Tuesday, 11 July 2017

Game visuals (Hand Drawn)

 
First image - Logo
 
Second image - Level 1
 
Third image - Level 2
 
 
 
The game is played by using the arrow keys/WASD to move your character and using the space bar to jump. The player is competing in the space Olympics in a number of different events. In each of these events, the player will find a number of obstacles in their way which they are going to have to jump over. The objective in each level is to finish above your competitors in whatever event you are competing in. The higher up in the rankings the player finishes in each event, the more points they will score towards the overall Olympic Games leader boards which will determine which competitor has come out on top in the Olympic Games.
Level 1 and Level 2 have been shown in the screenshots above and so has the logo. Level 1 takes place in outer space as we know it, being pitch black and littered with stars and planets throughout. The event in this level is a hurdle race, in which the player will have to jump over a series of hurdles and attempt to cross the finish line before anyone else.
Level 2 does take place in space, however, it takes place in an alternate universe where space is bright, but still contains planets and stars. The event featured in this level is the long jump, in which players can win the event by jumping the furthest.
The game has purposely been designed to have a silly and comedic feel, this appeals to my target audience as younger people will be attracted to the silliness as it echoes fun, which is what younger people are most drawn to. This game will also attract indie game enthusiasts as this game is an indie game to its core, which will make indie game lovers want to at least try it out.
 
 
 

Wednesday, 5 July 2017

D1


D1

It is always important to give yourself a sufficient amount of time to get a project complete, that is why I have decided to give myself 82 weeks to fully complete my game; Astronomical Sportsperson. To balance this 82 weeks out across the full development of the game, I have decided to create a Gantt chart. This Gantt chart shows exactly how much time I will need to be spending on each area of the game’s development which prevents me from going into developing the game without a planned schedule and missing the deadline for when the game needs to be released. For example, My Gantt chart shows that 10 weeks should be spent first doing research, 12 weeks should be spent on engine development and 5 weeks should be spent on testing. This is just to name a few areas however, it does still show how my Gantt chart is able to schedule every single task to ensure that the game will be released on time as well as showing specifically why my game is going to take 82 weeks to make. Other tasks my Gantt chart covers include; storyboards, concept art, character modelling, level design, game mechanics, artwork, music, sound, beta release, feedback analysis, bug patching and the release day.

Fortunately, the popularity of my game isn’t something that I need to worry about too much. This is because there has been a huge growth in the indie games’ market in recent years which has led to indie game marketplaces such as Steam being at the forefront of the game industry with many gamers opting to buy indie games from the steam market place instead of going out and buying themselves.

The release date for my game is going to be August. I believe this is the perfect month to release an indie game such as mine, this is because many huge franchises such as Call of Duty, Battlefield and FIFA choose to bring their games out between September and December so that their games can be in store for the coming Christmas which will massively boost their sales. This means that smaller games that come out around the same time period are often over looked by consumers due to the hype surrounding the up-coming triple AAA titles that year, which is why it is best for smaller indie games such as mine to release slightly earlier to reach maximum sale figures.

Before the game is released in August, I will have to make sure that all the legal and ethical issues that the game is going to face are taken care of to avoid any law suits cropping up once the game is released. The game will also have been tested multiple times which will massively reduce the number of bugs embedded within the game come lunch day. I will also be employing an effective marketing team who can market the game to consumers sufficiently before its release to generate hype for the game, this is important as few people are willing to buy a game unless people are talking about it.