GameMaker
The aim of the unit is to create a short game demo/trailer. It is the students job to create the original game level/environment based on 3 genres they have chosen which have great following in the gaming community. It does not require the demo to have completely working codes however it has to get the concept of the game and its aim across to the viewer. The key features are to pitch the concept, consider the game interactivity and develop concept artwork that showcases how the games world would look like along with (optionally) some character designs.
Game Genres
There are many things to consider when researching game genres. A lot of them have a specific audience that they are targeted towards or dictate the game from beginning to end. Some genres have age ratings associated with them, for example usually fighting games are not acceptable for viewers under 12. Some companies love to take these types of genres and stick with the typical ratings and expectations of those games, this is not the case for a lot of modern companies who like to challenge these ideas and make masterpieces which are available for every age range no matter of their genre. Because of this puzzle games are no longer limited to children, who's brains are still developing, but also have more complex versions for adults to enjoy themselves.
or this unit my challenge is to choose three genres and create a game level/demo surrounding them. I wish to choose two genres which I am well acquired with and one which I don't have much knowledge of to challenge myself and create the best possible gameplay possible in the short time frame. I also hope that my game, like many others, breaks the boundaries a bit similarly to games created by nintendo and although it'll be targeted at children with its simple art style and gameplay, I hope all ages can enjoy it. A great example of a similar game is the newest addition to the Legend of Zelda franchise; Breath of the Wild which is rated E.
RPG
The first genre I have decided to look at was RPG (Role Playing Games). It is the genre I play most commonly and have loved since I was a child. In RPG games the player takes on a role of (typically) the main character. A lot of modern games of this genre let you customise your character or choose between a couple pre-made models to play as. They can have differing personalities and looks, allowing the player to use whoever they most agree with. Some of the games which allow you to choose which character you play as actually have a differing ending or entirely different play style/weapon choice depending on your choice. New RPG games also allow you to choose dialogue options, an example of such a game is Fallout, this makes you feel more in-character when playing the game. This genre of games is very popular because of it's huge variety of story lines, quests and characters, where the player easily gets engrossed in the story and gameplay.
Popular examples of RPG games are Legend Of Zelda, Fire Emblem and the Witcher. In all of these games you take on a role of the main character, with the new Fire Emblem also allowing you to customise your character; as seen in the middle gif below. The setting to these games is nearly always fictional or has an altered reality. I chose to cover this genre in my game because of how much of an experience it is for the player as well as how creative you can get with its narrative and world creation. This genre of games is also targeted towards everyone, it's sub-genres usually dividing its players (Horror is one example of this).
Platformer
Admittedly, platforms are the game genre that I have least experience with out of all three genres that I chose to work with. It is one of the most popular and yet challenging genres out there since it often times demands high skills in its area. Examples of such games are Super Mario, Portal and Grimm. Using power-ups or by simply jumping, the objective of these games is typically to get to the end of the level before continuing onto the next, with obstacles, enemies and puzzles being scattered around to prevent you from doing so. They are a very popular genre that caters towards all audience types, however mainly young adults because it requires a lot of patience and dedication to get through each level.
Popular examples from this genre are Grimm, Portal and Super Mario. I chose to concentrate on these tree games as my inspirations and examples for what I should be going for when creating my demo because they fit in some sense or another what I am going for. They are all fantasy based games with E rating although they were clearly made for young adults or children to begin with. They have colourful or plastic styles (Except for portal which is in fact more realistic with it's models) that I want to make my models look like. I have also played all those games so I can say how hard the beginning level for such a game should be, which I will try to replicate with my demo.
Adventure
In adventure games, the played takes the main part of becoming the protagonist. As the name dictates, the games are usually full of quests or rich in (sometimes non-spoken) story-line. This game genre is driven as well by exploration and puzzles. They are usually aimed towards younger audience or teenagers/young adults. These type of games are aiming to awe their audience with amazing visuals and experiences usually not possible to experience with normal life; implementing fantasy elements usually as its sub-genre. Games such as those made by TellTale (The Walking Dead/Game Of Thrones) include multiple choice dialogues for you as a played which lead to a different ending depending on how you choose to play your character, you can practically build them as a person around how you would respond or not if you wish to experience all endings. Other games of this genre prefer to centre around puzzles and different ways of solving them. That is an element I wish to implement in my game as I'd love to add simple yet entertaining puzzles to keep my audience entertained throughout. Adventure games aren't known for borrowing lots of insipiration from real life since they wish to keep their audience entertained by their unique characters and environments rather than real looking renders (Although throughout years more and more games rely on this to sell, I highly dislike it since it makes them less likeable and unique).
Art Style
Character Design
I am planning to design at least one character from scratch, modelling and rigging them, so that the players will have a main character that they can associate with the game and play as. Instead of going with the route of FP games I plan for the main character to be fully visible at all times similarly to games such as Legend Of Zelda and Pokemon. Both of these games also inspired my choice in art and model style I wish to create my character in. Although both games are created with a very simple art style, that is in no way realistic, they are still targeted towards every age group just like I wish my game to be.
The main games from the two franchises that I chose to use as inspiration are Pokemon Omega Ruby, Legend Of Zelda Wind Waker and Legend Of Zelda Majora's Mask, all of which's characters are showcased above in ingame screenshots. I also decided to use this style for my final character because it would fit the overall world I am creating and the style I am choosing specifically for it. Creating a more realistic characters and surroundings would be an interesting challenge however I have little experience with realism in games and drawing/modelling it in Maya/Sketchbooks as well as I have a very limited time period in which I have to create this game.
Environment Design
Similarly to the character art, I wanted to choose a non-realistic style to go with when designing concept and final art/models of my environment. To get ideas of what the surroundings will look like, I have looked at a couple games which fitted my initial ideas. The main inspirations I found were Pokemon Omega Ruby, Pokemon Sun and Yonder. All of these games have 3D graphics that do not appear realistic and yet hold strongly against games that do use realistic styles. These games also are targeted towards every age group, just as I plan to do with my game demo, which gives me ideas on how such games usually look like.
In these games, as well as in the screenshots of that that I provided above, you can clearly see that a lot of the models can be copy and pasted, similarly to the textures they use and yet the game keeps it's charm and doesn't seem overly simple because of the variety between some of the models that are copies. For example in Omega Ruby (Middle ScreenShot) you can see some of the houses are replicas of each other however because there are also other similar looking buildings it makes the environment look rather natural. I have yet not decided whether I will go for a more fantasy look, similar to that in the first screenshot or one that's based more on real life like pokemon, with it's more normal buildings which don't defy gravity.
Setting Idea+Target Audience
For setting ideas I have looked at a couple games which cater to all audience types, with their main targets being young teens and adults. I did this because other titles which get an E rating balance their mature themes in a very serious manner but in a way everyone can understand, which I wish to copy in my final demo. The two games which's settings I liked the most were Papo and Yo as well as Fragile Dreams. Both of these titles have a dystopian, distorted reality setting which I found to be interesting and something that I'd wish to include in my project.
Despite this I also want the final 'goal' of my level to be to get to a beautiful scenery which waits beyond all of the rubble and turmoil. Adding a short backstory with text or subtle hints as to why the world turned upside-down as it did would also be an achievable goal that I want to give myself. I can achieve this by beginning the level with a black screen and a text which states that a disaster such as disease or war took place, or I could make it more subtle with placing posters over the buildings that'd subtly imply the topics. I am more likely to go with the latter option so that the game caters more towards every audience type. A more obvious message about a disaster could scare away younger audience.
Map Design + Objective + Spawn
I decided that the map design will be based around screw/mechanical designs I could find online, examples provided above. If the played stands at the highest point in the map (The centre or outer circle towers) they will be able to see they design. Along with the pleasing visual the map will create I also wish to implement a small task for the played; at the end of the map, when they're at the middle of the map; the goal destination; I will give them a multiple choice of 3D maps to choose from where they choose which one resembles the one they have just played through. If they get it correctly they get to go onto the next level, if not they are punished by having to play through the map all over again. I think this will be an interesting mini puzzle to add into the game especially since it'll add to the game's difficulty level and with each level the maps that come up and their designs can be very similar to one another, making it hard for the played to difference between them, some might even just have a difference of a single turn.
I hope to make the spawning point one of the towers each time, on the outer rings of the maps. The player from there on has to go through the maze-like platformer to get to the end (centre of the map). Some paths will be blocked off and other on difficult levels will need a puzzle solved to pass through them.
Game Document
On the left is contained my game document which I made in Word. It contains all the important information a game manual would or a proposition to a game company if I were to file up this idea and wish to actually develop it with them. They would take a look at it and judge whether the concept is right for them to sponsor or even take up with a larger team. Of course this is the first time worked on such a thing and don't expect it to be perfect in any way, nor would i be proud enough to file this idea to a company because of how underdeveloped it is, however it gives me a great idea of how I should do it if I were ever to make a game of my own and wanted to write up a concept in a neatly formed way in word, where I could later work on it further and even send it to a sponsor or show it online.
Character Design
Taking into consideration that Fire Emblem was my main inspiration for character design, I began creating my main character for the game. Above this text can be seen the finished product that I created at first by sketching a simple character design on paper then scanning it and then finally drawing it out in Krita, outlines base colours and shading all included. I believe I really enjoy this basic character concept for the world since I wish to make it futuristic and post apocalyptic but also fantasy based like Rime which includes slightly more vibrant colours in some part and I definitely would life the character to be one of the more vibrant factors of the game. They will be the ones who show there is still life on the planet and it isn't completely hopeless, they will also be the ones who go through this ruined world and besides them the only vibrant thing will be nature.
Despite the simple and effective design I created I believe in the final product of the game I would like to give the audience more possibility and choice when it comes to character creation; thus I would happily consider implementing a character creating screen at the beginning of the game, similar to that of for emblem with a couple premade hair styles and hair colours and body build ect, from which the player can choose and then play with, however the outfits would stay the same similar to those in Fire Emblem series. Still I would prefer to keep the character female considering there isn't enough representation for them in the genre with the exception of Lara Croft.
Mood Board
Above is shown the moodboard I created to get a better and simpler idea for how I wish my project to look and act. All the images I showcase remind me instantly of the objectives and points am trying to make with this game, for example the multiple logos of games showcase the different images and models I would have liked to create of the screw map ideas and the floating symbols. Then the two top images on the corners are a hint to the mechanics of the game and how I would like the map to act; being it's a platformer. The rest also remind me of the stylistic choices I wish to take for this game, giving it a cartoon yet 3D feel as well as give a hint to the fact that each map is an island of its own.
Evaluation
The project theme for this unit was to research game genres and create our own idea of a game based on three chosen genres. I do believe I could have made this project much better given my abilities however during working on both it and another project I concentrated far too much on rigging Franklin's model instead and left this project behind. If I were to repeat creating this project I would happily add much more art concepts for character designs, map designs and even some objects or included at least a simple menu screen. I did however quite well on the research and put a lot of effort into making sure it all fit well in with the world I was trying to create. I learned because of this project how to make a game document which I believe will greatly impact my future in the industry considering I will now be ale to file my ideas to bigger companies once they're more developed.