Andreas reflects on his progress in developing a police chase game over four weeks of production. In week 3, he created assets for the game including a character sprite, intro screen, and background elements like roads and obstacles. He learned techniques for adding detail and layers in Photoshop. In week 4, Andreas animated the gameplay and added sound effects recorded outside of class. He improved his skills in animating movement over frames and incorporating audio. Overall, the reflections provide insight into Andreas' process for developing game assets and mechanics through hands-on experiments in design and production.

1. Production Reflection
Andreas Mina

2. Process Week 1
In this week, we started with the game introduction. We had started off with learning about the
different theory's behind the game. In this, we learnt about the different style of games and also
about game addiction. There is 2D AND 3D games. From this, I learnt about the different terminology
involved in the game, and how there are different styles. For example, I know how there are three
section to the game play that are involved and play a certain role (architecture, terrain and object).
From this, I can use this lesson in the future in my project. I can use this to help me with my layout of
my game. I can think in more dept of what the character interacts with, what he sees, and what he
stands on. After the introduction, we started on our case study. In this, we listed the terminology from
a chosen game. I went into dept of the game, talking about the graphics involved and the story that
the game tells. The game I chose was GTA IV. From the beginning of the case study, I learnt about
detail that the game focuses on, graphic and story wise. I learnt about how the game fits in with the
introduction which I was learning about at the beginning, giving me an example. From this, I am
influenced by this research to include it in my actual game. I have a better idea of the terminology I
can add in my game, by seeing how another has done it. After the Case study, I moved on to the initial
plans. I did a mind map and a mood board for my game. In this, I also state my initial reaction to the
game too. In this I say what I could do for my final project. This helped me with my mind map, as it
was easier to figure out what I could possibly make from my initial reaction, as I've stated the possible
things which could work as a final game. With this, I learnt what I want to do for my final idea, as state
images which link to my game, and ideas. I now know that I want to do a police chase game from the
spider diagram. This helps me with planning my game, as I've got all of these ideas of what the game
includes in one big spider diagram. After the initial plans, I moved onto the research. In this, I look up
some of the terminology involved with each individual game. Each game was similar to my potential
game in which I am designing. Two were side scrolls, one was POV and one was 3rd person. I decided
to focus onto side scrolls, so I can have a better insight of them, as my game is a side scroll. With the
3D game, it was a police chase one. I needed to know the terminology for it, so that I can have
inspiration from the game. In this, I learnt about the lighting used to fit with the theme and the mise
en scene used to make the character stand out ( using a stand out colour to fit in with the mood of
the characters). With this, I can apply this information to my final product. I can use inspiration from
some of the games to apply the colour tone and the mise en scene to my game, so it fits in with the
police chase game.

3. Week 1Three elements:
Terminology
Initial plans
Research
Strengths:
With terminology, my strength would be talking about the graphic side of games. I was good at pointing out the
graphics involved in GTA IV, as I could spot areas with the map and the avatars that can be talked about. With initial
plans my strength was making the mind maps. I was good at linking ideas to each other, as I was able to explain
briefly in some areas in the key elements of the game. Also, it is clearly displayed, to remind me what i want to
include in my game. Lastly, the research. My strength would be talking about the audience appeal. It was easy to
pick up why the audience would buy the game, from seeing the trailer or the game play for my point of view and
seeing why I want to have that game.
Weakness:
My weakness with the terminology would be discussing the plot and story of Grand theft Auto IV. The reason is
because GTA IV is so complicated with stories, as many alternates happen, and there is so much to it with the mini
tasks and the open world. With the initial plans, my weakness was the mood board. I struggled to find images to
match what I want, as there wasn’t much that I couldn’t really think of (game wise). Lastly, with the research, my
weakness was talking about the Sound effects. The reason is because there were so many in each game. I struggled
with explaining with why the sound effect was used for the characteristic, and how to describe the backing music.
Improvements/next time:
There is un-completed work with each slide which I need to complete. I need to improve the case study a bit. I need
to finish the remaining areas of the case study by including some images of the game. I also need to improve the
research. I need to complete some areas of it and state how it helps me. Next time, I will use my spider diagram to
help me with planning my game, by seeing the ideas I have.

4. Process week 2In this week, we started with completing with any unfinished work that was uncompleted from last week. I finished
of the remaining slides from my course work. In this, I talk about the consoles, the sound, the screenplay and I also
compare graphics etc. With comparing graphics, I compare it to a later game in its franchise, to have more to talk
about it, and so I can see what has improve in the two games. From this, I learnt about the detail grand theft auto
have added to make their game play look better, like the realistic floor and backdrop. From this, I realise the detail I
need to add in my game, to make it look more neat and pleasing. After completing the work needed to be finished, I
move onto the interviews. I get two people to answer questions that I asked. I asked about what they liked and
disliked about my type of game. I also ask about the upgrade and add ones they want, to see what I can fix and
improve to fit these interviewees. From this, I learnt what other peoples opinion and perspective of my game ideas
are. From this, I can improve my game, to fit with what they asked for. After the interview, I move on to the
production experiments. In this, I Make 2 games and an audio file. In the audio file, I use beep box, and put beats
together. I wanted to have a hype song (fit for running games), so i made the beats short and close. I then made a
run game. I decided to make it into an alien escaping area 51. I made the colours dark, to make the place horrifying,
and I made the alien bright green to make his unusual looking and stand out. I had to draw out the alien, and colour
him. I toned the items, by adding lighter and darker tones of the objects original colour, to make it more three
dimensional. After the run game, I did a three in a row game. For this, I actually animated the game. This game was
more simplified, and less detailed as the run game, as it doesn’t require constant movement, and stays in one
certain area. In this, I made different cookies, and moved one, to make it look like it is getting three in a row. From
this, I made the points go up, and the turns go down. From this I learnt multiple lessons. Firstly, I learnt how to
shade my objects, and how to animate the game on Photoshop to look more specific with time, by adding more
frames. From this, It helps me with my actual game, as I can make the objects look more neater with shading and
less laggy with the animation timings. After the experiments I move onto pre production and the proposal. In the
pre production, I collected a ton of images relating to my game and a colour scheme. The images I chose would look
similar to what I’m designing, for example the police cars, some of them is the design I will be making. From this, I
learnt about the colour scheme I'm using, and Learnt about the styles of different pixel art. From this, I can use the
inspiration of the pixel art to create the car for my game and the background too after the style sheet, I made two
rough layouts of my game display. I used the previous images that I gathered to make the two. They was used, as
they are similar content to what I will be constructing. From this, I learnt on a rough idea of what my game will look
like, which will benefit me in making it, as I know what it will look like, and where to place the crucial items in the
game. I then did contingency and health and safety, which helped me be more aware with the risks. Lastly, I moved
onto the proposal in this, I state who my target audience are. To help me find them, I went on you gov, and looked
at the target audience of similar games and compared them together to link to my game. In the target audience, I
would state age, gender, class, sexuality etc. The target audience helped me conclude together who I'm making my
game for, and taught me who my official target audience is. This helps me, as I know with my game for what I need
to do to fit my audiences requests. After the target audience, I moved onto the rational. This helped me, as it
recapped my skills from last time, which will help me add them to the work. The concept helped me with seeing
what I was making, and the official plot of the game. I then stat about the evaluating I will do through the process of
the project.

5. Week 2Three elements:
Experiments
Pre production
Proposal
Strengths:
My strength with the experiments would be designing the set up for the alien game. I was good at adding the shadowing
detail in the aliens face and making the background dull, by using dark colours. With proposal, I was good with talking about
the concept. The reason is because there was nothing I needed to find out or look up when writing it, and I knew what I was
writing and explaining about, as it was about my intentional work that I want to make. S:with the pre production, the
strength would be picking out the images i wanted. I believe that i picked the right and relevant images, as they all looked
similar to the gameplay i want to design.
Weakness: my weakness with the experiments would be the design of the cookie swap game. I felt like it was rushed and
plain looking as there aren't any shading or designer backgrounds in it. With the pre production, my weakness would be
listing the health and safety. The reason is because there is rarely any risks for game designing, as it doesn't require moving
big material objects. Lastly, the proposal, my weakness was writing up the target audience. The reason is because of the
information i wasn't entirely sure about. For example, the lifestyle if them. I struggled to find out what they would get up to.
Improvements: if there were anything that i could improve for next week, it could be the health and safety. I would like to
potentially add a couple more points. If I would do anything differentially, i would add shading to the cookie swap game, to
make it look less simplistic.

6. Process Week 3
In this week, we started off with the production work. With this, i designed the start-up page
for the game. In this, i made a front intro of the police man and the logo of the game, with a
start button. I made the start button into a road sign, to add theming to it. I thought that
showing what the character looks like, makes the gamer understand who is behind the wheel
of the police car. From this, I learnt about the theming idea I'm going for the actual gameplay,
as I put in my colour scheme in the main page, showing me what it could potentially look like.
For the future, it means that my game has an intro, for me to add sounds to later in the
coming week. After the intro, I made the background for the game. This required me to make
a long sheet for me to add detail onto. In the background, I wanted to urbanise it, by adding
homes and flats, familiar London attraction, and office blocks to the background. I then made
a separate layer of a road. I wanted to make it look like the buildings in the background were
scenery from the road the gamer drives on. This adds more character to the game, rather than
having a boring set up with a plain background. From doing this, I learnt about linking shapes
to make one, and the folders to store the links in Photoshop. For the future, this means that
making separate layers on singular will be easier, as nothing will move about. In the road, I
also added street lights, to show that you are on a road, and also added obstacles to
overcome. I made spilt oil and wet tarmac. I made this clear by making the colours brighter
with glowing and tone. From this, it makes it clear for the player of what to avoid. I then made
the car for the police. From this, I got inspiration from a real car. From this, crafted it, and
made the tires separate, so I can make them rotate in the gameplay. From using a real car, it
will make the car look more detailed, rather than making a basic car shape. From this, I now
made the main focus of the game for the player to always look at. With the production as a
whole, I used Photoshop. For this, I had used the pencil tool in order to make the background
and car. I used my intended colours, then darkened and lightened the colours, and drew
around its shape. This game it a 3D effect, to stop the game looking basic.

7. Week 33 elements:
Making car
Intro
Background
Strengths:
With making the car, the strength would be making the animation for it. I found it easy to move and hide the different hand
drawn items, as nothing would separate or come out as a mess. With the intro, the strength would be creating the
character. It was the only drawing that had so much detail in it, as I could tone it to make it look 3D, and I could choose what
the wear and what they look like. Lastly the background. The strength I had would be designing the road. Everything was
attached to the image, so I never struggled with moving it, and it required the less detail to it, as it’s a basic colour of dark
gray and normal gray.
Weakness
With the car, the weakness would be recreating the accuracy of the existing car. I struggled to get the correct shape of it,
and making the doors, as the pixels of my drawing were too close together to make a thin line. With the intro, the weakness
would be designing the background. It was hard to create a face forward scene for a side scroll based game. I felt like the
background looked bland, as there wasn’t much detail that I could put into it, as the city background would be a side
perspective next to the road rather than infront. Lastly, the game background. The weakness would be the linking and
moving about. I struggled to move one layer, as another one would move along with it, leading to a mess with untangling
layers.
Improvements/next time
If I could improve anything, it would be timing. I wish I set myself certain times to get ach task done, rather than scrambling
around and coming back to it later. This would have made me more organised for next week. For next week, I need to finish
off the animation for the game, and I need to do the audio for the game too.

8. Week 4
In this week, we carried on with the production work. I started with the animation
of the actual gameplay. In this, I would get each layer, and nudge them to the left,
whilst leaving the car in the same location to make it look like the car is moving
forward. I also would move each image a couple of a time per frame, then I would
make the frames last 0.1 seconds for the movements, so it doesn’t look too
glitchy, and no delay for the jump, so that it looks faster than the forward
movement. From this, iv improved my skill in animating in Photoshop, as I've
learnt how to prevent the lag in the video, by doing many frames, and I've also
learnt how to make the illusion of the movement of a car, by creating separate
tires , to make them look like they are moving. From this, I will be more confident,
if I come back to animation, as I will be prepared to create many layers and
frames, to be more organised. I did the same thing with the car choose page, but
added information on the car, and upgrades, so you know what you are using, and
less oblivious to the game. After doing the animation for the game, I moved onto
the music, and audio. Out of college, I recorded sound effects linking to the game
and loading page. I recorded my parents car starting up, and got my dad to rev the
engine of the car. I would then link the relevant sounds to the loading video From
this, I've learnt how to include home made sound effects into the cartoon
animation, and how to fit it in with the animations time. From this, I can use it I
the future with potentially linking homemade recordings to the right times I set
for the videos I make. Sticking with audio, I also managed to create the music for
my game too. With this, I abandoned the idea of using garage band, and used
bleep box instead, as its more simple to use but still as effective. In this, I had
made the music sound fast and exiting. This was to fit with the theme of the game
as it’s a chasing at high speeds game. To make this, I made the beat go up and
down. From this, I've gotten better control of using beep box, as I learnt how to
change the chords and smoothness of the tone. If I were to go back to using beep
box, I will understand how to use it better, as I know more about changing the
tone of the music.

9. Process week 43elements:
Audio
Animation
Production
Strength:
With the audio, the strength would be the use of beep box. I found it easy to create the music, as all the
beats were already pre prepared, with the base and the clapping sound effect. Also, you couldn’t go wrong
with what ever sound you made. with the animation, the strength would be keeping track on it. I managed
to prevent there from being any misleading glitching with the car tires or it jumping, I prevented it by pre
checking the slide every so often. With production, my strength would be the decision I made from
switching from garage band to beep box. I believed this saved me so much time for next time, as garage
band is more complex, and wasted me roughly an whole lesson on making a simple beat.
Weakness:
With the audio, my weakness would be using the recorder. I couldn’t listen back to my recordings from the
recorder, or live whilst recording, which left me oblivious when getting my sound effect. With animation, my
weakness would be the timing period. It took me ages to create the animation of my game play, as I had
created over 100 slides. This lead me wasting me roughly 5 lessons of production time. Lastly, with
production, my weakness would be time consuming in general. I felt like I've wasted too much time on the
game play animation, and left the audio to last minute.
Improvements
I would like to improve on my sound effects, by lining it up with the game play video. For next week, I need
to put all of my production work together, by using premier pro to create one big video with sound.

10. Week 5This was my last week of the game project. In this week, I started with putting my
work into premier pro. With this, I gathered all of my Photoshop animations and put
them together to make a long game play. Ten I gathered all of the audio that I
collected and placed them where they were suited in the video. Eventually, the video
came out to show a game play of my game. I made some of the sounds from bleep
box, for example the crash sound and the jump sound, as they worked well with the
situation of the video it comes in. for the radio recording, I distorted the sound, and
added a bleep at the beginning of the radio sound to make it sound like a report. I
attempted to make the audio 16 bit, but I was struggling to distort the sound, as I
wasn’t choosing the right effects. From this, I learnt how to blend audio files with
videos, to make the action in the video have a sound. From this, I can blend in silent
videos with separate sound effects in the future. After I finished off the work, I moved
onto the evaluation. With the evaluation, I start off with talking about the strengths
and weaknesses for planning and research. I basically state how parts of the planning
helped me with the production (choosing the images) And parts which didn’t help me.
With the research I talk about how easy parts of the research was and parts which
were not. From this, I learnt how to structure my strengths and weaknesses, by
picking out parts that you accomplished and parts you didn’t. this will help me with
other projects, when I do the evaluation for them. After the research and planning, I
moved onto the aesthetic and audience appeal of the game, in which I state what
works with the games visuals and what I would change for the aesthetic quality. I
would then state how my game meets the target audience that I wanted. For the
aesthetic, I talk about what I would add onto the game, in which I say that I would
make the video longer, t show more content. For the audience, I link the content with
the two interview and the proposal. In which I talk about how it is reached, based on
comparison. From this, I learnt how to structure the paragraphs, with it being what
you did, and a separate one for the improvements. This makes it look neater. This will
help me in the future when I have to write out slides.

11. Process Week 5
3 elements:
Editing
Evaluation
Finished off work
Strengths:
The first strength is involved with the editing on premier pro. I was good at blending in the sounds with the video to match
the situation in the game. for example, putting the engine sound to the car, and the jump sound for the jump button. With
the evaluation, i was good at describing the aesthetic quality of my game. As this involved my own personal say on my
overall product, i found it easy to point out what worked, and what i could have potentially added onto it, which also helped
me realise how i can make my future work better. Lastly the finished work. The thing which worked well towards the end
would be the radio sound that i made. The sound met my intentions, and sounded like a proper police report.
Weakness:
My weakness with the editing, would come down to attempting to distort the sounds. I was struggling to find the right
effect for my sound, to make it sound more crushed, as the effects wouldn’t give my correct output, or didn’t do the right
thing, so I left it with the sound It came as. With the evaluation, my weakness would be listing my strengths and
weaknesses. The reason is because it was something I listed in this PowerPoint, and I couldn’t think how I could change it or
add on to the point for the evaluation. Lastly, with the finished off work. I forgot to add sirens to my game, which led the
car to seem silent.
As it’s the last week, I cant improve my work, but if it were possible, then I could have firstly added the sirens to the game
play. This would make the game seem more realistic as you recognise the sound, making it feel like a proper car chasse. Also
I would add more car choices, and potentially background choices, to make the points at the end, have more options to be
spent on.