Selecting our final ideas (7/11/2013)

* Today we presented our newest presentations and got the following reviews.

Me, Ryan and Jim's presentation results:

• Everyone really liked the idea and felt that it was both interactive and educational enough for our target audience, thanks to the opening cuteness and quizzes. Despite us saying it would be a relative simple game, our lecturer felt the amount of items you use could make it more difficult to make. Thus we may wish to make it turn based combat so as to give the player more time to decide on the appropriate method of putting out certain fires. 

Jon, Bonnie, Chris, Mike's presentation results:

• Talked about their first person and tower defense game ideas again, this time including more educational values and even difficulty settings. The first one sounded a lot like like their original idea, whereas the second one sounded to me a little too complex and more like several game ideas combined until one, although others seemed to like it.

Adam, Zoe, James and Adrian's presentation results:

• 'Quick thinking saves lives' would consist of multiple game types and would have a comic book motif. Like our game, questions would be asked that would then be related to each mini game e.g. phoning 999 yourself. However, like the last group's tower defense game, I personally felt that it had too many assets thus making it overly complicated, as the lecturer agreed. 

Ed, Chris and Amanda's presentation results:

• Adding to their original idea, the player would interact with scenes at numerous locations in order to play a 2D side scrolling adventure game. It would be either interactive or point and drag as you try and stop hazards, thus making it similar to the first idea of the second group. It would also focus on both young and older audiences so both myself and the lecturer felt those were nice touches. They also included a long list of actual fire hazards so it was good to also see their research. Situations would also vary during the day and night depending on how certain accidents are more likely to happen during those times.

* We then moved onto voting in order to plan which ideas to eventually present to a live panel. From doing so we will figure out how to best present them. Having three votes each the winning ideas were our idea, 'Quick thinking saves lives' and the tower defense game. 

We also had our teams enlarged. Our group now includes Ed, Amanda and Chris. Next we will be thinking about what we say to the panels and decide as a group who will present. 

Creating a new presentation (6/11/2013)

Today I met up with my group and together we produced a new power point presentation for the fire fighting game brief.

Before starting it, I offered an idea that would treat the younger audience with respect by telling a purely narrative driven story. By this I mean the player would play as a character whose house had burnt down. The player character would be of a similar age to our targeted demographic group. The aim of the game would be to 'reflect' back on the house and walk around it, examining things that could cause fires. Thus being both educational and a warning as even the smallest things can be safety hazards.

My group really liked this idea, but felt it would be too story driven and wouldn't include enough game play features to keep a teenager's attention. Thus it would be a good to save the idea for when we might make another fire safety game for an older demographic.  

The presentation itself goes as follows.

Presentations (31/10/2013)

* Today we shared our presentations based on the game ideas we had.

The first group to talk consisted of Jon, Bonnie, Chris and Mike:

• A first person game where you had to stop fire hazards from breaking out as fast as possible. This sounded like a good idea, though it would be a case of whether of not it would be too technical for us to make considering we would have to create all the 3D models ourselves. Especially since our only programmers are completely new to doing so and therefore a 3D game may be too much for them.  
• Tower defense games are doing well in the app market at the moment, therefore they brought up a game idea similar to these where you put out fires.

Our group consisted of myself, Ryan and Jim.

• Our isometric 'Diablo' esk game proved to be very popular as the lecturer felt it would be the most educational thanks to the equipment you use to combat fires. Plus we explained it would be subtle teaching rather like the 'Pokemon' games e.g. water beats fire. Therefore, perhaps foam beats electrical fires etc.
• The 'Bullethell' esk one seemed like a fun concept, but the group felt it would be too difficult for a child and perhaps wouldn't educate them enough.
• Finally the 'Tapper' esk one proved to be unpopular as the lecturer felt it wouldn't be educational enough, as its only the player passing the fire equipment to fire fighters.

The third group consisted of Ed, Chris and Amanda.

• A 2D game where you choose a scene and, after a series of events take place, you have to identity the fire hazards in the scene. It seemed like a nice simple idea.

* We are to read the information put on Facebook on the task and come back next week with a presentation for our refined ideas. This will be useful for our group as we need to make the last two we spoke about more educational. We are also to make our ideas snappier so as to tell others in our pitch what the game ideas are about without each one taking too long e.g. three minutes per idea, not ten.