Year 1
Jack Petrie
Context
Project Schedule:
This is a link to my Production Schedule. Because the file would not fit on to this website I have decided just to use a link. (Click the icon to download).
Initial Brainstorming:
Genre
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Action
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Adventure
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Comedy
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Crime
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Mystery
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Drama
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Dystopian
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Romance
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Science Fiction
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Fantasy
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Family
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Western
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Anime
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Horror
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Thriller
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Historical
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Sport
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Musical
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Children
Type
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Single Player Story
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Multiplayer Campaign
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Creative Sandbox
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First Person Shooter
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Mobile Game
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Sequel/Spinoff
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Reboot
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Racing Game
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Free Roam/Open World
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Film/TV Adaptation
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Simulator
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Educational
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Fitness
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Virtual Reality
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Mini-Games
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Tactical/Strategy
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Arcade Game
Ideas
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Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic Reboot
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Marvel's Avengers 2
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Crime Investigation Story
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Western Open World Experience
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Dystopian Victorian England Campaign
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Construction Creative Sandbox
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Sci/Fi Adventure Non-Linear Story
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James Bond Game Adaptation
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Flight Simulator
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Fantasy Multiplayer Campaign
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Thriller Mobile Game
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Racing Campaign
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First Person Shooter Historical
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Arcade Mini-Games
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Tactical War Game
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VR Sport Game
Themes Mind Maps:
This mind map shows various different game themes that could be used in the game. It was collaborated with three other people in my course. This helped put together a nice selection of possible themes.
Now I need to choose 3 individual themes and make a mind map for each.
My first mind map is for the Crime genre. I have listed all the different things to consider for this. I chose this as it is the first idea I had and I like the concept.
My second Mind Map is for a Fantasy Open World Game. This is a very cool concept and kind of reminiscent of The Lord Of The Rings. It is also very different to my first idea which will help widen my thoughts a bit.
My third and final mind map is for an action/adventure style game. This would be very fun for people that like things like superhero movies. I have made sure it is different to the other ideas I have had and this is another great choice.
Initial Mood Boards:
Crime Scene
Fantasy Landscapes
Action/Adventure Setting
These Mood Boards will help me to visualise what the possible themes could look like once complete. Now I have done these I can now choose what theme I think will work best with what I have to do.
My Project Is...
After some careful consideration, I have decided to do a Crime Drama Single Player Story For My Project. I am very excited about doing this as there are very few games like this already made. Instead of a more juvenile Mood I am going to make it more mature and adult friendly. It will be modern and quite realistic and will have a compelling story. Because I have to only design the Opening level I want to waste no time and jump right into the action of the plot. For this project I am going to take inspiration from several British TV Crime dramas like 'Line Of Duty' and 'Unforgotten'. This is a theme I am Interested in and know about and will be Fresh and new for games.
(The Project Proposal Form can be found on the Subpage linked to this Page. Along with that is the Project Pitch).
SWOT Analysis:
Strengths:
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Knowledge of modelling in 3DS Max.
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Basic knowledge of using 2D Software (Photoshop).
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Good eye for detail.
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Can produce a good amount of written work/evidence.
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Great Organisation on blog.
Weaknesses:
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Time Management.
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Lacking confidence in texturing.
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No insight to Unreal Engine. (As of yet).
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Not recalling some tools after being in Lockdown.
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Not working out of college hours.
Opportunities:
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Improving Concept Sketches.
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Gaining knowledge in Games Engine.
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Regaining Previously forgotten knowledge.
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Improve Time Management with a Schedule (And to keep to it).
Threats:
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Small possibility of another Lockdown.
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Covid restrictions limiting chances of getting feedback and collaborating with others.
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Lack of knowledge in Games Engine could result in a delay of a lot of work.
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Catching up with incomplete tasks may also cause delays.
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Lack of motivation.
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Distractions.
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Balance of work at home and in college because of lack of software.
Contingency Plan:
Research Plan
Secondary Research
Context Of My Idea:
My idea is sort of an introduction. I want it to give a feel for what the vibe of the rest of the game will be like. The opening is going to show the crime scene off and have a police investigation already going on in the flat. The first stage will involve you finding clues and just getting used to the controls and features the game has to offer. I don't want it to last too long because players can get board. This will probably be one of the most important levels as well as it introduces everything. The player will start outside the police station and drive to the flat building. This adds a bit more diversity and fun to the start. The level will start when you enter the flat. I feel like I need a starter bit before the actual story begins so it adds something to keep the player entertained and not wanted to turn it off. The Player will learn almost all the mechanics in the game. For example you will be able to view different objects for evidence. You will also be able to interact with NPC's in the room. You can receive calls as well from other characters in the game. In terms of plot, not a lot will be discovered at the start (otherwise it would be over straight away). However you will have some leads to follow up on and a small amount of security footage to work with.
Crime/Detective Games
Analysis:
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LA Noire: This game seems it is set in the 1940's-50's because of the noire nature. The clothing of all the characters also emulate the fact of the era. The game has multiple things to do as well like driving cars and also giving responses to characters in the game. Gathered from the images I have collected, it looks like there is an open world to this game as well as a story. There is some intense scenes and has been reviewed as a great detective game.
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Batman: Arkham Asylum: This is definitely a different type of crime game however it fits the theme. It is a story game and you play as Batman trying to stop villains such as the Joker from causing havoc in gotham city. This game has a very dark theme to it and also the colour reflects from the main characters slightly, black for batman and green for the Joker. The character designs are quite realistic for its time which tells you it is not for younger kids. There is also some bloody fights and battles. This game has also been praised by many.
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Heavy Rain: This game is also a different take on the genre. Instead of police or qualified detectives searching for clues, it is just a guy searching for his son. The game using pathetic fallacy a lot which is 'heavily' referenced by the title. (Pun Intended). The residential areas are clouded by the rain which implies that the protagonist doesn't want to let light in until his son is found. There are multiple characters in this game that differ extremely so you can tell them apart from one another. This game is yet another good example of a crime investigation game.
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Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments: This is yet another take on the classic tale of Sherlock Holmes. The character has taken many forms including books, comics, films, tv series and now you can actually pay as him and discover the mystery yourself. This is a very unique experience as the character has also got somewhat of a lore and backstory. This is rare with most of the detective games. The aesthetic is also back in time, like LA Noire, so a lot of the inspiration has come from real life in terms of character and asset design.
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Disco Elysium: This is a different game type entirely. It is an RPG which has that sort of mobile game look to it. It is almost 2D with a top down look on multiple locations and you can go solve not one but 2 mysteries. The game is designed to look sort of like a comic book/cartoon. The map has a whole slew of different building designs and rooms. It is hard to tell when it is set but it could be a mixture of different times. This is also a unique take on the genre.
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Among Us: This is maybe both the newest and most popular of the games I have written about. Among Us is a very simple murder mystery multiplayer game that can be played on both PC and mobile. The game involves several friends (or strangers) trying to figure out who is killing everyone. Whilst they are doing this they have a series of tasks to complete around the map. When someone spots a body they call an emergency meeting and try to decipher who is the imposter. The game definitely is family friendly and is free. The maps and characters are 2D and are cartoony. This is a very weird and fun way to play this genre.
Game Comparative Case Studies
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Case #1: Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009)
As I have previously mentioned, this game has been deemed the best Batman game ever and still is 13 years later. Rocksteady Studios, owned by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, have done an incredible job with this rendition of Batman. Rocksteady Studios is a London based studio that was founded in December of 2004. Along with this, Eidos was a founding member of the studios, owning about 25% of their shares. The first title released by Rocksteady was Urban Chaos: Riot Response in 2006. But when Eidos claimed the rights to make a Batman game in 2007, the immediately approached Rocksteady with this and production began in mid-late 2007. Because of the overwhelming success of the game, Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment decided to buy Rocksteady. The studio later became wholly owned by WBIE.
Arkham Asylum is an Action/Adventure Game following the story of Batman trying to stop the Joker and Harley Quinn from destroying Gotham. The game also re-uses voice actors from other batman media including Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill. The game uses multiple famous Batman weapons and gadgets to both fight with and use to explore. I have included this game in my list because it uses the famous Batman as a fictional hero the fights crime. This is very similar to what the police do which is a major part of this genre. So this game is technically a Crime/Detective Game.
The games art style and violence immediately tell people that this game is not for kids. The target audience is young adults mostly however some teens do play it as well. According to the Los Angeles Times, the game sold about 2 Million copies in less than a month which has been said to be good considered the decrease in game sales overall. With that in mind the game has done very well and is definitely Rocksteady Studios' most successful title.
Case #2: Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments (2014)
The one game that could really compare to the Batman game above is another crime/detective game that has characters which have been created before. That is Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments from 2014. The game is set in late 1800's London and is an adventure detective game. It was made by a studio called Frogwares that used Unreal Engine 3. The Game features classic characters Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson who try to stop a terrorist group calling themselves the 'Merry Men'. There are 6 cases that Sherlock has to solve, some of them being taken from Arthur Conan Doyle's original adaptations.
This game has been greatly received by its audiences and considered to be the best of its genre.
Frogwares are a games development studio in Kyiv, Ukraine with a subsidiary office known for creating the Sherlock Holmes series of games. which have sold around 7 million copies worldwide which shows how successful they have been.
These 2 Games are both different games on the surface but when you analyse them and discuss them in detail they start to become more similar. Now I have compared them I now know what makes a good Detective game, and can incorporate some of the good features from these into my project.
Environment Research:
Mood Board
Location/Environment:
I have briefly touched on this with my environment Mood board but I want the environment to be a run-down council estate on the outskirts of a city like London or Birmingham. I do need to find out what specific Location in the UK I want to set this. This will not be a huge bit of research or essential but I think it will help when it comes to the details of my scene.
The obvious choice would be London as everyone knows where that is and is England's capital, But it is too common. There are 3 big options that are also common, located to the north of England which are Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham. If I wanted to do it in a lesser known location (internationally) I could do somewhere a bit more close to home, Salisbury or Swindon. It would make sense because I have been there a few times and I live in the same county as them. Out of the 2 I think Swindon is a great one to use for my project. It has the run-down council areas that I want and is the most similar place to London, In Wiltshire.
The last bit to decide is the different parts of the scene and the most important, where the crime is. I want to have a diverse setting, whether it is a street of abandoned/run-down council flats with a poorly made road and dead trees. Or it is a ransacked house with wrecked furniture and decorating or a cul-de-sac of poorly made gardens with cheap children's toys etc. The location could be located just off of a Motorway that runs above some of the flats on a bridge. This would highlight the fact they are forgotten by the government and society. and also emphasise the fact that they are poor.
This is a mind map that lists all possible things that could be added to the Environment I am going to create. This will help a lot with things like my asset list and also the creation of the level because now I have a very good idea of what I want to include.
Real Crime Case Studies:
For this part I am going to research 2 Crime case studies that have actually happened, this will help me decide what I want the plot to be in my story.
Case #1: 'The Jimmy Savile Sexual Abuse Scandal':
This is definitely one of the most famous sexual abuse scandals in UK history. Jimmy Saville was a famous Television presenter who was most famous for his show "Jim'll Fix It" where he would be sent in many children's wishes and he would try and help them by making it happen. He was well respected by many people because of all the charity work he did, he was even knighted. He died in 2011 but in 2012, there had been allegations made about him sexually abusing children, both boys and girls. It was at this time that these allegations had been made from 13 British police forces. In October of 2012, the Metropolitan Police launched an investigation called "Operation Yewtree" which investigated historic sexual abuse crimes committed by both Saville and others. Some of them being alive then. The police followed up 400 lines of enquiry based on 200 witnesses. The number of offences was described as being Unprecedented in scale. In the end, the Met stated there was 589 alleged victims of which about 450 where from Saville. It is thought there could be many more that have not come forth about. This became one of the biggest sexual abuse investigation ever.
Case #2: 'The Harold Shipman Murders' (Doctor Death):
This Infamous Doctor murdered approximately 250 people under his care over the duration of about 3 decades. He would mainly murder the elderly however there were suspicions that he killed a 4 year old. He was arrested in 1998 because he tried to write his will in the name of one of his victims. He was found guilty for only 15 murders in his trial and was sentenced to prison until he died. It was proven to be 215 victims although was later estimated to be approximately 250 killings. Shipman did this around Greater Manchester and North Yorkshire. He Committed Suicide in January 2004 whilst in prison (A day before his 58th Birthday). After this devastating case, Shipman became known as "Doctor Death" and one of Britain's most dangerous Serial Killers. The case lasted 2 years.
After briefly investigating both of these horrific crimes, as well as seeing more while searching for them, I now know a bit about real life crime and what sort of offenses have happened in the UK. I can use this to decide what the plot of the story will be and what is going to be the crime.
Film & TV Research:
There are hundreds of Movies and TV Series that fit into this genre so it would be silly for me not to include this in my research. I am going to research an overview of Films and TV so I can use it as more evidence and also adds a wider variety to it.
Film #1: The Da-Vinci Code (2006):
The 2006 film, directed by Ron Howard, has been very successful and is very well known across the world. The film stars A-listers like Tom Hanks and Sir Ian McKellen. The story follows a French police detective and a historian who knows a lot about symbols and has an extensive knowledge of Christian history. A Christian 'cult' has murdered a man in the Louvre in France who is believed to be a descendant of Jesus Christ. He has left clues so that the two detectives can find his killer. The detectives meet with McKellen's character he makes it seem he is trying to help them but actually is the mastermind behind the whole thing. It is discovered that Sophie (the French detective) is the last surviving relative to Jesus Christ and that there is a map to the holy grail. In the end, the secret is lost forever and no one can find it. I enjoyed the watch and thought it was very clever. The religious aspect has not really been combined with the mystery genre before. The tense adult themes in this Film are almost exactly what I want to capture in my scene. The Crime scene at the start is relatively gruesome. The man has been stripped naked and has many scars across his body where he has whipped himself, a ritual that many of the characters do to show their respect to Jesus and what he endured in the crucifixion. The filmmakers cleverly hid the mans genitals with a bright light that doesn't allow the viewer to see anything its shining on. The film was a great way to research the film and try to see what I could do for my crime scene.
TV Series: The Line Of Duty (BBC) (Season 6 Episodes 1+2):
The sixth season of the popular show has recently returned to BBC One and with it a whole slew of cases to be solved. In this analysis I will be reviewing the first couple Episodes and then using this as evidence for my Crime scene.
In Episode 1, A team calling themselves the 'Murder Squad', Lead by Joanne Davidson, are investigating the murder of a Local News Presenter. It is discovered that a young man with downs syndrome lives in a flat with lots of pictures of this celebrity on the walls. The police suspect he has been stalking her. The man is arrested and a team of forensics begin to investigate his flat. (The crime scenes are going to be the main focus). The flat however turns out to be extremely clean and will be hard to get any evidence from the scene. The flat look relatively modern with no damaged walls or furniture. There are few markers dotted around to show the bits of evidence. There isn't any blood anyway or anything out of the ordinary. The police then investigates the posters on the mans wall and find traces of Sperm on the posters that are linked to the man they have arrested. This man they have arrested is called Terry Boyle, who the audience knows as a 'friend' of a member of an organised crime group that AC-12 (Main anti-corruption police unit) have been trying to investigated for the past 10 or so years. The episode ends with Terry being released on Bail and a lot more to discover in the next 6 episodes in this season. I think the main thing to take from the first episode is what a clean crime scene would look like if I decided to do that. When the second episode drops I will be able to analyse that and hopefully there will be more crime scenes to analyse. Then I will be ready to create a story and lore for my project.
In Episode 2, The investigation into this news presenter's death thickens and Davidson is investigated by AC-12. It is discovered that the presenter was killed by members of the OCG (Organised Crime Group), that has been in the series since season 1, at point blank Range with a gun. And at the end of the Episode Davidson is seen working with the OCG as a corrupt police officer to defend the OCG from the police and prevent the course of justice. In terms of crime scenes in this episode, there are very few so I have decided to talk about two closely linked ones from both episode 1 and 2. The story involves people referred to as a CHIS (Covert Human Intelligence Source) and one has been found dead at the bottom of a building but it is unclear whether he Jumped or was pushed. It seems that he was investigating the OCG. So it could be that they pushed him. The crime scene is a quiet area that looks abandoned. There is a tent over the body with cordons dotted around. In episode 2 there is a similar scene however a man that has been identified as the actual man that lived in the flat (not Terry Boyle). This time he has been slit with a knife on his neck which is commonly associated with the OCG when there members become a liability and un-useful. This scene was located in a recluse industrial environment. Outside some abandoned warehouses. They both were very similar and only short sections of the episodes. Now I have finished this I can now come up with a lore for the story and what it will be about.
Market Research:
For this section I am going to be looking at what people buy games based on some general surveys created by ESA (2020).
Age: Most people who play games are between 18-34 years old (38%) with another large chunk being aged 35-54 years old (26%).
Households: In America, 75% of households have at least one gamer.
Disabled Players: Approximately 46 Million players have some form of disabilities.
U.S. Players: 70% of kids (Under 18) play video games, 64% of adults (Above 18) play video games.
Gender: 59% are male, 41% are female.
Online Players: 65% play with others and of this, 42% play with friends.
Most popular game genres: 71% like casual games, 53% like action games and 48% like shooter games.
When people play: Just over half of all players play after work/school. 16% play during commute.
All of this information can be used effectively for my work. I can use this to be Inclusive in my story and to also know who to appeal to and how much I need . I can also use my questionnaire to help this as well. Now I can find my specific audience by looking into Website traffic and advertisement data to find out what people are into this type of game and loads of other data that will help me.
Finding Audience:
For this section I will be reviewing some website traffic information to find out what people would be interested in my project.
The first thing I'm going to look at is ArtStation. Almost 12% of people who use this website are from China which is the most. The Country I am basing the project off of is the UK, This is the 5th most popular on ArtStation at 3.8%. Countries in between the 2 include the US, Russia and France. Overall Artstation has had about 21.77M Total Visits in the last 6 months. The average visit duration is just over 6 minutes and people usually visit about 9 pages. The website is ranked 3rd in its primary category (arts and entertainment) in the world. Using this research I now have a great website to portray my work as a lot of people use it and the UK is the 5th most popular country that use it.
This is a list of 25 of the most played games in the last week of 2020 (Collected by Ukie). I have decided to include this as it will show me what sort of games people play most of these days. The Most common is action/adventure like Assassins Creed, Cyberpunk, Spider-Man and Avengers. FIFA 21 is very popular but is the only sport title on the list. Some of Nintendo's Switch games are on here like Mario Kart and the fitness games. Older games like Minecraft and GTA V are also still very popular.
One of the more disappointing things about this list is that there aren't any new detective games that lots of people enjoy now-a-days. Which could suggest that people don't enjoy them as much or they isn't much selection. This would be a great opportunity to release a crime game that is realistic and also appeals to these audiences.
The main thing to take from this list is that a lot of the more popular games come from previously established titles like FIFA, Call Of Duty, Assassins Creed and the Marvel games.so it would be difficult for an original game to move up the list.
Audio/Music Research:
This part of my research will be a very short one. I have chosen to include this section because it is a skill that I have applied in previous units and I also want to create some sounds and music to the final product. It will be further on in production though.
Music: Music in this genre is definitely one of a kind. Reminiscing the Horror vibe with a slightly more uplifting tone. Basically it is mysterious. It is quiet and calm whilst also being quite simple. Some of the bits are almost hiding away until a climax to the piece. As of Q2 2021 there are no big modern crime games that exist so it is hard to compare it. The films and tv of the genre include this theme. The more cheesy ones have a Pink Panther sort of theme. If I were to do add music I would try to have the mystery and thriller types and also try and keep it modern.
Sounds: There could be endless amounts of sounds to add to the scene. I could add background traffic noises or sirens (which are heard a lot in Britain). I will add the obvious ones e.g. footsteps and weather sounds (rain, wind). I could add some fire sounds as well if there is destruction as well. Another potential sound to have is animal sounds like birds (or bats if its night) I could have rustling bushes as well to indicate wildlife.
This was never meant to be a large section but it does help to imagine what the scene will be like and what sounds you will hear. Audio is equally as important as Video.
Environmental Storytelling:
Environmental Storytelling is used sometimes to add that extra bit of detail to a games world. Some examples include paper and pens left on a desk to tell us that someone has worked there, Scratches on the floor to suggest something heavy was moved about. It is basically when you use the environment to tell little stories and show the player things that have potential happened off-screen. This is a great way to add depth to your story and could definitely be something that I add to my scene.
A game known as 'The Division' is a great example of this. The general story on its own is considered to be lacking in depth. A lot of that problem is the shortage of characters in the game. However the games world (New York City) is the main character. It has its own story and so much detail into it. Some examples to show the detail include Corpses in parks, Mazes of cars on streets, Graffiti and Posters that are in memory of what they have lost. The absolute attention to detail in this game is what makes it so special to the people who play it and appreciate it.
For my scene I could definitely integrate this (To a smaller level, Obviously). There are multiple ways of doing it as well and almost endless possibilities of the sort of stuff I could do. The main sort of stuff (based off my story idea) is what the victim was doing before their death. Maybe they were working. Maybe they were Eating or maybe in the middle of cooking.
A really good example would be to include awards/trophies as well to show what sort of a person the victim was and what they did. Some photos could have cracks in them to show it was either dropped or broken with intent. A stain on the wall could suggest they drink and are maybe not very emotionally stable.
This technique is used in many media forms like films and tv, as well as books to add more visualisation, so it is not something that is new, It is something that has been done a lot before.
I would need to decide carefully what sorts of things to put in to my level and how difficult it would be and whether it would be achievable or not. Things like wood chips would be a lot more difficult and 'fiddly' than bits of paper lying around would.
This is definitely something to add to my level or at least to consider to get that extra detail.
Legal & Ethical Considerations:
If I were to release this as a full game. This would be by far the most important section. If I were to ignore this then my game would not only not be able to release the game and also could face either a fine or even a prison sentence.
The biggest thing to consider is Copyright. Copyright Law is a law that prevents people from using your work and benefiting from it, whether that be making money or getting respect/praise from people. It is illegal to do this so you will have to either get permission or a patent. You could also clearly state that it is not yours as well. In my work here I have a section where I can reference all my sources which is also a way to avoid copyright claims. After all it isn't mine.
Something else to consider is that if there is anything illegal in my level. The most reoccurring reasons for games being banned is because it has 'High Impact Gory Violence'. This means that some of the violence in the game was too gory for any audience and because of this has to either be censored in a re-release or just be banned. Other reasons include Child sexual exploitation in a game and also Nazi References which are also common. Games like Call Of Duty WWII will obviously have Nazi References however they are presented as evil and is historically accurate. In my game, I need to avoid having too much gore or realism to the crime scene as it may be too inappropriate for any audience. The gore level I want to include will definitely affect the age rating as it is intended for more mature players.
The Models and textures that I get online will all need to be referenced. If they are licensed I will need to either ask to use it or choose another one that is not licensed. I will need to carefully consider which ones I use.
One more issue I need to consider is players that have disabilities. This will not be as big of an issue in my level as I'm not making a proper game. One thing I can look into though is the use of colours. This would be for people that are colour blind so they can clearly define the different aspects of the game properly.
All are important details to consider when making any game or preparing one.
End Of Research:
Now that I have completed all the context & research I think I will need. It is time to move onto the next section. The next part is Pre-Production where I will be planning the production like creating a Backstory, a floorplan, making an asset list and concept designs. This section, I feel is a great amount and I hope I can use it in my Production.
Concept Art Research:
Now that I am almost halfway through the project, I should be moving closer to finishing the research stage and moving on to production. One of the last bits of research is going to be about concept art for games. I am going to review their; textures, shapes, scale and shading. After I have completed this I will then create some concept art for myself.
This Mood board shows multiple games concept art for environments. They are created in different ways. Some are drawn and some are actual levels. I decided to go for more of a dark theme with these Images because it has a nice effect. The top left 2 are very early drawings and are roughly done. They also have no colour. Because it is a rough drawing there is little to no texture, it is a smooth grey. The top coloured image is a later piece from L.A. Noire that has detail and colour. Unlike the previous 2 it also has a detailed level of texture including damaged walls and a realistic character design. The house they are in is all broken up with a hole in the roof and a missing window. Shadows have also been used to hide some of the parts in this scene. The room looks to be quite small but big enough to have the characters in (obviously). The 2 images at the bottom right are taking from the Sherlock Holmes games. I thought I would add these for more variety and also a different take on the franchise. there are old settings and what you would expect from about 100-200 years ago. The lighting in the left one is cool looking and makes the houses in the back seem mysterious and dark. The rest of the images are taken from very similar games, Max Payne and Heavy Rain. they are all the general feel of a crime scene that I have had in my head. I really like the settings and will definitely take these into consideration when designing my level. The texture shows that it was painted instead of modelled. The image with police and news reporters next to the bridge really appealed to me as it was perfect for my project. I like the dark clouds and rain which is pathetic fallacy. This is very much what I want in my game.
The following mood board is of multiple asset concepts that could be implemented into my level. All of them are based on an abandoned flat that has been broken and damaged. I also decided to include some knife concept sketches that might be put in the scene. Most of the assets are bits of furniture that might be in the room along with the crime scene. I also included some broken walls as I might have some walls with holes in as well maybe from an explosion or fire. The syringe will be to show the previous owner was not in a fit state of mind. It could also be planted there by the victimiser.
Logos & Marketing:
Another bit of research that will lead me on to the production stage is the Logos & Marketing Research. If I am going to create marketing materials for my game, I will need to research it first. Below will be 3 Mood Boards, each about different games in my genre and their marketing materials and logo.
This is a collection of logos posters and magazines featuring marketing for L.A. Noire. This game has a lot of marketing materials so I could have a lot of the images. They are quite bright in comparison to the game. It is almost like pop art because of the contrasting vibrant colours. The posters also give a little taster of what the game will be like and what genre it is with the dead bodies and detectives.
My next marketing mood board was of Heavy Rain. The posters for this game are a lot more lazy than the last. The feature the same origami model which obviously has some significance in the story. The other posters are close ups of some of the characters but there was not a lot to choose from. The posters definitely pay attention to the sombre mood that the game gives off as well. They are also very simplistic.
The final mood board is of the Sherlock game: Crimes And Punishment (which I have talked a lot about in my research). I wanted to use this one because it is iconic in this genre and would be a shame not to include it. However there is not a huge number of posters for this game, maybe even less than Heavy Rain. The posters that there are feature the same sort of styles and scenes. The most reoccurring thing is, of course, Sherlock and him investigated crime scenes. The posters also feature many different bodies which could highlight the number of cases in this game.
Openings of Games Analysis:
Opening Sequence Review (LA Noire):
To start with there is a cutscene that introduces the setting and what it is like. After it though, you play as a cop trying to find clues for a murder that has happened in an alley way. When you find a gun you then go to a gun store to find out what it is and can identify who bought it. The cops then go to the apartment and apprehend the man.
The opening cutscene seems calming and peaceful and displays this place as being nice with bright colours. When the story begins, the colour pallet suddenly changes to darker colours (black and grey). The time of day definitely reflects on the mood. The Blood on the shutters shows quite a dark tone and potentially not kid friendly.
The main technique that is used is referenced in the title. They wanted to use Noire. The story looks like it takes place in 1940-50s America which is normally the period that noire is anyway.
There could be more clear labels to pop up to show who created the game at the start in the cutscene so people know who is making the games they enjoy and potentially look for more of their games in the future. They could also say where it was made so people have a bit more context on their culture and why they couldn't include certain features or themes. Another thing they could say is how long they had to complete it and maybe some stresses they faced so you can find out whether it was rushed or was an appropriate time to do it it. If it was created more recently they could say it was created during the Covid-19 Pandemic.
I don't think the game is trying to convey any messages however you can see what the overall tone of the game is going to be. You can tell it is going to have a 1940's theme and you can also tell that there is going to be a slightly more mature theme to it as well by the way the story is being told and handled and also the level of gore will also contribute to the maturity of the game.