Research FMP

1. Research
Ellie Warmingham

2. Existing Product
Super Cat Tales
I noticed that the backgrounds for this game are very
bright, the creator using different shades of the same
colour so the viewers attention is solely focused on
the animation part of it. For instance the trees are
different shades of purple so you can tell them apart
and they don’t merge together. They don’t have
outlines for the background as well which gives it a
nice effect, not distracting the viewer.
The animation is fairly simple, the one below with the
train bouncing up and down as the background
moves, making it seem like it’s actually moving. This
goes for some of the characters too. Majority of them
only bouncing up and down to show that they’re
breathing. The backgrounds and characters also don’t
have a lot of detail, mostly using bold colours with not
much shading.

3. Existing Product
Grumpy Cat’s Worst Game Ever
This game is more detailed when it comes
to the style, the shading being a lot more
evident. The animation isn’t too
complicated, simple shading for items in
the background making it look more
realistic and interesting. It’s also very
smooth, making it look more appealing.
With each mini game, it has its own colour
palette, a lot of them only having a set of 3
colours for the background.
The backgrounds are only moving slightly, not too much to the point it gets really
distracting for the viewer. I’ve also noticed that a lot of the backgrounds use
different shades of the same colour, letting it look more detailed without having
too many colours.

4. Existing Product
Terraria
Terraria is very bright and has a more natural setting
when it comes to style. It’s a lot more detailed and set
during the day, the backgrounds and scenery a lot more
colourful and easier to see. Although it’s very bright,
there’s not too many colours to focus on which makes it
look more appealing. The characters are also very
detailed and they stand out a lot more due to their
interesting outfits and style.
The movement mostly comes from the
characters and any interactive items that are
in the game, making it harder for my focus
to drift elsewhere and remain interested in
the action from the characters. The
animation is also very smooth, making it
more interesting to look at.

5. Existing Product
Legend of Zelda (1986)
The scenery for this game is the first thing that
catches my eye. It’s incredibly simple but it fits
the style of the game, along with the characters
and enemies. I noticed that the background has
black and white outlines to add more detail,
contributing to its own personal style.
The characters don’t have any outlines however,
the colour palette for them being a lot lighter
compared to the scenery around them. Small
details like this help to make them stand out
more. The movement is also very simple, the
main character only having a couple of different
poses for each action, for instance when you
look at him walking or when he attacks.

6. Research Analysis
• What common features do the researched products have?
The majority of them that I chose have very natural
backgrounds and scenery, even the colour palettes for Super
Cat Tales and Grumpy Cat’s Worst Game Ever are very similar.
They have bright colours and characters which are very
appealing.
• What aspects of the research will you include within your on
work?
• The design of the characters and the way they move around is
something I can keep in mind when I create my own products.
Colour palettes is also a useful thing to pay attention to here.
A lot of the colours these games used are very appealing to
me and I might look back on this when I start my experiments.

7. Questionnaire
Analysis
Survey Monkey Link:

8. Audience research
• Observation: 50% of my audience said that they are 18-24, 30% said that they are
under 18, 10% are 45-54 years old and 10% are 65+.
• What this says about my audience: 18-24 is the most voted which suggests that
this age range is more interested in animation and will enjoy my product more.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: I can make sure my animation suits
more for this age range by making the characters less childish and make it more
realistic, especially for the background.

9. Audience research
• Observation: 60% are male while only 40% are female.
• What this says about my audience: 60% of males are interested in
my product which means this audience can enjoy my product more.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: I could make the
main character/characters male so they appeal more to this
audience.

10. Audience research
• Observation: 20% said that they preferred dark colours, 40% said bright
colours, 20% preferred pastel colours and 20% liked black and white.
• What this says about my audience: 40% voted for bright colours which
means this is the audiences preference compared to the others.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: I will make sure my
animation has brighter colours so it can appeal to more people.

11. Audience research
• Observation: 30% liked comedy, 10% voted drama, 20% said fantasy, 10%
liked romance, 20% said action and 10% voted adventure.
• What this says about my audience: 30% liked comedy compared to anyone
else.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: I could make my animation
slightly more funny to viewers to engage them more.

12. Audience research
• Observation: 10% of people said they prefer animal characters, 40% liked fantasy,
10% liked supernatural and 40% people said they liked all of them.
• What this says about my audience: My audience prefers a mix of characters but
they also prefer fantasy characters just as much.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: I can make sure to have different
characters, especially fantasy characters because that was the audiences choice.

13. Audience research
• Observation: 50% of my audience voted for 3D while the other 50% voted for
both.
• What this says about my audience: Half of my audience liked 3D animation more
while the other half liked both 2D and 3D which suggests that 3D animation is
more liked than 2D.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: My animation could be focused on
having a more 3D effect while keeping some 2D qualities.

14. Audience research
• Observation: 30% of people liked to have a more detailed and colourful and 70%
liked a mix of a detailed and simple animation style.
• What this says about my audience: My audience prefers to see a mix of both
rather than just one.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: I can make sure to mix and match
with how much detail I put into my animation, for instance my background could
have a lot more colours and details compared to my characters.

15. Audience research
• Observation: 30% said to have it around 5-10 minutes long, 40% voted for 10-20
minutes and 30% said it should be 20-30 minutes.
• What this says about my audience: My audience prefers for animations to last up
to 10-20 minutes which implies that they don’t like animation being too long.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: Although I won’t have enough time
to create an animation that will last this long, this is useful information for
anything else that I will create in the future.

16. Audience research
• Observation: 10% liked to have only music, 50% preferred to have only
sound effects and 40% voted to have both music and sound effects.
• What this says about my audience: My audience prefers to have sound
effects only in an animation.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: In my animation I could
add in sound effects by them self.

17. Audience research
• Observation: 30% said that they watch it every day, 40% voted a few times a week,
10% said only a few times a month and 20% voted for less than a month.
• What this says about my audience: More of my audience likes to watch animation
a few times a week, meaning that they really enjoy it.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: My audience can enjoy my
animation as a part of their weekly entertainment, just like they usually would
with any other animation during the week.

18. Interviews

19. Interview 1
• Q1: What sort of animation style do you prefer and why? E.g. Cartoons, CGI, chibi, anime, pixel.
• I equally enjoy CGI, anime and cartoons. I like them all because of the sophistication and style of
animation.
• Q2: What sort of scenery do you think looks best in animation? Should it be set in a city, forest or
mountains? Why?
• Zootropolis is an example of an animation that is set in all of these locations to great effect. In HD one can
appreciate the enormous detail and I have no particular preference. It has a beautiful rendition of the
settings; the use of bright colours for the scenery and characters making it very eye catching
• Q3: Should an animation be set during the day, evening, night or morning? Why?
• I prefer the day, evening or morning for a clearer rendition of the animation depending on the storyline.
Colours can be portrayed more vibrantly and in more detail.
• Q4: In a short animation, how many characters should there be? Should there be more than one character
to focus on? Why?
• I think in a short animation, one character is preferable to maintain focus. Depending on the length, more
characters could be added if it serves the story.
• Q5: Should it be fast-paced or a more slow animation? Why?
• The pace of the animation should be appropriate to the story unfolding in terms of length and theme.

20. Interview 1
• Observation: This person enjoys a mix of different
animation styles and scenery and enjoys the use of bright
colours. They prefer less characters to be used in a short
animation and like to have the animation set during the day
for a clearer picture.
• What this says about my audience: My audience here likes
to see animation shown in a day setting with bright colours
and loves a mix of different locations.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: This
audience might find that they enjoy my animation because
there won’t be as many characters and there will be mostly
bright backgrounds which might interest them.

21. Interview 2
• Q1: What sort of animation style do you prefer and why? E.g. Cartoons, CGI, chibi, anime,
pixel.
• I prefer anime because of the style and realism in the animation. I find it very unique.
• Q2: What sort of scenery do you think looks best in animation? Should it be set in a city,
forest or mountains? Why?
• I think it should be set in a forest because the colours and sounds are more natural, it gives a
lot of interest to those watching.
• Q3: Should an animation be set during the day, evening, night or morning? Why?
• It should be set during the day because otherwise its too dark and the quality isn’t as good
when it is set at night.
• Q4: In a short animation, how many characters should there be? Should there be more than
one character to focus on? Why?
• Yes, there should be more than one character. I think there should be no more than 3
characters simply because it adds interest and a dialogue can be formed between the
characters. It’s more natural.
• Q5: Should it be fast-paced or a more slow animation? Why?
• I like it slower paced so its more storyline generated and character driven.

22. Interview 2
• Observation: This audience prefers more natural settings and
sound effects, the animation taking place during the day so it
has better detail. They also like to have more characters in a
short animation to make the story more interesting, although
they prefer the story to progress slowly.
• What this says about my audience: This audience likes
animations to have slowly progressing story set within a forest
with multiple characters. This suggests they like adventure
with more story-driven animations and characters.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: My story is
more slow and the background consists of bright colours
because it is set during the day which might appeal to this
audience.

23. Audience Profile
Category Demographic Content to appeal to this audience
Age Range
Main: 13-18
Secondary: 19-30+
• People in this age range are most likely going to like my
product more because of its simplicity.
• Older people who like the style and/or characters might
find that they take a liking to my animation.
Gender
Main: Females
Secondary: Males
• Females might like the characters more considering cats
are going to be involved within my animation.
• Males might enjoy the backgrounds and style of my
animation, as I will be using a mix of dark and bright
colours.
Psychographic
Main: Belongers
Secondary: Achievers
• People who see their friends and family watching
animations might want to see what it’s like for
themselves or they might come across one in an advert,
on TV, social media etc.
• These people might find that these animations gives
them inspiration or ideas for their own work and that
they enjoy the creativity of them.
Social Status
Main: Middle class
Secondary: Lower class
• Animations like mine could be accessed through apps
like YouTube or any social platform for free which will
make it easier for people to see.
• My animation won’t cost any money so you can access it
for free on social media, making it available to more
people.

24. Research
Evaluation

25. Research Evaluation
• Give an overview of how you conducted your research. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each method
– Product Research
– For all the games that I researched, I wanted to make sure they all had noticeable changes for each one. For
instance, they all have a variety of styles in the art, colour palettes, characters and gameplay. I compared the
detail they included into the animation and how all the colours went so well together. The strengths of the
research was how it helped me to decide on the amount of detail I was going to add into my animation, it let
me compare what I thought was more accomplishable for the time I had. One of the weaknesses however, was
trying to find games that I hadn’t already researched and trying to find out new information from them.
– Questionnaires
The questionnaire let me see peoples preferences and decide on certain aspects of my product. The
strengths of seeing what people enjoyed most was useful and I was able to include these preferences into
my animation. It was quicker to use the survey for this purpose and it would be easier to appeal to a larger
audience using the responses I received. Although, one of weaknesses with this was that some of the
answers had the same responses. For example, the same amount of people voted for two of the answers
which didn’t help me in finalizing my decision.
– Interviews
• For the interviews, I could be more specific with my questions and have a more detailed response. I could understand
why someone preferred something more than the other because I wasn’t limited to a set response like the survey.
The only downside to this is that I wasn’t able to add in everything that I got in the answers because it was either too
difficult or it would take too long. I noticed this was mostly a problem when it came to the style of the animation as
most people wanted a more detailed animation which I was hard to do considering the time limit.

26. Research Evaluation
– What sort of a response did you get?
A lot of the responses I received were extremely helpful in letting me make up my
mind on what would be best for my animation. A good amount of people liked the
animation to be more detailed and have bright colours and characters which let me
finalize my ideas and have a better plan for my product. I was able to figure out what
theme it should be and when and where it should be set. Although there were a lot of
mixed responses for some of my answers but the overall feedback from this was very
helpful for me.
– How did you distribute your survey? Give an advantage and a disadvantage
• I found that getting back digital answers from this was better because it’s easier to
access later if necessary. I was able to easily look through everyone's opinions and
responses and note down anything important that I could use in my product. The only
disadvantage with this is that I couldn’t get much of a detailed response from this like I
would with talking to somebody. I couldn’t ask why they thought a particular answer
was better than the other or understand why they chose it because of the lack of
information I got doing it digitally.