New narrative ideas (3/4/2014)

* First thing, I showed off my ideas to the team leader who really liked them and thought they were fun and creative. In the end however, he decided that he liked the 'Rayman' / 'Gremlins' idea and the comic book layout in which each panel fades into the scene one by one.

Therefore, I decided to adapt this concept and come up with some narrative ideas.

1. The first, the team leader thought of. There could be a family sitting around a fireplace when the fire gets bigger and a pair of evil eyes appear inside it. A voice says something like "You're doomed" before a little flame/spark jumps out. The family are confused, but think it's cute, until it starts setting things a light (possibly by sneezing). The family then run out of the house as a fire fighter bursts through the window, ready to fight the fire. 
2. Similar to the above, only the family call the fire brigade and they rush into action. 
3. Instead of a fire place it's a drunk who tries cooking something, he falls asleep at the stove and therefore starts the fire. Thus it is up to the fire brigade to save him and the house. 
4. Done in the cheesy style of a 1940's/50's TV couple, but not necessarily during the same time because of the electronic fires included in our game. A husband and wife light a stove, burn some papers on a a fire place, light a cigarette etc, all normal things. Suddenly, their fire alarm dies and all the potential fire hazards erupt into their own individual enemy types and begin to reek havoc. Thus the couple get out of the house before calling the fire service for help. 

* Over the holidays I have been asked to write a script for each of these ideas and basic visual ideas for them so that the art department can adapt them. Thus, when I return from Easter the team leader will be able to choose the narrative. Afterwards I can along with the sound department record some new voice acting for the opening and possible ending so as to keep voice acting in our game.

New narrative ideas (28/3/2014)

* Wanting to make sure I was still doing my bit for the project, I decided to talk to the team leader and suggest that we make sure to include an opening and ending as we planned previously, even if it is just one of each.

Jon was ok with this idea and even said that it could now be slightly more quirky since we no longer have a client and the fire information can be put across through the cards instead, provided the ideas are not too silly. 

* The following includes both new and adapted ideas, some being simple so that the art department don't have too much extra work on their hands. Others are a little more complex, but I thought I would share them regardless.

The ideas themselves are as follows...

1: This narrative idea is basically the same as the one we decided we would do, but never got round to e.g. the short mission brief. Only, it would be in the style of a JRPG cut scene or 'Phoenix Wright' game play where the silhouettes talk in front of a background. We could have it that a fire fighter is to the right side of the screen and a large slideshow of fire hazards could be to their left.

2: Following the same narrative idea as above, it would be a parody of 'Call of Duty' since it would include a satellite zooming down on a burning house.
This could be a rather tongue in check style of comedy where the voice acting is played straight, but perhaps the camera zooms in too far on a ant or something, and we see aliens above the planet.

For a reminder of the narrative mentioned above, please read below...

Start:

"Firefighters report! We've just received a call from 13 Pevel road, Lives-ville, the house is on fire. They were trying to fry some chips and left the stove on long enough for the oil to ignite. The fire has already spread drastically as the residents tried fighting it with wet flannels, so you'll need to use both foam and water to put out the flames. Good luck!"  

End:

"Excellent! Not only did you save the family's home, but you also stopped the fire from spreading to others. Well done team!"

Going onto more abstract narratives...

3: A silly animation of the fire being started by an unsuspecting mum or dad at a cooker. The fire then attacks the panicking house and the fires run a mock similar to the film 'Gremlins'.
This would all be in the style of a modern 'Rayman' game animation. Therefore, despite our game including voice acting this idea may just be fun random gibbering so as to get across the playfulness of our game.

4: Finally, a group of fire fighters at a station are relaxing when the alarm sounds off and they rush to their  fire truck. Getting on board, they race through the streets until they come across the burning house.
This idea doesn't necessarily need dialogue and would be in the style of a comic book in which each panel would be black until the scene occurs. Thus this idea is accomplish-able and would only require one A4 page of drawings similar to below. 

* Once one of the above ideas has been chosen, I will then come up with some possible layout ideas and narrative. 

Harvard Referencing:

• Cook, J (2010) Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Review (WiiWare). [Online Image] Available at: http://www.gamersdailynews.com/article-2284-Phoenix-Wright-Ace-Attorney-Review-WiiWare.html (Accessed on: 28/3/2014).
• Fire, L (2010) Legendary Comic Book Creator Neal Adams Returns To Batman In 2010. [Online Image] Available at: http://firewireblog.com/2010/04/02/legendary-comic-book-creator-neal-adams-returns-to-batman-in-2010/ (Accessed on: 28/3/2014).
• Gamersyde (Unknown) Galerie Rayman Origins. [Online Image] Available at: http://www.gamersyde.com/pop_images_rayman_origins-16796-3.html
  (Accessed on: 28/3/2014).
• Unknown (2010) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. [Online Image] Available at: http://corenesstech.wordpress.com/2010/09/30/ps3-call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2/
  (Accessed on: 28/3/2014).

Monetisation research (27/3/2014)

* After choosing the menu design as a group we all got to listen to the edited versions of our voice acting which turned out fantastic and got a good response from the group. I was very happy with my performance since it was edited to sound echo-y and got a good laugh from the others.

Finally, we prioritised programming to be our main focus so as to have a working game. We then listened to some fantastic tracks for the game and reviewed the great new user interface and level design.

* After the above I then went over ideas with Jon and Ryan before double checking the tutorial.

* Having been asked a while back to research the different methods by which we could include possible monetisation options within our game, I decided to look up some websites and write down their advice.

• Understand your audience!
• Distimo (a market research firm) has stated 'while only four per cent of titles in the iOS App Store feature an in-app purchasing business model, 72% of revenue generated in that market comes from consumers paying for in-app items.'
• Give players plenty of options so as to give them variety. After all, players love choice.
• Michael Schade (CEO of Fishlabs) says “Think of ways to reach out to as many players as possible and how to convert non-paying members of your community into paying members over time,”. “But also think different". He then continues to state “Free-to-play with in-app-purchase might not be an equally successful solution for all developers alike. Before you blindly copy your competitor’s business model, your team should take the time to analyse your IPs and evaluate their chances on the market.”
• Companies that own the sites we potentially publish on will, on average take between 30 to 40% of the revenue made off the games. This isn't a bad percentage as we would still make a reasonable amount. 
• If the player is happy then they are more likely to buy content for the game. Thus, we must make sure they understand the rules of the game and make the game accessible so as not to ruin the user experience and, as a result convince them not to buy from us again.

* Considering the above advice stated, you should understand your audience, I decided to share a Youtube video from 'Extra Credits' on the Facebook page entitled 'Designing for Youth - Making Games for Players Under 14'. I did this so as to get everyone thinking about new ideas and what our target audience would want to play. After all, age can have an enormous impact on the game as, if you fail to cater for your audience then you alienate them. 
You can watch the video itself below...

* Wanting to include narrative in our piece, I will over the weekend write down some new ideas for openings and endings (cut scenes) as we are no longer forced to make them safety focused, especially since we have the fire information cards for that. Therefore, they can be made fun and somewhat silly (within reason). 

Harvard Referencing:

• Extra Credits (2014) Designing for Youth - Making Games for Players Under 14 - Extra Credits. [Online Video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdFw8kvHAY8 (Accessed on: 27/3/2014).
• Freeman, W (2011) Beyond free-to-play: The future of game monetisation. Available at: http://www.develop-online.net/analysis/beyond-free-to-play-the-future-of-game-monetisation/0117249 (Accessed on: 27/3/2014).
• McAllister, G (2012) The four essential steps to successful monetisation of free-to-play games. Available at: http://www.edge-online.com/features/the-four-essential-steps-to-successful-monetisation-of-free-to-play-games/#null (Accessed on: 27/3/2014).

Voice directing (20/3/2014)

* Our lecturer wasn't in today, so we cracked on and presented our ideas for game and company names.

People loved the company name 'Gorilla Milkshake' and the game name '3, 2, 1... TOWER DEFENCE GAME!'.

In the end we decided to vote by each ticking our favourite options on a piece of paper. However, no one had any ideas for game names and it became a draw between my company name and Jon's which was 'Insert Game Name Here'. Therefore, we will think more about this next week.

* I also took on my role of voice director for the others who have to perform today. I did this by directing, recording, telling people when to be silent and showing when to speak by putting my thumb up. I also encouraged them and gave advice when a line needed repeating or spoken in a certain way.

* For next week, I will continue to look at other descriptions for the cards and further monetisation options. I will also be presenting, along with the audio department and the other voice actors what we have been doing during the last two weeks to our lecturer.  

Company and Game names (14/3/2014)

* Having come up with company and game names yesterday, today I decided to make art assets for them in order to better display my ideas.

Coming up with some very quick rough designs, I just wanted to show visually the type of idea I had. The art department would clearly take these further (as in the industry).

Company Logos:

Gorilla Milkshake :

I honestly don't know where this idea came from, but I just thought the name was so weird and wacky that I had to make a fun logo for it. Thus, have a gorilla bathing in a milkshake because... why not?

H.O.G (Heroes Of Gaming) :

Like the last name, I didn't know where it came from, but I really like the anagram. Therefore, for the second design I decided to go for a traditional fantasy design.
I imagine if this design were ever animated it would have just the title and background before the hog with the dwarf rider jumping over it.

Phoenix Games :

In my head I knew exactly what I wanted, but I struggled to get it down. Therefore, please excuse this average design and try and visualise a beautiful flaming phoenix flying towards the heavens..

Game Names:

3, 2, 1... TOWER DEFENCE GAME! :

Unable to decide between the two colour schemes, I decided to present both.
The first one is brighter and almost cartoon like. Whereas the second one matches the theme of the game far better.

Stop, Duck and PUT OUT THE FIRE! :

Wanting to come up with a cool looking name, I came up with the following dark colour palette with the flames behind it so as to make it stand out.

Blazing Tower Defence :

Finally, taking inspiration from the above game name, I decided for obvious reasons, to put the flames on a tower.

Credit Avatars: 

Thinking of including avatars of ourselves in the credit section, I decided to combine elements of the Mii's on the Wii, South Park characters and the characters from the Snoopy cartoon. Thus making the characters very cartoony and appealing to our younger audience. 

Good and Bad news... (13/3/2014)

Bad News:

* We found out today that for some reason our clients no longer want a tower defence game, despite them initially agreeing to that concept. Therefore, after much debating we have decided to leave them as their new demands would make our current existing build of the game pointless.

Good News:

* As we no longer have a client, we are no longer restricted to a young audience and can expand our ideas even further. We will instead produce our game for the online games site http://www.kongregate.com/ and will be evaluated by the college.
 
So, I will now have to research the website in order to see how their games function for future reference.

* Adam, and I were also able to record our lines today which went great! Despite getting a bit of a sore throat, I am told my performance was hilarious and worth watching.
I'm glad I did some research in advance however, otherwise I feel that I would have had a even worse throat.  

Group Chat:

Was asked to think about monetisation options for our game which I will do for next week.

No longer having a client means we can add what we wanted to the game, our own 'seal of approval' as it were. Therefore, I came up with the following ideas...

• As we haven't worked on it yet, I would really like to see the beginning and ending cut scenes included. Partly because I want to include more of my narrative, but also because I feel that it would make the game unique and differ from other tower defence games. I wouldn't mind hearing some voice acting in it as well. 
• Flashy and impressive interface and game play e.g. 'Borderlands' esk explosions and visible health being chipped off enemies. Maybe even a commentator or text saying things like "Wow!", "Fantastic!", "Amazing!" and "Cool!".
• A merchant of some sort who sells the player buffs in between levels. Could then be an option for making us money in the form of micro transactions. It would also be cool if talking to the salesman revealed hints on the next level's encounters. 
• A credit section for all the wonderful people that worked on the project. We could even look like Mii like avatars from the Nintendo Wii, inside a fire station perhaps? Maybe we would also squeak if clicked by the player. 
• Maybe link real fire fighter websites to the game in order to push our safety message.

We were also asked to come up with possible company and game names, therefore I decided to write down anything and everything in order to come up with some fun and creative ideas.

Possible Company Names:

• Defiant 
• Phoenix Games
• Innovative
• H.O.G (Heroes of Gaming)
• Gorilla Milkshake 
• Rising Superstars 

Possible Game Names:

• Blazing Tower Defence 
• Fighting Fire
• Put out the fire because reasons...
• 3, 2, 1, Tower Defence Game!
• A game of extinguishers and fire
• Stop, Duck and PUT OUT THE FIRE!!!

Harvard Referencing: 

• Kongregate (Unknown) Kongregate. Available at: http://www.kongregate.com/ (Accessed on: 13/3/2014).

Important notes for Thursday's voice recording (9/3/2014)

* As Adam, Jim and I will be doing voice recording on Thursday, I decided to make some notes in order to prepare us.
The following notes include information I have found over the years, as well as personal advice from existing voice actors I have managed to contact recently.

• Do vocal warm ups before recording. Thus relaxing the muscles and making it easier to record lines. 
• If you open your mouth wide when you speak you make what sort of emotion you are trying to project clearer. After all, there are more muscles in the human face than anywhere else on the body.
• Acting slightly whilst performing can help you get into character. 
• Standing up gives you more energy when performing and allows you to breathe better.
• You should try and look at a visual image of the character you are representing. That way you can use the previous two statements in order to bring that character to life. 
• If you're using a voice that hurts your throat, then stop immediately! You don't want you to lose or damage your throat after all.
• Avoid drinking very hot or very cold water as it can damage the throat. Instead only drink room temperature water.
• Don't eat chocolate before recording, as it builds up saliva in your mouth and can slur your words. 
• Remove jewelery so as to not make any other noise. 
• Make sure to get multiple takes, even if your using a filter, as other factors can get in the way e.g. you were too close to the mike, you accidentally slurred a line or the audio team simple needs a variety of takes to choose from.
• Record at least a couple seconds of silence for each piece as that will allow the audio team to better edit the voices since they can remove any ambient noise. 
• If you mess up a recording you can stop, give yourself five seconds for ambient noise and then start again.
• If you do the above then try and mark the take on a piece of paper. This makes the editing process ten times quicker when editors know which audio starts later or needs to be cut. 
• Start low, then get higher. Otherwise if you yell straight away it can be off putting for a listener (similar to a jump scare). 

Also, one last thing that I hope everyone does know already, but I must emphasise is that EVERYONE should be RESPECTFUL to one another and SILENT during recording. After all, talking, laughing or other off putting things can drain a voice actor's confidence and weaken their performance. Plus it would then take twice as long to record what should only take a single session.