Counter Strike: Global Offensive is a first person shooter multiplayer game. The maps feature 3D, photorealistic terrain and some enterable buildings. Players can interact with guns, bodies, barrels, and other players. The game interface displays information like health, ammo, money, and the mini map. The art style aims for photorealism but uses cell shading to create a needed disconnect from reality given the violent gameplay. The competitive multiplayer focuses on skill, tactics, and teamwork without special abilities. It is considered a high skill game at high levels due to relying only on aim and communication.

1. 1. Case Study

2. Terrain
Counter Strike: Global Offensive has the basic source engine terrain however some
maps such as Dust II (below) have been remastered with the new, updated graphics.
The maps for CS:GO are 3D, photo realistic.

3. Architecture
The majority of buildings in CS:GO aren't enterable however some are which adds a
level of complexity to the maps. The walls, boxes and trees in CS:GO act as cover for
people playing the game and offer no interaction with the player. Often with the boxes
and trees in CS:GO they re just copies of a stock prop and then rotated to make it look
slightly different. This is because of the source engine having a limited prop amount.

4. Objects
The objects that you can interact with are quite limited in CS:GO there are guns on the
floor that can be picked up, bodies from people that have died however they despawn
after a few seconds and other players can be interacted with. Some props such as
barrels and buckets can be interacted with by moving them however they are client side
meaning other people wont see that you’re moving them.

5. Game Interface
Round timer, score
and players still alive Kill feed
Weapons
and
equipment
in inventory
Ammo
count
Health and
amour health
Chat log
Money
Mini mapLocation
on map

6. Art Style
The art style of Counter Strike is a mix between cell-shading and photorealism. This is
because the game shares 2 different character iterations. Below is a comparison
between one of the old iterations compared to the new iterations. Personally I would say
the older model is an old attempt at photorealism due to the characters being a port
from Counter Strike Source which came out around 2006 and only had a few character
updates for Global Offensive. The newer models however have a cell shading look
which is used to give the look of realistic feature and proportions however it is clear it
isn't real. This is to create a much needed disconnection from the game and the real
world due to it being a violent game incorporating real life issues such as terrorism. It is
3D shooter played from a first person perspective.

7. Gameplay Content
The game is a multiplayer first person shooter with no campaign that focuses on skill,
tactics and teamwork. It is a processor based game and therefor does not require a
brilliant graphics card to play it. It is available on both PC and XBOX however the XBOX
port has poor controls and isn't near as popular as the original PC version. There is no
special abilities or advantages in Counter Strike unlike in Call of Duty or Halo. It is
considered very basic in terms of shooters however that was gives counter strike its
beauty. By not relying on anything else other than your aim and communication it has
proven to be a very high skill game in high levels. It has a casual mode for the less
confident or skilled players as well competitive mode for people looking for something
more serious. The main objective of the competitive modes is bomb defusal mode in
which there is a team of Terrorists attempt to plant a bomb on either of the 2 bombsites
and the Counter-Terrorists have the task of defending the bomb sites. The games are
5v5 and have a max of 30 rounds, 15 rounds a half. It is played first to 16 or games can
end 15-15 in a tie. At the start of each round, you have a chance to buy a weapon and
equipment of your choice based on how much money you have from the previous
rounds.

8. Genre
Counter Strike is under the genre of multiplayer first person shooters however it is
unique in that it is more competitive than other first person shooters due to the fact you
get punished for leaving games and throwing games. You get cool downs as
punishments that gets bigger the more you leave in a short amount of time. It starts at
30 minutes and can go all the way up to a month. Counter Strike is considered a bare
bones shooter in that it doesn’t have any specials, powers or abilities. The maps and
guns are also simple in comparison to the likes of call of duty where the maps have a
high level of detail.

9. Comparison
I will be comparing Counter Strike: Source, the
first version to get noticed and become popular
and Counter Strike: Global Offensive, the much
more recent and popular game of the series. As
you can see there is still a similar layout to the
games with the weapons looking the same and
colour scheme on the maps. The core idea of
the game has changed very little and the meta
in the competitive play is still the same. Unlike
other games that release new games every year
like Call of Duty and Battlefield, counter strike
has kept everything very similar and just
improved graphics and made tweaks to the
gameplay to make it more enjoyable. Unlike
with Cal of Duty that releases a new FPS in a
different era with different maps, weapons and
overall feel to the game.
Counter Strike: Source
Counter Strike: Global Offensive

10. Box Art Main platform
for the game
Creator of
game
Title of game
Release Date
Distributor

11. Addiction in Gaming
Addiction in gaming can be down to many reasons. 1 of the main reasons is the fact
people use gaming as an escape from the real world and when it comes to RPG (Role
Playing Games) people can get so engrossed, the virtual world becomes their real
world. In 2009, a study shows the 7% of gamers are dependent on playing games and
42% use gaming as an escape. The International Classification of Disease (ICD) has
recognized gaming addiction as a disease and offer treatment for it. Symptoms of
gaming addiction can be having impaired control over gaming such as how frequent you
play it, how long you play for and how engrossed you get with it. Another symptom is
giving gaming higher priority over other tasks and hobbies. The final main symptom is
the continuation of gaming despite negative consequences. There has been cases of
people becoming so involved in video games they commit crimes in real life. An
example of this is when a man in France, known only as Mikhael, stabbed and killed
Julien Barreaux online on the game Counter Strike. Julien then spent 6 months hunting
down Mikhael in real life and then went to his house armed with a real-life kitchen knife
and attacked him, stabbing him in the chest and missing his heart by an inch. Mikhael
survived and Julien was jailed for 2 years and was given anger management counseling
when he was free.

12. 2. Initial Plans

13. Initial Reaction
My initial reaction to the task was quite positive considering playing video games is
my main interest so I feel quite confident with my background knowledge of the
overall topic. By having this background knowledge I reckon it will help with research
as well creating a decent game as I have had experience with, mediocre games, great
games and terrible games.
I feel like the actual logistics of making the game, initially seem quite difficult
however I think I will pick it up quite quickly as I did with making the Irn-Bru game. I
think I have a knowledge in Photoshop, certainly with the design, to do most of the
project independently with little help required from others. The only part I may need
any assistance on is the animation as I have only ever animated 1 piece whereas I
have made many pieces of work in Photoshop just using the design elements.

14. Mind Map

15. Mind Map

16. Mood Board

17. Mood Board Analysis
Is there any repetition in the images you have collected? Repeated colours/images
styles/fonts/tone/mood
There is repetition in both the art styles and the backgrounds for the games I have researched. For example the
top3 images of my mood board are all different tower defence games from different developers however they
all have lush green backgrounds and floors as well as a top down look. None of my screenshots are
photorealistic, instead they are all cartoon and pixelated.
How will your mood board influence your final product?
It will influence my final product as I will be following the art style through out my mood board as well as the
overall gameplay of the games I have screenshots of. Despite having some high quality pixel art images I think I
will follow the simplistic route as that seems to be more fitting with tower defence games such as Bloons
Tower Defence and PixelJunk Monsters

18. WEEK OVERALL PLAN SPECIFIC TASKS
1 Case Study, Initial
Response, Product
Research

2 Audience Research,
Production Experiments,
Proposal, Planning

3 Production  Create the assets using a pixel art style
and Adobe Photoshop.
 Create the background in high quality
pixel art/photorealistic background.
4 Production  Begin animating all of the video game
using Adobe Photoshop
 Create sound effects and music using
garage band
 Add sound effects and music to video
game
5 Evaluation  Self evaluate all the elements of my
video game
 Create a survey for peer assessment
Schedule

19. Bibliography
1. Wiffen, Connor (2018), Target audience interview (Conducted on 12/01/18)
2. Thompson, Daniel (2018), Target audience interview (Conducted on 12/01/18)
3. JeromeASF (2016) Bloons Tower Defense 5- Special Missions and Best Tower in the Game
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnPVPb2yBIA)
4. Throneful (2013) PixelJunk Monsters: Ultimate Gameplay (PC HD)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptQ7bQczj2Y&t=63s)
5. Primal Gameplay (2018) Chomper Strategy Plants vs. Zombie 2 The best Power UP Chomper Gameplay in
PVZ 2 Game (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMYMIX8Zuzo&t=156s)
6. Tower Defense (17th January 2018) wikipedia, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_defense)
7. Armour Games, Bloons TD 5 (https://armorgames.com/play/17839/bloons-td-5)

20. 1. Research

21. Existing Product
Bloons Tower Defense 5
Bloons Tower Defense is a strategy defense game in which you have to stop a wave of balloons of different levels from reaching the end
of a path. You start with a little bit of money to buy your first, basic defense, which is most likely monkey related. You gain money for
each balloon you destroy and then with that money you can buy more defenses that can destroy the higher level balloons easier. The
standard mode of the game is survival where you survive rounds for as long as possible.
Genre/setting/gameplay
The world is a very fictional
world with cartoon monkeys
fighting a series of balloons. It is
a strategy game where you have
to think of the most cost
effective way to survive the
waves of balloons. There is a
multiplayer option which makes
the game more competitive and
gives people incentive to play
and win. The multiplayer option
is making sure you survive
longer than your opponent.
Studio
The studio behind Bloons Tower
Defense is Ninja Kiwi, a New
Zealand based company that
focuses mainly on flash games. It
has however branched out to
Nintendo, mobile on portable
PlayStation. Although recently
Ninja Kiwi has made the step in
producing a game available on
steam.
Angle and Sound
The angle for this game is an over head view which
allows for the whole map to be seen. This style is
normally popular with RPG games such as Pokémon
and Zelda. The sound for the game is a basic,
elevator style theme and has no dialogue. The sound
effects of shooting and balloons popping sounds
very cartoon-esc
Colours
Bloons Tower Defense has a very child friendly
colour scheme, with a bright cartoon feel. All
the characters also look very cartoon with
their very round heads and stumpy bodies. The
scenery will change the colour of the level
however it doesn’t really create a different
effect to the game

22. Existing Product
Plants vs. Zombies
Plants vs. Zombies is a defense strategy games in which homeowners use a range of plants to protect their gardens from waves of
zombie invasions. It originally was released on steam in 2009 and the released fro IOS in 2010. It can be played single player which is the
most popular version however when it was released on console co-op became available allowing people to play with friends making it
more popular. The main concept of the game is to defend against waves of zombies with different strengths, with plants that have
powers.
Colours
The game could be quite graphic however
the cartoon looks make it seem like a
game for children. The colours are bright
and vibrant which takes away any realism
of the zombies and murdering plants
meaning it is suitable for people of all
ages.
Genre/setting/gameplay
The world is a very fictional
world with plants being
weapons against zombies which
are one of the most popular,
fantasy, enemies in games. It
follows the same concept of
tower defense games where you
can play is casually however if
you put enough time and
practice in you can play the
game to a high level with
strategies.Studio
The studio behind Plants vs.
Zombies is PopCap games
who gained a huge following
from Bejeweled which is an
addictive puzzle game in
which you match coloured
tiles. This inspired games like
candy crush. They also
created Peggle. PopCap
games are appealing due to
them being simple and can
be played on almost any
hardware.
Angle and Sound
The angle for this game is an over head view which allows for
the whole map to be seen. This style is normally popular with
RPG games such as Pokémon and Zelda and the majority of
other Tower Defense games. The sound for the game is a basic,
elevator style theme and has no dialogue. The overall feel of the
music is quite upbeat however the sound effects of the plants
are quite realistic such as the buzz saw and bones crunching.

23. Existing Product
PixelJunk Monsters
PixelJunk Monsters is a strategy defense game in which you have to stop a wave of enemies of different levels from reaching the
end of a path. You start with a little bit of money to buy your first, basic defense, which can then be upgraded from the coins and
gems you get from killing enemies. Unlike the more traditional tower defense games where you play as a creator without a
character and you just build the towers, in this game you have a playable character who you control to pick up the coins and build
the towers. If the enemies survive all your towers and reach the creature in the base you lose.
Genre/setting/gameplay
The world is a fictional world
with pixelated monsters
attacking a hut of creatures in
which you try to defend. It is a
strategy game where you have
to think of the most cost
effective way to survive the
waves of enemies by choosing
what to upgrade and when.
There is a co-op option which
makes the game more
interesting to some people as
they prefer to play with other
people. In co-op you have
another character (controlled by
player 2) who can also run
around, build towers and collect
gems.
Studio
The studio behind PixelJunk Monsters is Q-Games, a Japan based company
that focuses mainly on the PixelJunk series. It is closely linked with
Nintendo and Sony and exclusively releasing games on their platforms,
avoiding Xbox completely.
Angle and Sound
The angle for this game is an over head view which allows for the
whole map to be seen. This style is normally popular with RPG
games such as Pokémon and Zelda and the majority of other
Tower Defense games. The sound for the game is a very upbeat
and friendly soundtrack which again contradicts with the actual
gameplay. The sound effects including arrows being shot and coins
Colours
PixelJunk Monsters has somewhat of a grainy feel to it with dark
shadows on the grass and towers. By adding these shadows it
gives the game some realism however that is taken away by the
characters and assets. I like this contradictions of art style.

24. Existing Product
Kingdom Rush
Kingdom Rush is a strategy defense game in which you have to stop a wave of enemies of different levels from reaching the end of
a path. You start with a little bit of money to buy your first, basic towers, of which you can chose from 4. These can then be
upgraded from the coins and gems you get from killing enemies. There is a total of 18 levels with 48 different types of enemies you
have to defend against. All of the enemies have different strengths and weaknesses against different towers. If the enemies survive
all your towers and reach the defense point you lose.
Genre/setting/gameplay
The world is a very fictional world with a
medieval theme to it. It is a strategy
game where you have to think of the
most cost effective way to survive the
waves of enemies, such as spiders, orcs,
ogres and troll. There are bosses in this
game as well such as ‘The Juggernaut’
and ‘Lord Blackburn who come at the
end of some levels. The game is single
player only and features hardcore
modes.
Studio
The studio behind Kingdom Rush is
Ironhide Games, founded by Alvaro
Azofra, Gonzalo Sande, and Pablo
Realini, based in Uruguay. Ironhide
Games aren’t massive developers and
have only released 2 other games
alongside the Kingdom Rush saga.
Kingdom Rush was considered the start
of mobile tower defense games and it
received numerous awards such as IGN,
Editors Choice 2011 and Game of the
Year 2011 from Jayisgames.
Colours
Kingdom Rush has a very cartoon and
pixel look to it with all the characters
having out of proportion bodies with a
unreal animated style. However I think
this makes the game unique due to its
simple artwork. The scenery matches the
enemies and assets with its heavily
cartoon trees and buildings.
Angle and Sound
The angle for this game is an over head view
which allows for the whole map to be seen. This
style is normally popular with RPG games such as
Pokémon and Zelda and the majority of other
Tower Defense games. The soundtrack is a very
simple cartoon theme and the sound effects of
swords are very realistic.

25. • What common features do the researched products have?
All of my researched products contain a very cartoon, animated look to them despite them having the narrative
that could include a realistic or cell shading art style. They also, all incorporate the top down, RPG style, look
however I am leaning toward being unique and using a 2D side on look. This is due to the time limit I have for
this project, and making it with a 2D side on view would allow me to focus on the assets instead of the scenery
which isn't the main focus of my game.
• What aspects of the research will you include within your on work?
For my own work I will most likely include a similar soundtrack to all of the researched products which is a
cartoon style, somewhat upbeat theme which does not necessarily match the theme of the game. I also want
to include a similar colour scheme to the products I researched, with a realistic looking background and
pixelated assets. I think this difference and contradiction of art style will work quite well and give my game
more depth.
Research Analysis

26. Interviews

27. • Would you like a backstory to this game and why?
Maybe a small amount so there seems to be a point to what is going on in the game but nothing major as I don’t think the
type of game requires an integral plot.
• Do you think character customisation is necessary in this game and why?
I don’t think it’s required as you don’t particularly focus on the characters in this type of game but any customisation is a
welcomed feature due to it making it a more personal experience.
• What enemies other than monsters and skeletons would you like/expect to see in this game and why?
Maybe some Knights or Bosses to add variety.
Interview 1

28. • Observation: More of a challenge may be needed in the gameplay such as adding bosses. The core gameplay
is what is important and things like backstory and customisation is unnecessary.
• What this says about my audience: That my audience of 16-19 year olds play games for the gameplay aspect
more so than the narrative aspect.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: I will add more opponent's, adding more depth to the
gameplay and more combat involved and focus on a bit on the narrative and backstory.
Interview 1

29. • Would you like a backstory to this game and why?
Yes, because I feel it helps build characters and familiarizes the player with the universe of the
game. Also, it gives the game more of a narrative or maybe even a motive.
• Do you think character customisation is necessary in this game and why?
I think that character customization is always a good thing to add in games as it gives the player
more creative freedom and allows them to visualize anything they have in their head. It also gives
the player a reason to care about the character more and become more invested as it is their
own creation.
• What enemies other than monsters and skeletons would you like/expect to see
in this game and why?
Any fantasy styled monsters or aliens because the more unusual the better.
Interview 2

30. • Observation: To have the game unique and unusual, yet have a solid backstory and narrative to invest the
player Also character customisation is needed to give players more motive to play as it is a character they
created.
• What this says about my audience: That my audience want something different and out of the ordinary and
the ability to customise characters. Also to have a narrative for the players to follow.
• How will your product appeal to this audience: By adding more unusual enemies for the player to fight and
the ability to customise your character to give people more motive to play the game.
Interview 2

31. Bibliography

32. 1. Wiffen, Connor (2018), Target audience interview (Conducted on 12/01/18)
2. Thompson, Daniel (2018), Target audience interview (Conducted on 12/01/18)
3. PopCap Games (2009), Plants vs. Zombies
4. Ninja Kiwi (2011), Bloons Tower Defense 5
5. Q-Games (2007), PixelJunk Monsters
6. Ironhide Game Studio (2011), Kingdom Rush
Bibliography

33. 6. Pre Production

34. Style sheet
The fonts I am planning on using consist
of Medieval and Celtic gothic fonts as
well as a retro idea that could link it to
the art style whereas the gothic style it
would link it to the era the game is set.
The colours I am
planning on using consist
of different shades of
block colours. This is to
give my background as
much detail as possible
where as the assets will
be block pixel art. The
main colours are for the
background and the
blood and castle.
This is the style
of pixel art I am
aiming for
however due to
time constraints I
may have to
simplify the
characters and
enemies
considerably
although keeping
the same idea as
the images
above.

35. Screenshot Layout 1

36. Screenshot Layout 2

37. Sound Effects/Dialogue
Sound Effect How You Could Make It
Arrow being shot Shoot an arrow
Bricks breaking Smash a brick
Boulders being thrown Throw a boulder
Fire Make a fire
Building Upgrade Metal and stone clanging
Lightning/Electricity Crisp packet
Groans Voice

38. Music
Band Name Track Name Link
Erang The Dark Dungeon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64R-10xNfmk
Adrian von Ziegler Legend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcUyN66G0IA
Katsumi Kotoda Medieval Town https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v35aqdbFDrs

39. Contingency Planning
Potential Issue Solution
Losing work from computer Back up work on memory stick and cloud storage
Spilling food and drink on electronics Keep food and drink away from electronics
Running out of time Manage time efficiently and hit deadlines
Not producing correct sound effects Make sure the sound effects being made matches
the list of sounds I need
Losing sound effects from laptop Back up sounds on memory stick and cloud storage

40. Health and Safety
Potential Issue How will the issue be
avoided?
Headache Take breaks every couple of hours and stay hydrated
throughout the day
Back Problems Don’t be sat at the computer for too long by standing
up and taking regular breaks
Computer Overheating Don’t put too much strain on the computer by running
multiple programs at once
Food and drink spilled on computer Keep food and drink away from the computers
Repetitive strain injury Don’t be on the computer for too long and rotate your
wrists every hour or so to keep blood flowing

41. 7. Production Reflection

42. Process
Firstly I made 2 of my main characters
which are the enemies that attack your
castles and towers. For the troll I have
given him a slow walk animation in which
his body bobs up and down. I haven't
made the skeleton move yet however I
will do that next lesson. I also have to add
another 2 enemies as well as some stand
still defenders such as mage, archer and
the main king character.

43. Process
The top screenshot is my background
that I created myself and the
screenshot below is from the game
stardew valley which I used for
inspiration when making my
background. I mainly used it as
inspiration with colour however some
of the hills I created such as the ones
in the far shot are a very different
colour to the ones on the stardew
value screenshot. Although mine
doesn’t share many similarities with
the reference used inspiration I feel I
still completed what I set out to do
which was to create a pixel art
background that fits my art style and
setting for my game. I think if I had
more time I would create another
background that could be used on the
start page and loading page just to
add more variety to my game.

44. Process
My opening screen on my game is a basic start page with the basic options you'd
expect on any game. The main title uses the font Cardinal which I found on DaFont
and said I might use it on my style sheet. The other font used on my start, options and
exit button is Strange Shadow which was also found on DaFont and mentioned on my
style sheet. The background for this screen is my main background used throughout
my game. To make the click animation I just copied the layer and lowered the opacity
to give the impression the button has been clicked.

45. Process This is my loading screen for
my game. It contains 2
separate animations. One of
which is the swords that move
from side to side to give the
impression of them clashing
and the other is the loading
ellipses that give a ‘dot dot
dot’ loading animation. The
swords were made by hand
using an image of a normal
sword online as reference, I
then duplicated the sword to
make there be 2. The loading
text uses the font ‘Strange
Shadow’ which is used
throughout my game and the
ellipses was made by copying
several full stops and
animating them so every few
frames they change to the dot
next to it. I made this loop for a
sensible amount of time to
give the effect that the game is
actually loading.

46. Process
These are my completed moving
characters. Both the skeleton and troll
have a walk animation that I created
separately on another photoshop file. To
get the walk animation onto my main
project I had to export each character
walking as a gif and add that gif to after
effects which allowed me to create a long
video clip of them walking which I could
then use key frame animation to make to
character move from one end of my screen
to the other. I then made several copies of
each character and made them start
moving at different intervals to create the
impression that a horde are walking
toward the castle. The troll has a 4 layer
animation with a bob in the middle to give
the effect that he is slow and walks very
heavy footed whereas the skeleton has an
8 layer walk animation to give the effect
they are faster.

47. Process
This is my buy menu and my HUD. The HUD can be
seen throughout the game however the buy menu is
only shown when selected. Both the buy menu and
the HUD contain basic ariel fonts. This is because the
text is quite small and using a unique font would be
quite difficult to read. I also made usre they same
the background and border style as the buttons and
logo on the start page. This is to keep continuity
throughout my game. Both the buy menu and the
HUD have the same click animation where it is a
copy of the word in a lower opacity. On the HUD the
timer goes down every second and the money goes
down when money is spent in the buy menu. In my
short clip for my game only 1mcastle upgrade and
tower is bought however this could be more if I had
more time to create a longer game.

48. Process
These are my main assets on the defenders
side of my game. The top screenshot is of the
upgraded castle and the bottom screenshot is
of the basic castle. The middle screenshot is of
the archer tower. All of these were made by
me by hand with little to no reference. I tried
to keep some continuity between the castles
and towers to make it look they all fit together
which I think I did. The archer tower also
contains an archer character however he is not
animated due to time I didn’t have. The castles
show a visible upgrade between each of them
which I think is important as in other games
where you can upgrade something the upgrade
is very noticeable with key elements. For my
castle it is the removal of the cracks and the
moss on the bricks as well as the door going
from wood to metal.

49. Process
This shows the health bar that
decreases as enemies come in contact
with the castle. It starts of with 10
green squares however once it
decreases to 10 red squares the game
over square appears.

50. Process
For making my music and sound
effects I used a software called
BeepBox that runs through an
internet browser. It has 4 instrument
options with one being a drum that
allows to make music with a bit of
depth to it. By default the sounds
already sound very 8bit and chiptune
however due to my game being set in
medieval times I wanted a medieval
sounding tune so I changed the
‘chorus’ option to ‘fifths’ which gave
my music a quite high pitch and
medieval sounding theme to it. My
sound effects are very simple with
only 1 instrument being used and
don’t ask for long. The death sound
uses the drum instrument and is a low
sound that is inspired by the original
Pokémon games.

51. Process
This is my final screen on my game. It
follows straight from when the castle
is over and shows the background
that has been used throughout my
game with the text game over in the
cardinal font that is the same as my
title. If I had more time I would like to
have added an animation to the end
screen to give my game more depth
however due to time constraints I had
to leave it with a simple end game
screen

52. 8. Evaluation

53. Research
For my research I looked at other tower defence games. I think this has allowed me to
create a game concept that fits that genre very well by taking different aspects from
each of the games I researched and included them in my own. My strengths were being
able to break down each game I researched key elements and them compared the
similarities between each game element and then tried to figure out how to
incorporate these elements into my own game. By doing this I can be sure I am sticking
to my chosen genre due to all the other games in this genre having these elements.
My weakness for my research however was the music and sound effects due to me not
actually playing the games and instead having to find clips of the games on YouTube
which meant people commentary was put over it meaning I couldn’t really hear the
sounds or music. To improve my research I could have spent more time searching for
just gameplay and not just YouTube commentaries and also played some of the games
myself at home such as Bloons Tower Defence as this is a free game I could have played
at home.
This didn’t really have a major effect on my product as only one of the games I
researched was in an 8-bit pixel art style so therefor my 8 bit, chip tune music wouldn’t
really share similarities with higher detail games such as Bloons Tower Defence

54. Planning
For my planning I made a style sheet, layouts and sound effects planning table. I feel I
stuck to plans quite closely especially with my screenshots as my actual game looks very
similar to my flat plan layouts. As well as my screenshot layouts I also stuck to my style
sheet be keeping to some of the colours as well as using a couple of the fonts that I
found on DaFont. By doing all this planning it allowed me to have an idea of where I
want my game to go. It mainly helped with the layout of my game using the screenshots
I made.
The main weakness of my planning was most likely the lack of characters and examples
of art style in my planning. This meant that my ogre and skeleton for example look quite
different in art styles with the skeleton looking more detailed than the ogre.
This hasn’t had a massive effect on my overall game as all the characters will be quite
small making it harder to see the detail of the skeleton.

55. Time Management
I don’t think my time management was up to an ideal standard due to me not having
my game fully complete to a standard I am happy with. I feel like this is due to me not
creating a full planning sheet and not sticking to it. I feel with more time I could have
added more levels to my game and more assets to add to the game such as more
towers and enemies.
One of the reasons I ran out of time was not good enough planning with time however I
think the main reason as due to the time off college we had due to training days, and
this being a shorter term. I feel with the time from the lessons missed I could have got
more work complete and had a fully functional game. I will have to do work at home in
the coming days to finish of my game completely.

56. Technical Qualities
This is my start page in comparison to the Bloons Tower Defense 5 game.
Similarities
• Both have the logo as the centre
piece
• Both have a nature feel to it with
the green grass and blue sky as the
background.
Differences
• Bloons has a much lighter and
cartoon feel to it
• Castle Defenders is much more
simple with a basic background

57. Technical Qualities
This is my buy menu in comparison to the Bloons Tower Defense 5 game.
Similarities
• Both have a wooden theme such as the
frame to the menu
• Both are pop up style and don’t cover
the whole screen
Differences
• Castle Defenders is more dull with little
colour
• Castle Defenders is much more simple with
no images along with the text however this
add to the simple medieval feel

58. Technical Qualities
This is my buy menu in comparison to the
Bloons Tower Defense 5 game.
Similarities
• Both has similar gameplay styles by
placing towers and defending an objective
• Both have a somewhat similar colour
scheme with the nature focus with the
green grass and trees
Differences
• Bloons is a top down game like
most tower defense games whereas
Castle Defenders is a side on 2D
tower defense game.
• The colours are a lot more vibrant
in Bloons however that is due to
the art style and the fact that Castle
Defenders in set in medieval times

59. Aesthetic Qualities
Personally I think my start page
looks good due to it being simple
and following the theme of
medieval style which runs
throughout my game. The aspects
of the visuals I like are the font I
used in my main title as well as
the colour scheme I've chose. This
is because the colour scheme
follows the theme of medieval. If I
was to improve it I would have a
different background due to the being the same background throughout my whole
game. This doesn’t add a lot of diversity and depth to my game. I would also add more
detail to my boarders and boxes that have the logos and the buttons. This would also
add more depth and make my whole game look more polished and detailed.

60. Aesthetic Qualities
Personally I think my main game looks quite good due to
the simplistic assets and quite unique background with its
different colours on the hills. The Heads Up Display (HUD)
is fitting due to it following the same style as my start
menu with the same style background and colour
schemes. I like this as it adds continuity to my game.
Personally I think my game is quite creative due to its
unique nature for a tower defense strategy game. Usually
they are top down however mine is 2D side on which is
not normal for tower defense games. I also like the
simplisitic yet quite detailed art style I went for. I feel I
found a good balance between cartoon, pixelated art
work as well as capturing the necessary detail for my
game. If I could add to my game and improve it I would
add more characters and enemies to my game as this
gives it more playability as well as the ability for character
customization as this was something I highlighted in my
interviews however never had the chance to include.

61. Audience Appeal
Personally I think my game has appealed overall to my target audience with me creating a game that is suitable
for the age range of 17-19 year olds. I feel like the game I created is more leaning toward being played more by
males but this I because the genres of strategy and violence is statistically played more by males. 1 thing to
appeal more to my target audience would be the addition of character customization as mentioned in my
interview. It was mentioned that it creates more of a connection between the player and the game which
inturn would appeal more to my target audience and players in general.