Studio work: Winning and Losing menu screens

When playing the game, the further the player progresses into the level, the more difficult the game becomes. The higher the honey pot gets filled, the quicker the shooter begins to fire, ranging from the shooter firing every three seconds at the start of the game, then shortening down to one second at level three and four.

This means that there are high chances of a build-up of pellets on the display. If the pellets build-up higher than the honeycomb shooter or hits the borders of the hive, the player loses the game.

Also, another way that the player can lose the game is if the comb of honey has been emptied, but the player has failed to fill the honey pot. An example of how this problem could arise is if the player makes the honey spill on the floor rather than position the comb so that the honey lands into the honey pot.  

After completing level four, players will be greeted with this window popup. This window congratulates them on winning the game, and offers them to go back to the main menu screen where they can play the game again or try a different, harder mode. 

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Studio work: Digital form - Instructional help menu

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Studio work: Digital form - Pause menu and Options Window

Today I managed to develop the Pause Window and the Options Window of the app on Adobe Photoshop.
I've kept the designs fairly simple, in order to allow any user to understand how to use the app, no matter what age they are.
I have used bright colouring and a bubble-style font, and used a yellow and orange gradient ontop of the text in order to remind the player of the game's main theme - bees and honey. Progress into the app so far seems to be steady and consistent, luckily this week I can focus on the project even more as we have Independent Study Week.

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Studio work: Digital form - Game window development

By using Maya and Adobe Photoshop, I have managed to create the display screen for when the player is playing the game. I rendered Bumblee, the hive, the honey pot and it's surroundings in Maya and then added the hexagonal honeycombs, the gigantic comb, the honey-o-meter and the pause/mute buttons with Photoshop.
I decided that bright colouring would be key in this app, so I stuck with bright colours and added gradients to the buttons, honey-o-meter and the honey for aesthetic purposes.

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Studio work: Digital form - Start menu development

After completing the models in Maya, I rendered the scene and opened the file into Photoshop to add the mountains, sky and the character as a separate layer and to add titles in the options box. My next plans is to begin compiling together models needed for the display the player sees when playing the app.

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Studio work: Digital form - 3-D

Recently, I have been concentrating on creating the digital 3-D models for my game, the Archant project and writing up my 1000 word report for project 3.
After deciding to take a 3-D approach, I have been trying to learn how to use Maya, through use of the books in the library, tutorials on YouTube, along with trial-and-error too.

A particularly interesting book I took out for a loan from the University library was a character modelling book written by digital artists: Jan-Bart Van Beek, Cesar Dacol Jr and Giovanni Nakpil. Reading about their digital art form history truly inspired me to learn more about 3-D modelling and texturing.

I have finally finished modelling parts of my game, and I have made a collage below of the models that I have made during these past couple of weeks. My next plans are to compile the models into a scene that I can use for a menu screen for the app, I'm planning to add effects using Adobe Photoshop.

I have used textures such as the honey bee's fur from the Maya paint box.

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Studio work: Traditional form - Concept drawings

Now that I have created an app idea, I have decided to draw some concept work for possible props in the game. Below are some drawings of shapes for possible bee hives, which will act as the setting of the game. I also sketched out some ideas for ways in which the bee can shoot at the honeycomb crust - from weapons such as slingshots, to larger machniery such as cannons. I decided that these weapons may be too realistic, considering the storyline is based around a honeybee, so I opted for basic-style 'pointer' shooters, which are easy to recognise and simple to create. 

Below are some quick sketches of possible shapes the main character could have for a body, head and it's wings. After researching similar games on the market, I discovered that the most common designs for bees in games were a simple sphere body and sphere head. I feel that this shape could work well as a design because it will allow the consumer to instantly recognise the character.

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Conceptual work: Developing chosen idea for an app

After many thoughts about different themes, I felt most happy with my honey bee idea. I decided to brainstorm different jobs a honey bee might have to endure and ticked the ideas I had come up with that interested me the most.

The pages above are notes on different ideas I developed after choosing the honey bee theme. The iterative process took a while, as different problems arose with various ideas. For example, during my research I discovered a game on the market that was incredibly similar to mine, so I had to change my ideas again.

How ever, I feel that I have finally reached a conclusion to what game I shall be creating and how it will work. Below is a picture of a mindmap of my game app idea:

The story:

You play as young 'Bumblee' a honey bee that is keen to impress the rest of her hive. As Winter is fast approaching, the hive needs their supply of honey to live! Thankfully, a gigantic comb full of honey that was collected during the Spring is available for the hive, but a thick crust has formed around it! It is Bumblee's job to break the crust by firing honeycomb pellets from her shooter and store the honey that seeps out in her pot. 

How to win:

In order to fill the honey pot to the top (thus winning the game), players have to get to the middle of the gigantic comb, where the honey is stored. To get to the middle of the gigantic comb, players have to use Bumblee's honeycomb shooter, which fires small hexagonal honeycombs at the gigantic comb. 

The crust acts as a border that circles around the hole of the gigantic comb. The crust is made out of smaller hexagonal honeycombs that are in the following colours:

- Red

- Yellow

- Green

- Blue

In order to create a hole in the crust, where the honey can seep out of, players have to aim the honeycomb pellets (that are fired from the shooter) at the crust. The pellets that are fired from the gun are also in the same colours as above. If a red pellet is fired from the shooter, and ends up hitting two other red small honeycombs in the crust, the three red pellets will cancel each other out and begin to form a hole in the crust. How ever, if a red pellet is fired and hits a different coloured honeycomb, the pellet will fall onto the crust and stay there. 

Once the player forms holes around the gigantic comb, they can rotate the comb using their fingers and line the hole up with the honey pot, and let the honey fall into their pot, thus slowly filling the honey pot up higher and higher.

P.S - the gigantic comb is split into four sections of honey, so that if a player forms a hole in the crust, only that section will seep out, rather than the whole comb.

Obstacles:

Players have no control over when Bumblee's shooter fires, and as more and more honey is collected in the pot, the quicker the shooter fires. The problem with this is that, the honeycomb pellets Bumblee fires stack up against each other, so if the whole screen backs up with honeycomb pellets, it's game over! This will add a significant amount of pressure onto the player because as the game goes on, each level will require more and more quick-thinking, in order to collect as much honey as possible.

Interactivity/use of iOS device features:

Players will use their fingers to rotate the gigantic comb, in order to choose where the honeycomb pellets land on the crust.

Once creating a hole in the crust of the gigantic comb, players will take advantage of the gyroscope feature on the iOS device, and tilt the device so that the honey will fall into the pot.

Game style:

Characters - 1 character in the game, which is 'Bumblee' the honey bee. She is a young, fun bee looking to impress the rest of her hive.

Audio description - SFX are chirpy, fun and become quicker as players progress further into the game, in order to add extra pressure onto the player and emphasise quick-thinking. 

An example of a piece that would suit my game is Korsakoff's 'Flight of the Bumblebee': 

Game sequence:
The game holds aspects of a hyper storyline, for example, the longer the player survives, the quicker the honeycomb shooter fires. How ever, the game also follows a linear storyline, as this will allow the player to understand the game easily and not become disorientated as they could quite possibly if the game storyline was non-linear.

Style:
Cartoon.

Player:
1 player game.

Game elements:
- Shooting
- Collecting
- Alignment
- Timing

Genre: 
Strategy - relies on players' tactical positioning of honeycomb pellets to break the gigantic comb crust.
Casual game - the game is simple and requires no long-term commitment for playing.

Theme:
Animals, the honey bee in particular.

Player type:
The storyline is aimed for all players, as it is a tactical game. The graphics could appeal to a younger audience, as it is commonly known that most children have watched cartoons during their younger stages of life.

Player immersion:
This game brings forth aspects of mental enjoyment for the player because their tactical positioning of honeycomb pellets will either win them the game or lose.

Game modes:
"Quick Fire" - a fast-paced game mode where the honeycomb shooter fires pellets every second. This mode is for experts that enjoy quick-thinking strategic games.
"Normal mode" - the default mode for all players.

Technical form:
Form: 2D and 3D graphics - a combination of both across the game.
View: During gameplay, the view will be a midshot.
Language: Objective-C.
Device: Mobile - iOS devices.

Game elements:
Number of levels: 4.
Number of characters: 1.
Time of gameplay: Dependent on which mode is being played. How ever, this game has been designed for players that just want a quick game to pass the time, so roughly five minutes maximum.
Replay ability: Yes, players can aim to beat their quickest time in filling up their honey pot.
Audio specification (taken from the Apple website, audio specification for iPhone 4):

• Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
• Audio formats supported: AAC (8 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), HE-AAC, MP3 (8 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, 4, Audible Enhanced Audio, AAX, and AAX+), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV

Graphics specification (taken from the Apple website, graphics specification for iPhone 4):

• Retina display
• 3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch display
• 960-by-640-pixel resolution at 326 ppi
• 800:1 contrast ratio (typical)
• 500 cd/m2 max brightness (typical)
• Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating on front and back
• Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously

Device compatibility: iOS devices.

Number of players: 1.

Online activities: Online highscores (options of: world highscores and phone contacts highscores.)

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Conceptual work: Creating ideas for an app

After completing sufficient research, I've decided to start inventing different ideas for possible apps. My research into existing apps on the market, coupled with my knowledge of common conventions in games (such as objectives and obstacles) definitely helped when coming up with these ideas below.

I decided to start off with simple ideas and build around them to create a structure that could fit well into the App store if developed.

My research into distinguishable features on the iOS devices helped me develop ideas that would work well on the iPhone and/or the iPad. In this idea above, I designed a possible app idea based around the iOS devices' 'push notifications' feature. I feel that there could be a gap in the market for "come-back" games, with the use of this notifications feature. Games such as Farmville or Tamagotchi-style games would work well in combination with this feature.

During the research period of this project, I noticed most players preferred games that they could use just to pass a brief amount of time.
So I decided to create a game that could be played in a short space of time, yet players could still have fun with.
I feel that a pressurising environment in a game for a player could work well, as it will hold their concentration, rather than bore them. How ever, I would have to make sure there was a right balance between the 'pressure' and 'fun' elements, otherwise players could become stressed whilst playing and consequently, quit the game.

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