Layers Jigsaw Exercise
Layers Manipulation Exercise
Selection Exercise
Introductory Assignment
Assignment
brief
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Qualification
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90 Credit Diploma in Creative
Media Production - Games Design
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Unit
number and title
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Unit 3 –
Research Techniques for the Creative Media Industries - partial
Unit 73 –
Sound for Computer Games - partial
Unit 78 – Digital Graphics for Computer
Games - partial
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Assessor
name
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Harry
Arnold
Jordan
Eastwood
Iain Goodyear
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Date
issued
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03/09/2015
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Hand
in deadline
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22/09/2015
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Assignment
title
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Introductory Assignment – EGI Platformer
Pitch
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The purpose of this assignment is
to demonstrate that the learner is introduced to:
• Applying
a range of research methods and techniques
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Creating sound assets for a computer game
following industry practice
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Creating digital graphics for a computer game
following industry practice
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Scenario
Joining the games
design course at Eccles Sixth Form Centre, you have become a member of EGI,
Eccles Games Incubator and your first assignment will assess your strengths,
weaknesses and suitability for the course.
Over the next
three weeks you are going to devise a concept for an original platformer game
to be pitched via a presentation on a blog.
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Task 1
Carry out visual and written research
into classic and contemporary platform games. Publish your findings to your
Introductory Assignment blog.
This
provides evidence Unit 3 – P2, M2, D2
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Task 2
Generate a wide range of ideas for
your platform game, paying particular attention to the objective, setting,
character and mechanics. Evidence this in your Introductory Assignment blog.
This
provides evidence Unit 3 – P2, M2, D2
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Task 3
Produce a detailed written overview
of your game, and character profile. Evidence this in your Introductory
Assignment blog.
This
provides evidence Unit 3 – P2, M2, D2
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Task 4
Create a prototype which
establishes the mechanics of one level of your platform game. Evidence this
in your Introductory Assignment blog.
This
provides evidence Unit 3 – P2, M2, D2
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Task 5
Create a minimum of three dialogue sequences and three
sound effects for your character. Evidence this in your Introductory
Assignment blog.
This
provides evidence Unit 73 – P3, M3, D3
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Task 6
Create concept artwork for your character and background
designs for one level of your game. Evidence this in your Introductory
Assignment blog.
This
provides evidence Unit 78 – P3, M3, D3
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Evidence checklist
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Tick
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Platform game
research
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Game ideas
generation
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Game mechanics
prototype
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Audio assets
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Art assets
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Task 1: Research
Date released: 1993
Audience: Male and female 6+
Genre: Action
Super frog is a classic action game which came out in the year 1993. The objective of the game is to find and kill a witch to help save his princess.
There are 6 levels but during these 6 levels you have to achieve mini objectives such as collecting keys, coins, apples, finding secret hide outs and killing/jumping over enemy’s.
Super frog game map: http://www.dvdflick.net/storage/l1ma1.png
The game starts off where the princess is taken away from her prince which is then
turned into a frog by an evil witch. The frog then drinks a bottle which gives him super powers. The music is quite basic and a bit fairy tale which I personally like because it fits into the princess and frog theme. It then goes into the credits and a screen comes up where it explains how points work.
(Super Frog- Part one.)
o Introduces collecting coins
o Essential to jump to collect objects and jump over spikes
o Basic enemies (Blobs) easy to kill and avoid.
The frog falls down from the sky and lands on the floor, straight away it introduces you to coins in the air suggesting that you have to jump to collect the coins. After walking just a bit you come across cherry’s which you already know is 50 points from the beginning of the game, so you know you have to collect these.Also in the first part it introduces an simple enemy which doesn't cause much harm and is easy to get rid of especially with how simple super frog’s controls are. The first enemy is a little blob which only takes a jump on the head to get rid of. But to get to the cherry and enemies you have to jump over a small ditch off spikes. It’s easy to jump with super frog so this bit isn’t too difficult and is just an introduction to the games controls.
(Super frog-Part two)
o Jumping on springs to get coins and on floating islands.
o Longer jumps/Double jumps
o Secret tunnels
o Harder enemies e.g. hedgehogs
o Jumping on certain clouds result in more coins
After you have defeated the first enemies and carry on walking it’s easy to see that the game is getting more adventures and challenging. Springs are introduced in a simple way, There easy to jump too and it’s easy to recognise that the spring is essential to collect coins in the air. While in the air you also see flying ‘islands’ you can try one jump which sometimes isn’t good enough and you fall back down. This is helping the user to understand that double jump is essential in some parts of the game. I like how the game decided to use the springs this simple because the springs are quite close to the beginning of the game so I do like how they are covering the basics while in the first half of the map.
Secret tunnels are a big feature in this game. They hide so many points which are kind of essential to the game as the main objective may be to find keys to help capture the witch. However at the end of each round the points are counted up from all the coins and fruits you collect. The results can result you being in the leader board. The first tunnel you had to walk down a long pat to then jump on a spring which resulted you being launched up into quite a few of coins and launched back out through some logs. I like that feature, you could walk over the logs as much as you like but you won’t fall through into the secret tunnel, instead you have to find the tunnel and bounce back out into logs which is unexpected. 
(Super frog-Part 3)
o Jumping/climbing on trees
o Snails, hedgehogs and bees are more involved
o Spikes
o Getting up on higher places
o Mushroom coins
In part 3 of the map I realized that I had to get onto a big ‘cliff’ and the only way to do that is to jump on to the tree branches kind of like climbing the tree. It’s easy to see that you do have to jump the trees to get there because they make the tree branches stand out a lot. If you fall of a branch you have to start from the beginning and hope you don’t fall into the spikes at the bottom of the trees.
However on the right hand side of the spikes there is a tunnel which you just have to walk into the wall to make the tunnel appear. In the tunnel there is a spring which shoots you out into some coins and you appear at the top of the Cliff. But if you want to carry on climbing the tree you has to battle bee’s which fly at you and attempts to attack you which is a lot more challenging. The main feature I noticed in this part of super frog is that there are mushrooms which rapidity spit out coins. So instead of just jumping on an enemy and getting one you can jump near a mushroom and get several.
(Super frog-Part 4)
o Arrows saying danger- Makes it a bit more tense but also allows the player to become more prepared and more excited for what’s coming up in this part of the map.
o Loads of springs- Bit more complicated
You slide down a hill of apples after the sign danger, after sliding down you have to jump over a row of spikes which then leads you into a row of springs. Above the springs there’s an A lot of coins, you have to jump spring to spring while trying to collect the coins and moving across. After moving across the springs you can spring onto the ledge which you then carry on sliding down a hill full of coins until you get to the tree which symbols the end of that round. Around the tree there is quite a lot of enemy’s waiting for you. It is quite obvious that you do have to try and kill the enemy’s to get into the tree and move onto the next round. 
In conclusion I think the game is a good old classic. It has all the basic but yet important moves such as hitting, jumping and collecting coins. I think that having classic moves is one of the main reasons why I like this game so much. They made the round quite simple at first but as the map goes on those moves become more difficult and the gamer establishes that the game will get more difficult as it gets on and that they have to be find and collect object’s for there mini/Bonus objective as well as help find the princess and destroy the witch. However I do think the game could use more tunnels or something
to give the game more of a twist like different enemy’s etc. I think this will help the user want to carry on because it will be more entertaining. But overall I am impressed with the game and like many of the features which is included in this map.
VVVVVV
Date released: 2010
Audience: 8+
VVVVVV’s game map
When you first begin VVVVVV a mini story stars as an introduction of the game's story line. In the Story it shows that Captain Viridian who the player controls, is lost in an alternative dimension and is searching for the other five missing members of the spaceship's crew (Doctor Victoria, Officer Vermillion, Professor Vitellary, Chief Verdigris, and Doctor Violet)
There is an box explaining how you can skip the story by pressing the action key which can be either the space bar, z or u. The music in the game is quite loud and robotic for example when you press pause the sound is a loud beep. In my opinion I don't like the music. I find that the music is quite repetitive and can get a bit annoying however the music does clash into the games theme of being in to an alternative dimension which is 'robotic' 'futurist' and 'modern'.
Source: http://www.giantbomb.com/dimension-vvvvvv/3035-3440/characters/
Your first challenge is doing a 'flip' over some spikes. Instead of jumping an dialogue comes up explaining how you have to press the action key to control the direction/flipping the gravity. Once pressed the man flips over to the other side of the room making it easier to walk past the spikes.
Once passed the next challenge is to do a ‘leap of faith’. This is where the player has to turn off gravity again which flips you through an room until it hits the floor of the opposite room. I like this effect because it was unexpected to fly across an empty room, you can also bounce back through the ‘leap of faith’ onto the floor you was previously.
After the leap of faith the player has to face an more trickier situation,this is called traffic jam. In this round there is red little stop signs bouncing onto both walls vertically.The player has to use the action key several times this is challenging because of how fast the enemy's are. They have to learn how to press the action key at the right moment to pass through the enemy's. In vvvvvv you cant hit or kill any enemy, Once you die you return back to the checkpoint.
Once passed you can easily tell that the game is getting more difficult each room you go through. In this room there is two checkpoints. You can see that only one check point is lighten up, that is because the player has walked past the check point to activate the checkpoint. This means that when the player next dies they will get transported to check point which is lighten up. To get past this level you have to use two keys at the same time. For example you have to use the left moving key and then the action key at the right time to make the captain switch over before he lands into the spikes. This is more difficult because its making the users think of coordinating the buttons at the right moment before the gravity pulls the captain into spikes.
In the next round which is named 'linear collider' It firstly introduces a tiny telly icon. When you go near the little telly icon and press the enter key it shows a message from one of the crew members. The next feature I noticed in this round is the green icon enemy. they are similar to the the red stop men however the green icons are moving horizontal. 
To get pass the green icons moving then you simple have to press action to dodge them. I like how they did this feature because its the opposite of the red moving men because the red men were going vertical and slower while the green icons are going faster and horizontal. I personally think this is telling the user that each round is going to be more unique and more difficult than the previous round.
This level is called security sweep. There is a big red ball which is 'sweeping' up and down vertically. To get past this round you have to learn how to tackle timing the gravity right or else you will die and return back to the closest check point.
After getting past the security sweep the next round is 'gantry and dolly'. In gantry and doll there Three new more features. firstly you come across an regular log to help you walk across the spikes without falling into the spikes and dying. However when you are on the log it start to unexpectedly crack and break up giving you only seconds to run across the log and bounce back onto the other side.
After successfully getting past the log you walk into a room where there are messages getting passed through an computer to communicate with you character. I like how the game is breaking up the story and making the Player get to certain sections to listen to the story of the game. Also in this section it introduces the map feature by pressing the enter key, this is helpful because it allows the player to understand what their objective is and how they have to get there. However the map isn't very detailed and doesn't provide a lot of help. 
The next feature is a lot more difficult than any of the previous features. This feature is basically a log which moves to help carry the captain. However this isn't the difficult bit, the difficult bit is landing on the log. You have to press the action bar at the right moment in time or you miss the log and die on the spikes. Once on the log you stay on it until you have to press the action bar to jump back off the log and onto the next round. In my opinion, I love how the game is introducing more difficult features after starting with an simple one. For example, On the first round you only have to press the action key to walk past a small ditch of spikes. But on this round you have to press the action key at the right moment to jump onto a fast moving log which helps you travel past an long line of spikes. I think this is effective because the game is slowly improving each feature as well as slowly adjusting the users skills by making it more difficult as the game plays on.
In this round there is an new enemy called 'yes men'. The yes men are quite similar to the enemy's on the round 'traffic jam' but this time it is a bit more difficult, you have to press the action key a lot more and the track for this one isn't straight forward and as simple as the traffic jam round. There are ditches and sides that you have to either wait in or dodge.
Again it seems like the game is the same doing features that is used in previous rounds but this time there are 3 of the same feature moving at different times. So instead of the one log moving horizontally side to side this time you have to try and get onto 3 different logs which are all moving vertically at different times. This makes the user stops and reflect This is because the user has to understand what pattern the logs are moving in and what speed the logs are moving in. Doing this will help the player to understand when to hop onto the next log. In this case you can simply see that the logs are moving quite differently on the way up but once they begin to come back down towards the bottom spikes you can see that the logs are making a 'stair case' which is probably the most easiest way to get past this round if you time it right.
The final round I am going to analyse is called 'trench warfare' when you begin to walk in more message dialogues appear which make it clear that you have to get the little ball in the corner of the level. I recognised that this round has a mix of all the features that the game has already introduced the player to. For example moving horizontal logs, Moving enemy's such as yes men and stop men are also present and there is also spikes. So i personally think the previous round, were to prepare you for this round because even though the yes men were simple. It isn't as simple with having to focus on 2 more features at the same time. I found out that to pass this level you basically have to go in a 'zig zag' motion. For example you have to press the action key to go onto the moving log and then press the action key to go back onto the land. However this is difficult because you have to make sure your time is precise or you will die and get transferred back to the beginning of the round.
In conclusion I personally Like this game because of how many features it has and how it introduces each feature into different rounds. For example I like how the game starts of simple with only the basics of the game but as each round goes on, the more difficult the game gets. This will make the user playing the game understand that the basic of the game may be one or two buttons but you have to use them two buttons in different ways to interact with different features.
In Part one there is just a row of spikes which you can get past by using the action button but in part three you have to learn how to dodge some enemy's by using the moving key and the action key at the same time.
Also in part 7 you learn that you cant just take your time on some features or you will die e.g in this round if you stay on the log for too long you will fall through and die.
I personally think this helps you prepare for the final round. Because in the final round I analysed, you can see that the log goes into a gap on the wall where the character can not go so you have to jump off and then jump back on.
However I have noticed that some of the rounds can be either to repetitive or be to difficult because of the speed of the game. Overall I am extremely impressed with how VVVVVV has used basic control ls and features in different ways to make the game more challenging and interesting resulting in the game being more addictive than other 'basic' games.
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