Art and Sound Project proposal

Proposal:

Our game is a tower defence style game where you defend your base from constantly spawning enemies who want to stop you. My role in creating this game is to make the art, like the sprites and backgrounds. My other role is sounds, like the music and the sound effects.

Influences

Influences for the art came from games like Terraria, Gods will be watching and Starbound, I like the way the artist for the game shade the pixel art and give it details rather then going for the retro style that some pixels artists use. From feedback from primary research of questionnaires and secondary research of using the internet to find games of the same genre.

Problems

Some problems could be with the software I will use, like Photoshop crashing before saving or the website for Pulse boy being down. Other problems could be hardware related like my USB memory stick corrupting or breaking. Another problem could be time based, like not being able to finish the game in time for the deadline.

Solutions

A solution to Photoshop crashing could be to constantly save any changes to the art I’m making in case it does crash. There isn’t really a  solution to the Pulseboy website being down, I’d just have to make music at a different time. A solution to not finishing the game on time would be to make sure I always stick to the scheduled on the gantt chart. Finally, a solution to my USB breaking or corruption could be to back up my work in multiple places like my home computer and Google drive / Dropbox.

 

Project proposal

My Proposal

After looking into a range of tower defence games and sources that have evolution and growth I have been inspired to create a game that would be a tower defence game that is themed around evolution, so our idea is to create a tower defence game that is themed around evolution and growth. This is because by looking at my research I believe we could make a simple tower defence game based around evolution and growth with little to no problems, this is because with our previous knowledge of using game maker we believe it would be a feasible goal to create one before the deadline of 11/06/2015.

Influences

After researching into tower defences I was influenced into creating a different style of tower defence games that incorporated all the good features that I found of tower defences such as mechanics like enemies various health, my goal is also to iron out any features that I dislike about tower defences from the games I researched into, this is to try and prevent the games from becoming boring as quickly as some other tower defences. I also wanted to incorporate the way that the game Evolve uses evolution as when the player evolves a lot of the games features are changed and so the player must play in a different play style, this was a feature that I am inspired to try and recreate in the forum of a tower defence game. I was also inspired to create this game as it goes against the predictable path ways of enemies which I found in tower defence games, this is because the enemies either followed a set path with some turns or simple moved from one direction to another (right to left) because of this we decided that a tower defence game could work better by having enemies come from a range of directions, this is to keep the player more engaged with in the game and to make it more interesting as it would be unpredictable to where the enemies would come from, I believe this would be good change to how tower defences currently work, and so by creating this game I can test my theory.

From my research I found that tower defences have crucial elements to them such as shops, various enemies with a range of health, pause menus, base damage indication, inventory and money to name a few; these are key features that I would be working on as well as other areas such as QA and fixing any bugs that may arise, development over time will change which areas of the game I would be focusing on and towards the end of the project I plan on implementing a range of suggestions that have been though of by both players and developers, as well as fixing minor bugs.

Development time

Work on the game is aimed to start on the 29^th on April which I will start to add enemy health into the game as well as other features that will be added over the following weeks, development is planed up to the16th of May after which I will be focusing on developing any content that has been suggested later into development or hasn’t been classes as vital to the game and so will be added during any free time the following two weeks. These weeks will also be to remove any bugs that shouldn’t be in the game, these will be unexpected bugs that have not been important enough to fix, for example any slight problems with any text such as any grammar mistakes. I believe this is a good way for me to be spending my time as this will mean that more development time can be spent of vital areas of the game such as making sure the shop works correctly and as intended while fixing any bugs that will stop the players from being able to play the game and then when I have any free time I can develop less important updates for the game which are nice to have in the game but not vital, this would include any bugs that the player my experience but not notice, this way I can ensure that all of the criteria of the game that I am working on will be achieved by the date of May the 16^th without anything being left behind because of lack of development time because of working on less important coding.

Problems and solutions

During development a range of problems may arise, to counter these I have a range of solutions depending on each problem, this way I should be able to achieve the best possible work for the game even with any problems that I may face, it also is to try and prevent any problems from happening such as saves corrupting.

Problem: Because I’m working on game maker which is a software there could be problems with it such as it not launching or working correctly this could become a problem as it could stop me from being able to develop the game because of this I have some solutions to this problem.

Solutions: If game maker isn’t working there are a few ways I could try and resolve the problem such as looking for online solutions on the game maker website as it may have advice to how to fix the problem. Because I will be around people that have more experience in game maker I could ask tutors if they know how to resolve the problem so game maker will work again, I could also try using a different computer as it may fix the problem, I believe any of these methods should be enough to fix game maker, however if it’s not enough to fix the problem I could do some surveys to players for the mean time and create thumbnail sketches for the mean time this way I will keep being productive until the problem is resolved.

Problem: Because I’m not an expert on game maker I may face problems with coding, this could be not knowing how to code something for the game or errors that may arise during development such as bugs.

Solution: I could look for online tutorials of what I am trying to achieve to see if they have any good methods or ways to prevent any problems, I could also use the game maker website and submit a question such as how to fix a bug, this could get me a reply from someone on the forum with a method I could try or a solution to the problem, I could also ask friends who are experienced with game maker to see if they have any ideas that could work.

Problem: Because I’m working at a college, not being able to go to the college could be a problem. (This could be because of a range of reasons such as striking, weather, weekends or illness.)

Solution: Getting game maker at home would be able to resolve this as I could use it to continue working on the game, I could also create surveys for players to get feedback and to help my idea development, I could also create thumbnail sketches.

Problem: Because I’m working on a computer there can be problems such as Corrupted saves/auto saving saves a problem with the game and loses content.

Solution: This will be prevented by creating lots of new saves for each new stage of development such as when an new area of the game is being worked on we can create a new save for that work before we start working on it; this will prevent game makers auto saving from keep anything that may be problematic and because of game makers auto saving it will help us keep any work if game maker suddenly stops responding, saving constantly will also lower the chances of game maker crashing becoming a problem. To prevent corrupted saves we can also save lots of saves of the game this way if any get corrupted we can use a slightly earlier version of the game, we can also lower the chances of this by having the game saved onto a range of areas such as on a range of memory sticks and on Google drive, this way if any get corrupted saves we can get the game back from a different location.

Problem: Because this project has a deadline there’s the risk of not finishing on time.

Solution: To prevent any areas of the game not being finished on time we each are going to have a set deadline to which we should have completed each set of work, if this work has not been completed for this date we will have to do the work during our own free time to make sure it is completed, also because we are spending our time from most important updates to least, we are making sure that vital parts of the game are completed before any smaller less important updates, this way we can make sure that the game is finished with most of the content we intended to have in the game and at least have the important parts. We are also having reasonable deadlines this is important as we are considering how long each change to the game will take and make a deadline for it that is reasonable, this is to prevent us from having too much work to be completed to quickly as this would be problematic as it could cause us to become stressed over the game and cause us to miss some of the games content and because we are considering how long each piece of work should take it lowers the chances of us not finishing on time.

Problem: Because some of the work I am going to produce for the game is on paper there could be problems getting it onto the computer.

Solution: If the scanner isn’t working I could use a different scanner or my phone to take pictures of any work that needs uploading to the pc, so any problems with the scanner shouldn’t be a problem, I could also create sketches using Photoshop on the computer this way if I can’t use my phone or the scanner I can create the work directly onto the computer, this further limits the chances of any problems putting work onto the computer.

Problem: Because I’m working on a computer there can be problems that I may face such as power outage.

Solution: In the case of power outage I could create surveys or sketches to get feedback on from players this way I can keep active even when I can’t be updating the game.

Problem: Because the work I am producing is for a game players may not like the content that I have developed which would be a problem as the game is supposed to be played.

Solution: To prevent players not liking content I plan on doing weekly play tests to ask players what they think of how the game is developing and to ask them what changes they would like to see in the game and if there’s anything they think should be removed. I also plan on creating sketches of how I expect some content to work and then polling any changes and asking players opinion on the game this way I can try and make sure that players will like the game as they will actively be telling me what they think to the game and any changes they’d like to see, this should make it harder for players to dislike the game.

Strengths and Weaknesses

During this project I’m going to be working on a range of materials which each have their own strengths and weakness these are aspects I have consider and took into account for making the game using these.

Computer

Strengths:  Has a range of software such as game maker and Photoshop, this is useful as I am going to be using these for my work such as game maker to work on the game which wouldn’t be possible without the computer. Computers are useful for gathering research, such as finding online tutorials into how to make something for the game such as a pause menu this would be much harder to do without the internet. Because the computers have the internet this allows me to save work across different areas for free and easily this will allow me to access work when at home or at college it will also make it harder for me to lose any work by means of corruption.

Weaknesses: I won’t be able to work on the computer if there are events such as power outage this may become a problem if it becomes reoccurring event

Game Maker

Strengths: Has lots of online tutorials which would be helpful for me if I need help with some coding such as fixing any unexpected problems that may arise. I have some experience in using game maker; this will be useful when working on the game as I will already know how to create some of the coding. Game maker has its own built in help page which could be useful when creating any coding for the game as it can give steps into adding features should as editing a mouse curser. Game maker also has its own forums this means if I encounter any problems or need to ask how to do some coding I can post on their forums and get a reply from someone which may help. Game maker is also a very good software for creating games as its often simplistic this will be useful when creating the game.

Weaknesses: Because game maker is a software there can be a range of problems that I may face such as game maker not working, also any problems that I may face with a computer such as power outage will effect game maker as I will need the computer to run game maker.  Game maker is a 2D game development kit, this means I will be restricted and cannot use 3D.

Goals

The main goal of this project was to produce game that players would enjoy I would know if players liked the game by creating a survey to ask people what they thought of the game at the end of the topic, to try and make sure that players liked the game though out the project I plan on getting feedback from players this way i can maximize the chances of players liking content.

The next goal of my project will be to keep within the theme of growth and evolution and within the genre of tower defence games, to do is I am going to often refer back to what features I found that tower defence games have an add them to our game, and try to have as many of these elements as possible, this should be apparent at the end of the game if I have many of these features in the game.

Our Project Proposal

Section 1:

The name of the game we are going to be making is called Evolution Of Defence.

The game we are making will follow our selected genre as it will have lots of evolution involved in its mechanics, the game we are making will have lots of enemies that are evolving as you are evolving, meaning the difficulty of the game progresses as you do, the game is a tower defense game, where you can fortify your home to help protect it, we hope to achieve that our end game, works and its suited to the genre, and the game is fun to play.

Section 2:

We plan to get all our research from a lot of different sources, we plan to play games of the genre to gain ideas of what we could be doing, one game for example would be Evolve, this is because the game is linked heavily to evolution and could easily provide us with ideas, but we are also looking at books and TV this will help  us develop our ideas, we also plan to visit the Sheffield Winter Gardens, we plan to do this because it will influence our ideas on environments for our game to be set, we can also go into woods or forests to see how we can set the environments.

Section 3:

We intend to use game maker to make our game, along with Photoshop to make our art assets, we plan to do this because we have previously used them and feel experienced with them, and with us feeling experienced with them, this means that we will provide the best work when using them, also they are very compatible as we can easily make something in Photoshop to be used in game maker, as they work so easily together, also with how in Photoshop you can make a pixel art image and with game maker being all about pixels its easy to use them together.

Section 4:

I believe that  our game can be classes as successful , if it is a game that provides fun to the players, can be played without problems, and is a game that people would want to play again, but also people would be willing to pay for to play the game, we will be getting people to review our game and give us constructive feedback, as we will be putting it on gaming websites such as Itch.io and Gamejolt.com, and  we will record all the responses we get and try to improve our game with the constructive feed back we were given.

Parameters and Solutions

During our making of the game, we will face problems, here are a list of problems and there solutions.

Problem

Because we are working with a computer that means that we can have problems with software not working and this could mean that we miss our deadline or don’t get a vital piece of work done.

Solution

To solve this problem we could get work that is vital done early, and then we can also use different computers to get the software to work, or we could do things that don’t require us to use computers such as thumbnail sketches or mind maps.

Problem

With us using Game maker to make the game, this means that we can face problems with not knowing how to write a piece of code, and if we dont write the code correctly, that means that we cant do something that is vital for the game, but also it can slow us down meaning that we dont actually meet the deadline.

Solution

As a solution to this we can use the Game maker Forums to ask others how to fix a piece of code as they will be experienced with the software, also we can use video tutorials so we never actually face problems as we will be able to follow them step by step.

Problem

Because i save my work at college that means i cannot take my work home with me, meaning that all the work must be done at college so i cannot actually do work at home, and this could make sure that we miss the deadline.

Solution

As a solution to this we can save our works onto memory sticks and with that, that means we can take our work home, and that means that we can do more work even at home, so we will be less likely to miss the deadline.

Problem

With technology being faulty we could loose our work as it could get corrupted or deleted.

Solution

As a solution to this we will be saving the game in multiple places and as multiple different saves, as then we are heavily limiting the chance of loosing data

Problem

We might not be able to complete our work for our deadline.

Solution

As a way to solve this problem we will be setting deadlines for our selves each week and if we don’t get something done we will have to do it in our free time, also if we don’t need to do something to the game we will leave it out and only do what was key.

Use of software

Game Maker

Strengths

with my past experiences with game maker that means that i am able to have a good start with our game as i can use code from past games i have made and put them straight into our game with those that means that the game will be able to go into its prototype stage a lot faster then if i was starting from scratch and not know a thing about game maker, also with there being a lot of tutorials online as well as easy use of the game maker forums that means that i can easily produce work and if i meet a problem i can easily resolve it by the use of others and that means i will be able to work fast and the game should be able to meet the deadline.

Weaknesses

With game maker being a computer software there is always the chance that it will not work as they are often going faulty if this happens  i could try a new computer but it may not work, and if this happens i will have to pause doing my game maker work and move into another area of work, also with game maker being for 2D games i am restricted to 2D.

Computer

Strengths

the computer has many strengths, as it has a unlimited amount of software i could use for my work, this is very useful as if some software inst working i can easily just swap to another one, also we can gather a lot of different information like we could get primary and secondary research.

Weakness

if i wont be able of work on the computer i wont be able to do a lot of my work, and if there is a power outage i can loose a lot of my work as there is no physical copy of them.

Expected Outcomes

My expected outcomes for the game are a working game that people love to play and that has little to no bugs and is well developed and able to have changes made in the future that also follow the genre conventions of a tower defence game, also i expect the game we make will perfectly suit the theme we have selected of Evolution and Growth, also i hope that the game will be liked by players, also i expect that we will create a blog that will document everything perfectly and will help show how our game has changed over time.

I will know if i have done all of these things from my evaluation will go into detail about what i have done and if they have met my expected outcomes also i will be able to tell if players have liked the game as i will have a selection of questions and answers of if the players enjoyed the game.