The Adventurous Date Compared to other games.

In this post I will compare my game ‘’The Adventurous Date’’ to other games.

I am going to find out the similar things and also the difference between them.

Firstly, when I thought about the idea of the game I did not know any games similar to my future game.  Because the idea consists of a boy which has to get over all obstacles and collect different things and then date his girlfriend. Of course that there are games based on love story but  they are not platform games. And my game is taking place on a platform.Adding that the background is moving and the character is animated.

When starting developing it I thought that a side-scrolling platform will be suitable for the game. Moreover I knew how to create the scrolling background from Sonic game.

So, my first inspiration was the Sonic game which we made in the class.

The scrolling background helps my game be more alive and vibrant.

My game is also very similar to Mario game. For example the boy also has to jump over platforms, collect different objects and avoid a lot of obstacles.

My game also have a lot of similar elements from other love games. The story and how the characters will act and interact between them is more romantic and characteristic for girls:

However, I designed the game in a total different way. Firstly, my game is based on a love story. Each level consists of a date and the final level should be their weeding.My game includes more obstacles and make the game be more difficult-that is why the target is 12+.
Compared to Mario and Sonic games, Mario and Sonic games are suitable for children as well, but my game is appropriate for people which age is more than 12 years old because of the story(a love story).

Beta Testing

Game ‘’Adventurous Date’’

I asked 4 people to play my game for 5 minutes and then we discussed the weakness and also the strengths of the game. What I should improve or change something within the game. What I have done very well and which is their advice for me, continuing developing my game.

1.The first reviewer said that the look of the game is really good. She said that the background is executed very well. In terms of the menu and the background story  she said that I have to improve it. In addition she said that she did not find any difficulties playing the game and namely she thinks that the build up to the first level is easy and clear.

In terms of the characters and environment. She likes how the main character interacts with the background , platforms and red hearts that he is collecting. She suggested adding more obstacles.

The first level is easy. The boy has to collect 15 read hearts in terms of dating his girlfriend.

The end of the level consist of dating his girlfriend when collecting the right amount of red hearts. There is going to be black hearts that the character is going to avoid and different puddles that also the character has to jump over, otherwise he will lose his life and will lose the game.

2. The second reviewer said the graphics of the game are really good and it makes you appreciate the game more. He likes how the background is moving and also the animated characters.

In terms of menu and the story he said that I have to improve it.

He likes how the boy interacts with the hearts and that there is a score which count how many hearts the boy is collecting. He suggested to add more obstacles because the game will be more dynamic.

He did not find any difficulties playing first level where the player collects hearts and jumps over platforms .

The end level should be completed in terms of dating his girlfriend .

3.  The third reviewer said that the look of the game is very colorful. The background story should be improved.

She thinks that the main character interacts really cool with the environment and with the heart as well. The character is collecting hearts and is jumping over platforms.

In terms of audience, she said that for 13+ people seams a bit easy for that age group but the story is appropriate for this type of people.

The ending of the game should be made but the idea is interesting and she wants to know how the game is going to finish and what new obstacles will appear within the game.

4. The fourth reviewer thinks that the look of the game is adorable.

The leading up to the first level is very interesting and he likes how the characters interacts between them. He likes the moving background and also how the character is moving and interacts with the obstacle. They interact in an interesting way.

The first level is easy and the aim  is  not so hard.

He said that I have to made an end level and also add some sound in it.

Conclusion

Analyzing the reviewers’ opinions  I should improve the story of the game. Namely, the leading up to the beginning of the first level. The menu is easy but I should improve –introducing the characters within the game In terms of characters,  they are moving very well but I need to add more obstacles. The characters also interact within the environment. The background is executed  very well and the animated characters as well.

 The first level is okay, it  is not so difficult but I should made an end level where the girl will be spawned.
In addition I should add some sounds in the game. The sound will help the game be more dynamic.


Now ,I think that  my game has a better structure. I followed all reviewers' suggestions.I created new obstacles:black hearts and puddle. I designed a health bar.
The characters interacts in a different way with the platforms.When the boy is colliding with the platform, the background and the platform itself is stopping. The character is changing his size, so he can go under the platforms.
I improved the leading up to the first level. I designed the scene where the main character is introducing his self in the game. I made an end scene ,where the boy is dating his girlfriend. In addition I added some music background and also sound effects when the main character is colliding with obstacles in the game.

Audience Research

To find out who is my target audience I designed a questionnaire and get sensible people to answer it. People that I thought are more appropriate for my game. The questionnaire is formed of introduction, saying who am I and what is the survey for. Then the questions from the survey are included in three section. The first section is formed of personal details :age, gender, nationality, hobbies. The second section is designed to find out what type of gamer are people that answer, for example questions as: what kind of games they prefer playing the most?, Who pays for their games? ,How much to they spend buying games?, How many hours do they spend playing games in a week?, How long do they play in one sitting?, and what platform are they using to play on?. The third and last section consisted of introducing my game and find out their opinions about it. For example How do they find out the story?, Do they think that the game is going to be difficult?, What music would they prefer that the game have? ,What type of challenges would they like that the game have and also if Would they like having the possibility of changing the characters, background and music?

The questionnaire is attached below:

Analyzing the collecting data, the result says that 6 people that answer are female and 4 people –male. Three people are aged between 0-10 years old, 4 people are between 11-15 years old, 2 people 16-20 years and just one person is 21+.In terms of nationality, people that answered have different nationalities. The majority are British-3 persons,2 are Italian, 1-Turkish, 1 Romanian and 1 Bulgarian, 1 Russian and 1 Polish. In terms of hobbies, they all have different activities-the majority  of them prefer playing games-4, 2 persons- going out, 2 persons-are doing sport, 1 person like doing shopping and  1 person-reading books.

In terms of what kind of games they prefer playing, I noticed that girls prefer playing adventure, arcade  and platform games while boys like playing shooter, action and sport games. Three girls chose adventure,another 2 girls platform games and one girl-arcade.

The boys answered in number of 2-shootter games, 1 sport games and 1 action games.

Analyzing what type of gamers are they. I think that the majority is included in casual gamers because the majority are playing a small amount of time during the week. For example 5 persons are playing between 1 to 5hours a week,2- less than 1hour a week and just 3 persons are playing 6h-10h.

In addition the majority of people that answered are playing between 30min to 1h 30 min in one sitting-5 persons and other  4 persons are playing less than 30 min In one sitting. That can be an evidence that they are not interesting in long games. Another evidence that they are not playing long games is that the majority are using their phones or tablets as the platform where they play on( 4 person iOS, 2-Android), 2-tablet and just 2 are using their PC.

In terms of money, who pays for their games and how much do they spend buying games, the majority said that their parents buy their games. Just people over 16+ answered that they buy their games for their self. But the most people are less and 16 years old because I thought that they are more appropriate for my actual game so, their parents buy their games. And the most spend between £21-£50 per 6 months buying games-5 persons answered in that way. Two persons £51-£99 ,2 more than £100 and just one person are not buying games.

Asking about my idea of my game and how do they expect that my game is going to be. Girls find the story  interesting while boys says that it is okay. The majority expect that the difficulty of the game be okay-6 persons, 2 persons-easy, 1- very easy and just one difficult.

In terms of sound and what kind of background music they would prefer, the balance oscillates between romantic and quiet music just one person would prefer noisy music.

They would like that in the game appear new challenges as negative characters and new things to collect. The most of people that answered would like to have the possibility of changing the background image, music and also characters.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I can say that my idea of the game and the actual game would be more appropriate for girls aged 12+ because  the result of my survey says that girls like arcade, platforms and adventure games. And my game has got some elements of platform because the action is taking place on a scrolling platform. There are elements of arcade-the main character has to collect different objects in order to finish the game and also some adventure because is based on a story. And the game follow the story, the player is taking the character’s role  and is playing the game after story’s rule.

In addition girls like this type of games and at that age they understand what is love and how is it manifested. More  over my game does not have vulgar elements of love, the characters are animated and the elements of the game are funny. Adding to that the game follow the story and each level consists of another date and another and the final level is going the character’s wedding.

The game is included in casual games because the  mechanics of it are simple however it has some core elements because it is based on story, it has characters that are  designed and integrate in the environment of the game and of the story as well.

Game Development Week 5

My last week of development consisted of designed and creating the leading up to the first level and introducing the main character in the game.
I also focused on how my game is going to finish and how the girl will appear in the game.
In addition I added some sound in the game.
In the following writing I will explore how important is the sound and how the game looks- the design.

Because my game is based on a love story and is more designed for girls- I wanted that the look of the game also be suitable for this type of audience. I combined different colourful elements using Photoshop.

For example the first page of my game consists of colourful background and the displayed text in my opinion is appropriate for girls in general.
 

For introducing the boy in the game I displayed the text in a thinking cloud.In that thinking cloud are all his thought and what he have to do during the game.
Below I attached a video of how the main character is introducing his self:

The player can press the buttons ''next'' and then ''play'' using the mouse position inside to directly go to the playing scene-level 1.

The next step of my development consisted of creating the girl and introduce her self in the game- the actual date.

I researched an suitable character and designed it in the Photoshop software.The girl is quite similar with the boy. They are like from the same '' world''.

The girl is spawned when the boy manage to win the level.For example in the first level the boy has to collects 10 red hearts.So, when the score is 10, the game is changing to the ''Win Scene'' and there is the girl:

In this scene is displaying the text ''You win! Finally Daniel dated his girlfriend''.

The last trick of the game represents the sound which plays an important role in the game.I have sound effects when the boy collides with the platform, with the obstacles, with red hearts and also I have a background music which helps the game be more dynamic.

The game is finished yet, but the video attached below shows my work development during a 5 weeks.

For developing my game I need more obstacles where the main character will interact.

I think that the developer can play around the story and make for example different levels which will represents their dates , the developer can make a horror level -with some horror /funny elements(meeting her parents),but the developer need to make sure that is suitable for the target audience proposed.The last level can be their weeding. 

I think that the developer can play around the story because it versatile and in addition the story is suitable for girls and namely girls aged 12+.