2. Overview
– You have been asked to create a new Video Game of your choice
for 16-19 year olds.
– This can be any genre of game for a platform of your choice
(consoles, PC, handheld, mobile).
– You will create an animated screenshot of your game in Photoshop
which you will export as a video file and then use Premier to add
sound effects and music.
– The sound effects should be original and not sourced on the
internet.
– You will not be creating a video game (coding, making it playable
etc.) but you will create the concept and develop imagery for it to
illustrate what the game would be like if fully commissioned
3. • Your video game must be 2D
• This means you will create 2D game assets using
pixel art
4. To Do
1. Case Study 1.2
– Choose a game and discuss it using appropriate terminology
2. Response to the brief and initial plans 1.1
– General ideas you could do
3. Research 1.2
– Research of similar products to what you’d like to do
– Research who would buy your product
4. Production Experiments 1.2
– Trying out production methods
5. Proposal 1.1 + 2.1
– Finalise your concept in a formal written format
6. Pre-Production 2.1
– Design choices and Logistics- H+S, resources etc.
7. Production 2.2
– Making it
– Completing a daily reflection of the work produced
8. Evaluation 3.1
– Evaluating it
5. Initial Plans
• You need to produce initial plans, exploring potential ideas
and styles you could develop for your final product. You
must complete;
– Response to the brief through an initial reaction
– A Mind Map exploring at least 3 separate ideas briefly. This
should explore options- consider alternatives to everything.
– A Mind Map exploring your chosen idea in lots of detail. Look at
everything you could/want to include. Alternative ideas should
be explored.
– Mood Board (and analysis). At least 15 images that
influence/inspire you.
– Schedule/Timetable
– Proposed Bibliography
• Primary and secondary sources
• 5 sources minimum
6. Good sources to use for Bibliography
• Youtube
– Development diaries
(Dev Diaries)
– Trailers
– Gameplay videos
– Reviews
– Behind the scenes
– Analysis videos
– Tutorials
• The Guardian
• Google Books
• Google Scholar
• Periodicals
• Library books/magazines
• Official website
– May be blocked
7. Bibliography
• Set out each source in the slide’s note section like this
1. Director/Author (DATE of release/publication) Name of film/book/webpage (URL if
website/Magazine if an article)
• Examples
1. Truffaut, F. (1959) The 400 Blows
2. Ubisoft (2007) Assassin’s Creed
3. Greene, N. (2007) The French New Wave - A New Look
4. Hitchman, S. (2008) A History of French New Wave Cinema
(http://www.newwavefilm.com/about/history-of-french-new-wave.shtml)
5. Smith, J. (2014) French New Wave Cinema (Total Film, Issue 332)
6. Truffaut, F. cited in Smith, J (1994) Interview with Truffaut (Sight and Sound, issue 67)
7. Anon (accessed 2014) The French New Wave (www.realwebsite.com)
1. Film
2. Game
3. Book
4. Website
5. Magazine article
6. Citation
7. Unknown
author/date
8. Bibliography
• Use http://www.neilstoolbox.com/ to generate your sources in the correct
Harvard Referencing format.
• Any required information that you don’t have, put a “.” in the category.
• If you don’t know the author, put the word Anon as the author.
• Ensure you enter the source as you want it to be considered. E.g. if it’s from
Google Books, put it through as a book source, not a website.
• To paste the reference into PowerPoint click Paste > Paste Special
9. Product Research
• Research products (at least 4) similar to those you want to
create yourself. Explore pixel art and gameplay videos.
Reference;
– Type of image- studio/location, angle, effects, post-production
– Use of lighting/ composition/ mise en scene/ costume/ props/
location/ colours/ fonts etc.
– Use of sound/ music/ sound effects
– Appeal to audience
– Meaning created through content
• Discuss how your research will develop your final product
– Common aspects in the researched products
– What aspects of the research will you include in your final
product
10. Product Research
• You need to research a game similar to the one you plan to
make. This could a similarity in style, gameplay, narrative or
character
• My game is going to be a beat ‘em up side scroller
so I will research Scott Pilgrim the Game
• My game is going to be a rhythm based music
game so I will research Guitar Hero
• My game is going to be a 3 match puzzle game so
I will research Candy Crush
11. Audience Research
• Conduct research into your audience to understand their
opinions and beliefs in regards to the product(s) you wish
to produce.
• Find out specific information about what your audience
would like to see in your game.
1. Ask 3 Qualitative questions (questions that require your
interviewee to answer in more than a word; “and why”
questions etc).
– Explain why you would or wouldn’t like the game to be multiplayer?
– Discuss what rewards you think the player should receive in a game and
why?
– What elements of a free-to-play game do you like and why?
2. Analyse the results of your interview and discuss how you will
appeal to this audience
12. Production Experiments
• You need to experiment animating pixel art.
• Make something similar but unrelated to your chosen idea
– Make simple pixel graphics to animate with- stick figures etc.
– Experiment with potential animations you may try in your final
production- walk cycle, jumps, enemy destruction.
– Do not make it a version of your final product; it is an
experiment
• Provide a brief reflection of the processes you used and
how it has been useful
• Experiment and test what you’d like to do. Look at tutorials,
play around/familiarise yourself with the program you
intend to use
16. • Create a new Photoshop document
– Width- 120 pixels or 480 pixels
– Height- 80 pixels or 320 pixels
• Choose the pencil tool and ensure it is set
to 1 pixel
• Set the eraser tool to BLOCK
• Click Window>Timeline>Create Video
Timeline> The three little squares in the
bottom left.
• Set a new layer for each separate part of
the image (character, pickups, enemies
etc)
• To export
1. SAVE DOCUMENT
2. Once your done go to Image>Image Size
and change the top number to 1080 PIXELS
and the bottom box to Nearest Neighbour
3. Export
1. Still image- File- Save as- JPEG or PNG
2. Animation- File- Export- Save For Web
4. DO NOT SAVE AFTER SCALING UP
17. Canvas Size
Tool- Pencil Tool
Create a new layer for each
limb/moving element if you
want to animate your
character. Make sure you
name it
19. Proposal
• Finalise your concept in a formal written format discussing your
idea’s;
– Working title
– Audience
– Rationale (approx 100 words)
• Review your progress throughout the year- what skills and knowledge have
you acquired.
– Project Concept (approx 200 words)
• What you plan to make
– Evaluation (approx 50 words)
• How you plan to evaluate the work
– Ongoing- daily evaluations of what you have been working on and how its going
– Final- Self-reflection analysing the strengths and weaknesses of the products
• ENSURE YOU CHECK GRAMMAR AND SPELLING
20. Pre-Production
• Style sheet
– Collection of potential
choice you could make
for your products
visuals (colours, image
styles and pixel styles).
Provide some
indication of which
ones you will use,
where you will use
them and reasons why
• Layout Plans
– Potential designs you
could do for your
product using images,
and colours from style
sheet/mood board
23. Pre-Production
• Sound Effects/Dialogue
– What sounds will be in your video? How could you make them?
• Character jumping > A ruler being twanged on a desk
– What dialogue might you include if any?
• Music
– What music could you use. Must be 8 or 16 Bit
– Can be original, produced by you
• Contingency Planning
– What could go wrong? Technology, models, props, equipment,
team members, weather, animals
• Health and Safety
– What could put people at risk? Equipment, props, animals,
traffic, costume
24. Production
• You need to:
1. Create a character design sheet exploring
different ways your character could look and
export at full size.
2. Animate a screenshot in Photoshop (ideally
demonstrating different elements of gameplay).
3. Export screenshot at full size as a video.
4. Record/source sound effects + music for game.
5. Composite your screenshot with sound effects
and music in Premiere.
25. • Using your plans and research you need to create assets for your
video game. There should be a direct correlation between your
plans and your product, displaying your ability to realise your
intentions.
• Your assets need to be constructed using Photoshop using pixel art
and needs to reflect professional conventions. Numbered items are
required. Lettered items are contextual to the planned game and
are desired but may not be relevant to the concept.
• Assets can include;
1. Characters design experiments
2. Walk Cycle
3. Animated Screenshot
A. Logo
B. App Art
C. Box Art
D. Enemies
E. Power Ups/Weapons/
Pick Ups
F. Environments/Locations
Production
G. Loading screen
H. Game Over screen
I. Menus
J. Character
customisation
K. Multiplayer
26. Production and Reflection
IMPORTANT
• At the end of each working day, print screen
your work within the program you are using
and reflect upon your work.
• Discuss the tools and processes used in your
production.
• Log your thoughts and feelings about your
work.
27. Character Design
• Begin designing your main character/avatar.
• Create your character in lots of different styles.
– Make one that uses as few pixels as possible
– Make one that is highly detailed
– Replicate other pixel art styles
– Experiment
31. Screenshot/Animated
• Construct your animated screenshot
• Place your main character/avatar on the canvas and
use it as a visual indicator of the size and scale needed
in the background graphics/items etc.
• You will need to make a long background that starts
where it ends so it creates a perfect loop
32. Exporting Video Files
• To export
1. SAVE DOCUMENT
2. Once your done go to Image>Image
Size and change the top number to
1080 PIXELS and the bottom box to
Nearest Neighbour
3. Export- Render Video > Format H.264
4. DO NOT SAVE AFTER SCALING UP
33. Recording audio
• You need to generate the sound effects you
will use for your game.
• Watch your animation and consider what is
needed for sound effects.
• For music you can take it off YouTube. It needs
to be 8 Bit or 16 Bit music.
• If you have time you can create your own
music in Garage Band.
34. Drag the video
and audio files
from a file on the
mac/PC into the
box in the bottom
left.
39. Sound Effects
• Unlink the video and
audio clip by right
clicking the clip and
choosing Unlink.
• Delete the audio clip
and drag your audio
clips into the audio
track.
40. If you want to change the volume of a clip you can double click on the clip in the timeline. Once the clip has appeared in
the top left box you can click on the Effects Control tab.
42. To export the video;
• Click on File > Export > Media
• Change the export settings to:
43. 16 Bit soundtrack
• Search a song as a MIDI [e.g. ‘Rocky Theme midi’]-
Download- Open in Garageband
• Select the track’s instruments and replace them;
– Drums is in ‘Drum Machine’ under 808
– Mono synth for simple sounding instrument sounds
• ‘Legacy’ instruments and ‘synthesiser’
• Or you could compose your own soundtrack using
appropriate synths on Garageband
• You could also use loops/samples that are audio files [in
Garageband these are loops with the blue sound wave
icon]
– Use the ‘Atari Sings’ effect
• Export> ‘Share’ > ‘Save to disk’.
– REMEMBER TO SWITCH THE METRONOME OFF.
44. Logo/App Art
• If you complete your main production create your
game’s logo.
• Use Dafont.com to download appropriate fonts for
your game
• Consider
– Size, spacing and position of certain words in your title.
– Layer properties and styles
– Using Photoshop’s custom shapes or simple related
designs from Google to develop the look.
• Put a App shape (Custom Shape Tool> Click the Cog
on the right of the tab> All> Append) behind the logo
and make sure the background layer is switched
off/transparent
• Click Image>Trim>Ok
• Save 2 versions as PNGs
– Just the logo
– With the App shape background
46. Evaluation
• Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of your;
– Planning
– Research
– Time Management
• Discuss the;
– Aesthetic (the way it looks) qualities of your work
– Audience appeal of your work
• Strengths and weaknesses of the overall product
• Include visual imagery as often as possible and where
appropriate. This could be final products, screenshots or
slides from previous submissions