Proposal:

With my proposal, I am working in a team alongside my partner, Joseph. This is my personal proposal which will show:

• Section 0
• Section 1
• Section 2
• Section 3
• Section 4
• Section 5

Section 0: Title, Completion date, Devs

Date Of Completion: June 2020

Name Of The Game: Family Secrets: Chapter 2: Meet Thy Maker

Devs: Ellie-Jane Wright and Joseph Hannon

Section 1: Rationale

Over the past twelve units, I have gone from starting off in September 2018 from not knowing anything about how games are made to being able to make a realistic playing card, simple character rigs and animations which can then be used to create a bird with a simple path animation (which works very well to make it look like a fully detailed 3D model). With the last units that I have just completed, I now know how a heads up display (HUD) works and how to program a game to make it have certain actions when collision boxes are triggered or when a health bar needs to decrease. With all of this new knowledge, I know that I can create something new and exciting which will push myself and my partner, Joseph, to be challenged to create something that has never been seen before.

Over the second year of this course, I have been enhancing my skills that we learned over the first year of this course and to also learn even more skills such as more complex tasks in Photoshop and learning about a specialist study alongside having a client brief for a project to have the opportunity to create something for a client.

Section 2: Project Concept

For this final major project, We have decided to make a sequel to the first final major project we created. This sequel will not only include more story and depth to the unanswered questions of the first chapter but also give us more characters to have the opportunity to show off and design. The concept behind chapter two is that it’s a continuation to chapter one. The overall basic plot is that our main protagonist (Finn) takes our two plushie allies (Fifi and Willow) deeper into the facility in search of answers to where his father went and what is going on but to also accomplish the main goal of escaping. Along the way, he meets other plushie allies (some good, some bad), half-finished prototype experiments (enemies) and near to the end a special ally who is also seeking freedom. We are planning to have 7 new main characters who join Finn’s journey through the abandoned facility in search of his missing father.

Inspiration Behind Concept:

Bendy And The Ink Machine: (No Commentary)

(Chapter 4)

(Chapter 5)

Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion: (No Commentary)

Five Nights At Freddy’s: (No Commentary)

(Fnaf 5)

(Fnaf 6)

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild:

Section 3: Evaluation

Joseph and I will evaluate our work using our classmates and tutors playing the game at many different stages to get feedback and further ideas for development. This could also include solutions to problems that we may have along the process of production. With the pre-production, I personally will discuss the ideas that we develop with my tutors to make sure that they’re not too ambitious or not ambitious enough. Furthermore, if we develop the idea of the original concept this could affect pre-production time because if we change the concept entirely then we would have to make sure that everything is planned and thought of properly.

However, there will be regular evaluations with myself and Joseph to see how effectively we have collaborated, used our time and how the overall production is going.

Section 4: Project Action Plan And Timetable

Pre-Production:

For pre production, I didn’t make a timetable due to wanting to take one piece of concept art and concept in general at a time. This was the case as I had many characters to try and com up with, alongside enemies, making sure that its not a massive plot jump (To keep the game’s lore simple and easy to understand rather than there being huge gaps).

Production:

 

The reasons why the table for production is not complete is because myself and Joseph haven’t fully developed the idea yet, so a more detailed version will be created when we finish pre-production.

For why there is no table for post-production is because we’re not entirely sure how the game will develop and what the final project will look like. Post-production will have it’s own time table when it’s relevant to think about that kind of task.

Section 5: Proposed Research Sources And Bibliography

Proposed Research Sources:

For the proposed research sources, I will mainly be using the internet as my main research source. However, I will also be using magazine articles, Books and any other source I come across.

Bibliography

Video Example:

 Q And A To Do With The Development Of A Game

QUESTIONS ANSWERED #1! | Bendy and the Ink Machine,  2017. [Youtube] thermally. June 26th. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watchv=LzMwUwEriNk&feature=emb_logo [Accessed at February 26th 2020].

Behind The Scenes Of Development Of Chapter Three For Bendy And The Ink Machine

7 BEHIND THE SCENES FACTS about “Bendy: Chapter Three”! 2017. [Youtube] themeatly.October 15th. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=SrFFaMc5uYs&feature=emb_logo [Accessed at Feburary 26th 2020].

Pre-Production:

With this final major project, I and Joseph decided to work in a team again since we can focus on each other’s strong points and we have worked together well in previous projects. Our project concept is to have a sequel to the final major project we made for year 1’s final major project.

What am I contributing to this project?:

The main things that I am contributing to this project are:

• Enemy designs
• Character designs
• Dialogue Icons
• Reference sheets
• Pause menu, start menu and chapter select menu
• Health bar designs

To sum this up, I am responsible for all the heads up display visuals in this game.

Character Designs:

Unlike last year, we only had two characters in the game. However, this year’s going to have 9. This does not include enemy designs. For each individual character, they will all have dialogue icons.

For the main cast of characters we have:

• Finn (Protagonist)

• Fifi (Calico cat)

• Willow (White Golden Retriever)

• Rosie (Chocolate Labrador)

• Bea (Border Terrier)

• Flo (Tabby)

• Dot (Black cat)

• Sasha (Golden retriever)

• Lulu (Not sure of breed)

• Johnathan (Robot)

Reference Sheets: What are they good for?:

Here’s an example of a reference sheet. What a reference sheet is that it basically helps designers and modellers know the basic details of a character. For example with willow here, Joseph will know what sections of her body are a cream colour and where the stitching on her plushie body will go. Of course, all design sheets can differ from artist to artist, depending on the brief they were given or what they decide are the most important elements of a character’s design are.

Here’s an example of an officially licensed art book for Super Mario Odyssey. As you can see they show the front, side and back view of Mario in this alternative costume. The reason why they show these angles is because it will aid the team of 3d modellers to know what to exactly model and how it should look from the different angles.

Production: What Am I Contributing?:

For this major project, I and Joseph decided to work on our strengths to keep this project as strong as possible. For my part of this project, I was responsible for all the character designs, Enemy designs and dialogue icons. This may sound easy but do keep in mind the number of new characters we have added to this game alongside having to update old designs and finally create 8 fully-fledged enemy designs. Besides that fact, I wanted to make all of the artworks for this game unique and to the best of my ability. Unfortunately, I couldn’t add much shading to the dialogue icons (due to the size of them on the screen) But I do plan to add shading to the sticker designs I have planned.

Is merch necessary?:

The reason why I decided to make merch (stickers in specific) is that my tutors have always supported my art style and suggested that I do make merch one day. So I decided to try it out. All the designs I need are lined, coloured and have eyes shaded.

The Designs, What are they based on?:

Dot: Joseph’s pet cat

Bea: Joseph’s pet dog

Fifi: (Family cat whos a massive diva)

Flo: Joseph’s other pet cat

Finn Wolfston: Orignal character by Joseph

Johnathan: Another original character by Joseph

Lulu: Friend’s pet dog

Rosie: Family’s previous pet dog

Sasha: Friend’s other pet dog

Willow: Family pet dog

How did the drawing process go?:

To show you how the drawing process went, I have a series of screenshots. Unfortunately, OBS (Recording software) wasn’t working when I had these in production so unfortunately, I do not have any video footage.

Reference Sheets:

Dialogue Icons:

 

With all of these screenshots, this gives an idea to my personal art process, starting out with a base sketch, refining said sketch, line art, colour and shading. Looking back at this art, I am proud of it but I know that there is always room for improvement, more detail, etc.

Merch Designs:

For all of these designs, they are based on the enemies for this game, known as the ‘corrupted ones’. The reason why I wanted to make these into designs was that I wanted to give them better designs and have the chance to play around with a distressed and worn down look. I did have plans to also add in the robotic parts of the enemies but for potential sticker designs, I wanted to keep it simple as the stickers wouldn’t be very big and I didn’t want to overcrowd the designs due to size and clarity of said designs.

Evaluation:

Introduction:

The project’s name is ‘Family Secrets Chapter Two.’ This game aimed to be creative and to also stand out for the handmade art for our characters but also for the overall story line to stand out from the other projects, which it does. The project’s overall aims was to not only have fully functioning dialogue but also to have handmade artwork for the character designs and also for our game’s story to stand out with mystery and unanswered questions playing a major part to keep the story shrouded in mystery but to also answer a few questions in this new chapter.

Roles And Contributions:

For the individual roles and contributions made to the games, myself and Joseph had discussed a potential plan for the the production of our game. This included myself making the concept art, final designs and also making dialogue icons and full body designs for all of the characters. This also included enemy designs this time around and also full reference sheets for modelling.

The Positive:

The positive things that had occurred during our project was that the concept designs were completed easily and they also gave me a chance to further develop Fifi and Willow’s designs to make them look like stuffed animals (teddy bears). Another positive thing was that the overall art looked the way we wanted. The characters had a cutesy style but they also looked serious and like their individual personalities. To add a final positive, I got to further challenge myself with the artwork for this game with more characters, more concept art and the addition of enemies.

Screenshot of in-game dialogue icon (PNG)

The Negative:

With this project, a lot of things had gone wrong. But this does happen with every project but the changes that have been made have made the game better. The main setback would have been my laptop crashing twice. This not only delayed the artwork from being finished but it also meant that the artwork could not be detailed as much as I would have liked to. However, this change did make the art still look great, even without shading. Unfortunately, some of the progress I had made on the artwork was put on hold because of my drawing tablet deciding to break so I had to wait to figure out what tablet would be good to replace it.

Influences And Inspiration:

For the inspirations behind the concept of ‘Family Secrets’ to even the overall story-line, there was many different inspirations from not only other video-games that either myself or Joseph (My colleague for this project) have played and enjoyed. There are many different games that have inspired this game but the games that I found personal inspiration from were:

Five Nights At Freddy’s:

With the 8 game series (There are 7 games so far, the 8th is in development), The main inspiration was the lore (story) behind the games. The inspiration that I took from the series was to have the story be surrounded in mystery and have unanswered questions but to also have things that wouldn’t add up.

Latest upcoming installment in the series

Splatoon:

With Splatoon, The actual colours of the ink that Nintendo chose are what inspired me. The colours are not only vibrant but they contrast each other. This is known as complementary in artist terms. This inspired me to have some of my own art in the game but have the colour schemes be complementary.

Splatoon title cover for the game’s disc case

Mario Odyssey:

With the latest Mario installment into the huge series, Mario Odyssey took everyone by surprise. From the retro aspects to old characters coming back into this game with a modern spin to even the story line. The inspiration from this game was the creative flare and it showed that any simple idea can be developed into something truly spectacular.

Mario Odyssey gameplay screenshot

Communication:

As this project was developed and completed in a team, communication was vital to getting this project to the overall game it is now. Our communication was constant because of ideas being developed further and also to ask questions or for help with a certain part of the project that we were working on. Communication was also present between myself and my tutors. This was not only to show the progress of the project but to also ask for advice and assistance on the project’s development. Due to the current situation, we mainly used social media to communicate effectively.

Learning:

With communication, I have learned to make sure to address problems to my partner or tutors before they get worse. Also, verbal and physical communication is important as with verbal communication, words can be used to explain an idea but physical communication can show your ideas physically on paper or on a screen.

Survey Feedback Summary:

We didn’t necessarily have a play day this project because instead we had a zoom call with the class and our tutors. This call involved us all showing off our projects and giving feedback to others. In general, it was very positive feedback and our game seemed to be a great project from the feedback we recieved.

An example of positive feedback would be for the artwork and dialogue designs. My peers seemed to love the cute drawings of our three past protagonists and our new furry friends joining us.

Example of one of the dialogue icons

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the project outcomes were to make the game stand out and to have a good story-line. These were both achieved with the story being left on a cliffhanger (Yet again!) and the game having handmade art to make it stand out. With the aspects of game design, I would like to be able to focus on getting my 3D modelling skills to improve but also to have more opportunities for experimenting. With skills that I would take with me onto university, it would be to make sure I communicate effectively, show persistence, keep striving for improvement and to just keep my head down and focused.