The document discusses research into Tim Burton's artistic style and approach to storytelling that could influence the design of environments, characters, and narrative for the project. It also examines the music of Berlinist, noting how their soundtracks for games like Gris are able to convey both the environment and emotions of silent protagonists through a relaxed, lo-fi musical style. This additional research will help with designing visuals, narrative, and selecting inspiring music for the project.

1. Research
Rebecca Edwards

2. Audience

3. Game Audiences/Target Audience
Looking at the data of more modern day gaming audiences, I can note that in most recent years,
gaming has become more mainstream in terms of their audiences, so much so that the numbers of
overall games have reached the billions, making up over a third of the worlds population. The
majority of gamers, whilst the median reached to more mid age people, do unsurprisingly seem to
be more focused towards the younger 18+ demographic, with 70% to be more specific, which I have
already decided to be a more viable target audience candidate due to being able to gather more
primary resources based around that demographic as well as draw from my own experience and
opinions. Alternatively, I believe I would like to focus on the more niche minority of the audience by
targeting my game at females. Approximately 45% of US games are women whilst in Europe, it
seems to come in lower at 25% to 39%, however over recent year, there has been efforts to target
games towards women, either by using more female centric imagery, characters, colours, themes
etc. (games featuring the popular doll character ‘Barbie’ have seen to be incredibly successful in
appealing to the subject demographic) However, its also been noted that more neutral games of
the past, such as Frogger and Tetris have had some alleged success as well as the emergence of
more music/sports centric games for Wii consoles have displayed some appeal towards women and
even some areas of online roleplaying games have a female fan base, albeit only a small percentile
(usually coming fitting into the lower 10-20% of that particular gaming audience), though in more
recent years, more menial free to play games have risen in popularity with women, notably games
like Candy Crush as well as the improvement of simulation games such as the ‘Sims’ series. This
audience research will be useful to me going forward in this area as it has not only helped me
further define my target audience and the state of gaming audiences nowadays, but also has given
me possible game genre areas to research into for my demographic (simulation games, mobile
games, role playing games etc.) In terms of my production, this will certainly affect certain design
choices such as the final design of my player controlled character and other subsequent aspects of
their appearance as well as how to tailor other aspects, such as the narrative overview, image
choices for certain hypothetical scenes or products etc. to this select audience whilst still keeping
most of the elements original and directed in my own preference also.
Sources Used: Yanev, V. (2019). Video Game Demographics – Who Plays Games in 2020. Available: https://techjury.net/stats-about/video-game-demographics/#gref. Last accessed 6th Feb 2020.
Egenfeldt-Nielsen, S and Smith, J and Tosca, S (2016). Understanding Video Games: The Essential Introduction. 3rd ed. New York: Routledge. p174-175.

4. Role Playing Games
Role playing video games are defined as the player controls a character usually
set in a fantasy world/scenario, the most famous role playing games such as
World of Warcraft and Monster Hunter containing mass customisation as well as
a lack of barriers surrounding gender, age, background etc. whilst games like The
Witcher series focus more on impactful choices, leading to the world changing
and forming more round the players decisions. These facts do help to give me
more insight into my target demographic as it shows me how much the audience
values customisation in games as well as why, as it has been noted that women
believe that there is a lack of character diversity in games, many male character
having a similar appearance and any female protagonists being designed only for
the male gaze as a selling point for said games. The interest in these kinds of
games also debunks any theories of female audiences not being interested in
competitive play, a feature more commonly associated with male audiences
(whilst there still may be an exception of more violent, war based combat as this
does seem to be a more male oriented theme, though this could benefit from
further research for confirmation). This has helped me understand my target
audiences customisation interests a lot better and just how beneficial this feature
will be for audience appeal. I will most likely find some way to add some type of
hypothetical customisation features to my character, which also in terms of my
story concept, would add a sense of personalisation and empathy. Furthermore,
in terms of my set design, this research may influence how linier I decide to make
the world and concept navigation system, so either the game is fully 2D navigated
(only letting the player move left or right) yet 3D modelled or allow for more 3D
movement in the environment, which should be considered during the pre-
production stages of my products.
Sources Used: Tresca, M. (2011). Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games. In: Tresca, M The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games. North Carolina: McFarland. p162-180.
CD PROJEKT RED (2011) The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Capcom (2018) Monster Hunter: World
Blizzard Entertainment (20 04) World of Warcraft
Whilst Cyberpunk 2077 has yet to be
released, it has shown much promise
in terms of customisation, branching
choices, all in all, allowing the player
to take whatever approach they
what to whatever quest they want to
complete.

5. Simulation Games
Examining the genre of simulation games, the majority do also seem to focus on
customisation as seen in RPG’s, but unlike the previously examined games, the
simulation content I have found seems to focus in more on one particular subject
or task, many examples including: ‘PC Building Simulator’, a game centred around
building desktop PC in the most realistic way and instructing the player in the
mechanics of a PC, ‘Spore’, a simulator based around growing and travelling with
species the player has created and grown from spores, ‘House Flipper’, a house
renovator where the player can paint, decorate and sell various houses, and the
most well known simulator game, ‘The Sims’, with players being able to control
computer characters lives as well as customise them and their world (specifically
the characters houses) Using this genre as a focus, I can see that it would be
useful to implement some kind of minimal task system in terms of navigating the
environment I plan to create, which in the long run, will connect to the the games
hypothetical story and allow there to be additional content during the less story
centric, more explorative areas of the game. Overall, this has helped me
understand not just why my target audience enjoy this genre in particular, but
also how these types of games are able to function without advanced gameplay,
visuals etc. and how the goals and objectives are navigated, tailored to the
audience and how these certain tasks are able to be almost infinitely repeated
whilst keeping the player entertained. With this research in mind, I may choose
to add smaller, focused tasks into my gameplay concept that will let the player
explore certain environment without having to skip over the visuals in favour of
the narrative.
Sources Used: Maxis (2008) Spore Avard, A and Cuenca, O. (2020). 20 best simulator games you can play right now. Available: https://www.gamesradar.com/uk/best-sim-games/. Last accessed 6th Feb 2020.
Empyrean (2019) House Flipper Kiss, C (2018) PC Building Simulator
Maxis (2000) The Sims
Whilst these menu setups are also similar to
the previously mentioned RPG games, most of
them do seem to be focused on one specific
task, such as house renovation, taking care of
creations etc.

6. Interview Questions
1. What make a story interesting to you?
2. What elements make a home in your opinion?
3. Do you prefer ‘blank’ protagonists or a more fleshed out playable character and why?
4. What do you value most in game character customisation?
5. What are the best aspects of RPG/simulation style games?
6. What kinds of games do you usually play, if you play any at all?
7. What do you think are the best side tasks in exploration games?

7. Interview Answers
• What make a story interesting to you?
In my opinion, cliff hangers and tension make a story interesting as it can make you feel more curious about a story.
• What elements make a home in your opinion?
Your family being there and having memories in each room.
• Do you prefer ‘blank’ protagonists or a more fleshed out playable character and why?
I prefer more fleshed out characters as it makes stories more interesting and gives it more purpose.
• What do you value most in game character customisation?
Making a character look like you is important as you can picture yourself in the story more.
• What are the best aspects of RPG/simulation style games?
Making the story more of what you want it to be and about you.
• What kinds of games do you usually play, if you play any at all?
I don’t usually play games but I would play RPG games over any others.
• What do you think are the best side tasks in exploration games?
I don’t often play exploration games so I wouldn’t know.

8. Summary
Overall, this basic audience research has helped me to outline a specific audience demographic for my project as well as
some linked game areas that I should consider replicating somehow in my final assets, such as customisation elements and
side tasks aside from the main exploration. From defining my main audience as a female demographic in the younger game
audience age range, I have been able to further define my loose concept for my game into a more specific idea, being an
exploration game based around a specific area (noting that this concept idea does allow for additional elements due to only
having the main task of exploring the area planned) as well as research further into the games that intrigue my target
audience the most, mainly role playing games and simulation games, using my primary interview questions to verify these
facts, and how elements of both of these genres could be implemented into my concept. As well as this, it has also helped
me verify what elements to research in the market area of my planning, eliminating any research targets that won’t benefit
my project as a whole, focusing on the current trends of video games nowadays, some select indie game that could be viable
as inspiration in terms of gameplay, style etc. as well as external sources that are able to contribute to a product area I
already have planned, such as art styles that inspire me, bands or music groups etc.

9. Audience Bibliography
Avard, A and Cuenca, O. (2020). 20 best simulator games you can play right now. Available: https://www.gamesradar.com/uk/best-sim-games/. Last accessed 6th
Feb 2020.
Blizzard Entertainment (2004) World of Warcraft
Capcom (2018) Monster Hunter: World
CD PROJEKT RED (2011) The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Egenfeldt-Nielsen, S and Smith, J and Tosca, S (2016). Understanding Video Games: The Essential Introduction. 3rd ed. New York: Routledge. p174-175.
Empyrean (2019) House Flipper
Kiss, C (2018) PC Building Simulator
Maxis (2000) The Sims
Maxis (2008) Spore
Tresca, M. (2011). Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games. In: Tresca, M The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games. North Carolina: McFarland. p162-
180.
Yanev, V. (2019). Video Game Demographics – Who Plays Games in 2020. Available: https://techjury.net/stats-about/video-game-demographics/#gref. Last
accessed 6th Feb 2020.

10. Market

11. Current Trends
Looking at the current video game trends of the time, there does seem to have been a
spike in more battle royale themed games (mass multiplayer shooters/combat games,
usually linked to AAA titles) or multiplayer games in general, but aside from this there has
also been a growing trend in indie games (games not produced by massive AAA
companies and instead limited to smaller, individual companies), an area I am significantly
more interested in due to most of these games appearing to be more narrative based as
well as more unique than current AAA games, popular examples of said types of games
being Undertale, Gris, Stardew Valley and Cuphead, all of which have been noted to
receive significant praise and/or awards, which may also seem to correlate with my target
audiences interests, as most of these games do seem to fill the categories of simulation,
strategy, action/adventure etc. Adding onto this, there does also seem to have been a rise
in popularity in genre breaking games (games that have gameplay and/or story elements
that branch out of their advertised genre) due to their originality, unique stories that are
able to deal with realistic issues or fantasy worlds or merging multiple different gameplay
styles to create entirely new game styles altogether (Doki Doki Literature Club, Control,
Death Stranding) and due to this, become significantly more memorable than other
common market games. I believe that this has helped to reaffirm the design, style and
gameplay choices I have made for my initial concept as well as provided information on
the gaming industry as a whole, showing me just how my game, once realised, would fair
in the popular industry standards (looking more towards the indie sector in particular and
the types of games featured in this area)
Sources Used: Anon. (2020). 10 Trends in Game Design. Available: https://www.gamedesigning.org/gaming/trends/. Last accessed 14th Feb 2020.
Brown, L. (2019). Digital Video Game Trends and Stats for 2019 . Available: https://filmora.wondershare.com/infographic/video-game-trends-and-stats.html. Last accessed 14th Feb 2020.
Khan, J. (2019). The 30 Best Video Games of 2019. Available: https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/best-video-games-2019. Last accessed 14th Feb 2020.

12. Tim Burton
Tim Burton is a director, artist and writer, most well known for his unique artstyle many have noted
appearing in films such as the stop motion movies The Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride
and Frankenweenie as well as more live action based films such as Edwards Scissorhands and
Beetlejuice (all of which Burton directed, wrote and designed, or in the case of The Nightmare Before
Christmas, only wrote and designed the art). Referencing the context research I completed, I wanted
to look into both his art style, which could help to influence the designs of my environment and my
character, and his approach to work, including the stories he wrote. Adding to the notes on Burtons
style found in my context work, I have also found that Burton’s artwork has often been compared to
gothic subcultures, noting “The use of black, the darkness of some of his drawings, the heavy make-
up, the paleness of the skins, monsters and other ghostly creatures recall Gothic literature and
paintings but also German Expressionism” (Bitoun, 2014). As a side note, I can also take some
semblance from the way Burton plans out his movies, starting with a simple drawing that illustrates
the main character and/or the world and expanding on it, a technique worth experimenting with
when designing said assets to see if it benefits my planning. Additionally, some of the themes Burton
explores in his movies, characters that are outcasts from the norm society and how the world reacts
to them. This additional information will be useful to me when not only designing characters and
environment concepts and how certain areas can be warped or twisted to show off quirks or the
character possible internal feelings, but also when coming up with the story concept, using a fairy
tale outline whilst still containing darker elements, both visually and contextually. Keeping this
research in mind, I plan to implement these darker design ideas I’ve found into my monster character
designs, using both the metaphorical elements of my story combined with my previous monster
research (seen in my essay work) to create designs that successfully convey themselves and the
impact the story/world has had on them.
Sources Used: Bitoun, R. (2014). The Art of Tim Burton: The Artist Before The Filmmaker. Available: https://the-artifice.com/art-tim-burton/. Last accessed 7th Feb 2020.
Gallo, L and Kempf, H and Frey, D (2009). The Art of Tim Burton. Steeles Publishing.

13. Berlinist
As I also explained in my context research, Berlinist are a musical group that compose music
specifically for digital apps, video games and art exhibitions, there most notable work at this point
in times being their multiple tracks used in the award winning game ‘Gris’, which I wanted to
examine in particular. Looking at the examples of their work in ‘Gris’, I chose to look further into
how the music is able to present not just the environment the character is visible in, but also the
emotions the primary character is feeling, due to the character in ‘Gris’ not speaking. As well as
this, I also decided to look into their music for the common trend of their music predominantly
being more relaxed and “lo-fi”, another trait that I wished to examine in relation to the
environmental ambience of any example music I create and how that would tie into the current
environment (looking at Gris again, this more relaxed music seems to feature more piano and
occasional quiet vocal elements, all emphasising the abnormality of the environment by extending
and echoing the noise, turning the music into more soundscape pieces) This combined with some
of the Context facts I noted do help me to better understand the decisions Berlinst make in their
work, such as the previously noted soundscape effect possibly stemming from their previous art
gallery music pieces, as well as how their music can inspire some ideas for my own project, going
beyond the hypothetical music and extending to the environment itself and how even the music
could impact the environment and assets designs and how these design would change as the
music evolved and the story progresses.
Sources Used: Anon. (2020). Works. Available: https://www.berlinistmusic.com/works/gris/. Last accessed 21st Feb 2020.
Anon. (2020). Berlinist. Available: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6EUPmAvpY341eXZwJVy6dn. Last accessed 21st Feb 2020.

14. Existing Products

15. Hellblade Senua’s Sacrifice
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is a psychological dark fantasy game created by Ninja
Theory based in Norse mythology, following a character with schizophrenia and due to
this, hears voices in their head (who help to guide and assist the player as the game
progresses) as well as experiences visions that warp the environment accordingly. As
well as taking some of the explorative elements and narrative point examples from the
game, the main element I wanted to take from this game was how they chose to tackle
and in turn, research the many issues and visuals seen in the game. For this particular
research, Ninja Theory noted that they discussed the mental illnesses and their
subsequent symptoms with professionals as well as sufferers of the illnesses
themselves and how they as individuals experience it, consulting them on these certain
elements of the game throughout production (something to consider when creating a
story surrounding such personal issues). I believe that looking at this game will not only
help me find more ways to implement story elements into my game concept, but also
give me something to reflect on if I so choose to tackle any specific issues, and if so,
how could different experiences of the same issue be conveyed in the aesthetic of my
game. Furthermore, the research done for this game also concerns the time period in
particular, looking at beliefs, character outfits and roles in the world, as well as the
relevant mythology and how those beliefs could tie into the character and their story,
which whilst it may have benefitted this type of game, may not be as relevant for my
game in terms of the environment, due to wanting my concept to take place in a more
modern scenario, but may serve more relevance when looking at character designs and
monster knowledge I have researched in past projects (as I want the main character to
have some of said monster themes incorporated into their design)
Sources Used: Anon. (2020). Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellblade:_Senua%27s_Sacrifice. Last accessed 13th Feb 2020.
Tyrrel, B. (2017). Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice Review. Available: https://uk.ign.com/articles/2017/08/08/hellblade-senuas-sacrifice-review. Last accessed 13th Feb 2020.
Ninja Theory. (2018). Hellblade: Senua's Psychosis | Mental Health Feature. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31PbCTS4Sq4. Last accessed 13th Feb 2020.

16. Gone Home
Gone Home is an exploration and story based game created by The
Fullbright Company very similar in gameplay to ‘What Remains of Edith
Finch’, but whose story is more oriented towards love/sexuality instead of
death/loss (which at the time was considered revolutionary due to
subjects involving the LGBT+ community not being as mainstream at the
time of release, as well as the story itself being set in 1995), allowing the
player to explore the house at their own leisure and experience the
elements of the story in a non-linier way, unlike in Edith Finch. Whilst at
the time the game was very highly praised for its unique gameplay
experience, nowadays there has been some criticism of the houses empty
design, the extremely simplified story and lack of any challenges or
external gameplay to keep the player entertained. From what I have
researched about this game, I not only plan to take some of the ideas
presented in it such as the basic house navigation, story presentation and
the basic designs of the house rooms, furniture etc. but I also plan to
reflect on the games weaknesses and keep them in mind when creating
my own concept, such as additional tasks for the player so that the main
game itself won’t be as mundane, create a more involving story that will
impact the player in a more developed way and making sure that the
house design I come up with feels more “lived in” and gives the audience
a more safe, less horror related environment that fulfils the sense of
realism I wanted to obtain with that aspect of my concept.
Sources Used: Fullbright. (2013). Gone Home. Available: https://store.steampowered.com/app/232430/Gone_Home/. Last accessed 13th Feb 2020.
Sliva, M. (2013). Gone Home Review. Available: https://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/08/15/gone-home-review. Last accessed 13th Feb 2020.

17. Afterparty
Afterparty is the second main game from Night School Studio, which can be noted in
similarity to their first game “Oxenfree”, in terms of the 2D navigation of the game’s
environment and the branching dialogue when playing through a conversation with
one of the protagonists, however I chose to look at this game because of its many
improvements upon Oxenfree’s formula; mainly using 3D models in said 2D
navigation, the switch from more horror related narrative content to a more comedic
light on the topics they choose to tackle and the introduction of less impactful
choices/minigames, such as dancing games, beer pong and being able to order bar
drinks that add extra choices to the branching dialogue. However, I mainly chose to
look at this game more for its navigation and style, as not only is the type of
navigation one I wish to replicate in my concept, but the neon appearance and
various colour schemes in general can be used a possible examples for room
schemes (depending on the explored area of the narrative), as well as how the
monster like creatures have been implemented into a slightly realistic environment
or at the very least, been humanised in terms of their roles given in the story and
their almost realistic conversations with the main human characters, displaying the
more humane ideals I want to attempt to convey in my own character design and
main story concept.
Sources Used: Farokhmanesh, M. (2019). Afterparty is a hilarious exploration of the afterlife and binge drinking. Available:
https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/29/20932270/afterparty-review-xbox-ps4-pc. Last accessed 13th Feb 2020.
Delaney, M. (2019). Afterparty review: “Hilarious and blasphemous”. Available: https://www.gamesradar.com/uk/afterparty-review/. Last accessed 14th Feb
2020.

18. Gris
Gris is a watercolour style, silent game developed by Nomada Studio focused on
the implicit process of grief, following the main character Gris as she traverses
through physical manifested puzzles centred around said grief. Not only did I
choose to look at this game in terms of how its gameplay works (the side-scrolling
navigation and slight explorative/problem solving elements) and how I wished to
replicate that in my main concept, but also how the main story is presented in a
more interpretive way and how said story is told through imagery only and no
dialogue, emphasising the art exhibition/film like aesthetic the developers wished
to obtain . Most of the imagery seen throughout the game can be interpreted and
linked to the theme of loss and grief explored throughout the game, such as the
world starting out colourless and bland when the character is in denial, the
environment shifting to a red desert and the character gaining destructive abilities
whilst in the anger stage, transitioning to a more greener scheme and introducing
minor character “helpers” when the character goes into the bargaining stage,
introducing darker blues into the environment as well as gaining the ability to swim
in the newly added rain/water when the character moves into the sadness stage
(additionally seen in the game, the stage where the player has to swim deeper into
an ocean like body, presumably to confront some of the characters hidden
emotions) , eventually reconstructing the main statue seen at the beginning of the
game and making the environment whole again. I believed that this game research
will benefit and influence my final products as it expertly shows how I could convey
possible story elements in my enclosed environment and how I could create the
visual transitions in the environment as well as give me better examples of the side
tasks in my concept (what the player will have to fetch or a certain list of tasks the
player will have to complete in order to advance throughout the house concept)
Sources Used: Anon. (2018). GRIS Gameplay Walkthrough Part 1 FULL GAME [1080p HD PC] - No Commentary. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8k_ximc8Og. Last accessed 13th Feb 2020.
Webster, E. (2018). Gris is like a stunning animated movie that you can play. Available: https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/13/18137844/gris-review-nintendo-switch-pc-gaming. Last accessed 13th Feb 2020.

19. Existing Products Summary
Aside from other games I have researched in the past, I decided to look further into
these games due to their metaphorical and explorative narrative against a range of
varying backdrops, all of which showcase different games whose appearances and
mechanics I would like to mimic in various ways. Some of the similarities seen
throughout these games that I plan to reflect in my own project are mainly how they
explore an open environment and the smaller tasks these environments contain,
such as fighting enemies, talking to other characters with branching dialogue, finding
objects in order to piece together a story or completing tasks in order to traverse
through the environment itself. As well as this fact, all of these games manage to
explore their own stories/themes that do seem to peer into relevant issues or
hypothetical topics of discussion, such as loss, long-term friendship, mental illness
(in particular, schizophrenia or hallucinating/hearing internal voices) and sexuality.
Including previous games I’ve researched in past projects (What Remains of Edith
Finch, Sally Face, Undertale etc.) this will help with some of the basic gameplay
concepts for my own project assets, how to create certain colour schemes and
aesthetics for each environment example that not only correspond with the theme I
am trying to represent, but also take into account the audiences personal interests
(due to these games appealing to a possible variety of audiences, such as the generic
male gamer demographic to more artistically inclined audience interested in more in
depth games) in order to appeal to said audience in a more direct way.

20. Stories That Inspire The Narrative
When looking for narrative inspiration surrounding my project, I decided to look at a
couple of varied sources whose complex stories and word building interested me
greatly, mainly Alice In Wonderland and the subsequently inspired video games, The
Chaos Walking series and the His Dark Materials. The main similarity between all of
their narrative that I am interested is not only the tackling of serious themes, such as
metal illness, war, growing up etc. but also the fact that all of these stories combine a
real world, realistic scenarios or regular people with fantastical events, surroundings
or ideas whilst still being able to discuss said real world topics, a feature I wish to be
able to capture in my own project narrative and environment. Although these
similarities are useful, the notable differences between these sources will also be
able to help me to some extent, especially Alice: Madness Returns (McGee, 2011), as
the monster like characters and environments seen in that game could provide some
possible gothic designs I could use or replicate in a way in my own game, either if
such darker themes are explored in my game or if the design can be interpreted in a
way that links them to my monster designs but doesn't stray too far from the current
environment. Whilst most of these mediums aren't as accessible for my project
concept in terms of style or excessive world building, it has helped to provide a base
for how exactly my narrative concept can form as well as ideas for how the
environment can appear to be natural for the character/player if it does display
fantasy elements.
Sources Used: Pullman, P (1995). Northern Lights. Scholastic Point. Pullman, P (2000). The Amber Spyglass: Scholastic Point. Ness, P (2009). The Ask and the Answer. Walker Books. McGee, A (2011) Alice: Madness Returns
Pullman, P (1997). The Subtle Knife. Scholastic Point. Ness, P (2008). The Knife of Never Letting Go: Walker Books. Ness, P (2010). Monsters of Men: Walker Books. Carroll, L (1865). Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. New York: Macmillan.

21. Overall Summary
In terms of the Market research completed here, I believe I now not only have more concrete evidence to support the basic
idea/concepts I had for my game, but also to show me how many of these market resources use narrative, design or gameplay to
intrigue their audience and how this can be reflected in my own work, using the researched styles to appeal to not only a late teen
female audience, but since looking into the Tim Burton artistry, also the more gothic inclined area of my audience. Additionally, this will
also help me to develop the gameplay concept strategies as well as how the narrative would form around my chosen topics, as before
looking into these existing products, I had only very loose and mundane “walking sim” ideas for my game, but now I understand that I
need to keep the audience entertained during this, most likely by implementing some kind of mini game or fetch quest ideals into the
overall gameplay concept and the narrative needing to go beyond the basic topics I have researched and instead look at multiple
opinions of it and why those opinions exist, allowing the audience to form their very own idea or belief of the topic as well as not
infringe on any current ideas of beliefs they may have, some thing to bear in mind once I look at the topics themselves during this
research. In addition to all of this, this research in particular is able to link to my audience research successfully as many of the existing
games I have researched do contain a theme of exploration as well as an essence of role playing (whilst most of the games do not have
customisable features, the player does partake as a character in a fantasy based world as well as Afterparty in particular focusing on
player choice and consequence in its narrative) which has been shown to have a greater appeal to my target audience, as well as an
overall interest in more visual, narrative and art based games and when looking at my other areas of market research; Tim Burton’s art
style, Berlinist and the book series examined, these can also be linked to the target audience due to the book series in question being
aimed at a YA audience, Berlinist creating music for products usually aimed at my particular audiences interest, such as art exhibitions,
varying digital apps and subsequent video games etc.

22. Market Bibliography
• Anon. (2018). GRIS Gameplay Walkthrough Part 1 FULL GAME [1080p HD PC] - No Commentary. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8k_ximc8Og. Last accessed 13th
Feb 2020.
• Anon. (2020). Berlinist. Available: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6EUPmAvpY341eXZwJVy6dn. Last accessed 21st Feb 2020
• Anon. (2020). Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellblade:_Senua%27s_Sacrifice. Last accessed 13th Feb 2020.
• Anon. (2020). Works. Available: https://www.berlinistmusic.com/works/gris/. Last accessed 21st Feb 2020.
• Carroll, L (1865). Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. New York: Macmillan.
• Delaney, M. (2019). Afterparty review: “Hilarious and blasphemous”. Available: https://www.gamesradar.com/uk/afterparty-review/. Last accessed 14th Feb 2020.
• Farokhmanesh, M. (2019). Afterparty is a hilarious exploration of the afterlife and binge drinking. Available: https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/29/20932270/afterparty-
review-xbox-ps4-pc. Last accessed 13th Feb 2020.
• Fullbright. (2013). Gone Home. Available: https://store.steampowered.com/app/232430/Gone_Home/. Last accessed 13th Feb 2020.
• McGee, A (2011) Alice: Madness Returns
• Ness, P (2008). The Knife of Never Letting Go: Walker Books.
• Ness, P (2009). The Ask and the Answer. Walker Books.
• Ness, P (2010). Monsters of Men: Walker Books.
• Ninja Theory. (2018). Hellblade: Senua's Psychosis | Mental Health Feature. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31PbCTS4Sq4. Last accessed 13th Feb 2020.
• Pullman, P (1995). Northern Lights. Scholastic Point.
• Pullman, P (1997). The Subtle Knife. Scholastic Point.
• Pullman, P (2000). The Amber Spyglass: Scholastic Point.
• Sliva, M. (2013). Gone Home Review. Available: https://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/08/15/gone-home-review. Last accessed 13th Feb 2020.
• Tyrrel, B. (2017). Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice Review. Available: https://uk.ign.com/articles/2017/08/08/hellblade-senuas-sacrifice-review. Last accessed 13th Feb 2020.
• Webster, E. (2018). Gris is like a stunning animated movie that you can play. Available: https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/13/18137844/gris-review-nintendo-switch-pc-
gaming. Last accessed 13th Feb 2020.

23. Production

24. ‘Dreams’ Research (Primary)

25. ‘Dreams’ Research (Primary)

26. ‘Dreams’ Research (Primary)
Outside of learning hours, I have recently been able to look into and experience Dreams, a game by Media Molecules who
are known from creating games such as Tearaway and Little Big Planet, two games that seem to focus in on the theme of
creativity, especially seen in Dreams, where the player is able to create their own assets (art, sculptures, music, gameplay
etc.), a feature I had been keen to look into for this project. Aside from look at other creations and available tutorials of the
software, my main source of research was playing through the campaign story mode, ‘Art’s Dreams’, a couple hour long game
that was entirely created using the Dreams tools. After examining this, I believe that in terms of my own production, this
software could be a viable resource when creating example characters, environments and music for my concept in a less
tedious way, have more accessible controls and software for 3D modelling, creating music etc. and allow me to create
detailed assets I may not be fully able to in more familiar software such as Photoshop or Premiere (as a side note on Dreams
credibility as a creation based software, I have also found that Aardman have also approached Media Molecules about
integrating Dreams into their animation pipeline, clearly justifying how powerful this software is). This software has also
helped me learn some of the basic functions of the creation tool due to the many included tutorials with Dreams, however, I
do believe that it would be beneficial to revisit these during my problem solving stage in order to gain a better understanding
of all required areas (particularly the music functions) before starting production if I decide to use these particular tools.

27. Autodesk Maya
Aside from Dreams, I decided to look into more mainstream game software,
specifically Maya due to again being more sculpting based, one of the most
accessible and cheap sculpting software's on the market and being one of the most
common pieces of software in the video game workplace (an area I should research
anyway if I so choose to work in this area of the industry) reading up on the basic
controls for Maya, speed sculps of 3D models in general and looking at final 3D
models for varying ideas for my own model(s). However, examining the software
further and considering its uses for my own project as well as comparing it to
Dreams, I have decided to consider it a secondary software or a software I am less
likely to use due to the currently steep learning curve, the time needed to be spent
in order to make a detailed model in comparison to the time I’m spending in
production, the amount of products I plan to make etc. Aside from this, I will be
sure to examine it in more practical depths during my problem solving if during that
time, I believe that the sculpting in Dreams is not on par with the quality I want for
my products in addition to a backup plan for if Dreams isn’t able to function on my
hardware during the time of Production.
Sources Used: Anon. (2020). Autodesk Maya. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autodesk_Maya. Last accessed 19th Feb 2020.
Autodesk. (2020). Autodesk Knowledge Network. Available: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/learn?sort=score. Last accessed 19th Feb 2020.

28. Summary
Summarising this production research, I believe that I now have a more firm idea of how Dreams in particular works as well
as what I will be able to accomplish with it compared to other software and which would be more useful and accessible for
this project in particular. Additionally, from this research I have also been able to examine these practises in comparison to
other software I have become more accustomed to, such as Photoshop and Premiere and decided that whilst both of these
will help with more select areas of my project, I believe that I should focus on the more in depth game oriented software for
the majority of my production, which in turn, will help me complete the production in a slightly more realistic manner and
over time, provide me with more production wise information about the industry, such as how to organise the production of
certain assets and how basic concept creation can help to further the realism of a final game product. When looking at the
research actually completed, I believe that I seem to have focused more on Dreams than I did Autodesk, as it was not only
primary research but was also the software I planned on using for this project, however as previously stated, I will try to view
alternative software in my problem solving, in order to create a backup system if some of the elements of Dreams do not
work as intended, a certain aspect isn’t accessible to me etc.

29. Production Bibliography
Alias Systems Corporation (1998) Autodesk Maya
Anon. (2020). Autodesk Maya. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autodesk_Maya. Last accessed 19th Feb 2020.
Autodesk. (2020). Autodesk Knowledge Network. Available: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/learn?sort=score. Last accessed
19th Feb 2020.
Media Molecules (2020) Dreams

30. Topics

31. Death/Loss
Death, by itself, I believe is one of the most basic and unavoidable facts about human beings,
however, the reason I wanted to research/explain it further was due to its involvement in the
gaming industry, looking at gameplay in particular. The way I view it, in most games death
seems to be used rather loosely, usually displaying life in the form of hearts and allowing the
player to retry and respawn effortlessly, which is why I feel that, when certain games like
What Remains of Edith Finch and That Dragon, Cancer and Gris are introduced into the
industry that not only don’t allow the player to die, but use the topic of death and loss and
explore it in insightful ways have a greater on the player than just using death and loss as a
simple mechanic. Adding onto this, the beliefs around death or loss also drastically vary
depending on the person, due to religion, past experiences and the basic nature/nurture that
that person has experienced from others around the topic. When looking at how this would
help my project in particular, I strived for whatever backstories/narratives I create to involve
this topic extensively, showcasing how others may view death or loss (positively or negatively,
part of life or something that they are able to avoid etc.), incorporating past theories from my
factual project to further this, either explicitly in the story or more implicitly in hypothetical
cutscenes, imagery sketches and environmental implementations or transformations in order
to explore what the character may be feeling or witnessing at that point of the narrative.
Furthermore, this theme will also seem to work well with the current design style I have
planned when incorporated with a Tim Burton archetype style and the monster research
completed for my personal project, in particular, how the different aspects of monster species
and physical appearances could be integrated with this topic (spikes seen on a character to
denote past trauma or reluctance to think of the past, vampire characters used to possibly
explore the idea of immortality etc.)
Sources Used: May, T (2009). Death. New York: Acumen. Nomada Studio (2018) Gris
Numinous Games (2016) That Dragon, Cancer
Giant Sparrow (2017) What Remains of Edith Finch

32. Change
As well as the theme of loss and the ideals surrounding it, I also wanted to take a closer
look at topic of change, both emotional and physical, as it may seem to be a beneficial
topic to look at in terms of my target audience. In comparison to the death and loss
topic, change would also be explored in terms of character opinion and as a narrative
point, ranging from smaller changes such as shift of basic interests/hobbies and growing
physically (child to adult) to more emotional based change, such as changing a vital
societal opinion due to more current experiences or defying familial ideals. All of which I
believe I should focus on in my game as change is a vital part of evolution, growing up
and reforming the world around us into a more peaceful society or simply, becoming a
better person overall. Change as a topic could also be noted in other narrative based
games or media products as a whole, following the formula of the character going on a
journey that tests them, rethinking their current philosophies or current position and
coming out of the experience a better, fully formed protagonist, something that would be
incredibly useful to think about following my production going forward. In my opinion,
this is a topic I should consider looking at for this project not only for the aforementioned
formula, but also because I believe it may also benefit my target audience by showing
them varying degrees of the topic, as well as express some of my own opinions of it (as I
myself have always been wary of change from a young age, but have eventually had to
become more accustomed to it over time)
Sources Used: James, J. (2013). 7 Facts About Change (And Why You Can’t Live Without It). Available: https://lifeincharge.com/7-facts-about-change/. Last accessed 14th Feb 2020.

33. Summary
Looking back at the topics researched for this section, I believe I now have a more concise idea of the topics I wished to focus
on for my game as well as garnered some inspiration for certain points of my hypothetical narrative and different areas of
said topics that could be focused on. Comparing both stages of this research, I also can note that the research centred around
death and loss does seem to be more informative than the change section, due to there seemingly being significantly more
resources centred around this topic backed up by my own experience and opinions than the latter, which mainly had to be
supported by my own beliefs, opinions and observations. However, through this, I have been able to learn how the more
interactive media can be used to display elements of death and change in their narrative, designs and array of characters,
either in more obvious and direct ways or more metaphorical ways, again using the various imagery throughout to support
that; which has gone on to show me that if I plan to construct visual ideas or models for my game, I should plan different
elements containing explicit or implicit details about the story, furthering the realistic game idea/concept I desired to achieve
with this project. Referring back to my previous research, the topics I have researched here do seem to manifest themselves
in various ways in the existing products seen here as well as in past research, examples being Afterparty, Edith Finch, Gris,
Hellblade focusing on death, loss and/or grief, either in a serious and metaphorical way or in a more solid and comedic stance
on the matter and products like Gone Home and possibly Edith Finch focusing on change, either in a larger societal way
(exploring LGBT+ themes at a time when they weren't as prominent in video games) or as smaller personal changes, such as
growing up, forming a personal opinion and looking back at past experiences and comparing them to a current situation,
these aspect in particular linking more to the current behaviours of my target audience.

34. Topics Bibliography
Giant Sparrow (2017) What Remains of Edith Finch
James, J. (2013). 7 Facts About Change (And Why You Can’t Live Without It). Available: https://lifeincharge.com/7-facts-
about-change/. Last accessed 14th Feb 2020.
May, T (2009). Death. New York: Acumen.
Nomada Studio (2018) Gris
Numinous Games (2016) That Dragon, Cancer