Be able to manage a production process to create a media product

Archie The Archaeologist 

Planning

I am the only that will be involved in the making of this game, this means the jobs I have are lead designer, art and tech.

Being the lead designer means I am the head of the studio and I will be taking the lead on all design aspects, including visual and gameplay elements. I will also be taking on the role of sound designer, which means I am responsible for the planning and production of any and all sound assets. As I am the only one working on this game I am in charge of setting deadlines and managing my time correctly to enable me to produce the game to the best of my ability.

I am also the artistic leader, this  means I am responsible for the production of all graphical assets, including concept work during pre-production, in-game graphics, interface graphics and print media graphics. I am also responsible for producing a range of ideas, managing an asset production log and optimisation and exporting of images.

As well as all that I am also the technical leader which makes me responsible for working with the game engine, bringing together assets created by myself to construct the game and shape the gameplay. I am also responsible for developing mechanics, altering gamepla to their specifications, level design and production, AI management and asset management.

Job List

This is an excel document of the job list for the art within my game. It includes Game Logo, Feudal Japan, Greek Shipwreck, Rome, Scenes with information about the different places and artifacts, Musashi’s Samurai Sword, Posiedon’s Trident,  Mars’ The God of War’s Helmet, Tree Trunks, Archie the Archaeologist, Poison Arrow, Poison Arrow Block, Spikes, Flame/Spawner, iPad Controls, Barrels, Pillars, Moving platforms (stick and pillar). It contains the deadlines that I have set myself.

This is an excel document of the job list for the sound within my game. It includes Voice Over, Footsteps, Stabbing sound, Wood breaking, Picking up objects, Main Menu music, Japan Music, Greek Shipwreck Music and Rome Music. It contains the deadlines that I have set myself.

This is an excel document of the job list for the Tech within my game. It includes Info Screens, Front End, Move Right, Move Left, Jump, Object Collides, Gravity, Moving Platform, Hovering and Falling Platform, Pit, Artifacts, Spikes, Flame/Spawner, Poison Arrow/Spawner, Sound Effects and iPad Controls.  It contains the deadlines that I have set myself.

Resources/Equipment

The resources/equipment I plan to use to create my game are as followed:

• Paper and pencils
• Scanner
• Adobe Illustrator
• Adobe Photoshop
• Internet (google, wordpress)
• Microsoft Excel
• Phone/Voice Recorder
• Apple Mac
• GameSalad
• iPad

The paper and pencils will be the things used to create the concept art for my game and designing my game. The scanner will be used to scan the concept art that I have drawn on to the computer. Adobe Illustrator will be used to go over my designs using the pen tool, this will help create a cartoon like art style that I envision for my game. Adobe Photoshop will be used to put colour onto the images that I create, I will use the paint tool, the gradient tool and different filters to ensure my art work looks good. I will use Google to help me gain some inspiration for the concept art of my game and I will use wordpress to write everything that I do, down.  Microsoft Excel will be used to create a bug list and deadlines for my game and the phone/voice recorder will be used to record the different sound effects that I wish to include in my game. The Apple Mac will be used to find different music that I could use in my game and GameSalad will be the software I use to create my game. The iPad will be used to ensure that my game works on it, as the iPad is the what I want the game to be released on.

Risk Assessment

I will be using a computer for the majority of my project. There are various health and safety issues when it comes to computer use, the general rules for all electrical appliances will be applied whilst I use the computer, this means:

1. There will be no trailing wires
2. Food and drink will not be placed near the computer
3. Electrical sockets will not be overloaded
4. There will be adequate space around the computer
5. Heating and ventilation will be suitable
6. Lighting will be suitable and with no glare or reflections
7. The desk will be strong enough to support the computer.

To prevent common health and safety problems, steps should be taken rather trying to cure them at a later date.

In order to avoid suffering serious back problems, due to having poor posture or sitting in an awkward position at the computer, there are a few solutions that I could do, such as:

• Having a fully adjustable chair
• Having a footrest available
• Having a screen that can tilt and turn to a position that will avoid awkward movements

In order to avoid having eyestrain after staring at a computer for a long time, there are a few solutions that I could do, such as:

• Having a screen filter, which can remover a high percentage of the harmful rays emitted from a computer screen.
• Using a screen that does not flicker
• Taking regular breaks and not just sitting at the computer for long periods of time
• Ensuring that lighting is suitable and blinds are fitted to the windows to reduce glare.

Another health issue is a repetitive strain injury which is damage to the fingers, wrists and other parts of the body due to repeated movements over a long period of time. To avoid suffering this injury I should:

• Make sure my posture is correct, use wrist rest and have a five minute break from typing every hour

Pre-Production

Pre-Production this is a link to my pre-production process that I carried out for my game for the iPad. It contains the storyboard, personnel, finance, resources/materials and location. I felt that this process went well and the plan helped me a lot to produce the game. I was able to stick to it.

Production 

Art Work this a link to the art work that was used in my game. It contains a job lists, a moodboard, original concept art of what my character could have looked like, the final design of what my character eventually looked like (with colour), character movement, Feudal Japan level 1 concept art (with and without colour), Greek Shipwreck level 2 concept art (with and without colour), Rome level 3 concept art (with and without colour), tree stumps, kunai spikes and a branch (with and without colour), Musashi’s Samurai Sword (colour), barrels, poison arrows and Poseidon’s Trident (with and without colour), a scuba diving helmet, what the character looks like with it on (in colour), pillars, fire, Mars’ helmet (with and without colour) and the final credits screens, including scrolls. I felt that the art work was the best thing about my game and I am very happy with the final product.

Design Work this is a link to the design work of my game. It contains a short summary of the game, an expanding summary of the game, the ideas I had for my game, the back story of my character and videos of the final product. I feel that the design work for my game was explained well and informative.

Logic/Engine Work this is a link to the logic/engine work for my game. It contains job lists for the tech work within my game and the explanation of how I did certain things within my game. I feel that this section was explained well and had a lot of detail in it.

Sound Work this is a link to the sound work for my game. It contains information about how I found or created the sounds to use within my game, the job list of the sounds used in my game and a list of the sound used within my game. I feel this section is detailed in full and went really well.

Post-Production

This is what my finished game looks like. I felt that the different images that I created for my game were up to a really high standard and fitted in well with my game. Originally there were supposed to be 6 different levels in my game, so I did create and design the levels and objects for every level but due to time restraints I created my game with 3 different levels, I made them up to a very high standard I feel. This was my first time of doing the art for a game and I feel I did very well, the reason I feel this is I was able to create all the assets that were needed within my game. At the start of this project I found myself falling behind and getting distracted by things, this effected the amount of work I produced within the first few weeks, but after getting over that barrier I found myself getting up to date and managing my jobs very well. I was hitting deadlines, I even finished before a few deadlines that I set myself. After inserting different things into my game and changing the rules I kept checking to see if everything worked properly, on a few occasions I found some bugs, but they were easily fixed, I created a job list for the Art side of my game, the logic of my game and the sound of my game, I included deadlines, which were all met, some faster and easier than others. I also created a bug list, I included information on what the bug was and how I fixed the bug. I felt that the sound and music used within my game were up to a high standard and fitted in well with my game. The sound I used in my game were a voiceover, background music, wood breaking, footsteps, a stabbing sound and picking up objects sound. After researching about Foley sound effects, I used different things to help create certain sounds, I didn’t have too much trouble with the sound effects, but I did have a little trouble with the voice over  this was because it was quiet, the way I fixed this was when recording the voice over I made sure there was no background noise and moved the recorder close to the person speaking, this helped make the voice over louder and clearer. This was the first time I used Adobe Audition and I felt that I picked it up easily and didn’t have any major issues with it.