Question 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

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Question 4: How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Q4 Evaluation by Slidely Slideshow

Above is a slidely comprising of the majority of the websites, applications and resources I used throughout the year. Below, I have organised them into individual sections and discussed how each has aided me with each section of the coursework.

Browsing and Research

This group is comprised of Safari, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Survey Monkey
This group was essential in the research and initial concept phase of the production. I used these to gather images, facts, research as well as access the web for downloads and posting my work on my blog. Survey Monkey was used as an online collection data collection, and I used it to collect data for the initial planning of the game as well as collecting audience feedback, after the main production and ancillary tasks had been created.

Creation

Mission Maker was the program I used to create my main task. It is a level creation software package created by Magical Projects.
Using Mission Maker was ideal as I had never created a 3D game before and it providing all of the tools necessary to quickly create a working level with similar features to that of a real game created by a development team. However, if I was to do the project again, I would not use Mission Maker, as the program itself is very buggy and unintuitive at points, which significantly slowed down production and overall lowered the quality of the game substantially.

Video and Editing

The following group is comprised of Sony Vegas, iMovie and Open Broadcaster Software. I used these in order to record and edit various small clips as well as create a playthrough of the production. I used iMovie on the iMacs in school and Sony Vegas whilst at home to edit clips. OBS was used in both as the recording application. Aside from iMovie, i had never used these applications before, and I found Sony Vegas particularly challenging to use, as it is used in Industry as a professional video editing tool. OBS was fairly simple to use, with very little having to be done to be able to record my screen. If I was to do the task again, I may choose to use only iMovie for editing.

The last, and largest group comprises of the applications and websites I used to present my work and various tasks. Photoshop, Microsoft Word and PowerPoint were used to create and present the ancillary tasks, the Box Art and Magazine piece. YouTube and Slideshare were used to host the videos and presentations I created respectively, and were then linked onto my blog, which was hosted on blogger itself.

Prezi was used to create the interactive, web based presentations and BeFunky to create the various collages used throughout the course.

These applications allowed me to summarise and condense the work I had done and submit it all into one place, on my blog, to be presented. I have learned to use a variety of techniques, such as the quite advanced photo editing techniques within Microsoft Word as well as the creation of videos including commentary. If I were to do the task again, I would likely use the same set of technologies again. 

Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

For this task, I have created a Prezi which you can view below:

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

For this task, I created two 9 shot grids, one comprising of images from my game, and another comprising of images from other games to compare with mine. You can see both below.

The numbering goes from left to right on both grids.

Each image represents a different feature from the game, for example, the first image on the top left hand side shows the enemy of our game. It is a basic alien which appears several times throughout our game. On the second 9 shot grid, you can see it's counterpart from the game "Alien:Isolation". This shows the main enemy of that game, the "alien". Below I will compare and contrast the elements of my game to those in real life media products (games).

As discussed above, this picture shows the common alien in the game. They are the basic enemy that the player will face. I chose to use an alien for the main enemy faction in the game as it is a common idea in Science Fiction, the genre itself, not just games, that the humans are the "good guys" and the aliens are the "evil, invading menace". This shows my game conforming to the generic conventions of Science Fiction games. 

As an example of these conventions, I have used a picture of the Alien from "Alien: Isolation". This game pits humans, which are typically the players, against the alien/s, depending on the mode, which is typically AI. 

This picture is representing the "action" aspect of the game, showing a typical combat scene in the game. When compared to real media products, my game both conforms and differs from the traditional stereotypes. It has the basic "First Person" premise, where the player can see what their character would see, but my game limits the player to only one weapon and ammo type. In most Science Fiction and First Person Shooter games, the player is able to use a variety of weapons to dispose of enemies. I have chosen to only allow the player to use one weapon to provide a contrast between my game and the traditional game.

This image shows a combat scene from a very popular Science Fiction arena shooter "Unreal Tournament". In this game, the player engages in fast paced combat with other players/AI. This is alos a game where the player is able to use a range of weaponry, depending on their preference and what is the suitable for the engagement. As you can see, the basic HUD (Heads Up Display) features are similar to those in my game, with health, and time count being displayed at all times.

This image shows off my games version of a boss. Bosses are commonplace in most games, as they provide an additional challenge to the game in order to finish a level. This shows conformity to real media products. Special effects are also typically added to boss mobs, such as increased size, health, damage or even the fire effect which you can see on the image and the one below.

This image shows a boss mob from the game "Fallout 3". This boss features qualities discussed above, having more health and being significantly larger than average enemies, with the player having to use different and more innovative methods to kill it. You can see the similarities between my boss and this one.

A common feature in real games, is a companion or buddy system. I have used this convention in my own game, with this little robot which can be found hidden in the game. Once found he will accompany the player throughout their quest. Due to the limitations of Mission Maker, I was unable to do much more, but in a typical media product, the companion would have special abilities of their own which would aid the player throughout the game.

The image to the left shows an example of a companion from the game "Mass Effect 3". In this game, the player is able to recruit a number of companions to aid them on their journey, each with different abilities. This shows the convention within real media products.

This image shows my "special" character that appears in my game at several points. This is a development on the convention established by the game "Half Life" in which a mysterious character seems to aid the player at several points, with little reason why. In my game, G1BS0N appears when the player completes the side quest, and will aid the player with their quest. He will also converse with the player and would have played a larger role in the main game if I could continue with it.

This is a picture of  "G-Man" who is the special character in the "Half Life" series. I drew inspiration from him in the creation of G1BS0N.

 Another feature is the background visuals of the game. As in many Science Fiction games, the use of space or the stars is a common convention. I have used this convention myself, with the tileset you see on the left.

This is an example from "The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim" as my proof of this convention.  

Quite a big concept in Role Playing Games (RPG's) is the use of treasure or "loot" as a reward for completing certain tasks. This loot then gives the player better firepower, abilities, supplies or access to other areas. I have incorporated this convention in my own game, with a reward granted to the player once they complete the side quest.

This is an example of the RPG "reward" system in a game called "Borderlands 2". In this, completing various tasks awards the players with higher tier weapons which makes the game easier or allows for the completion of more difficult tasks.

 The concept of "Quest-Givers" is also common in RPG's. Certain non playable character "NPC's" will give the player quests with rewards for completion. Usually the storyline will follow upon this method, as it is a way for the game to ensure the player follows the correct path. I have incorporated that idea into my game, but I have developed upon the idea by not marking the quest givers. This makes the game feel more fluid and natural.

 This is an example of the Quest Giver system being used in a real media product. This is from a game called "World of Warcraft", and the player is tasked to find these quest givers and complete the quest in order to progress through the game.

The final concept I am going to cover is the map system. This is a concept used in most games, however in mine, I have developed the idea further. In order for the player to access a map of the game, they must pick up a certain device, which will then display a map in the areas which they have visited. This differs from the average game as most games allow the map to be viewed at anytime by simply pausing the game.

An example of this below, from the game "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" where the player can access the map to see where they are, and where they need to go at any point.