The document summarizes key elements and gameplay features of several classic video games including Super Mario Bros., Sonic the Hedgehog, VVVVVV, and SuperTux. It discusses elements like the option to play single or multiplayer in Mario, scoring systems, character abilities gained by collecting power-ups, background music, level design, and more. The document considers applying different gameplay and design aspects from these games to a new game being developed.

1. Research
Chloe Ross

2. Super Mario Bros.
The start of the game gives you an option
to either play as one player or 2 players,
which is something I could apply to my
game as it can appeal more to the audience
if you can also play with a friend and it
makes it more fun.
At the top of the game it has a coin count, as
well as which world you’re on, so it shows
you which level you are on. It also has
numbers below Mario’s name which shows
how many points you have earnt. I will
probably include a point count on my game
as it shows the player how well they are
doing in the game.The game also gives you a certain
amount of lives so when you die, you
can start the level again but when
you’ve run out of lives you have to start
the entire game again. I think this can
appeal to the audience as it gives them
a challenge when they play it, instead of
it being easy which can turn very boring.

3. As the game starts the Mario theme
automatically goes on, it’s a fun tune and it
makes the game more fun to play, having a
bit of music in the background.
When Mario collects the mushroom
and grows, it makes a repeated
sound to show that he’s growing,
and every time he jumps it makes a
sort of spring sound.For positioning the characters body is facing the
player but its head is turned on a side, when he’s
moving his whole body turns to the side the same
direction his head is at when he’s looking side ways.
When Mario collects the flower, his body
flashes from his red and green outfit, to red
and white. It flashes a few times before he’s
completely turned red. This shows that the
character has changed and has new powers.
The background for the game is quite basic,
with a purple sky and some clouds in the
sky, along with some bricks floating in the
air. This makes the players attention more
on the character than the background so
the character stands out more.

4. When Mario collects the star, his
clothes keep flashing color and it
doesn't stop until the effect of the star
wears off. He also runs a lot faster than
normal, and when he encounters the
mushrooms he just runs at them which
kills them instead of having to jump on
them to squish them.
I think what draws the audience to this game is that,
the game itself can be quite challenging once you get
onto certain levels. The sound effects used, such as
when he’s jumping or when he grows makes the
game more fun as the sound shows the player has
achieved something. Also the theme playing in the
background is fun theme and is quite catchy which
makes it more appealing to play.
I think for my game I’m going to apply similar effects
as Mario, such as the sound effects the character
makes whenever he jumps or does something, I also
think my character style is going to be quite similar to
Mario as well. The gameplay itself I will change so it
isn’t an exact copy but the effects along with how the
character moves and how the angle of the game is
facing at the side of the character and following him
along I will apply to my game.
When the level is completed, the normal Mario
tune goes off and it plays a more celebrated
theme to show that the level is complete.
To finish the level the character has to jump on the
pole to raise the flag the down, for my game I need
to do something similar to show that the level is
completed.

5. Sonic the Hedgehog
When the game is loading, music
automatically starts playing unlike with
Mario when when the music only played
when the game starts. The music for
Sonic is quite fast which matches the
theme of the game so the audience
already knows the game is going to be
fast pace.
As the logo comes on, the background behind it is
moving and Sonics finger is waving back and forth.
This gets the players attention with the music and
the bright colors of the background as well as it
moving, so when the game starts the players is
ready to play.
At the corner of the screen it has the
score, time and the number of rings
collected, this helps the player keep
track of how well they’re doing in the
game and how much time it took to
complete one level.
The sound the character makes when he jumps, is
almost the same sound as Mario when he jumps
but this one drags on longer as the character jumps
further. When Sonic collects the rings it makes a
sort of ding sound which shows that you have
collected them.

6. The background for Sonic, is very
colorful when you play they made it so
the sea in the background looks like it’s
moving. It’s also quite a big background
so when Sonic jumps really high there’s
objects in the air and he can go
underground. It gives the player a lot
more freedom when they play and more
places to explore.
When the player has finished the
level they jump into a ring and then a
picture of sonic appears to show that
you have finished.
After the level is finished the player gets a
chance to collect more rings so they’re put in
this new map where the screen can turn and
you have to collect as many rings as you can.
The map is constantly spinning
which makes it more of a
challenge to collect to the rings,
and it gives a change of gameplay
for the player instead of playing
the same thing.

7. There’s no direction in the game, so
you can go backwards and forwards,
and you can end up at the beginning
of the level. This makes it a bit harder
so there's nothing telling you where
to go.
The View of the game is made so
Sonic is facing forward but we’re
looking at from a side and following
hedgehog like that so it makes it
harder to see what’s coming.
The lighting of the game is good as you can see
shadows from the background, the game all
together is quite bright and colorful which makes
the game eye catching.
When Sonic goes in a ball and through
the tunnel the sound effect made is
kind of like a screw driver, and because
Sonic has collected something it makes
him go faster as you can tell from the
mini stars made behind him.

8. I think the game appeals to the audience because it’s challenging to play
and fun. The character for it as well is fun to play as and it’s different
from many other games. The sounds as well helps the player know if
they’ve done something wrong or if they’ve done something right. The
graphics for the game are good as well and the way they’ve made certain
parts of the background move, makes it more fun.
I think it will be hard for me to make
a level and background that is as big
as Sonics as you can go up or down
with Sonics one. The style of game is
quite similar to Mario but they’ve
made it a bit more complex.

9. VVVVVV
When the Game is on its home screen
every time you press on a option it
makes a small whistle sound to show
that you’ve clicked on it.
It also gives you the choice to
change the graphics on the game,
and you can choose which level
you want to start from as well.
In this game it includes text, and it gives
the game a story when you play it. This can
appeal more to the audience if they want a
to do a game that has a story behind it.
The graphics for the game are
quite simple, the character looks
very basic and small. Which could
make the game harder as they
might be harder to spot.

10. The character of the game moves
quite fast, it can stick to the top of
walls which is hard to play because
when you don’t want them to stick
to walls, you have to be quick to get
them down.
The game also has mini obstacles that
you have to avoid as well. The design
for this game is very plain but the
main focus of the game is the
difficulty of it and how far you can
get.
For the map of the game, you can go
up, down and side ways, which makes it
more fun to play rather than just a
straight map.
The game also includes a map
so the yellow is where the
player is at and you have to get
to the purple. The rest of the
map is blanked out so it makes
it harder to get that point.

11. When you die in the game the
characters body flashes red and
you resume from the place you
were before you died. As the
character moves through the
map the game gets harder and
harder, so there’s more spikes to
avoid and obstacles.
For the lighting of the game,
there isn’t much. It’s quite
dark and they’ve chosen to
use very bleak colors that
don’t stand out much.
The angle of the game, the way it’s
viewed, is the same as Sonic and Mario
and it’s the style I want my game to be
played.
I think the game appeals to the audience because of
the difficulty of it. The characters are very basic so
not very memorable, but the focus of the game is
completing it and how difficult it is. I think for my
game I want to make my character fun to play and
memorable, but I like how difficult the levels can be
so I was thinking of making mine the same style.

12. SuperTux
In this game at the beginning of the level it
gives you instructions on what to do, when
you walk past the sign it comes up with an
explanation on how to play, which helps the
player understand what to do
The layout for the game is very similar
to Mario, in the way the game is set out.
In the corner of the screen it has a small
coin symbol which shows you how many
coins you have collected.
The view of the game is quite
zoomed out, which makes the
penguin look quite small, but it gets
better when the penguin grows it
also helps with the movement of the
character as well.
When the penguin jumps on the
snow, it makes a skidding sound and
the penguin kind of glides on it.

13. In the game, you can make the character
do some tricks such as backflips, which
makes the game more fun to play in you
can make the character do different types
of movements.
The tune in the background is quite faint and
it focuses more on the sounds the character
makes when it jumps, or collects coins.
The colors used for the game also fits in
with the theme so they’ve used a lot of
blue and white to represent ice and snow
which helps sets the setting of the game.
In the game you can also
discover hidden entrances,
where there's coins hidden. I
think adding some hidden
areas in my game my make it
more fun and it makes it a
challenge to find them.
At the end of the level they always have
a home base place where the character
enters after they’ve finished, in my game
I think I'm going to apply the same thing

14. When the game moves onto
a new level, the layout
changes to the background
behind looks bigger than it
did on the first level.
The way the character moves,
the yellow of the feet move
forward and backward
slightly. And when the
character jumps the arm
raises to make it look like it’s
jumping.
I think the game appeals to audience, because the
graphics of the game are good and the colors stand
out which draws the audiences attention. The
gameplay is fun as well, although it is very similar
to Mario you can do things in the game that you
can’t do in Mario, such as backflips and collect
objects that the character can wear.
For my game, I like the idea of the character being small
because then I won’t have to do much for when I want it
to look like the character is moving. I think I’ll also include
a coin count in my game as well.

15. Research Analysis
• The way the games are viewed are all very similar to each other, so when it looks like the character is
looking forward and we’re looking at the game so we can’t see what's going to appear next on the screen.
• Sonic and VVVVV have a pretty similar layout as well, the way the map on the level expands so you’re not
just moving forward, you can move up and down as well.
• The graphics of the game between Mario and Sonic are similar and it’s the way I would want my game to
look, although not as clear as Sonics graphics
• The gameplay of all the games are similar as well, they all have to avoid obstacles, to stop from dying and
they can collect objects that can give the characters special powers, such as Mario with the flower can
make him shoot fire balls, and in Sonic the star makes him run a lot faster. By the end of the level they all
have to either jump on a flag, or jump in a ring to move onto the next level.
• With Sonic, Mario and the penguin game they made it so the world is colourful and eye catching, they’ve
also made their character stand out against the background so they’re noticeable
• The theme tunes and sound effects they’ve included all sound catchy and fun and the noises it makes
when you’ve achieved something helps the player know that you have.
• The gameplay of my game will be similar to Mario’s except I will change quite a lot of thing such as the
layout and the characters in my game so I'm not copying it.
• I will also include similar sound effects to that of the games I’ve researched such as when my character
jumps or gets killed they will have similar sound effects to Mario and Sonic.
• For the layout of the game, I do like how Sonic and VVVVVV made it so you can travel and up and down
the map but I don’t want to complicate my game too much so I think I’ll keep it the same style as Mario.
• The theme tunes of Sonic and Mario I like so I will try and create a similar sound track to that so it fits in
with the style of my game.
• For my colours and style of the game I want something that will stand out so I the different colours from
Sonic I like, I also might apply the effect it does when a character collects something and they flash
different colours as well.
• The way they make the characters move, so when they slightly move the legs backwards and forwards so it
looks like it’s moving I’ll do that to my character as well, I’ll also makes the character small so I wont have
to change much when I want them to move.

16. Bibliography

17. Bibliography
1. Nintendo . (1985) Super Mario Bros.
2. Sega. (1991) Sonic the hedgehog.
3. Terry Cavanagh & Simon Roth. (2010) VVVVVV
4. Bill Kendrick. (2003) SuperTux