Unit 72- Games Design-Assignment 2

Introduction: On this assignment (Unit 72-Assignment 2, Games Design) I am

going to talk about different tasks, including Stimulus, Genre, Market Research,
Target Platform and ideas. Throughout the whole task, I am going to be
including illustrations to complete my work.

Stimulus:
First of all, I am going to talk about original Property (IP) IP is protected in law by, for
example, patents, copyright and trademarks, which enable people to earn recognition or
financial benefit from what they invent or create. By striking the right balance between the
interests of innovators and the wider public interest, the IP system aims to foster an
environment in which creativity and innovation can flourish. For the uninitiated, almost
every group in the game industry with a public face, from businessmen, to creatives, to
journalists, to fans, uses IP-Intellectual Property, to refer to game franchises or just individual
games.
Franchised (IP) a game franchise is something that is a game that is remade or remastered
but is called the same thing. For example: Mario Kart: Battle of the Kong-Remastered, the
original would more than likely be called Mario Kart: Battle of the Kong.

Genre:
For this particular task, I am going to talk and explain different genres, including, sports,
adventure, action, strategy, puzzle, role play, management, educational and viral marketing.
First of all, I am going to start with sports in gaming, as you may well know, there are lots of
sports games in the market genre and some of the very popular ones including PES-Pro
evolution soccer and FIFA. These sports games allow you to get a good gaming experience
through reality gaming. An explanation of this would be the recent game FIFA 17, FIFA 17
has a special single player feature, this being the journey. The game features a new single-
player story campaign mode titled The Journey for PS4, Xbox One and Windows where
players assume the role of Alex Hunter a young footballer trying to make his mark in the
Premier League. The player is able to select one of 20 Premier League clubs to play for at the
beginning of the season. The player can play in an up field position, RW, ST, LW and CAM
only. The story mode also features a dialogue wheel and this allows you to get the maximum
gaming experience, in true gaming reality, there is also games covering nearly every sport
out there, from golfing to American football, these games are usually made by the company
EA Sports. FIFA is a Football game, so the characters on this occasion is football players, the
footballers and managers in addition are used to give the game player, more of a real
experience and FIFAs strapline Play Beautifully connotes this. On the cover of FIFA is the
football players, this shows the real point of sale and invites game user to use the game
using these players, as well as this, managers are used on the new game FIFA 17 for the first
time ever, this also enables more of an experience using these characters allows you to
connect with others. I feel that FIFA have really got the players specific to how they actually
are in real life. I feel that sporting games really offer this quality by enhancing the gaming
industry using real life structures to animation, when I will be creating my guitar hero
remake game, I will be taking this into consideration, including the characters.

Adventure is different in this terms, for me the range of games that are out there currently
are not the best, in my opinion. However, a perfect example of an adventure game is the
team might be charged with finding a crystal needed to power their ship to return to Earth.
The programme is often considered to have been a forerunner of The Crystal Maze. An
adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an
interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving, I am going to use some examples
of Adventure games and explain them, Colossal Cave Adventure is identified as the first such
adventure game, first released in 1976, while other notable adventure game series include
Zork, King's Quest, The Secret of Monkey Island, and Myst. Firstly, the game was expanded
upon in 1977, with help from Don Woods, and other programmers created variations on the
game and ports to other systems in the following years. In the game, the player controls a
character through simple text commands to explore a cave rumoured to be filled with
wealth. Players earn predetermined points for acquiring treasure and escaping the cave
alive, with the goal to earn the maximum amount of points offered. I believe that because
my game is based on music and guitar solos the Adventure games would not fit in with my
theme of music, however, in terms of creation, I could add an adventure aspect to my game.
The characters, playing as well as non-playing are really important in adventure games and I
feel that they will be also important in these games.
Action is usually a game that emphasizes physical challenges, including handeye
coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes diverse subgenres such as fighting
games, shooter games and platform games which are widely considered the most important
action games, though some real-time strategy games are also considered to be action
games. I am going to choose some examples of Action games and explain them, there are 3
formats in action games and all of which are included in action games these three
platforms being: fighting games, shooter games and platform games all of which add action
to the game.

Simulation: A simulation game attempts to copy various activities from real life in the form of
a game for various purposes such as training, analysis, or prediction. Usually there are no
strictly defined goals in the game, with players instead allowed to freely control a character.
From three basic types of strategic, planning, and learning exercises: games, simulations,
and case studies, a number of hybrids may be considered, including simulation games that
are used as case studies. simulation game attempts to copy various activities from real life in
the form of a game for various purposes such as training, analysis, or prediction. Usually
there are no strictly defined goals in the game, with players instead allowed to freely control
a character. Well-known examples are war games, business games, and role play simulation.

Strategy that focuses on skilful thinking and planning to achieve victory. It emphasizes
strategic, tactical, and sometimes logistical challenges. Many games also offer economic
challenges and exploration. Strategy video games are a video game genre that focuses on
skilful thinking and planning to achieve victory. It emphasizes strategic, tactical, and
sometimes logistical challenges. Many games also offer economic challenges and
exploration. They are generally categorized into four sub-types, depending on whether the
game is turn-based or real-time, and whether the game focuses on strategy or tactics.

Puzzle: Puzzle video games are a genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The
types of puzzles can test many problem-solving skills including logic, pattern recognition,
sequence solving, and word completion. The player may have unlimited time or attempts to
solve a puzzle, or there may be simple puzzles made difficult by having to complete them in
real-time, as in Tetris. Tetris is one of the best puzzle games in my opinion, from my research,
I was able to learn more about Tetris, Tetris was the first entertainment software to be
exported from the USSR to the US, where it was published by Spectrum HoloByte for
Commodore 64 and IBM PC. The Tetris game is a popular use of tetrominoes, the four-
element special case of polyominoes. Polyominoes have been used in popular puzzles since
at least 1907, and the name was given by the mathematician Solomon W. Golomb in 1953.

Role Play: A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a
fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative,
either through literal acting or through a process of structured decision-making or character
development. Actions taken within many games succeed or fail according to a formal system
of rules and guidelines. There are several forms of RPG. The original form, sometimes called
the table top RPG, is conducted through discussion, whereas in live action role-playing
games players physically perform their characters actions. In both of these forms, an
arranger called a game master usually decides on the rules and setting to be used, acting as
referee, while each of the other players plays the role of a single character.
Management: Management is a business simulation board game released by Avalon Hill in
1960. Players operate their own manufacturing companies, making decisions on purchasing
supplies, determining production volume, setting sale prices, and expanding factories. Turns
are measured in business cycles. The winner is the player with the largest business at the
end of the game. The competitive element is found in the players secretly bidding to
purchase limited raw materials (with supplies going to the highest bidders) and then later
secretly pricing their finished product for a market that normally would only purchase from
the lowest priced suppliers.

Educational: Educational games are games explicitly designed with educational purposes, or
which have incidental or secondary educational value. All types of games may be used in an
educational environment. Educational games are games that are designed to help people to
learn about certain subjects, expand concepts, reinforce development, understand a
historical event or culture, or assist them in learning a skill as they play. Game types include
board, card, and video games. An educational game is a game designed to teach humans
about a specific subject and to teach them a skill. As educators, governments, and parents
realize the psychological need and benefits of gaming have on learning, this educational tool
has become mainstream. Games are interactive play that teach us goals, rules, adaptation,
problem solving, interaction, all represented as a story. They satisfy our fundamental need to
learn by providing enjoyment, passionate involvement, structure, motivation, ego
gratification, adrenaline, creativity, social interaction and emotion in the game itself while
the learning takes place.
Viral Marketing: The form is defined by intense player involvement with a story that takes
place in real time and evolves according to players' responses. Subsequently, it is shaped by
characters that are actively controlled by the game's designers, as opposed to being
controlled by artificial intelligence as in a computer or console video game. Players interact
directly with characters in the game, solve plot-based challenges and puzzles, and
collaborate as a community to analyse the story and coordinate real-life and online
activities. Generally, use multimedia, such as telephones, email and mail but rely on the
Internet as the central binding medium.

Market Research:
The Target Audience I have been given from my brief was based on both Male and Females
so therefore it includes all genders. The age has to be between the ages of 16-30 years old.
The age limit has been chosen specifically from research, this is the best age group as any
younger than 16 would make you restricted to what you can do Health and Safety wise and
no older than 30 because you may be set in your career and not have chance to go or even
have a bigger responsibility if you have children. As the game that I creating involves bands
that may appeal to this age range, I feel that this will really work. For example, choosing
Oasis and Stone roses will appeal to the older generation as well as the current teen
generation. For my target audience, I will have to cover, ethical considering from my market
research especially in games, I have written a report of ethical considerations to add further
to my target audience-market research: Making a computer game means that you have to
cover all Ethical considerations, this means that there will be restrictions to what you can
exactly do for example religion will come in to the category therefore different meanings can
come in to Ethical considerations. Ethical considerations are to protect people from things
such as racial comments which could offend somebody and cause huge problems. Ethical
Considerations is not just the things you say away from the internet but on the internet as
well, comments can upset people and cause further stirs. People are more likely to say harsh
things online as they dont think that just because there online they will get away with it.
They wont as it can always be tracked meaning they will be punished. In the media world
and various different media jobs, more restrictions will apply to what you can and cannot do,
when working for the BBC or ITV, rules will apply in what you can and cant say, for example:
if you work for a television channel or radio presenter and you say something which can be
seen as racist or ethical then you will most likely be sacked and serious cases could even be
as serious as imprisonment. If somebody reports a piece of offensive material than this
could cost the company lots of money so rules apply heavily in the media industry as well as
outside the industry in every day-to-day life.
Below are the things you have to consider to do with an Ethical statement:
You are ensuring quality and integrity of your research
You will seek informed consent
You will respect the confidentiality and anonymity of your research respondents
You will ensure that your participants will participate in your study voluntarily
You will avoid harm to your participants
You can show that your research is independent and impartial.
There following rules apply to avoid breaching the Ethical Considerations law:
*You are not allowed to use any pictures; video or sound clips unless you have obtained the
owners permission before hand.
*You are not allowed to use any part of someones work without permission. This links in
with the copyright law.
You have to be careful in how you represent and describe people in your work and make
sure that you are not biased in anything you say- This may apply to (Race, Gender, Sexuality,
Disability, Nationality, Religion and Age)
This connotes that you cant suggest it in any way that these specific groups will take offence
to. If you produced a production for a big company then this will most likely not be seen,
there are laws put in place to stop this from happening such as The Race Relations Act, it is
important you do not breach these acts.
When planning a design, it Is important to talk everyone above in consideration to ensure
that no breaching of these acts take place. I have put everything above into sensible
consideration but if I will have to check with my client to make them aware of these
considerations further action will take place if necessary.
To make exact sure that I do not break any of these rules, it is essential that I gain permission
for my images and videos from the internet. If I am declined from this transaction then I will
have to not use the owners images, this meaning that I will have to go through this process
again and look for more until my acceptance is granted. When downloading them, I need
make sure that the images/videos are not copyrighted, again otherwise I will be breaching
an act. I will need to make sure that the content is A: Appropriate and B: Safe, so that I can
include It in my software and it will not discriminate anyone. The softwares I will be using
have been published by my college so I trust the programs to be safe and secure. I will not
be able to use this software at my own home as I have not personally brought the software.
Also due to game addiction in younger people, this is my reasoning behind choosing the
older target audience, it clearly states this in another written report below about gaming
addiction: Game addition is more happening more and more since the increase of new
games being released, it also occurs in the three games that I have chosen, these being FIFA,
Mario Kart and Call of Duty, game addition can lead to conditions and is mainly involved with
child obesity, I have done some research into game addition and what it may lead to and
child obesity is the main option that this addition can lead to as well as other mean
additions. Obesity It's a common problem, estimated to affect around one in every four
adults and around one in every five children aged 10 to 11 in the UK. If you are obese, you
are more immune to: Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, some types of cancer, such as
breast/ bowel cancer and a Stroke. Obesity is generally caused by consuming more calories,
particularly those in fatty and sugary foods than you burn off through physical activity. The
excess energy is then stored by the body as fat and gaming addition really adds to this as
young people now see games as the most common thing to do rather than go out and get
some exercise as well as the fine balance of going on a game of their choice. Game addition
can also be seen in adults as well as teenagers and younger children as these three games,
especially Call of Duty is 18+ meaning that only adults can play it, Call of Duty is seen as an
addictive game as I am going to explain below.
In terms of the three games that I have chosen, Mario Kart is not really an addictive game,
however Call of Duty and FIFA can be seen as very addicting games, the opportunity of
playing online against friends and people across the world can be seen as fun and
competitive, all of which can lead of game addition after a long process of gaming. The
additive edge comes from playing to win a battle for example on Call of Duty, you can have
battles against friends and also people from across the world to try and win, the ability of
wanting to be the best adds to this competitive edge which as I have mentioned can lead to
game addition. As well Call of Duty, FIFA is also an additive game, the option of competing
against others and playing in leagues is a format offered by EA sports- The makers of FIFA.
These games offer you the option of playing 24 hours a day for 7 days a week, this meaning
that these games are around you and mainly young people who like to talk about them in
schools and other places. This addictive edge occurs when everything you think about is the
game and can often effect studies, I feel that from my research Mario Kart doesnt able that
competitive edge as much as the features of playing online are very limited, as well as this,
the game is aimed at younger children meaning that their game time and game play is often
limited by the parents.
I have been given a short brief from my client containing the following things below.
Text: The client has given me free range to choose what I think is best for the product.
*font size
*colour
*Mood board
Backgrounds: The client has given me free range to choose what I think is best for the
product
*colour
*image
Age: The age has to be between the ages of 16-30 years old. The age limit has been chosen
specifically from research, this is the best age group as any younger than 16 would make you
restricted to what you can do Health and Safety wise and no older than 30 because you may
be set in your career and not have chance to go or even have a bigger responsibility if you
have children. As the game that I creating involves bands that may appeal to this age range, I
feel that this will really work. For example, choosing Oasis and Stone roses will appeal to the
older generation as well as the current teen generation.

Gender: My gender is based on both Male and Females so therefore it includes all genders. I
have chosen this because this allows me to create the game based around both genders
needs, for example, I will consider colours and cater for male and females. I will need to do
this through listening to feedback from male and females and selecting the right balance of
ages as well as the right ratio of males and females. In terms of feedback, I have had to do
lots of research to enable me to fine out the feedback for each individual game, selected
from the three games that I have chosen for my comparison. Ratings and feedback add up to
the overall experience of the game. All games have forums which allows gamers to access
feedback, a feedback can lead to changing the game for a simple update or can be changed
because of a glitch. Usually, the three games I have chosen has good feedback as all of which
listen to the customers views and change anything needed accordingly, in addition as I have
mentioned, professional gamers will rate the game giving it a score out of five, all of which
from the games that I have chosen have a rating of 4 out of 5. In conclusion, all three games
have good feedback and listen to game players.
Gaming communities: Gaming Communication is a worldwide new media subculture formed
by video games. As computer and video games have exponentially increased in popularity
over time, they have had a significant influence on popular culture. Video game culture has
also evolved over time hand in hand with internet culture as well as the increasing
popularity of mobile games. Many people who play video games identify as gamers, which
can mean anything from someone who enjoys games to someone who is passionate about
it. As video games become more social with multiplayer and online capability, gamers find
themselves in growing social networks. Gaming can both be entertainment as well as
competition, as a new trend known as electronic sports is becoming more widely accepted.

Preferred game genre: My preferred game genre out the ones above is Sports, this includes
great games like FIFA and pro evolution soccer, my reasoning behind this is, I feel that
perspectives are really important in this, for example, Perspectives is the art of representing
three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface to give the right impression of their
height, width, depth, and position in relation to each other. FIFA is a perfect example of this,
as FIFA Is a football game and there is plenty of cameras set in place for different angles and
dimensions, this allows the viewer to choose the perfect height, width and depth by
choosing it on the settings, this is easy to do so the game have thought thoroughly about
this process, Mario Kart also offers different dimensions in there settings, however, from my
research, I have learnt that there is less options and camera angles and so on, in addition
Call of Duty, also offers this feature and has the game players has the ability to choose a
specific dimensional surface, height, width and depth, I am now going to show an illustration
using FIFA on how you choose these settings below, as you can see there is different settings
for single and multiplayer mode so the game really tailors in to you, you can also choose
whether you want the camera angle, broadcast, TV e.c.t. and this is my main reasoning
behind it.

Similar games already in the market: Similar games that Is already in the market are guitar
hero and sing star, I am now going to explain what both of these games are, Guitar Hero is a
series of music rhythm games first published in 2005 by Red Octane and Harmonix, and
distributed by Activision, in which players use a guitar-shaped game controller to simulate
playing lead, bass guitar, and rhythm guitar across numerous rock music songs. Players
match notes that scroll on-screen to coloured fret buttons on the controller, strumming the
controller in time to the music in order to score points, and keep the virtual audience
excited. The games attempt to mimic many features of playing a real guitar, including the use
of fast-fingering hammer-ones and pull-offs and the use of the whammy bar to alter the
pitch of notes. Most games support single player modes, typically a Career mode to play
through all the songs in the game, and both competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes.
With the introduction of Guitar Hero World Tour in 2008, the game includes support for a
four-player band including vocals and drums. The series initially used mostly cover versions
of songs created by Wave Group Sound, but most recent titles feature soundtracks that are
fully master recordings, and in some cases, special re-recordings, of the songs. Later titles in
the series feature support for downloadable content in the form of new songs and the sign
star game and Sing Star is a competitive music video game series for PlayStation consoles,
developed by London Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Dozens of
instalments were released for the PlayStation 2, and several more for the PlayStation 3. The
games have also undergone a number of non-English releases in various European countries.
Sing Star games are distributed either as the software alone, or bundled with a pair of USB
microphones one red, one blue, wireless microphones are also available. The games are
compatible with the Eye Toy and PlayStation Eye cameras, allowing players to see
themselves singing.

Target Platform:
Desktop Computer: A desktop gaming computer is a personal computer designed for playing
computationally demanding video games. Gaming computers are very similar to
conventional PCs, with the main difference being the addition of gaming-oriented
components such as one or more high-end video cards. Gaming computers are often
associated with enthusiast computing due to an overlap in interests. However, while a
gaming PC is built to achieve performance for actual gameplay, enthusiast PCs are built to
maximize performance, using games as a benchmark. The difference between the two
carries a large discrepancy in the cost of the system. Whereas enthusiast PCs are high-end by
definition, gaming PCs can be subdivided into low-end, mid-range, and high-end segments.
Contrary to the popular misconception that PC gaming is inextricably tied to high-priced
enthusiast computing, video card manufacturers earn the bulk of their revenue from their
low-end and mid-range offerings. The desktop computer allows you to have more of a
gaming experience.

Console: Console allows you to play as a single player- as well as a multiplayer, Multiplayer
video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game
environment at the same time. Video games are often single-player activities, putting the
player against preprogramed challenges or AI-controlled opponents which lack the flexibility
of human thought. Multiplayer games allow players interaction with other individuals in
partnership, competition or rivalry, providing them with social communication absent from
single-player games. In terms of the game I will be choosing and comparing it to the very
popular FIFA, I feel that these games are perfect for playing on Multiplayer, as both games
really focus on the customer interaction. Multiplayer really zooms in on how important the
game is by interacting with other people, from across the world to day to day friends. The
fact that all three games enable you to play multiplayer enhances the chances of having
better customer satisfaction as I believe that multiplayer is a huge factor to consider when
using the game. EA Sports FIFA really focuses on multiplayer as most of the options when
playing the game are multiplayer related as well as some single players also. FIFAs
multiplayer means that you can either play online or offline, below is an illustration of
multiplayer players playing FIFA.

Mobile Device: Games on mobile devices are becoming increasingly popular, as the mobile
phone is the main gadget that an average person will use daily, millions of people across the
world will play these games, from the most popular games of angry birds and subway surfers
to the card game solitaire, these games are very important to an average user as it is see as
time killer.

Television: Television games are no longer being used now that technology is being
developed, these TV online television games are very limited however there is still some
games out there.

Online: Online games are usually linked in with being either educational or specific to
desktop computers, for example the console game GTA- Grand Theft Auto can be played
online as well as online through a desktop computer, as well as this miniclip offer a wide
range of online games, Miniclip is a free online games website. It was launched in 2001 and
is known for having a large and varied collection of games. It is the world's largest privately
owned online gaming website.
Ideas:
Brainstorm:
*My game is going to be a sing star karaoke game.
*My game will be including non-playing characters as well as playing.
*My game will have a range of British songs.
*My game will be a British Bands special.
*My game will include 80s, 90s and current music- (All British bands/songs).
*My game will include the feature of singing as well as using the guitar/drums.
*My game will have male and female bands.
*My game will be clear and presentable.
*My overall game will be done to a very professional standard.

Gameplay: My gameplay will be based around the whole theme of Guitar Hero it will enable
you to play as an individual as well as on a multiplayer. My game will have an interactive
model to talk you through the gameplay so that you can enjoy a great gaming experience
and learn more about the game, I have done some comparisons with three other games
using interactive model, Interactive Model-Technology affordance, also known as manual
operators is the richness of the communication between the student and the instructor
usually expressed in terms of the input and output channels. Video games are the closest
approximation in todays games. The communication throughout a game, usually on a
demo, allows you to know exactly what you are doing step by step. FIFA offers this by giving
you information as playing the gaming, always occasionally did you know you if you press X
you can pass the ball this information means that you can learn quickly, this is also
demonstrated on Call of Duty and Mario Kart and enables you to play the game as well as
learning on the job, the picture below shows this, as explained above and it shows that you
can communicate with the viewer while the player. My game will also feature a whole
variety of different ranges of British songs that you can play by yourself/multiplayer.

Mood Boards:
Above is the mood board that I have created, I have included a colour scheme, picture ideas,
as well as consoles that you can use while playing the game that I have chosen. As you can
see above, the British theme is evident above, I have included the games consoles and
different colour schemes as mentioned above, in addition to this, I have written above, a
small summery on the mood board, explaining each individual point. The text above Guitar
Hero: British Special symbolises what the game actually is and its intentions throughout the
game.