GDO730 Co-Creative Design and Development Practice - Week 2 - Research
_______________________________________________________________________
Figure 1: Team Ideation Illustration (Pixelart, 2022)
_______________________________________________________________________
This weeks topic consists of finalising the group teams for the remainder of the module, as well as the start of the Rapid Ideation stage (RI). This made it down to our development teams to take priority over the ideation process and ensure that every member complies with the engagement of the project. This requires a level of supported research and background analysis to assist in the decisions we intend to make from our findings. It is vital to avoid any precarious issues by the use of effective planning and scheduling.
Prime examples of these take place during hackathons or game jams where communication is the ongoing resource between teams, to discuss and outline the best tools and techniques that can be applied to a proposed ideation. I see this week as an opportunity to start building some team rapport to set out what sort of idea we want to carry out with the combination of skillsets and knowledge. The weekly material is also optional to read as we are heading into a more independent reading list at our own preference, provided our research has some relevance to the potential ideation.
My goals for this week is to carry out further analysis on relative case studies I mentioned last week that associate a replayable core loop. This will include some competitor analysis within the case studies, but from a targeted consumer perspective rather than the business side. I also intend to use some mindmap and brainstorming techniques list some potential ideations that will be shared between the team over the next scheduled meeting to compare proposals.
_______________________________________________________________________
Team Name
This weeks spark forum is quite a short, but struggling task. Each team has been tasked with coming up with a name. This is sometimes a useful tactic to kickstart the project between new people and begin some team bonding, differentiating common interests between peers strengthening your collaboration skills. As discussed in my previous post, I became a member of the newly established group known as FishCake.
The name was already agreed upon before joining which did not affect me as I always find coming up with titles and names are very tough, whether it has relevance to the subject, or the last choice from an online random generator. I think the name gives a retro and quirky style for a team or even a small indie studio. Simple is sometimes better as it leaves more room for the more complex to be considered. I did however make a brief mockup of our team name as a branded logo , that could potentially come across as branding for a small indie studio on move within the industry.
Figure 2: Team Name Logo Mockup (Kyle Cornwell, 2022)
_______________________________________________________________________
Replayable Core Loop Case Studies
My previous post mentioned potential case studies to research some background analysis relating to replayable core loops as required for our project brief for an ideation. I have shortened the list to three potential titles that share a common and compeitive addiction as well as player engagement during gameplay.
Circle
Figure 3: Circle. 2014. Ketchapp. [Online] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ketchapp.circle&hl=en_GB&gl=US
Game analysis: - minimalistic art style
- Ease of control due to mechanics through mobile pc versions.
- Objective is to guide a circular ring down a endless line whilst avoiding contact using timed input to elevate the ring. Similar to Flappy Bird.
- Daily spinner feature to increase diamond income outside of gameplay.
- Addictive to kill time. Basic scoring system measured by the length of taps.
- Core Loop: Rewardingly customised circles. The longer you survive, the more diamonds to collect and unlock new circles, But which one will you unlock?
_______________________________________________________________________
The Last of Us
Figure 4: The Last of Us, 2013. Naughty Dog. [Online] https://store.playstation.com/en-gb/product/EP9000-CUSA00557_00-THELASTOFUS00000
Game Analysis:
- Realistic art style set in post-apocalyptic dystopia world.
- Linear level design to keep concise and effective player engagement.
- Strong narrative design and combat mechanics
- Customizable weapons and player perks as the story progresses.
- Journey of survival and loss but resulting into hope and companionship
- Core Loop: Mainly focused on four areas throughout gameplay. Exploration, tension, challenge, reward and return to exploration.
_______________________________________________________________________
Fallout Shelter
Figure 5: Fallout Shelter, 2015. Besthesda. [Online] https://bethesda.net/en/game/falloutshelter
Game Analysis:
- Signature Fallout Vault Boy art style.
- Adopted franchise perk mechanics to increase character development.
- Ensuring the protection and balanced life of vault settlers through water, food and power.
- Unlockable extensions to construct for the right cap price to expand your vault community.
- No major customisation options (aside from the vault content) that has a knockback effect to players appeal (long-term)
- Core Loop: Expansion of the vault and resources management, whilst attending to the needs of its inhabitants.
_______________________________________________________________________
Rapid Ideation Plan
This weeks spark activity comprised of our teams creating a rapid ideation plan. This enabled us to take into consideration as a team, our individual unique skills and requirements to review our current situations. We buckled together by sharing an open google document which outlined our compositions, choice of version control and communication strategy, individual as well as group schedules and what we all collectively want to achieve within the module.
When it came to the main discussions of planning the rapid ideation, we were all quite efficient to agree on the choice of technology for the project. We all clicked with a similar line of achievements as we all wanted to comprehend the feeling of working with one another in small team, aiming towards the same goal whilst being on the same level of commitment. One of our team members, Adam kindly shared this document with the rest of the other groups and our supervisor to compare and offer any constructive feedback on their approaches.
Figure 6: Team Rapid Ideation Plan (Fishcake, 2022)
This also was covered over our first official SCRUM meeting that lasted 2 and half hours. During that time, we heavily broke down our potential plans for the project and what avenues we wished to go down during development. A trello board was shared with the group to monitor our tasks and progress for the first week, to ensure we aimed for a strong plan for the rapid ideation. Our main goal was to research and identify some main competitors that would match the potential demographic we may consider to develop for.
Team members Aisha and Carie had kindly been working some ideal personas based on the IGD brief, linking to a replaybale core loop. This gave us a flexible choice between an individual that has all the time in the world to play games, compared to a full time working individual who hardly has time on their hands, needing something to distract and destress themselves.. Our first supervisor meeting took place after our intense SCRUM meeting which enabled us to talk as a team one to one with our lecturer in where we intend to go with the project and our plans to get to where we want to be.
We stated that we have not chosen a finalised ideation yet due to finalising our plans and looking into further research on case studies and attempt some independent ideation techniques and hoping by the next meeting scheduled for 20/06/2022, we will be in a stronger position and finalised what ideation we want to carry out as our digital prototype.
_______________________________________________________________________
Reflection
This week has felt very compact with alot of information being taken on. It is nice to see the team coming together and getting off to a good start with research and documentation. I look forward to seeing everyones ideas over the next week and comparing what would be the mos suitable ideation candidate.
I'm feeling alot more positive in regards to where I stand in this module as I don't feel any nerves to speak my mind during meetings and I feel getting our points across sooner rather than later, puts our communication bars to a high state and reduces the chance in conflict. Not to say this won't happen in the weeks to come, but with how we are all honest keeps us in a stong staus. I hope we continue that down the development path.
_______________________________________________________________________
References
Circle, 2014. Ketchapp. [Online] Available at: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ketchapp.circle&hl=en_GB&gl=US [Last Accessed 21/06/2022]
George Ponder, 2017. Circle! for Windows 10 Mobile is equally addictive and challenging. [Online] Available at: https://www.windowscentral.com/circle-windows-10-mobile-game [Last Accessed 21/06/2022]
The Last of Us, 2013. Naughty Dog. [Online] Available at: https://store.playstation.com/en-gb/product/EP9000-CUSA00557_00-THELASTOFUS00000 [Last Accessed 21/06/2022]
Playstation, 2014. Grounded: The Making of The Last of Us. [last viewed 21/06/2022] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH5MgEbBOps
By Furyo, 2014. Level Design in The Last of Us: part 1. [Online] Available at: https://www.mapcore.org/articles/development/level-design-in-the-last-of-us-part-one-r46/ [Last Accessed 21/06/2022]
Fallout Shelter, 2015. Bethesda. [Online] Available at: https://bethesda.net/en/game/falloutshelter [Last Accessed 21/06/2022]
Noclip - Video Fame Documentaries, 2018. The Making of Fallout Shelter. [last viewed 21/06/2022] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnEpcTo-0r4
Thomas Tamblyn, 2018. Fallout Shelter Will Consume Your Entire Life, Here's Why You Should Let It. [Online] Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/fallout-shelter-will-consume-your-life-heres-why-you-should-let-it_uk_5b2d17aae4b00295f15c1c96 [Last Accessed 21/06/2022]
FishCake, 2022. Rapid Ideation Plan. [Online] Available at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YSuetQmeimz-RXEycOWHPUpTpEBXnLEcCi4WWqgSw9E/edit# [Last Accessed 21/06/2022]
Comments