Requiem (FMP project)

Sophia Buglione - Digital multimedia FMP - 2021

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Asset checklist

Game assets I will need to make

Location backgrounds (3+)

NPC final design

NPC concept art

NPC expression sheet (interchangeable)

Dialog bar

Clickable assets (for multiple choice questions)

Loading screen/ start screen

Script/ wireframe

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Theoretical problems within my FMP 2

More issues I could face within this project revolve around the making of my game and the development from the creation of the wireframe to the completion of my game. When deciding on what to do for my FMP, I knew I wanted to create a simple game that used a click through mechanic in order to play through the game. However, this is something I had never done before and I, prior to this project, had no experience in game design or making. I knew I wanted to make a game as I knew it would be a huge challenge for myself but having no experience in this sector could have been a hinderance. From the very start I had a good grasp of what I wanted to base my game on, and as an illustrator I had many ideas in mind that I could use. I could use this to push my design experience forwards and used it to develop my ideas through surveys and polls. In addition to this, I overcame this issues with lack of game design experience by looking and researching different games I was using for inspiration and looked into the different kinds of game mechanisms the used. Some of the games, such as the Five Nights at Freddys game franchise use a completely different game mechanism to what I wanted to use, whereas other games such as Sallyface and Little Misfortune had slightly different mechanic where the main character is controlled by the player, but also used a click and point/ click through method of play through. Having done this research, I went into creating this game with a better understanding of game design and how I would create it based upon other popular games. I also looked into the different styles within these games in order to get inspiration for my final style of illustrated assets. Even though I was inexperienced with designing games and their assets, my previous knowledge of concept art and illustrations that I do i my own time helped overcome this issue I faced as I knew what assets I needed and how to design a good character as this is something I do in my own time regularly. 

Another issue I was faced with was the lack of industry standard game making software. Even though I knew I wanted to create a click through game, my lack of game making knowledge meant I was originally unsure of how to do this and how I would create the game as I lacked the knowledge in regards to software. However, having just finished previous college projects that required me to use the Adobe XD interface in order to make an interactive website, I wondered if this software could be used to create a click through game as it is a similar process. As my game was never going to be very complicated in terms of production and would utilise 2D illustrations rather than the more popular 3D models that are in most modern games, I realised that Adobe XD could be used to create my game through linking each page to another and utilising the interactive features to implement multiple choice answers and questions into my game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3XkDvq-Dw4 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JttI6YpmPGI I used videos like these ones to refresh my knowledge of the software in order to use it to its full potential. 

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How did my initial research influence and develop my creative process?

The initial research I have done for my FMP has guided and influenced my creative process in a variety of ways. The research I did based around the common creature designs helped me to identify what aspects I wanted to include in my own creature design. After having looked over multiple creature artists and their creature designs, I noticed that the most common theme throughout is the human-like appearance of the character, with an added twist to it. This could be to create a character that is both unnerving and recognisable to look at, as the human like nature could resemble and remind people of humans. This was a very common theme between the 3 different creature artists I researched and is something I knew I needed to replicate in my own design. When I started creating my NPC design, I kept this research in mind and tried to make the creature as familiar to this design trend. 

I chose to include a round, human-like face with longer slick hair in order to replicate a human-esque creature. This is one thing I found repetitive in the other creature designs; they all have human like anatomy that is freakish and unnerving. Below is a design I looked into when I did my initial artists research- the multiple eyes and extended and distorted human anatomy was something I wanted to replicate in my own character design as I think it is very interesting and conveys a very creepy character to the audience. The base of the character is obviously human but the added eyes, horns and colours are what make this design so creepy, and therefore so inspiring for me. As evident in my final creature design (above) I took inspiration from these added aspects and added them to my own design. I added extra eyes and long, unnatural horns.

Other ways my initial research influenced my creative process in how I decided the game play and dialog options would go. A lot of different games I researched into (Sallyface, Animal Crossing etc) have a system in which a NPC asks a question or makes a statement and the player has between 2 and 5 options (usually) to choose from. 

I chose to use this as inspiration for my own FMP because when given the option to chose, it forces the player to think on their own and can also become more interesting for the player as they are now more invested. In addition to this, the choice option may want the player to replay as many games have different story lines for each dialog option, which another thing I used from my initial research. My game has 2 different endings, which the dialog overlaps and merges with at different points in the game. This is not only to make the creation process easier for myself but so the game feels more balanced. 

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102 Screens, Last modified on May 18, 2021 11:01 GMT

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Theoretical problems within my FMP

Luckily, I didn’t have too many issues with my FMP- only minor issues with software. However, there were a lot of things that could have gone wrong.

To start with, using Adobe XD rather than an actual game programming means there is a lot of room for human error. When creating my wireframe and eventual final wireframe for my finished game, I had to manually link each clickable asset to the one it is meant to link to. This could have become a huge problem, as there could have been a moment where I linked the wrong pages together, or entirely forget to add a link to a certain page. Is this happened, it would mean the whole game would be ruined, as I have not included a ‘go back option’. Although I have checked this multiple times and gotten peers to test the game to ensure I haven’t missed anything, there is a possibility that I could still have made a mistake that was overlooked. The only way I can fix this issue is by making sure I have checked through the whole game multiple times. Unfortunately, if I have missed something and there is a missing link to another page, the only way for it to be rectified is for the player to quit the game/ close the tab and reopen it again, or click the link again. This is not ideal but is the only thing I can do as this mistake is human error. 

Another issue I could have faced relates to the time frame we were given. At the start of the project, we were given a specific time frame that we planned many things along to. This was to ensure that the work we were doing was on schedule and progressing as well as it could be. Unfortunately, a few weeks into the project the deadline and hand in date for our FMP was brought forward. This could have brought a plethora of issues along with it. Because I planned my project around a specific hand in date, the deadline being brought forward would mean I would have to work quicker and more efficiently. Luckily I had already thought of a back up plan in case my project fell short of the hand in date.

There was a possibility that due to the deadline being brought forward, that I would possibly not be able to complete all parts of my FMP. When I started my FMP, the storyline that would accompany the game I was making was a lot longer and included 2 NPC’s rather than just one. There was a possibility that due to this shorter timeframe, I wouldn’t have been able to even finish the games wireframe or any of the assets if I went along with the plan to have a longer story line and 2 NPC’s. For example I planned to rig the whole game up the week before the hand in date, on the week starting the 10th May. However due to the now shorter time restraints, I had to push this forward and started rigging my entire final game the week starting the 3rd of May. A lot of my planned work had to be done at least a week before I had originally planned, which could have set my development back a lot further if I hadn’t minimised the contents of my game prior to this. Below is my time plan before the deadline was changed- showing that I planned to rig my game a week or so later than I actually did.

As a way to fix this before I couldn’t, I decided to shorten the storyline by quite a lot, making it less convoluted and easier to understand and also get rid of the second NPC so there could be more focus on the main NPC. Because of this, I was able to keep as on track as possible and eventually hit where I wanted to be when the project was due to be handed in. If I hadn’t made the decision to shorten the overall project I would have struggled to create so many assets and dialog options that I would be very limited in terms of finished gameplay. 

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COVID 19 and Gaming

Due to the 6 month long lockdown, the internet saw a surge in many different trends. These varied from TikTok trends of dances and making banana bread, to a huge surge in the use of streaming platform Twitch and the gaming scene. Many were turning to E-sports and gaming to keep with the current trends and to stop the boredom with quarantine. Some games including the still-popular Animal Crossing: New Horizons sold massive amounts of copies when it released, and actually resulted in a worldwide Nintendo Switch shortage as this was the only console the game was available on. In addition to this, the streaming platform Twitch has seen a huge rise in daily users over the past year. This graph below found on  https://twitchtracker.com/statistics shows the total hours watched on Twitch per year. We can see that around the mid-2020 mark there was a huge spike in views that we can assume is due to the lockdown as many people discovered the streaming platform. It is likely that the mix of quarantine boredom and wanting to keep up with trends is what drove a lot of people to this platform, whether it to be a streamer or viewer. Despite the platform not just accommodating game streams, but a large variety of other topics from ASMR to Art to ‘Just Chatting’, the most popular category seems to be the gaming categories, which include games like League of Legends, Fortnite and Overwatch. In 2019 alone, League of Legends gathered over 1 billion hours of content watched. https://escharts.com/blog/twitch-top-games-2019

This huge spike in interest into gaming is what inspired me to make my FMP a game. I, like most people, found my way onto the gaming scene (as a viewer) and have become very interested in the variety of games that are available. I knew the market for games is huge at the moment, and decided to use this as my reasoning for creating a game. Obviously my game is not like some of the more popular counter parts, like Fortnite or Overwatch as those are both adventure/ action based games with first person POVs, whereas mine is a simple click through game. However, the popularity of the simpler games, such as SallyFace is not understated- that game in particular has over 2 billion views on TikTok alone. The popularity of smaller indie games is still huge.

https://www.analyticsinsight.net/gaming-boom-in-covid-19-times-analysis-insights/

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Asset compilation

In order: Room 1, Room 2, Room 3, Title card, NPC Reference sheet, Arrow clickable asset, Dialog bar

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Final Wireframe

https://xd.adobe.com/view/a0c4e8d1-8ced-4f76-a8a3-af513dc4973a-f597/?fullscreen&hints=off

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Last week project reflection (17/5/21)

Coming up to the end of my project, I have almost completed my full FMP in line with my time plan. However, I will not have a fully completed game as nearing the end of the project, my planning and reflections take priority over the final touches I need to add. Unless I have a little bit of extra time, I will not be adding my character sprites to my final game before the hand in. This means the whole game will run as normal, but the NPC will be absent. I have finished the NPC sprites but because of time restraints I have decided against adding them. I am happy with the rest of my production however, as I think my time management was very efficient. I managed to balance changing major parts of my project, such as changing the number of NPC’s and working with software issues when creating logos and managed to keep on track. 

However, there are a lot of things I am unsatisfied with and hope to learn from.  For example, I originally planned for my game to be a lot longer, with 5 or more locations, but as I progressed my development I realised that not only would this hinder my overall progression as it would be a huge setback, but it would also complicate my games story line. Having 5 or more locations rather than the 3 would mean the complexity of development would surpass the time frame I had set, and would possibly mean I would have to rush production in order to finish it on time. Because of this, I hope to set more realistic aims and goals for future projects as I was overestimating how much work I could complete. In addition to this, I believe my overall planning of the storyline/ dialog could have been planned a lot better. Even though I had an idea of how I wanted the story to progress, I found that I was making up dialog scenes on the spot when completing my wireframe. This was inefficient as I wasted time trying to brainstorm new dialog when I could have done it separately. 

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Logo designs

When creating my logo, I had a certain aspect that I knew I wanted in a logo. I knew I wanted the white line through the letters to be included somewhere on the logo design, which is something I kept in mind when testing out logo ideas. I wanted to have this white line split the top and bottom of the text- this is to symbolise the line between dreams and reality- a topic I have included in my game experience. I thought this symbolism would be essential to include as logos tend to be the first impression most people have of a product or game, so when people see my logo I want them to understand that there is a line between something specific in my game. 

When designing my logos I wanted a bold, readable font that is easy to see from a distance. Even with the line through the middle, which I thought would be a hinderance to the legibility of my logo, I got peer feedback, in which I was told that the logo is legible and looks good. 

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Dreams and my project (12/5/21)

The plot of my game is a simple click-through experience, where in which the player, a character named Jackson, wakes up in an empty and mysterious hallway. They are dazed and confused and question their surroundings. Soon the NPC of my game, introduced as Ten, arrives and greets the player. They both converse for a while and Ten explains why Jackson is there but vaguely. Ten tells them that he will try and help Jackson get out of this place they are stuck in. They move from the first room to another, and the story starts to branch off.

Ten asks some questions about Jacksons familiarity with the places/rooms they are in. Depending on which answer the player clicks on determines which route the game takes. Each route are similar, but there is a good and bad ending depending on this. At the end, in the final room (with the bouncy house), it is revealed that this room is an important room and that Jackson does know it in the past. Depending on this rooms question depends which path the final part of the story takes. It is revealed at the end of the good ending that Jackson is now awake in their bed and was lucid dreaming, a side effect of their Bipolar Disorder. It is shown that they have the same dream every single night and ‘can’t escape it’ no matter what they try. The bad ending tells a similar story but Jackson doesn’t wake up- and instead is trapped in a repeating loop of the same dream until he answers the right way to escape. 

I chose this storyline as I felt it was an interesting take on the ‘it was a dream’ trope, where the character relives the same situation until it is rectified rather than just waking up at the end of the dream. In an article I found (https://www.verywellmind.com/does-bipolar-disorder-affect-dreams-380570) , it states that dreams in people with Bipolar Disorder can link to a possible upcoming manic episode, which is why the character, ‘Jackson’ seems irregular and irritated the whole game. 

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Presentation

Due to Covid-19 and social distancing measures, we are unable to do a face-to-face exhibition as planned. However my project will still need to be presented in either a virtual or physical way.

As we are not having an in-person exhibition we will be holding a virtual one instead, similar to last year. In order to do this, I have a few different ways I could present my project. 

This includes adding a link to whichever site we are presenting on. The link will be to Adobe XD, where people are free to play the game as intended, using the ‘share’ tool on Adobe XD. This is most likely the way I will present it as it is exactly how most games are played and will give the viewer a chance to chose which paths to take in order to finish the game. Another way I could present my FMP is uploading all the assets made (logo, character sprites, arrows etc.) and let the viewers navigate them as a portfolio rather than the final game. It is a possible I could do both of these options as I think it would be beneficial for the viewers to first play the game, then get the chance to look through the individual parts of the game. This might also prompt people to replay it as they will know that there is more than one ending. I will also be annotating the assets, so there will be readable information to look through. Below is a rough idea of what this could look like. I would have complete creative control over this so the colours and layout may vary depending on what I decide to go with. 

Another way I could present my game online is through an online presentation of my idea. I would talk through my overall process, from the idea to the finished project, then have a separate link that people can click on and play-through in their own time. This would allow me to personally explain my game rather than just type it out and would give me the opportunity to show off my own skills. 

The final idea for my virtual presentation would be in the form of an actual virtual walk through exhibition. The rest of my peers would each have their individual pages as to not muddle each others work up so I will have my own space for my work. This exhibition will allow people to visit each page and virtually walk through my work. They will be able to click on each asset and see the illustrations in much better detail as if they are actually in an exhibition. Somewhere on the page will be a link to my game where they can test it how and when they would like to. 

If we were to do an in-person exhibition, I would most likely have either MacBook's or iPad/tablets available with the game to play on for those who want to play through it. There would be multiple of these devices so more than one person can play it at once. This means the game will feel more like a click-through game experience rather than a PowerPoint presentation like the virtual exhibition might. I would also do a similar thing with the assets of my project and present those separately. I would create an A3 portfolio of all the different design choices I had for locations and character designs that anyone can look through if they wanted to. This would be beneficial as more people can view my work at the same time; more than one person could play the game on an iPad or laptop while others could look through a portfolio of my character designs and processes. 

Another way for me to present my FMP in person would be through a presentation I have made on Powerpoint. This would be then presented by me as I talk through my process and design points. At the end of this presentation I could include a link people can follow on their own phones or have an iPad/ laptop available for people to test it out on. This will give me the opportunity to use my own words to walk people through my process. It also allows people to ask any questions. 

The final idea I have for in person presentation is similar to the prior one, but instead there will be a big screen (tv or otherwise) linked to a laptop where people can play my game on. This is good as it gives the opportunity for people who may not get the chance to test the game to watch others play it. It the same time I would be talking and presenting the assets I have made on an iPad to show my process. 

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Game trends in the 21st century (13/5/21)

Over the years, games and gaming in general has fluctuated in popularity. Ten or so years ago, games were popular, but it was seen as ‘nerdy’ or boring. Over time, different genres of games have come and gone, with the odd few games being huge cultural successes, inside and outside the gaming community. Although gaming was popular in the 80s, when it was starting up with the likes of Nintendo games (Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda etc. https://www.eightieskids.com/20-greatest-video-games-of-the-80s/) and consoles such as the Playboy, nobody really predicted how quickly games would skyrocket in both popularity and quality. There are a vast variety of game genres, such as platform, shooter, horror, click-and-point, action and adventure, all of which are hugely popular over the globe. There has, however, never seemed to be a game genre (horror, action, mystery etc) that is consistently popular throughout the decades, there always seems to be a new game with a different genre that is popular every year. For example, just in 2020 alone, a huge variety of games rose in popularity, including games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Hades, The Last of Us part II, Genshin Impact and Among Us.

Each of these games are independent and have individual genres to them. Animal Crossing (only available on the Nintendo Switch) is a life simulator game that runs in real time, Hades is a dungeon crawler style game, The Last of Us 2 is an action-adventure game, Genshin Impact is an action-based roleplaying game and Among Us (Probably the most unexpected game to become popular in 2020) is a multiplayer online social deduction game. Each game is incredibly unique and has a diverse playable experience. In addition to this, excluding Animal Crossing and The Last of Us 2, all these games are brand new ideas and brought new ideas to the gaming industry. 

The sudden rise in the popularity of these games in the last year can be pinpointed to the lockdown rules brought in as a response to deal with Covid-19.  Animal Crossing: New Horizons was released on 20th March 2020, four days after the first official UK lockdown began. This is most likely why the game (and the Nintendo Switch console respectively) were sold out nationwide for months afterwards. Everyone was starting to get bored, and a life simulator game that allows for a whimsical form of escapism is exactly what most people were looking for to entertain themselves over the quarantine. Another example of this is Fall Guys, a game that was popular in the summer, mostly due to Twitch streamers and Youtubers playing the game constantly.  People gravitated to the competitive and multiplayer aspects of this game- it works like a real life obstacle course that players could battle to reach the end of. 

https://www.theverge.com/22163356/2020-pandemic-video-games-social-animal-crossing-fall-guys-twitch

Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Above) Genshin Impact (Below)

Personally, I picked a variety of indie games that became popular around 2015-2017 to use as my main inspiration for my game overall. These games were not best-sellers, and not all of them are very well known. However, the unique and riveting storylines and beautiful and intriguing art styles are what prompted me to go down the path I did. Five Nights at Freddy's (a 7 game indie horror series with an eighth game releasing later this year) is one of my personal favourite video games. This is the genre I wanted to go down. I enjoy the dark and grimy aesthetic of the games, and the art style which I find particularly intriguing. https://store.steampowered.com/app/319510/Five_Nights_at_Freddys/

Other games that inspired me are Sallyface (2016) by developer Steve Gabry and Little Misfortune (2019) by developers Killmonday games. Both of these games are unique and inspired me and my FMP development in different ways. Sallyface’s dark and grimy aesthetic and Little Misfortune’s unique and dream-like art style are both things that have influenced me to develop my game with these in mind. 

Based on this research, I am creating a game that I think would fit in with the sudden rise in gaming popularity. In addition to this, the opportune timing means my game, if it were released, would be released into a gaming world that has suddenly boomed with popularity. 

Each game I have spoken about is unique and has an individual style and aesthetic that made each game something completely special and separate from the other popular games. I am creating a game to fit in with this as there has not been a hugely popular click through game which is what I aim to make. I will be using my knowledge and understanding of what makes these other games popular (escapism, good characters, lock down rules etc.) to further my own game and make it as realistically enjoyable as if it was to be released on a gaming platform. 

 (https://www.ranker.com/list/most-popular-video-games-today/ranker-games )

https://www.businessinsider.com/best-selling-video-game-every-year-2018-11?r=US&IR=T#2008-rock-band-playstation-3-xbox-360-wii-playstation-2-14 

https://stackward.com/hottest-gaming-trends-21st-century-pop-culture/35726

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Daily reflection (10/5/21)

Today in the first lesson I used Procreate to finish the second illustration, then used Adobe XD to input this drawing and added my dialog and different story paths onto it using the wireframe I made previously as a guide. I am happy with the progress I made in the first lesson alone as I can now move onto my next steps- finishing my background illustrations and start on my NPC illustrations. I aim to get at least one more illustration done today, and to input this into Adobe XD and add the dialog with it. The white box signifies to myself that I need to add a different background illustration here, which is what I will be working on next. 

Working on the third illustration. Again, I decided to challenge myself with a more artistic liberty approach, and will be trying to create a scene using a reference as inspiration only. I added some more details in the foreground, as seen above in the form of a ball pit. This is hopefully to add some depth to my illustrations, and to fake perspective. The blue lines are the guidelines from the perspective tool in Procreate- I used this tool to help me understand perspective a bit better. It also gave me a main focal point, which is something I can focus on when rendering.

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Second Illustration

I started the second background illustration after I started my final wireframe of my game. I used another reference photo but decided to make this illustration more independent - I am only using the reference photo as a reference for the perspective, as this is an issue I came across with the first drawing. 

This is my final illustration for the second room/location. I decided to flip the original sketch and take more of an artistic liberty with this illustration. I decided just to include the bed as it felt more creepy and unnerving if there was only one simple item in the room. As to keep all my illustrations consistent, I used the same layer modes and techniques as the first illustration. I added a black layer on the top of all my other layers and set it to overlay. This created a darker look, which looked grimier and overall give it a better aesthetic. I then wanted to create the ‘dreamy’ look, with the aberrated colours. I did this by exporting the whole drawing, and re-importing it into the file, on top of all the other layers. I then used the Chromatic Aberration tool in Procreate and used the airbrush feature to lightly go over the illustration and highlight the parts that stand out the most. (Below is the illustration without the chromatic aberration layer) 

A close up of the final illustration, plus the different layers and which layer modes I used. (Normal and overlay). The top layer is an inserted image of the final file, with the added chromatic aberration details on it.

Similarly to the other illustrations, I kept my artist research and game inspiration as inspiration when rendering them. Below is a piece by Xier-Art of Art station- they make good use of textured brushes and effects that make the whole image look hazy and ethereal. The glow emitting from the lights is eerie and something I enjoyed looking at when I found this piece.

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Weekly reflection (07/05/21)

On the week starting 3rd May, I decided to start on the background illustrations for my project. I aimed to have three completed by the end of this week, and decided to do these all on Procreate on my iPad. I decided this as Procreate is not only regarded as industry level, on par with Adobe Illustrator, but it is the program I am the most familiar in regards to illustrating as I use it on a daily basis. For the majority it shares features with other Adobe illustrating software such as Illustrator, Draw and Photoshop such as the lasso tool, different layer modes and masks. 

I started off well, and completed most of the first illustration quite quickly, but I struggled a lot with the overall aesthetic and didn’t know how to get it to look how I wanted, so I ended up spending too much time on it. This means that later in the week I had to work a lot harder on the rest of the illustrations, and will have to work on them efficiently in order to get it completed in time.

I had some issues with software, such as inconvenient updates but nothing got in the way too much. However, on Thursday I started to work on my final wireframe in Adobe XD, which would be the wireframe I would use for the final product but the laptop I was working on didn’t have a trackpad that worked properly- the scroll didn’t work and wouldn’t allow me to move around on the Adobe XD file, which made it near impossible to use. To fix this, I decided to work on the rest of my illustrations and wait until I had another laptop/desktop to work on. This just meant that I was slightly behind in the order of how I wanted to do things and meant I would have to work quicker in order to stay on target.  

Thursday afternoon I managed to be able to start the work on my final wireframe for my project in Adobe XD. I started to add the background illustrations that I have started, and added a title card and the other assets like the dialog bar and an arrow to click and interact with. Below is just a small amount of work that I have started on. As I have not yet made the character sprite illustration as this is something I will be doing last minute, I have added ‘NPC ENTER’ in large text to show where the NPC will enter. This makes it easier for me to map out and see where each part of the story connects and for me to get it correctly. 

Here I have added a screenshot of the work I managed to do on Thursday. I made very good progress and started to get into the more complex part of my story, which includes multiple choice questions and some interaction from the player. The white boxes signify a change of location, as seen in the dialog, but as I haven’t illustrated the next location yet I am using the white to show myself where the location change will happen. In addition to mapping this all out, I used the ‘prototype’ tab in Adobe XD to link each page to another. This is what my arrow asset was for, as clicking on each page seemed too unprofessional and may confuse some people when the question areas start as there may be too much to click on and might be confusing. I used my first wireframe as reference when making this one as it helped me map it out correctly. It was also easy to see which frame is linked to which.