Recordings and Game Proposal Template

RECORDINGS

I did some planning for the what I want to say in the Trailer.

PROPOSAL TEMPLATE

I continued to work on my Proposal Template, I checked with Eleanor as well to make sure I was on the right track.

GAME DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL: FEATURES AND DEVELOPMENT

CORE

RESEARCH:

Choose 3 game engines as candidates for use in your project and describe each of these options, presenting their features, advantages and disadvantages. Write one paragraph about each engine.

Unreal Engine

Unreal allows releases on many different platforms (PC, Playstaion, Xbox, Wii U) and also works with platform holders such as PlayStation and Xbox. This would allow Novas Vos to be released on differnet platforms. (PC and Playstation).

The reviews are mostly positive for Unreal Engine, ranging it from 8-10. Odd one or two bad reviews.

Unreal Engine features DirectX 11 & 12 Rendering Features, Cascade Visual Effects, New Material Pipeline, Blueprint Visual Scripting, Content Browser, Persona Animation, Matinee Cinematics, terrain & Folliage and Post-Process Effects.

The advantages of the Unreal Engine is its integration with more than a dozen industry-leading middleware-technologies.

The disadvantage is that Unreal Engine is widely used for 3D games, however 2D games such as Braid were custom made, making the Unreal engine an overkill as 2D games are much more simple than 3D games. On the Unreal Engine Website's showcase for Games, all of the games were 3D, not one 2D. Unreal Engine is more for 3D game makers not 2D game makers. Free to use but the maker has to pay 5% royalty when they ship their game.

Construct 2

Construct 2 has no coding.

Construct 2 features advanced rendering effects such as skew, motion blur and bumpmapping, physics behavior to add realistic physics simulations to objects, bone animation system for ultra smooth animations (beta), debugger to view the game internal state while playing, embedded Python scripts for faster advanced processing, and 3D features such as the 3D box object, and 3D mesh distortion on sprites to elevate or move a grid of points across its image.

The advantages of Construct 2 is that it allows designers and artists to produce games without having to learn coding.

However the disadvantges of Construct 2 is that it might be too simple to create games, and more advanced games are more diffucult to make with this engine.

Unity

Unity features Royalty-free, all platforms (limitations apply) for the Personal Edition whereas in the Professional Edition, it features Unity Cloud Build Pro – 12 Months, Unity Analystic Pro, Team License, Prioritized bug handling, Game Performance Reporting, Beta access and Unlimited Revenue.

In the earlier versions of Unity, most 2D games were created for Mobile games due to its lower graphical capabilities. However due to its more recent updates there have been many more advanced 2D games such as “Cuphead”, “Jotun” and“Elegy for a Dead World” (which were both funded by Kickstarter) and “Ori and the Blind Forest”.

One of the disadvantages of Unity is that if the game made in personal Edition exceeds a total of $1000,000 the maker has to buy the Unity 5 Professional Edition. Unity is also heavy, it takes a lot of space on the HDD.

SELECTED ENGINE:

What engine have you selected for your game’s development?

UNITY

JUSTIFICATION

Justify in 100-200 words your choice of this engine as most appropriate for your project, discussing your game’s needs in specific detail.

Unity allows 2D physics, allowing to have different layers for the backgrounds (which I would need for my game). Objects (sprites) within a scene are easy to move, allowing the levels to be complex. Unity not only involves coding but some of it can be done through Unity itself, which makes moving or scaling an object easier. Novas Vos would be mostly traditionally animated (No Riggs!), so being able to import images and Unity allows Automatic Sprite Animation, allowing the importation of finished png sequences into the engine. Unity is multi-platform, allowing Novas Vos to be released both on PC and Playstation.

Unity has a good reputation of 2D games, most of the more successful and well-known 2D games were made with Unity. “Elegy for a Dead World” was one of the inspirations for Novas Vos which was made in Unity.

ANALYSIS

FEATURES

What are the most prominent features or strengths of your chosen engine?

One of the most prominent features of Unity is the 2D physics and graphical capabilities. Unity has multi-platforms, allowing Novas Vos to be released on several different platforms.

RISKS/LIMITATIONS

What could still be a limitation or risk with using this engine? For example: Is the engine free? If you are planning to use a free version, does it have any limitations? Is it royalty-free? Does it support the workflows you might be using in your production?

One of the risks of Unity is that if Novas Vos were to make more than $100,000, I would need to purchase the Professional version of Unity, which would take away from the money funded. The only limitations of Unity for the Personal Edition are the “unlimited revenue and funding” and “premium support” which might help out creating the game.

IMPORTANT MECHANICS

What is unique about the game mechanics used in your game? Is it its puzzles? Is it the way your characters move/fly/teleport? Is it your dialogue system? Describe in a couple of sentences.

Puzzle-solving in Novas Vos requires the player to make correct decisions based on Moral to progress the game. The player is then required to carry out the decision they committed to. If the player chooses wrong, they are sent back to the start of the level by a trap.

Throughout the game the player will have to look after their companion Lux. They will be required to feed it and protect it from enemy plants while looking out for themselves as well. The more the player makes sure Lux is healthier, the stronger the bond between Nova and Lux will be. This will be shown through cut-scenes in the game, as well as Lux coming to Nova's rescue if she is in trouble. If the player made sure that Lux never died throughout the game, they will be rewarded by given the opportunity to ride Lux. If the player does not look after Lux properly, the bond will be weak, and Lux will not come to the player's rescue throughout the game. This would also alter the cut-scenes in the game, if Lux dies a lot in game and is badly treated, the cut-scenes will reflect this in game.

PLAYER GOALS

What are the main objectives of the player? Are they linear in their nature? Does your game have any side quests?

The 2 main objectives are to travel to each temple on the Tropical and Ice Continent, to destroy Nox and protect Lux. The story is linear, the characters can only travel in one direction (from left to right). If the player explores the game more, they will be rewarded with micro-narrative such as stories from the scientists and engineers in the temples.

MENU SYSTEMS

Is there anything specific about the menu(s) of your game? Does the type of the game you are making have any influence on it?

HUDs will not be displayed on the screen, the health of the characters will be shown through them. If Nova's health goes down, the circle on her helmet will display this. The circle will only be half full is he takes a lot of damage. If Lux's health goes down, it will be displayed through its colors; the more red its skin becomes, the more damage it is taking.

The pause menus will be displayed by Nova looking at her wrist. This allows the player to still be immersed in game.

VISUAL: REFERENCE MATERIALS

OTHER VIDEO GAMES

What are some other games using the same engine/same approaches you could draw some inspiration from? Provide 2 to 3 examples. Annotate similarities and differences with your game.

Elegy for a Dead World

Elegy for a Dead World was funded through Kickstarter and was created by using the Unity engine. The game is about traveling to distant planets and creating stories about the people that once lived there. The game is mainly about writing but it still has a strong sense of exploration which is something I want in my game. The backgrounds and the designs of the planets inspired me for my planet designs.

Jotun

Jotun was also kickstarted and was created using the Unity Engine. The game is about a norse warrior who died an inglorious death and the player has to face the challenges of Viking purgatory to prove themselves to the Gods and enter Valhalla. The game was heavily inspired by Journey and Shadow of the Colossus, using these games to describe the mood and gameplay style of the game. These two games also inspired me with my game, Jotun has a strong sense of exploration and adventure, something I want to create in my game.

Jotun has amazing music and stunning animation, something I want to achieve in Novas Vos.

Ori and the Blind Forest

This game was created using the Unity Engine and its reviews are overwhelmingly positive. The aesthetics inspired my game: the detailed backgrounds and simple characters inspired the aesthetic of Novas Vos. Ori and the Blind Forest

Ori and the Blind forest has beautiful environment designs and a strong sense of mood atmosphere, something I want to achieve in Novas Vos.

AUDIENCE

TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC(S)

Who is your target audience? Why will they play your game? Why not other demographics? Who is your competition? What edge would you have over them? What edge would they have over your product?

My Demographic audience are casual and core non-mainstream gamers.

Geographic – western-culture

Psycho-graphic - social class: upper middle class

Behavioral: casual user

Technical: PC or Playstation

Novas Vos is a game easy to pick up, its main story line is not complex – letting casual gamers pick it up when they want to without losing track of what is going on, however for gamers that are more interested in the micro-narrative and finding all the Easter eggs (core gamers), they can dwell deeper into the game, expanding on the storyline.

Mots main stream games involve shooting and are mostly upbeat, whereas Novas Vos is more subtle and while it still is an adventure game it is less about violence unlike most popular games nowadays.

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