BA7

BA7 is the first project of BA Games Art and Design, the goal of this year is to prepare myself ready into going into the world of the games industry or creating a good profile to get into higher education. This year i have chosen to work on my own game design focusing on building a good foundation so that i could potentially become a Game Designer in the future.

Starting BA7 we have prepared a learning agreement to tell the university our plan for the year and to give ourselves our own goals and projects. The idea is to be able to set our own goals and tasks to understand project management and time keeping as this is a important part of the games industry. We have had to make clear choices and explain reasons for choosing what we are personally going to do.

This is my Learning Agreement Draft that defines what i will be aiming to do for BA7 and BA8:

Proposal: What do you intend to do?
I intend to improve on myself as a gameʼs designer and learn what I need to know ready for to go into the Games Industry. This yearʼs project will be split into two game design documents for a potential 2.5D video game preferably for the Apple App Store. My Research Report will be looking at how the industry has changed using Micro Transactions as a means of generating profit.
My strength lies in fundamental design work and looking at how concepts can convey the game mechanics and visual identity of the game. I will be looking at my work with a critical eye and ensuring that my game concept will go through many stages clearing the concept of unnecessary ideas and refining the idea into a fully designed game. I want to become a Games Designer in the games industry, this means I will need to be able to produce strong game documents and evidenced concepts, research and play tests.

While researching I will be keeping a research blog which will be updated on a weekly bases. It will contain all relevant research and materials I have found as well as reflecting on project. My research report title is ʻHow have ʻʼMicro-Transactionsʼ changed the nature of gamesʼ profit and income, with specific reference to Facebook games?ʼ. As a extended essay, the research report will focus on how game companies have taken on board micro-transactions in many different ways to help improve on the amount of money they earn per game. My information will come from a mix of primary, secondary and tertiary research, I will be using the library as a main source of research as well as internet resources. Jesse Schell is a starting point for my research, as he has talked at the 2010 D.I.C.E summit about how social games use micro-transactions to earn money rather than pricing the game.

My focus is on the full design of the game, creating a solid game document that shows the process of the game and the game theory. I will be putting a lot of work into the design and feel of the game, looking the art design and drawn concepts. Software like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator will be my main equipment to design 2D designs.
Other games like Angry Birds, Plants Vs Zombies and Cloud all relate to what i want to create and achieve, looking at each game and researching what made them successful and how different mechanics made there game would be useful to see how i could implement highly successful theories into my on concept.

Assessment Work:
The game concept is called ʻNimboʼ a small 2.5d side scroller game. The game is based around weather and creating a nature friendly game that is both amusing and fun to play for a young audience ( 6 years +). The concept is how a playable cloud ʻNimboʼ could save plants using different weather from ʻenemiesʼ to earn its right to be a fully grown cloud.
The first GDD will focus on the research and base concept for the design. It will follow my creative thought process as a game designer. The process may go through many levels like choosing my concept, building the initial idea and focused research around the concept. I will be starting from my early concept ideas and why I thought it was the most promising concept leading on to my first design of the game. This will be looking at todayʼs game market and game cultures to make sure Iʼm adhering to todayʼs emerging practises and showing knowledge of the industry. (L01)

My first research report draft will be consisting of mostly research and research methods, showing clear goals and analysis of information. The aim is to create a clear layout structure of information I have gathered and displaying it in a written format. The area of study is Micro Transactions and how they changed the games industry. (L02)

This first design will look at story concepts and how different stories will affect the outcome of the game, playerʼs connection and audience type. I will be looking at the narrative based theories and other games have used these to create stories. This will help me to choose what will be the best story concept and influence how my story will turn out. (L03)

Based around the concept and audience I will look at possible platforms for my game and what would be the best choice. Platform will be mostly looking around interactive methods, profit and reaching an audience. These are choices that need informed judgements as they can effect the whole outcome of the game from gameplay and interaction to character design and programming.(L05)

I will be designing my initial character and designing simple designs for other areas of the game like assets and enemies to allow a picture of what the game might look like. I will be approaching this by designing 2D concept art. The art will show my current visual ideas of what the game should look like. Development of these characters is important but will be fully analysed and considered during BA8 for the final designs.(L06)

Minimum expected outcomes for BA7:

- A full first draft game concept
- Strong research into Audiences and Platforms
- Minimum 1000 word draft Research Report.
- Research Blog

Following on later during the year I will create my 2nd GDD that will fully flesh out my game concept from the first GDD. The process will be following on what I learnt from the first research GDD. With a strong research GDD base i will be able to create the designs for the game, focusing on game play and mechanics.

Artistic style will have to be determined; this will then effect my designs for characters, levels, and enemies. Each will go under analysis making sure that every design fits the game design, art style and feel of the game as well as how necessary the components and could it be improved or modified to be more efficient. (L07)

Game testing and researching game mechanics will be a crucial element of my BA8 project. Exploring different game mechanics and how they work whilst applying them will be what creates my gameplay, while documenting outcomes and creative choices relating the gameplay and results to the current games market. This will also mean looking at creating gameplay and mechanics for different types of platforms for my game concept, hopefully refining down key elements that can be put across without fundamentally changing the game. (L09)

I will be creating menu designs and flow charts as well as researching Micro Transactions and how i could implement small payments for extra in game items or points. Using the body of research for my research document will help me understand how i could use Micro- transactions to help create more profit if the game was to be made.

An animation of the game rules and how it plays will be a finalised realisation of my work as a whole. Using an animation as well as written game rules would help outsiders such as other members of a game company understand how it will work and what they need to do to make the game and visual images can be easier to learn as it breaks the language barrier. It will bring together all aspects of the game together into one. (L11)

My research report title is ʻHow have ʻʼMicro-Transactionsʼ changed the nature of gamesʼ profit and income, with specific reference to Facebook games?ʼ Micro-transactions have changed how companyʼs sell and produce theyʼre games to earn profit. Today social games are all the range but they all rely on players paying for small in game items or virtual money. With this mechanic there was a boom in the amount of companies creating small based Free-to-play games. There is a large argument over how this has effected the games industry for good and bad and I want to see how this has effected how games companies have used micro-transactions to potentially create profit. (L08)

My blog will show a large amount of research from multiple areas. It will hold everything I have learnt and researched over the allowed time period and communicate my creative thoughts and ideas. The blog will also be a good way of keeping in check to time allowance to areas of design and research. (L10) (L12)

Minimum expected outcomes for BA8:

- A finished fully realised game design
- Storyboarded narrative
- Menu and Navigation designs
- A short animation showing the game rules.
- Strong research blog
- 5000 Extended Essay on ʻHow have ʻʼMicro-Transactionsʼ changed the nature of gamesʼ profit and income, with specific reference to Facebook games?ʼ
- Website
- Show Reel

Resource requirements: Tutorials in Photoshop and Illustrator would help in with improving
my design work. Access to an IPad and a IPhone would be useful for primary research.