Time Plan

Week  1 – create ideas within our group of game and characters aswell as back up idea’s in case of any problems (idea generation)

Week 2 – split the tasks between the people in our group and plan and begin our individual work.

Week 3 – look over the other members of the groups idea’s give feedback (positive and negative) and take the feedback to make the work better.

Week 4 – begin to form the work into a single file as the game begins to take shape and let us process and programming errors or other such problems we may encounter.

Week 5 – finalise the process of creating the game checking for flaws and making sure it is functional 

Week 6 – have a complete review of our game to make sure it works and that it can be played with no problems as well as blogging the work as we do it

Evaluation

What went well?

I think that the game was a good idea. It had a lot of potential and really emphasized the education aspect of the game which we wanted to get across. We knew that education was one of the most important aspects of the clients idea so we based our game around that. The character design was good and really brought the game together. We went for a simple cartoon style that would appeal to a younger audience. Byron was in charge of creating all of the characters you see in the game and made a good job of it. Also by giving the characters a simple bobbing animation, it made the screen feel more interactive.

Another thing that I think went well was the design of the game. By having the player help a fish form the aquarium made it feel more personal and made the player feel more involved making it a personal experience. Also the way that the game is scripted is good. It was challenging but defiantly made it all work together and made it fun.

What could be improved?

I think the way that the group planned to use their time could be improved. One of the main reasons that we were behind was because the task we had took on was rather large. We didn't know how much the coding would set us back. Also I didn't think the tasks set to us all were not completed on time. Some members of the group I don't think contributed as much putting us even further behind.

Looking back on it now I would have chosen a different idea, making it simpler to execute. This would have given us more time to do things like, blog work and graphics and touching up the game so it looked really nice. I would have also wanted to start scripting straight away rather than later.

What did I contribute?

My main task became scripting the game which I found difficult but i managed it by spending time with the tutor on it and also working a lot from home. I also created the background graphics using Photoshop and also had a hand in creating the graphics in the game because they were not finished in time for when i needed them. I also had a major part in planning the game by generating ideas and coming up with drafts. I think i worked well in the group by making sure everyone knew their own responsibilities and assignments so they wouldn't forget what they had to do. I also produced feedback from the client and analysed the assignment brief for everyone.

Summary.

Overall I think that there could have been a lot of improvements to work that was set to other members of the group. However i think that the character bios were good and also that the character design and animation was good. I was pleased with the way that Byron and I communicated and exchanged ideas and was happy with he way that Jordan completed his tasks with detail. However, i have to say that i think Jordan's part in the group was small. He did not complete task when set or show any initiative to help or ddo tasks without being told. Whilst myself and byron had tons of work to do he would happily not help and expect us to do it. I think that Byron and i would have done better if we had had some gelp form him as one of the biggest tasks he did was the chracter bios.

I think that the game works well for its purpose. The graphics and animation is good as well as the scripting and i would happily say that i was part of making it. I enjoyed parts of making the game however having know how much work was needed on the scripting I may have asked for more help or needed more experience in order to get the scripting done. I also think that Byrons part in the making the gaem was very good as well.

Character Bios

Name – Simon

Species – Lobster

Favourite food – Small Fish

Likes too – Walk sideways

Fun Fact – some lobster can live up to 100 years.

Name – Callum

Species – clown fish

Fav food – Leftovers

Likes to – swim in coral

Fun fact – clown fish live in schools of roughly one hundred

Name – marty

Species – tiger shark

Fav Food – large fish

Likes Too – swim and hunt

Fun Fact – Some sharks have  a small fish swimming under them to protect them from things that may eat them

Name – kashikoi

Species – octopus

Fav food – crab

Likes too – Open jars to get his  food

Fun fact – octopuses are highly intelegent

Name -ned
Species -starfish
fav food - algae
likes too - Stick to things
fun facts - Starfish like to be lazy and sticks to thing to hide from things that want to eat them

Name - Sparky
Species - Ell
fav food - small fish
likes too - swim in maze like caves
fun facts -ell's blend in to rocks well which makes them amazing hunters

Name - Jimmy
Species - Seahorse
fav food - Very small fish
likes too - Swim along the bottem of the sea on the sand
fun facts -  Sea horses tend to play in small groups

Name - herbert
Species - hermit crab
fav food - medium fish
likes too - Find new shells
fun facts - a hermit crab normally like to find bigger more pretty shells

Name -timmy
Species - turtle
fav food -small fish that are in groups
likes too - swim with his family
fun facts - turtles can live up to one hundred years

Name - Barry
Species - Baracuda
fav food - large fish
likes too- play hide and seek
fun facts - baracuda seem slow but when they hunt they are faster than a blink of an eye


Name - Jerry
Species - Jellyfish
fav food - Anything that comes his way
likes too- Float around
fun facts -Jelly fish have no bones so the sea's current makes them travil


Name - Steve
Species - Stringray
fav food - medium fish
likes too- sleep on the sand of the sea
fun facts -Stingrays only use their tails in self defence


Name -Buddy
Species - Butt Head Fish
fav food - crabs and shrimp
likes too- bumb into things

Name - jeggie
Species -ragged tooth shark
fav food - large fish
likes too- look scary
fun facts -this type of shark is one of the few with a hump

Drafts

Feedback From Client

We had a meeting with the client and presented them are main idea for our game.  During this presentation the client took on board all of our ideas and seemed to like them. We then asked if there was any feedback that she could give us and she raised a few points.

• Keep the 4 different zones idea, but have 4 different characters trying to get home.
• We would like to include sound in our game, for example voices. These files however can be very large and make are game have a huge file size. This therefore can lag the game. So until we find out the dimensions of the tablet device, we need to have some sound format management.
• If one day the aquarium is quite busy it might be quite hard to hear sound. Therefore we need to add subtitles just in case our voice cannot be heard. We can also add speech bubbles to make the subtitles look more in theme.
• Include the names of fish for example, Enzo the Shark
• Maybe incorporate a map so that players can find the NPC's
• We need to make sure that we randomize questions so that the game is slightly different every time it is replayed.

Responsibilities and Task Assignments

Byron

-Character Creation
-Scripting
-Research
-Aquarium Visits/Research

Jordan

-Animal Research
-Voice/Sound
-Aquarium Visits/Research
-Game Research

Jake

-Team Management
-Scripting
-Flash
-Animation

Analysing Client Brief

Kelsey was the client that met us at the National Marine Aquarium, and she gave us a run down of what she wanted us to produce. She gave us some valuable information that we noted down.

-Has to be education
this is one of the main aspects that our game has to cover. We need to be educating people about these animals and how we co exist with them. We need to teach people about how humans effect on the planet effects these fish.

-Needs to include personalities
There are many people that visit the aquarium regularly, in fact more people visit it regularly than a one time thing. This means that we have to incorporate what people see into our game. For example, people have favourite fish in the aquarium and know what they do and how they act. This means we have to incorporate these personalities into our game.

-On a tablet or android
we need to bear in mind that our game is going on a tablet device. This means that we need to make sure we have minimal file size so that the game runs smoothly.

-Charity
The National Marine Aquarium is big on charity. We need to make sure that we give the correct information to the audience about how to find out more about the charity and what the aquarium gives back to the community and the environment.

-Breeding Programme
The aquarium has a breeding tank which all the new born are kept in. They are very keen to make sure that they continue to generate more and more fish and make sure that they are cared for and healthy.

-Behind the scenes
People that came to the aquarium were interested in what happens behind the scenes of all the fish tanks. so the aquarium installed a laboratory which you can view whilst walking through one of the tanks. Here you can see into the laboratory and see what happens behind the scenes. We need to try and get this into our game so the audience know where it is.

-Environment
We need to make the audience aware of the environmental dangers of pollution. We need to make sure that we educate the audience into seeing the problems with water pollution and habitat destruction.

-Audience
Our audience was defined as needing to be usable by all ages. This means we need to make it fun and enjoyable enough for children but still be factual for adults. Also we need to make sure that the language we use can be understood by all ages.