Final Evaluation

Introduction

At the beginning of the project, we were briefed with creating an “animated Google Doodle and mini game for an upcoming event or anniversary of your choice”. I began by deciding on the best possible event I could base my Doodle on and originally, I thought that perhaps I could celebrate the upcoming release of the popular stealth game “Hitman 2”. I planned to have a game which required the player to take out enemies stealthily but realised that it probably wouldn’t work with the PEGI rating.

I then decided that perhaps my original idea was not going to work how I would have liked and so instead of spending more time trying to work out a way of modifying my idea to fit, I chose to change the idea completely. New Year’s Eve then became the forefront in my mind which I decided almost instantly how I wanted it to be. The game would contain a character collecting fireworks whilst battling through enemies, whilst the animation would be more of a story starting with a celebration and ending with the Google firework display which links to the game because the character collected the fireworks for the animation.

Research

I began by taking a look into what exactly PEGI entailed and also what equivalents there were for other countries. I completed some research and found that PEGI had a wider range of ratings which allowed for the game to be more categorised for the correct audience. It also requires ‘Content Descriptors’ which describe the contents of the product. This research allowed me to realise that my original idea was not going to work how I would have liked and so inspired me to come up with a new idea which ended up being New Year’s Eve. If I wanted to improve my research I could have looked into a lot of game for different ratings which would give me some more inspiration as to what is included in games of a certain category which would allow me to perhaps modify my original idea to work.

I then continued to research into different game genres and themes which linked to my original idea which allowed me to realise what category my game would fit into. Unfortunately the research I completed wasn’t directly linked to my final idea and so would have not affected my final product. However this will allow me to reference this research in future projects if I decide to use one of the genres I researched.

I moved on to research my target market and relative research around my idea specifically. I looked into other Google Doodles and also New Year’s Eve itself in order to have the knowledge required to make my Google Doodle animation and game. Finally I researched different screen recording software which allowed me to find the best way of recording my production and have since used it to create my production diaries.

All of my research allowed me to complete the project and create a final product however I could have completed more in depth research into my specific idea I could have created a more detailed product which featured more from a range of countries celebrations.

Finished Product

My Google Doodle and mini-game was designed for anyone wherever they live of all ages, genders, races etc. and had a PEGI rating of 3. Google is a very open platform and so is available to almost anyone in the world with internet access. This meant that my product had to be capable of being displayed to everyone.

During the playtest stage of my project, I managed to receive feedback on my entire game and was able to record this using an online survey which everyone who played the game had to fill out. Mostly everyone said they enjoyed the art style of the game and so I believe that the overall design was positive. I agree that the art style really helped to make the game feel very unique but fit the overall idea of the product.

On a scale of 1 to 10, my game averaged a 7 and so I feel that for a very short time frame, the game has gotten into a very good state. I agree that it’s not a 10 because there are things that need to change or be improved. I noticed that people thought that the end boss was too easy and I agree because I didn’t really spend much time working on that part of the games. Another said that the mechanics were unclear and the fluidity of the game suffered because of some minor hitbox mistakes and struggles. I agree that a bit of polishing needs to go into it as well as a basic tutorial or controls list in order for people to better understand how to play.

The results for the graphical style of the game varied with some people saying it was around a 7/10 and some saying it was 10/10. I think there are some improvements that could be made but overall it wouldn’t be the biggest priority if I was to improve it. The gameplay received similar results saying that the gameplay could be a bit more fluid as I stated previously. Most people said they might play the game again if some improvements were made and so if I was to come back to the game I would definitely invite these people to re-play the game to see any improvements I might make.

If I was to make any improvements that I suggested previously, it would significantly improve the gameplay and would definitely make people reconsider playing it multiple times. I also feel that if the game had more difficulty perhaps people would be more likely to re-play it in order to improve their results.

Personal development

I think the biggest area of improvement is my research because I feel that previously I haven’t necessarily researched anything related to my own idea and so this time I definitely made it a priority to research New Year’s Eve which gave me ideas towards my own project specifically. I have also developed my graphical art skills as previously I would have no idea where to start when it comes to creating sprites or other game objects.

As well as learning Piskel (to create my sprites etc.) I also learnt how to use Adobe Animate in order to create my animation, and also developed my prior knowledge in Photoshop and Illustrator. Construct 3 was my first look into a game development program for 2d games specifically and I think I have taken a liking to it although it does have its limitations. Finally I managed to successfully create written production diaries that included images, videos and text in order to show my progress throughout the project.

I had to overcome hurdles every now and again such as converting my storyboard into a proper animation using the same graphics for parts of it which I had to alter and remove some frames to do so and also multiple events within the development of the game such as the system crashing or just certain features not working like the swimming animation. I was unable to overcome the swimming animation struggle as I did not plan time to do so but I feel that with more time I could definitely overcome this problem.

I think I need to work on my art skills in order to develop artwork quicker and to a higher quality in the future but as I have said previously people didn’t think the artwork was bad overall but could always improve. I think I have really developed my skills in programming using Construct’s easy tools to do so and feel that in the future I can use these skills to develop even better games. I also feel that these skills will go towards my career in the future and help to develop my portfolio.

Overall I feel that I have created a good quality game and animation with some good features. I have also developed many skills including programming, art and animation which will help me in the future not just in education but also in my future career. I think there is room for improvement but with time and effort I could definitely receive a good outcome in my final project. If I had more time I could have ironed out the bugs in the game and also created more levels and feature which would rapidly improve the overall gameplay and value of the game. I also could have created new artwork for the actual animation instead of using the same assets from the storyboard but I do think what I have created is to a good quality.