Welcome to my blog. The aim of this blog and the others I have created is to keep an ongoing log of my progress on my course. I intend to frequently update them as this is primarily where I will keep all my ideas and the little 'nitty gritty' thoughts that I won't need to hand in but will be useful to me in future.
My Other Projects
Don't forget to take a little look at my other projects I have done. These can be found below to the right hand side underneath the 'About Me' box, where each project is linked to another blog I have created.
Contact Me
If you ever find the need to contact me please do so by emailing me on; sofie.w@hotmail.co.uk.
I haven't particularly enjoyed this project as much as I expected I would. I think this is because I ran out of time and didn't get to delve in as far as I wanted to. On the other hand I'm glad I chose my particular target audience. It gave me more of a challenge to have to create something which has quite tight restrictions where as it would've been completely different if it was aimed at older teenagers and above. From this project I've defiantly learnt that instead of planning my work up until the last day, I need to leave a few days before the deadline to perhaps add some things in that weren't specifically required.
Game Design Document:
The background wasn't intentionally made like that, it was originally just one image but when I save it as PDF it chooses to tile the background instead. I can't seem to find a solution the this problem anywhere so it will have to stay like it is for now.
Above: The buttons that will be used to move the chameleon.
Above: To catch the flies you have to tap the screen.
Above: Secret flowers will reveal interesting facts and give bonus points.
Above: The very final iteration of the energy bar system and the points system.
I've chosen to remove the idea of a threat to the chameleon. The only way you you will lose the game is if you run out of energy. It leaves it very simple for a young child to interpret but enjoy.
Before I start working towards a final with my interface and my character I want to make sure what colours I choose will appeal to a child as they are my set target audience. I've delved into a few sights and this is what I have come out with;
The colours in the red to orange region represent to most people as a "warm" feeling.
The colours that mostly signify a "cool" feeling are blue ranging through to purple.
Red apparently stimulates the mind dramatically and blue calms and relaxes.
Favourite colour by gender
Judging from both these pie charts the most common favourite colour for girls and boys is blue. Green is the second favourite colour which is promising. Both of these colours will come in use for my audience.
Favourite colour by age group
Above is a chart representing the favourite colours by age group. Again blue is way up there at the top. The 01-18 age group is what I'm looking at in particular. Blues, greens and reds I need to focus with!
My 2nd iteration of the interface. This time I've tidied it up and portrayed the chameleon basking in the sun. I've added in where I want the energy bar and health bar to go and also the point system.
The chameleon has the ability to change colour. I have two optional ideas; I could have the chameleon change colour to show it's health, hunger and energy levels or I could have it as a choice where the players chooses what colour the chameleon is so when the player plays the game it gives them a sense of input as they have the ability to choose how their character looks. Below are a few examples of colours. They need to be bright and I need to have a variety as the specific audience is unpredictable.
This is my first concept of the interface. As with the character design they are very quick and rough just so I can quickly portray my ideas rather than writing them. Displayed here there are 3 buttons on each side of the screen. These will be accessed using the touch screen ability. The buttons will be used for moving, with the left and right arrows for moving backwards and forwards and the remaining four signal the ability to climb up and down depending on where you would like to explore. As the player moves the screen moves also revealing the next part of the jungle canopy. This enables you to climb upwards towards the sunlight to regain energy and downwards towards denser growth for protection from enemies. As you travel you will come across moving insects flying across the screen that you will be required to tap to catch them with the chameleons tongue. The harder insects will move quicker and be more difficult to catch but will be worth more points. I was thinking also as you progress you can come across a certain object that will open up a small interface giving you an interesting fact about the chameleon or the jungle where it lives.
For other bonus material I was considering adding the axis ability of the phone for a "distress" moment. If you catch a poisonous insect you will be to quickly shake the screen so the Chameleon spits it out otherwise you will lose some health. Something along those lines anyway. I need to think more into it. Bits I'm going to have to consider;
This time I've redone the outline so it's neater and smoother, made the outline thicker and coloured him in giving him a nice simple camouflage effect ready for the jungle.
This is still only phase 2 but he's coming along nicely!
So it's really late so I've quickly cooked up a really really basic idea. I want it to be as simplistic as it can be for my target audience and it has to be appropriate. It's only stage one so I'm just experimenting!
I'm going to develop him much further but for now I just wanted to get a feel for a simple chameleon!
I've chosen to use the chameleon as my theme for the game. They have a lot of aspects about them I could use for an interesting and full game with lots of features. From here I'm going to continue on with my base idea and develop it accordingly;
"Game Idea; The chameleons most popular habitat of the jungle would be the setting. It could be set in the style like 'a day in the life of' where you need to eat, bask in the sunlight for energy and try to escape from birds trying to eat you while moving through the different levels of the jungle canopy. Eating the bugs around you gives you bonus energy points and as you go up into the sunlight to bask you have to be careful of predators. Perhaps throughout you have to make sure the chameleon is a similar colour to it's surroundings or you would end up in danger of being eaten."
I've taken a look into the market with chameleon games already out there and only found one called "Tongue2 Chameleon". The objective was just to tap the screen and collect flies for points. I want a more elaborate game than this. The only comment the game had was and I quote;
"Good graphics. Bug exist that prevents me from selecting any buttons. Needs work."
This gives me a fantastic gap in the market to create a game that no one else has tried before.
Behaviour and aspects; Sea turtles inhabit all of the world's oceans except the Arctic. They are omnivores and eat a variety of things likejellyfish, sea urchins, mollusks, crustaceans, tunicates, shrimps, and squids. Sea turtles are not generally considered social animals; however, some species do congregate offshore and come together when mating. They are well adapted for swimming but when it comes to being on land they are awkward and slow.
Game Idea; Finding Nemo was an inspiration for this idea, having a sea turtle swimming through the currents, eating food and possibly racing against others. The player could collect bonus points from sea themed objects and speed boosts etc.
Behaviour and aspects; The spitting cobra has the ability to eject venom from it's fangs when defending themselves against predators. The sprayed venom is completely harmless to intact skin but if it gets into the eye it can cause blindness.
Game Idea; This would make a great target game. Tilting the screen to aim the target and having to spray venom in a predators eye. Perhaps it could be a threatening human or other creature.
Behaviour and aspects; The crocodile, one of the most fearsome predators of the animal kingdom. They mainly inhabit the tropics in Australia, Africa, Asia and America in freshwater rivers. They feed primarily on fish and mammals and sometimes other reptiles and invertebrates depending on the species. They are ambush hunters waiting for their prey to come close then rushing out to attack. They also, like most reptiles need the sunlight to bask in to warm themselves up to maintain their energy levels. As a cold-blooded animal they can go long periods without food as their metabolism is slow.
Above: Crocodile ambushing zebra as they cross a river.
Game Idea; I have a very positive idea about this theme, I could use the old game of 'Frogger' to set the genre. The player would play as a Zebra having to cross a river filled with crocodiles swimming backward and forward. They would need to reach the other side where the zebras herd is and the fresh grass avoiding the predators. As the levels would progress they would slowly get faster making it harder for the player to cross.
I've decided to take a look at the four main groups in the reptile species; crocodiles, snakes, lizards and turtles. From these I will pick one or two particular types from each to take a good look at and quickly develop a short inkling for a game they could be based around. Luckily for me I've grown up around reptiles (another reason I have chosen this topic) and have kept a variety of different ones as pets.
The Chameleon
Behaviour and aspects; Chameleons by far are one of the single most fascinating reptiles to me with their separately mobile stereoscopic eyes and very long extrudable tongue that they use to quickly spot and overpower their prey. Amongst these strange additions the feet of a chameleon are fused into a group of two and a group of three toes which oppose one another to grasp branches in a pincer-like arrangement almost like the zygodactyly feet of a parrot (two toes face forward and another two face backward) which allows them to grip to branches with excellent stability. They also harbour the ability to change colour to camouflage themselves into their surroundings, or use this ability as an expression of their health, mood and social indicator.
This video is a perfect example of just how fascinating and brilliant these creatures are.
Game Idea; The chameleons most popular habitat of the jungle would be the setting. It could be set in the style like 'a day in the life of' where you need to eat, bask in the sunlight for energy and try to escape from birds trying to eat you while moving through the different levels of the jungle canopy. Eating the bugs around you gives you bonus energy points and as you go up into the sunlight to bask you have to be careful of predators. Perhaps throughout you have to make sure the chameleon is a similar colour to it's surroundings or you would end up in danger of being eaten.
Bearded Dragon (Pogona Vitticeps)
Above: My own Bearded Dragon, full adult female.
Behaviour and aspects; Bearded Dragons are the most common captive reptiles nowadays because of their relaxed and calm temperament that makes them easily tameable from a young age. They originally come from semi-woodland areas in central Australia but can be found all over peoples back gardens, basking on fence posts and mail boxes. They're not shy creatures. Males and females have quite different behavioural patterns. They are mostly solitary creatures but do come together to bask and feed in popular areas, this is where a social hierarchy is established so the most dominant male has the best basking spot on the highest rock and so on and so forth as it goes down the chain. Each Bearded Dragon has what's called a 'beard' underneath it's head. The lizard can inflate this part of it's body so it's spikes protrude, this is usually followed by a darkening of the area (mostly by males) and an open mouth to give the appearance of the reptile being larger. This is used in most situations where the lizard feels threatened or showing signs of dominance. Females when showing signs of submission 'wave' their arm in a slow rotation often changing from one to the other. Males do what's called 'head bobbing' where they violently bob their heads up and down, this is also followed by beard inflation often around the courting of a female.
Above: Male Bearded Dragon belonging to my partner, being fed a 'pinky' mouse.
Game Idea; Because Bearded Dragons use signs and actions to communicate with each other more so than some animals I could use this to create a game where players have to match the other action with the correct response. This could be incorporated into a larger game of other puzzles and structures.
I want the theme for my game to be about animals, reptiles more specifically. I've done my initial research on the products and what they are capable of, but I'm now going to research about reptile behaviour and see from this how I could incorporate that behaviour into an interesting and exciting yet educational game for a young audience. After that I'm going to draw up a few initial concepts and go from there.
"The small, high-resolution screens of iOS-based devices make them powerful display devices that fit into users’ pockets. But that very advantage to users may be challenging to you, the developer, because it means that you must design a user interface that may be very different from those you’re accustomed to designing.
Use the compact screen size as a motivation to focus the user interface on the essentials. You don’t have the room to include design elements that aren’t absolutely necessary, and crowding user interface elements makes your application unattractive and difficult to use."
As I've mentioned previous, the size of the iPhone screen doesn't give you the space as say a computer would. That is where the iPad would benefit more if I wanted to create a more intricate game that needed more space for things on the screen.
Memory is Limited:
"Memory is a critical resource in iOS, so managing memory in your application is crucial. Because the iOS virtual memory model does not include disk swap space, you must take care to avoid allocating more memory than is available on the device.
When low-memory conditions occur, iOS warns the running application and may terminate the application if the problem persists. Be sure your application is responsive to memory usage warnings and cleans up memory in a timely manner.
As you design your application, strive to reduce the application’s memory footprint by, for example, eliminating memory leaks, making resource files as small as possible, and loading resources lazily."
Some of this is irrelevant to our project as we are only creating the concepts for the game but it applies in some cases; a heavy graphical interface wouldn't be acceptable for the iPhone, it wouldn't be able to take it. The same with complex gameplay, it's not suitable for the platform.
Onscreen User Help is Minimal:
"Mobile users don’t have the time to read through a lot of help content before they can use your application. What’s more, you don’t want to give up valuable space to display or store it. A hallmark of the design of iOS-based devices is ease of use, so it’s crucial that you meet users’ expectations and make the use of your application immediately obvious. There are a few things you can do to achieve this:
Use standard controls correctly. Users are familiar with the standard controls they see in the built-in applications, so they already know how to use them in your application.
Be sure the path through the information you present is logical and easy for users to predict. In addition, be sure to provide markers, such as back buttons, that users can use to find out where they are and how to retrace their steps."
Short, simple and sweet instructions and make use of control layouts used before.
I'm going to search around a few sites for peoples opinions on the top 10 iPhone games. From there I'm going to pick a few out, play test them and see exactly what makes them so good and where they might fall short on.
Out of the three sites there's a few games mentioned more than once; Angry Birds, Rolando, Doodle Jump and Plants vs Zombies. They seem to be some of the most popular, I'm going to try them out.
Angry Birds In Angry Birds, players are required to take control of a group of birds. The storyline details that a group of evil pigs have come and stole eggs from them and you have to destroy the pigs in order to retrieve them. They've taken shelter in a variety of buildings made from wood, stone and glass that you use a primitive slingshot to fling the birds into the structures to destroy it. You use your finger to hold down and drag the bird in the direction you choose to fire. Points are scored for each pig you defeat as well as for the amount of damage you do to the structure. Bonus points are then rewarded for the amount of birds you don't use after all the pigs are gone.
Visuals: Visually Angry Birds is bright and colourful. It's pleasant to look at and the characters are well designed. The background of each level doesn't change which gets a bit unoriginal to look at and the enemies don't change appearance, just their size. Gameplay: At first the game can be a bit tedious but after a while you become utterly hooked. It's quite challenging but each level requires a different strategy to complete. The variety of different birds you can use with various abilities gives a break from monotonous gameplay. Sounds: I can't stress enough how irritating the sounds are on this game. The background noises sound like there is a river running, crickets chirping and other birds singing but this is highly overpowered by a horrible continuous squawking sound coming from the birds you use to fire. Overall: I give this game an 8/10. It does get frustratingly repetitive after a while but they have had special additional levels added that you can unlock which are more specific to the storyline and a Halloween themed version of the game also.
Plants vs Zombies In Plants vs Zombies you play as a home owner trying to fight off waves of zombies. You do this by planting flowers in your front garden that fire at the zombies and slowly destroy them. As you plant a flower you need to collect the suns that drop from the top of the screen to unlock another flower to plant. If the zombies get to the flower they will destroy them and carry on walking to your house.
Visuals: The mixtures between the zombies and plants in this game are great. Especially when it comes to the comical value of the zombies with cones and buckets on their heads. The colours are bright and cheerful and assets are well designed. The environment is delightful and very homely which is perfect as it's set in a neighbourhood. I love how when you complete a level you unlock new plants with special abilities, from a cactus to a sunflower and even a walnut, that do lots of different things to repel the zombie hordes.
Gameplay: The gameplay is addictive needless to say. I started playing it and only realised an hour and a half later I was still playing. The difficulty isn't very hard, it's easy to complete with the right strategy but things get tense when more and more zombies start rushing towards you. You need to be able to think on your toes!
Sounds: The sounds are really cool. Unlike angry birds there's a wide variety of noises happening so you aren't focused on one in particular. The zombies make quite 'cute' noises. The way they are designed it suggests to me this game was intended for all ages as there is no blood or gore, just chewing noises as they eat the plants and a few groans here and there.
Overall: I LOVE it! There's always something new happening as you keep going up in levels which keeps you properly involved and paying attention to new things happening whether there's a different form of zombie about to attack you or a new plant ability you can use to defend your house from it. 10/10.
Doodle Jump The aim of Doodle Jump is to guide a four-legged creature up an endless amount of platforms by using the tilt screen function on the iPhone. Each platform you use to move up by grants you points. If you fall, that's game over. You can get short boosts from various objects such as propeller hats and jet packs. There are also monsters and UFO's that the character has to shoot or jump on to eliminate, or just avoid it altogether. There is no end completion of the game, just an end if you let yourself fall. It's all about the high score.
Visual: The whole game is laid out on simulated graph paper; in fact it's like something we drew back in school when we were bored out of our minds. It's very simplistic. As you climb, you'll also notice hash marks along the side of the screen that shows the top altitudes of other players around the world. This is quite a good way to keep track of the competition.
Gameplay: I'd suggest this game to be played with one hand while trying to waste some time. It got really boring and pointless after about five minutes. Once you've seen the first couple of jumps, you've seen it all.
Sounds: There are a few comical sound effects, but that's all. I guess it's kept plain and simple to match the game itself.
Overall: I really dislike this game because I find it so boring. The animation and characters are cute but the gameplay is just too monotonous for me to cope with. Overall I'd give this game a 4/10.
Conclusion From these results I've concluded that variety in gameplay is a must to keep people interested. As much as something can be addictive when it's simple, I find new additions as you level, keeps the attention there. Visually things need to be bright and well presented, for a younger audience especially. 'Cute' noises and sound effects, funny characters and strange and wacky story lines are a must.
I'm going to do research on all three of the different products to find out what they are exactly capable of. This way I'll be able to use all of their features to the best of their ability and make my game fun and exclusive to the product I choose.
iPod Touch
Features and technical bits:
Height: 4.4 inches.
Width: 2.3 inches.
Depth: 0.28 inches.
Weight: 3.56 ounces.
Display - 3.5 inch (diagonal) widescreen multi-touch display.
Both the iPod Touch and the iPhone are extremely similar. They both have the use of the built in cameras on the front and back of the machine, the multi-touch control that makes touching the display much more precise (gives the chance to have lots more on the screen without confusion or miss clicks), the gyro and accelerometer which makes the iPod touch capable of advanced motion sensing and gives full 3D capabilities (moving the entire iphone/ipod around turns and moves the object on screen) and the built-in speaker and microphone which means I can put sound into my game and also allows the user to record voices or sounds to play during game. Lastly there's the wireless, this could be incorporated into being able to upload high scores, invite other players to your game and download add-ons.
iPad
Features and technical bits:
Height: 9.56 inches.
Width: 7.47 inches.
Depth: 0.5 inch.
Weight: 1.5/6 pounds.
Display: 9.7 inch (diagonal) LED blacklit glossy widescreen multi touch.
Built-in speaker.
Microphone.
Sensors - Accelerometer, ambient light sensor.
Wi-Fi.
Digital compass,
Assisted GPS,
Cellular.
Bluetooth.
Unlike the iPhone and iPod Touch the iPad has not got a camera addition although on the plus side it does have a much wider screen for larger game play. This would allow more intricate and more detailed games to be made for it. It would give the chance of being much more adventurous with the interface and allow a game to be packed with a variety of different things that would be easily seen on the screen. The bluetooth would be a great addition for a game; you could swap characters or join friends games more easily while sitting right next to each other.
I want my game to be for a young audience, from the ages of 10 and 16. I've chosen the audience as my first port of call so I can then decide from there, appropriate themes and styles. I want my game to also be suitable for girls and boys, so it has a wider audience rather than key on one gender.
Here's a brainstorm on a few themes I think would make a good start for the young teenage players.
Spooky Horror: I've added 'Scooby Doo Style' to this as lots of gore, blood and violence would be very unsuitable. Scooby Doo has that essence of horror but not in a terrifying way. It has lots of slapstick moments which have a great comical value. Age ratings become a big factor here. Perhaps this could be a race and chase game, running away from a cartoon zombie or a mummy.
Christmas Theme: Reindeer, Igloos, Santa Claus, Elves. They could drop presents down chimneys for children and have to avoid buildings or birds while flying as Santa. Perhaps a game set in 'Santa's factory' where you play as an elf and have to join together certain parts to make toys and then wrap them with the correct wrapping.
Animals/Animal Behaviour: Bears, Snakes, Lizards, Fish. Could be a bear by the river, having to collect salmon as they swim up stream and feed your cubs. Lizards, could be a chameleon catching flies. Fish escaping from a net, or a shark. Predator/Prey scenario's.
Princess/Unicorns: Rainbows, Princes. Could be something similar to say 'Shrek'. Being chased by an ogre or a Prince going to rescue a Princess, defeating an ogre. Jumping over rainbows with a unicorn collecting magical dust. Anything crazy like that.
Pirates/Tropical Island: Survival on a desert island, collecting fruit and such. Battling with other pirate ships, cannons etc. Perhaps you work up from a deck scrubber all the way up until you become the captain of the ship.
Space/Sci-Fi/Rocket Ships: Gliding through space, you're ship has lost cargo and you have to go around collecting all the bits. Players could fly to the moon on a rocket ship, searching for life. Something to do with the stars, aligning them to make pictures and words.
Fantasy Creatures/Quest Adventure: On a Pokémon style, you could raise creatures to battle and fight while doing quests etc. An RPG where you level a Warrior or Mage, characters along those lines. A really generic RPG are really rare on the Apple market currently.
19.
Nerd.
Female.
Game Art & Design Student.
These blogs I have created are all to do with my course. Below are links to other projects I have done and other research I have done on the side.
