Conclusion

Overall, I'm very happy with how this project has gone. I've really enjoyed the process of taking a game I've designed beyond concept and actually begin on the production process by creating a demo. I've also really enjoyed learning some new skills. Creating this demo allowed me to improve my core drawing skills and in the process focus my aspirations on 2D character design. Its also allowed me to learn completely new skills in basic game creation for example getting my game art ready for an iOS device.


I've also really enjoyed the term as a whole, particularly the contextual project. I really enjoyed researching into procedural rhetoric and its use in the games industry. It really opened my eyes to the possibilities that digital games have to offer.

Lume

Lume is a truly amazing game. As soon as you start playing your met by simple childish graphics that draw you in and create a magical world. As you then find out that the whole game was made from paper and card sets, it becomes spectacular. The amount of thought and detail in the design of the game, creates a lovable character and great little story. Since reading about the game, I've already downloaded it and completed it twice.I really liked the way in which Lume was created and would really love to find out how it was done. I'm going to look in to trying to get some work experience with them.

State Of Play Games

http://www.stateofplaygames.com/

"Established in 2008 by Luke Whittaker and Katherine Bidwell, State of Play’s work has won a number of international awards. We have developed the hand-crafted puzzle adventure game Lume for PC and Mac, and Headspin: Storybook for iOS platforms, one of Apple’s ‘Best iPad Apps of 2010’. We have also created hit games for clients including MTV, Miniclip, BBC, ESPN, Fremantle, Mind Candy and Shockwave, and animations for the likes of Oxfam, BBC, Christian Aid and Macmillan."

Stateofplaygames is responsible for one of the best looking and most unique games available on the App store. Lume, was created using real paper sets and filmed in real life. This gives the game a unique style and image that makes the game so compelling to play, as well as this it really shows the possibilities of the iOS platform.

Ookoohko

http://ookoohko.com/


http://www.getouttamygalaxy.com/


"Ookoohko is an independent game studio. We're in the business of making games that are good, one at a time."


Ookoohko is a very small independent games developer from Finland. Their most recent release 'Get Outta My Galaxy' ones again uses iOS to get incredibly cute and interesting designs. I especially like style of GOMG and could see it doing really well in an Asian market. Also I'm incredibly interested to see what their newest release will be from looking at their artwork on their site.

Rubicon Development

http://www.rubicondev.com/

"Rubicon Development is a UK-based independent game developer. After many successful years trading as a porting studio, we have now focussed all of our efforts on developing our own games and IP and bringing them direct to your hands via mobile platforms. Our first release, "Great Little War Game" went straight to #1 on the iOS strategy game chart, and the recent release on Android is doing similarly well."

Rubicon has had a number of well reviewed games with its biggest hit 'Great Little War' spawning a number of follow up games. Although not as amazing graphically, the games have very strategic gameplay that would b easily found in a home console game.

SiuYiu

http://siuyiugames.com/

"SiuYiu is an independent iOS game developer founded by Kathy Fung, a former graphics programmer who have been developing games for consoles and mobile for close to 10 years. She has previously worked at Double Fine Productions and Obsidian Entertainment as well as other game studios. SiuYiu games are collaborations between a couple of talented people who have a passion for developing simulation games with gorgeous graphics."



Kathy Fung and her team at SiuYiu are really pushing the graphical capabilities of the handheld iOS with their games. Pocket Minions and Tiny Sheep look absolutely amazing graphically, and have some really simple but interesting game mechanics, both haven't been released on the app store yet, but I am looking forward to playing them.

Research

I think that now I have decided that I'm certain about 2D character design, it would be a good time to do some research into some 2D character artists, as well as looking at some indie developers for iOS games. I think this will help me focus my work in the future as well as highlight any skills I might need to gain or work on.

2D Art Specialism

I think this project has really helped me focus my skills in 2D art. At the beginning of the project I was a bit all over the place with what I was interested in, I liked 2D art, but I couldn't decide between the graphics side of design such as menus and screen overlays or character art. This project allowed me to focus on both, learning new skills such as getting artwork ready for production and hone existing ones such as working through the design pipeline. I think also it has made me realise that I prefer character design work, which is what I'm going to focus most of my attention on in the future, but I'm also going to keep my interest in graphics.


Another thing that this project has given me is the time to learn new industry ready skills, for example game salad. I have been able to learn the basics, from which I will be able to build on, of software thats already used in industry. Also by learning these new skills it gives me the opportunity to continue making games in my own time, as an indie developer.

Change in menu design

When it came to creating the menu in game salad, I imported the PNG file for the original menu screen, however I soon realised that it didn't work as well as I had hoped, and although I liked the style it needed a few changes, as it didn't look very good when in game. I kept the idea of the border, but did it in much more detail, which made it look a lot more professional. I also removed the idea of the wood effect, which I originally liked, but when in game it looked to bold and brash.


After making the changes, I got some of my class mates to look at the two designs and give me some feedback on them. Most people agreed that the new design fitted better with the overall feel of the game, and made the game look more professional as a whole.

Screen Shots

Main Menu:

 Level Select:

Level One:

Level Two:

GAME DEMO FINISHED

I've now finished designing my game demo, which includes a simple menu system and two levels for the player to explore. Although very simple to play, I'm really happy with the final outcome of Apo. It has allowed me to hone my 2D art skills, with particular interest in character design, however, it has also allowed me to look at the graphical side of game design which I was also interested in. Finally Apo has also allowed me to learn valuable skills in game design especially in the creation of iOS games. I think the next step in the game design would be to work on an unlock system for levels based on token collection in the game. This would allow it to move from demo into an actual game.

Menu System

Another tutorial by tshirtbooth. This one really helped me a lot with the menu system. Although it is done over a number of videos, it really helped me think about interaction with the menu system. It also gave me some key information on how to do level unlocks, so that if I took the game beyond a demo, I'd be able to do a token count to unlock levels.


tshirtbooth's tutorials have really helped me to gain specialist skills in iOS game design and production, that will be invaluable in my future whether that be in an indie company or a big studio.

Platforms in a platformer

This tutorial my tshirtbooth was really interesting and really in-depth. However, I didn't feel that this type of platform would suit my game and so went for completely solid ones in my game. However, I would like to give it a go in the future.


Tshirtbooth has released a lot of tutorials, which can be found on youtube. When I first started using game salad, I watched a lot of his tutorials and they really help you get a feel for the software. I'd definitely recommend them to beginners.

Animating in Gamesalad

This is a very basic tutorial on how to animate your character, so in this instance they make a running animation cycle. I found this tutorial helpful, as it allowed me to focus on my 2D artwork, to get my own running animation cycle look as smooth as possible. However, I had to edit it slightly for my game, as this tutorial only shows you how to animate the character, it doesn't give you control.

I then added new rules to my character that set up constraints within the game. For example you have to set a timer rule which will check what direction the character is facing and if that is correct to which arrow is being pressed on the keyboard. To start with its really difficult, but eventually when you get used to the language it becomes easier.

Gamesalad Cookbook

http://cookbook.gamesalad.com/tutorials/1/parts/1


This is a link to Gamesalads collection of tutorials. Although pretty simple they really help you get a feel for the software, and was a good source of information to come back to when you get stuck making your game. It's also very handy because it has links to youtube videos that you can watch if you can't follow the written tutorial.

Update

Since I last posted, a lot has happened in developing my game. Firstly, I've watched hours of tutorials, that I'll post up in a bit for anyone else that might need help making a game on gamesalad. I've also started making my game in gamesalad which has been difficult but has slowly got easier the more used to using the software I get.

Gamesalad Game Designers

http://gamesalad.com/stories


This a link to a page from the Gamesalad website. It highlights some of the success stories that game salad has had along with the companies responsible for making the games. As you read through the companies that have made the games you realise that a lot of them are small teams of 2 or 3 people and that some of them are just one person on their own. On a more personal level this page is important to me as it shows that there is a chance for indie developers and that if you work hard you can get far in the industry.

Candy Monster

Throughout this project I have constantly been visiting the gamesalad forum trying to find any handy hints and tips from some of the professionals out there. Every so often someone would upload some images from their game that was just about to go on sale, and I thought it important that I start to do some market research, and see what my game would be competing against if I was to release it onto the market.


Candy Monster is an adorable cute little game in which you guide an candy monster around the levels in an effort to feed him candy and reach the end of the level. Although it looks ok and has some addictive qualities it doesn't have any really story and doesn't bring anything new to the field.

Basic Enemy

I'm really happy with these initial sketches. I first started to design them in Illustrator, and because of this watched a few tutorials on the basics of Illustrator as I haven't used it much before. However, I soon realised that I was getting the same end result as what I could achieve in photoshop, but it was taking me a lot longer, so switched back to photoshop. I think that working through initial sketches and silhouettes is very important for a 2D designer, especially a character designer, as it allows you to just pour out all your ideas, even ones that are far to off what you need. It also allows you to take those ideas and develop then quickly before working in too much detail.

Basic Enemy

Basic Enemy

Now that I have my main character design finished I need to start giving him some 'bad guys to jump on'. Within the story of the game the main enemy in each level will be the memory blocks. I'm going to start the character design process by doing some basic sketches and silhouettes, and then to work through the design process from there.

Tutorials

2dgameartforprogrammers

This link is to a site that I found on the gamesalad forum that contains a lot of basic tutorials for making basic pixel and vector art, its not specific to gamesalad but could come in very useful in future projects, or if I have any problems later on in game development.

Old Apo

I've also gone on to design how Apo looks when narrating the game. Although you won't see Apo in this form in the game much, I think it was important for me to see my character fully designed, and I also think it helps to pull the whole story together.

Apo Running Animation

After watching the video, I was able to take my new found skills and creating a gamesalad ready running animation for my main character as well as jumping and falling images. This will allow the player to move Apo around the level as well as jump and land on bad guys. I'm really happy with the final outcomes, and cant wait to see them working in the game. I think the skills I learned from the video have really helped to move my work forward that little bit, but has had a greater help with my understanding of the specific requirements of my work, and what will be required on me in the future.

This is a really good video on 'optimizing your art for gamesalad'. It covers some of the basics such as image size and layers for new comers to gamesalad. As a new comer myself I found it very useful on relaying me information about the gamesalad product, however I've found it difficult to find any really good step by step tutorials for gamesalad, however, I plan to do some of the tutorials from the gamesalad cookbook.

This video also really helped with my character design specialization especially in 2D as that is the main focus of the video. It also helped me in understanding how to take my art work from the design process into the production process. I think this could come in useful when working in the industry with getting my work ready to hand over to production.

Apo Design

I really like all three colour ways but particularly  liked the blonde and grey haired versions. I finally decided to use the grey haired version for a number of reasons, firstly out of the people I asked most people liked the grey haired Apo best and I also believe that this version best suited the overall feel and style of the game.

Apo - Coloured

Final Design Feedback

I'm much happier with my design now, I think it works much better as an identifiable main character and works a lot better with the shoreline. I showed the same friends the new design and they all liked it much better. I then went on to show it to some of my class mates, and they found a few technical faults that I need to fix. Next I need to start thinking about adding colour, and getting them ready to go into game salad.

Apo - Final Design

Feedback

I also showed my design with some of my friends from other courses, to get a wider audience opinion on my design so far. After being told the story behind the game design, many people were positive about the character design, however, there was one piece of feedback that a lot of people gave. They liked the design but didn't really understand the character, and felt that it would be much better suited to a human main character than a forest spirit.


With this in mind I took the parts from these designs that I really liked and tried to add it to a new human design. 

2D Character Design

I've now started getting to the point with my character design that I need input from other points of view. I've uploaded my images to a few of my blogs in an effort to get peoples thoughts on them. I also uploaded them with some of my own notes of what I think about them. By getting input from the public, I will be able to create a character that is much more relatable, as well as this people from outside of the project may see things that I'm missing. When the feedback is in, I will be able to finish my 2D character design work and move on to actually creating the game demo.

Main character

Main character

Main character

Apple Review Guidelines

http://stadium.weblogsinc.com

This link details Apple's review process, the system that all submitted Apps go through before being uploaded to the App Store for download.

Uploading an App to App Store

A link I stumbled across thats a really good guide to uploading your Apps to itunes, and how to get them through the review process without a hitch. I found it really helpful as a beginner.


www.adobe.com

Use link for bigger image

Apple

"The App Store provides a frictionless distribution network that levels the playing field for individual and large developers of mobile applications. We provide every developer with the same software that we use to create our own iPhone applications. The App Store offers an innovative business model that allows developers to set their own price and keep more (far more in most cases) of the revenue than traditional business models. In little more than a year, we have raised the bar for consumers’ rich mobile experience beyond what we or anyone else ever imagined in both scale and quality. Apple’s innovation has also fostered competition as other companies (e.g., Nokia, Microsoft, RIM, Palm and Verizon) seek to develop their own mobile platforms and launch their own application stores."

http://www.apple.com

This statement from Apple about the App store really highlights what its all about. For Apple it was a way of enriching their hardware experiences, however, at the same time they created a whole new market in the games industry, which for designers meant there was a fresh playing field. As well as this Apple allowed designers to use their own software for creating Apps meaning that the playing field was equal for new indies up to big development companies. For me this is a really important statement from Apple for a number of reasons, firstly it stirs me on to continue research into Apples entrance into the game market. As well as this, the statement also gives me hope for my own work. It makes me realise that I could become an indie developer and would have the same chance of being successful as any big company. Finally I want to also go on to look at the development tools for Apps that Apple offers and see if they would be of any use to me in developing  my demo.

I've constructed a list of all the things I need to design before I can move forward within the project, By doing this I will be able to set myself targets on my schedule so that the project stays on track. As well as this by making the list I can also begin to think about putting together the game design document and what images will be needed for it. Finally, I've also listed when I should seek peer interaction. I will do this through both comments on my blog and by getting people to annotate my designs. By doing this I will be able to improve my design and make it more user friendly.

Research so far

At this point I really think my research needs to split off into two separate areas. On a more contextual level, the first section will be continuing my research into the mobile game market alongside designing my own App. This research will then continue to evolve along side my App and begin to involve tutorials and detailing of my Apps progress allowing for peer interaction. The second area, on a more personal level will begin my research into the application of my work such as looking at life after uni and the possibility of becoming an indie developer. This research will then look into some of the indie success and continue to go on to look at companies that produce Apps and facebook games as their main products.

Online Game Market

http://www.theesa.com

This link is about the game industry in more general terms, it did have a few facts that interested me. Firstly 19% of the most frequent gamers pay to play online, and 13% of the games played most often were downloaded. This really shows how much the handheld and online game markets are expanding.

"Gaming is productive. It produces positive emotion, stronger social relationships, a sense of accomplishment, and for players who are a part of a game community, a chance to build a sense of purpose.” 

—Jane McGonigal, PhD, author of Reality is Broken: 

Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World 

Online Game Market

http://thegamebakers.com

This is a really interesting site. Created by a game designer who had just left Ubisoft to begin his own indie development career. He highlights on the fact that there isn't much information out there for new people coming into the industry and trying to start their own indie companies. The site also details the myths of Apples App store and the fact that its seen like a gold mine and a place to make quick money.


This site really interested me. I had begun to notice that there wasn't a lot of information to be found specifically on the indie game market and what you can expect to work in it. As a student hoping to one day work creating games that could well be sold on the App store it was shocking to see how few actually make good money from them. However, I also found it incredibly motivating and has given me a few tips not only on where I think my research should go but also the way it which I view my future.

Evolution of the Mobile Games Market

http://www.theesa.com

• 5.28 billion mobile phone contracts worldwide at the end of 2010, compared to 1 billion in 2002.

• 350 million, the estimated number of mobile phones that have offered the first mobile phone game, Snake, as a standard feature.

• 55% of gamers play games on their phone or handheld device.

• The estimated size of the wireless game market in 2015, according to PricewaterhouseCooper is $12.7 billion.

This link is a really good documentation of the history and evolution of the mobile games market highlighting key players such as Nokia for introducing Snake right up Apple for the App story. It also goes on to highlight the possibilities of the future of the mobile game market. Finding this information makes me want to continue this research into the mobile market but starting to focus on the App market and specifically Apples impact on it.

This inforgraphic really put into perspective how much the mobile market, in particular mobile internet, has grown over the recent years. As well as this it also highlights on how well the mobile game market is doing, stating that 61% of people use their mobile device for gaming. From these findings I am going to go on and look at the mobile app market focusing mainly on the App Store and Android Market. On a more personal level I want to also research into some of the big companies producing Apps as their main releases.

Summary of Facts

• Of the worlds 4 billion mobile phones in use, 1.08 billion are smart-phones and a massive 3.05 billion are SMS enabled.

• By 2014, mobile internet should take over desktop internet usage.

• 1/2 of all local searches are performed on mobile devices.

• Over a 1/3 of facebooks 600 million+ user base uses facebook mobile.

• What people use their mobile devices for; games 61% Maps / Search 50% Social Network 49% Music 42% News 36% Entertainment 32%

Use this link to get a readable image

Schedule For March

Having a Flexible and well organized schedule will allow me to keep on track and hit both my personal and professional targets. It will also help with the design process allowing me to work through my ideas and along side my blog and peer comments, allow me to critique and improve my work. Also by having a schedule I will be able to carefully plan my time in order to give myself time to learn new skills and watch tutorials.

Assessment Work

I intend to produce two main products. Firstly I will design an App and create an accompanying game design document. This will include all of the character design, environment design, enemies and asset design, menu design and level design artwork. By doing this the design process will allow me to focus my attention on the App industry and allow me to gain skills in Adobe illustrator that will be useful in industry and also help to focus on my specialization in 2D art focused on character design . As well as this, the design process will help me to meet the goals set out in my schedule.

Secondly I will also be creating a Demo of my App using Gamesalad. By doing this I will increase my industry skills as well as increase my knowledge of moving from the design process into the production process.

Finally, alongside this I will also be producing a PDP in Blog form, which will cover most of my contextual research into the App industry as well as research into publishing my App Demo. Also I plan to use my blog as a form of peer interaction, to get comments and feedback on my work.

Study Proposal

What I am proposing to do.

For BA6 – Project One, I plan to focus my study around the area of the mobile game market, focusing mainly on game Apps. Through this study and research I hope to go on to design an App, creating a games document to showcase the produced artwork and game design. I will then take this artwork to produce a demo of the game. To achieve this goal, I will also have to spend time learning to use a game engine such Gamesalad. Alongside this, on a more contextual level I would also like to do some research into publishing my App and compare this to industry.

Why I am proposing to do this.

There are a number of reasons why I propose this as my area of study. Firstly, I think that by designing a game and then taking it beyond the design process and actually beginning to make it will really help me hone my drawing skills as well as my artistic style. As well as this by taking the game into production I will increase my range of industry skills, as it will involve me learning whole new software’s, such as Gamesalad, as well as increasing my animation ability.

Another reason is that I think producing a game design document for an App that I had designed would look really good in my portfolio. This is why I also plan to do some contextual research into how to publish my App so that I could continue the project on and eventually publish alongside a later project.

Finally, I choose to focus my studies on the App market specifically as this is the area of the market that I would hope to work in as I think this is what my work would best suit. Also, on a more personal level I wanted to look at the App market and creating Apps as I have followed the markets evolution form the very beginning?

How I will achieve my goals.

I plan to achieve my goals through a number of different methods. Firstly, to keep the whole project on track I am going to create a schedule, setting deadlines for each section of work to be completed. As well as this, I will keep the schedule updated, changing it if I am ahead or behind schedule. Also I plan to achieve my goals by learning new software’s e.g. illustrator, Gamesalad. I plan to do this through the use of online tutorials and the help of my tutors, however I will need to make time for this in the schedule.