations work well for the
design of the character. The animation for the character works but it makes the character
seem very slow which is another big factor of the level taking ages. But when the
character was jumping it looks a bit jumpy and glitch in a way so that’s what I would go
back I take more care of. I feel like the only other strength of my game is that it does work
well as an idea and a game. The weaknesses are I would say its very lackluster to say that
it’s a puzzle adventure game. Because I didn't get enough time to add my full amount of
ideas it doesn't seem as exciting and interesting as I had hoped.
12. The three images here is the walking animation for my character. The feet
move up and down, the head also moves up and down, then finally the
arms move up and down. I do like the animation but if I had designed my
character differently then I could've have made a more complicated
animation showing off my other skills.
I made two different copies of the
health bar and just cleared some
of the colouring to show a loss of
health. I feel like I have done a
decent job of the health bars and
it adds just that little bit more to
make my game look better
When looking at my final piece of work, I feel happy
with the layout of the level and how everything
looks. Nothing detracts or gets in the way of the
game play and you have a good clear view. The
colours I chose all work well together which makes
the game pleasing to look at. I feel that I could have
done more with the background but not a huge
massive piece of detail. I say this because if I had a
huge massive art based background then it could
interfere with the gameplay itself, so I could have
added some kind of alien style clouds or some faint
hills in the background with no strong distracting
colours.
13. Like I mentioned before in how I could have had
added more details into the background. For
example, just like this sonic level where there are
some clouds helping set the level and making it
easier to understand where the sky is.
Again with super smash bros, there are simple
round clouds that just add so much more to
the level. Another thing of what I could have
added more are little trees or some bushed
instead of just a flat ground with some dirt
texture.
14. Audience Appeal
With my audience appeal, I feel that I have created something that connects and appeals to
my target audience on some levels. I think that the game I have created an almost nostalgic
game that has he same style as many other games created and out today. I feel that the
content I have added into the game is an interesting topic for my target audience. I think the
whole idea of him being from out of space and him being a traveler of space makes it an
interesting style of game. Also the sci-fi style game is a big part of the gaming community and
this is another benefiting factor in why my game suits my target audience.
Apart from that I was not able to get enough of what I wanted in that would appeal to my
target audience. I had a lot planned in my mind that I would of loved to add but like I've
mentioned multiple times before our time as a class was cut in half. From my questionnaire I
had tried to get ideas from that involved in the short time I had but only managed a few to
give me the inspiration to make what I made. I feel that the thing that saves and helps people
like my game are the sound effect and the music making the game more pleasing to play. I
wanted to also add in some sort of reward system to help people not get bored quickly.
15. The sci-fi appeal I
mentioned was the trees
and the atmosphere is
totally different to what
we would fin here on
earth. Also adding in the
elevating platform adds a
little more variety and
change for the player to
experience.
When collecting the
magical space crystal it
does have some sort of
rewarding factor to it. I
would say because once
collecting it and hearing
the music it will feel like
success. Then after that
you can proceed to the
next level.
I feel like I have made a
very good idea for a first
level in the way that I cant
make something
challenging that scares
people away from playing
it. This will appeal to
anyone and make them feel
like they can play the game.
If given more time I would
have progressively made it
harder as you go on.
16. Here is an example
of a game I got some
inspiration off. Here
is a nice and easy
simple test to get
you use to the
gadget you will be
using through out
the game.
Simply shoot on
portal om the
floor and then
another on the
roof then you
have escaped and
proceeded onto
the next level.
Editor's Notes
What were the strengths of your research? How did your research help your product?
What were the weaknesses of your research? What could you have done better/improve? What effect would this have had on your product?
What were the strengths of your planning? How did your planning help your product?
What were the weaknesses of your planning? What could you have done better/improve? What effect would this have had on your product?
Did you manage your time well? Did you complete your project on time or would your products have improved with additional time?
What would you have done if you had more time to produce your work?
Compare your work to similar existing products and discuss the similarities and differences
Put your final piece(s) in the centre of a page alongside an existing product
Use text boxes and arrows
Does your work look good? Was it creative? What aspects of your game’s visuals do you like? What would you improve? How would you improve it?
Discuss the strengths and weaknesses
Put your final piece(s) in the centre of a page and analyse them
Use text boxes and arrows
How have you appealed to your target audience? What specific bits of content would appeal to your target audience.
Refer to your findings from your questionnaire.
Put your final piece(s) in the centre of a page and analyse them
Use text boxes and arrows