FMP Prep
SWOT analysis
Professional SWOT Analysis
Strengths:
I believe my strongest professional attributes going into the FMP to be the following: programming and game design, e.g. Level Design, UX Design and UI Design. I believe these to be my strongest professional attributes because I have effectively and efficiently evidenced these areas consistently throughout my projects this year and also last year. Furthermore, I feel that I can excel in the area of game design by expanding my knowledge on UX design and level designs to better improve my professional work flow before moving into a University course on Game Design. In addition to this, my strengths will help greatly in this project as I can sculpt my ideas around my strengths to work with my strengths instead of working to my weaknesses, to better improve my outcome.
Weaknesses:
I believe that my weakest attributes going into the Final Major project would be Concept Art, 3D modelling, UV Mapping and Texturing. This is due to the fact that I am not the best artist and I strive to be the best programmer and game designer. In this FMP I should avoid taking on an artist focused outcome and instead should work to my strengths stated above, by sticking to a game designer or programmer outcome, or a mix of both, I would be putting myself in a better position than choosing art. Saying this, if I was to choose a game designer or programmer outcome, I will not have to focus on art assets and instead can use free models and textures because my main focus would be designer or programmer and would not be being marked on my assets.
Opportunities:
Due to my strengths in game design and programming I believe that I should stick to developing a Digital Game and this incorporates all of these skills unlike Art or Analogue Games, I feel that by choosing the digital game I will be able to stretch my programming and game design skills to create a challenging project, whilst building upon my strengths and presenting a well structured outcome. Beyond this project and looking into my professional work, I will be able to use this project outcome to showcase to employers and Universities in the form of a portfolio, allowing me to showcase my strong professional attributes in both game design and programming, setting me up for possible University places and job roles.
Threats:
During the final major project there could be possible threats to my professional attributes from many forms that could affect the outcome and work flow of this project, for example: Due to my lack in 3D modelling, texturing and art skills, my outcome could meet my expectations on programming and game design strengths but could lack in art and not live up to my expectations, but with this project I can avoid carrying out any art skills by choosing an outcome that does not rely heavily on art, possibly reducing the risk of running into setbacks. This would damage this project because I would feel as if I had failed myself.
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Also, another threat I face is the project being too ambitious and not meeting the final deadline. This threat could arise if I take on too much of a workload and this would damage the final result of the project because I would have an incomplete game that would be lacking in the main areas of focus such as level design and narrative design. However, I can carry out specific planning and experimentation into these heavy workload areas so this threat has a low chance of arising. In addition, I can overcome this threat by reducing the scope of the project to better suit the timeframe that we have for the project, this will help delegate more time to production allowing for a more well rounded project that may not run over the time frame as much as an over scoped project.
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In addition to the two threats above, I could also run into a third threat, this threat affects the research phase of the project specifically. This threat being I will not be able to gather any primary research from interviews or social media contacts, as I know from last year I will need to carry out primary research and one problem I faced was not receiving enough primary research from the amount of contacts contacted, if I am unable to get enough primary research I will not be able to meet the brief requirements of gathering primary research, thus restricting the grade I achieve. To overcome this issue and reduce the risk of this arising, I will need to plan out my contacts before the research phase and ensure that I have contacted a large amount of people to hopefully gather a large amount of research.
Strengths:
I believe my strongest personal attributes going into the FMP to be the following: time management and writing skills e.g. Planning Documents, Research reports and scheduling. I believe these to be my strongest personal attributes because I have effectively and efficiently evidenced these areas consistently throughout my work practices and ethic. These strengths will help greatly in my work practices in the FMP because I will be able to successfully plan and manage my time using documents such as gantt charts and trello boards. This also feeds directly into planning because my previous knowledge and writing skills will help to construct well structured planning aiding with the development of the game. My time scheduling strengths will help to keep me on track and also allow me to plan time in case any issues arise during development. In addition to this, my strengths in writing skills will help when it comes to the research reports and planning documents because I will be required to write extensive reports so my writing skills will help aid the time spent on these documents and hopefully speed up these sections to allow more time on production.
Weaknesses:
I believe that my weakest attribute going into the Final Major project would be communication. Although I am able to communicate in a team or to express ideas, I had a hard time last year contacting professional contacts. This was mostly due to the fact that most professional contacts are not open to contact or will not reply to my questions. In this FMP I should tailor my professional contacts and plan out these contacts before the research stage to help reduce the likelihood of the contacts not responding to me.
Opportunities:
Due to my strengths in time management, writing skills and communication, I believe that beyond this project and looking into my professional work, I will be able to use these skills to showcase to employers and Universities that I am a strong and dedicated worker who can be relied on to carry out any tasks and collaborate effectively in teams or groups inciting teamwork and professional work practices.
Threats:
During the final major project there could be possible threats to my personal workflow from many forms that could affect the outcome and work flow of the project, for example: the most common issue that could arise is that my Wi-Fi could drop out or become slow, as this project will rely heavily on using a PC or Laptop a main issue that could affect my personal workflow is the Wi-Fi cutting out. This will affect all stages of my work because I will be unable to work on Google Documents or even use software such as Unreal Engine, to reduce the risk of this happening or to plan if this does happen I can carry out my work in college on my days off to reduce the impact of the issue or switch to a mobile network at home to continue working.
Also, a further issue regarding PC work may arise where my PC or Laptop may crash resulting in loss of work. This will definitely be a problem when it comes to production because Unreal Engine does not periodically carry out autosaves and instead only saves at intervals, thus if my PC were to crash my work after the last autosave will be corrupt, resulting in me spending more time trying to catch up on production. To ensure that this does not become a problem I will ensure that I carry out multiple saves to ensure I have saved all of my work just in case a crash was to occur. In addition to this, I will be using an SSD so I can save my work to both the PC and the SSD so that I have an external backup just in case my PC hard drive was to fail.
In addition to the two threats above, I could also run into a third threat, this threat would affect all aspects of the project. This threat being, I may fall ill and may miss in-college sessions, this will result in me falling behind on the project and struggling to catch up with the deadlines throughout the project. To overcome this issue and reduce the risk of this arising, I will need to plan an extra free week at the end of the project so that I can use this week to catch up with work if I need to. In addition to this, I can also work on project work at home so that I reduce the risk of falling behind on the project.
Personal SWOT Analysis
IDEA generation
Idea 1 - Focus: Level / Game Design
Idea 3 - Focus: Level / Narrative / Game Design
The first idea that I have come up with to fit within the brief requirements of the FMP is to design and develop a 3D dungeon crawler game, this will come in the form of a 3D game developed solely in Unreal Engine and will focus mainly on storytelling and level design as this is an area that I feel is a strength of mine, in addition I feel that I can work to the best of my ability in a digital game because I have had better experience for digital games than that of analogue games. Furthermore, I think that by my strengths in the SWOT analysis I will be able to successfully carry out this idea because I feel that I have extensive experience in level design and this idea will test this knowledge and hopefully improve it.
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The game idea itself will be set in 1850's America at the peak of the gold rush, a miner is going about his day to day life when he stumbles upon a large opening in a cave he is mining in. He falls into this opening and discovers a large array of caverns where he must battle a variety of long lost enemies to search for his way back to land. This game idea focuses more on level design and User experience design and will fit perfectly with my strengths because as stated I feel that my strengths lie within game design so this will test these skills nicely.
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For this concept I would be working independently and not as a team or group and this is firstly due to the fact that I want to showcase my independent skills and secondly because the last two group projects that I have worked on have failed miserably, my work on the group projects fair exceeded the expectations the brief, however, other members of the team let down the group project and thus I will be working independently for this concept.
Idea 2 - Focus:
Programming
The third concept that I have crafted will combine my level design skills and narrative design skills into one ambitious concept. The idea that I have come up with will be a digital game and this is due to the fact that in my past projects I have succeeded in the digital game area and I feel that my skills have prepared me for creating a digital game in this FMP. The game concept that I have generated will be very ambitious yet achievable because I will be required to create detailed level blueprints and also I will be working on the biggest game that I have developed so far. In addition to this, I will be combining mechanics that I have previously worked with to create a game that plays like an FPS Horror and Puzzle game.
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The digital game concept that I have generated is a first person shooter, puzzle, horror game set within an abandoned mall. The player will take on the role of a security guard patrolling the mall ensuring that the area is secure. However, one day the guard goes to work and finds that the mall has become overrun with zombies, in an attempt to escape the mall the player must explore the mall killing any zombies in their way all the while the electricity is out. The player will avoid obstacles, solve puzzles and annihilate zombies in their attempt to restore electricity, escape the mall and ultimately survive. This idea is highly ambitious as I am planning to create a large open map set within a shopping mall filled with puzzles and obstacles, something that I have not created to this scale yet.
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For this concept I would be working independently and not as a team or group and this is firstly due to the fact that I want to showcase my independent skills and secondly because the last two group projects that I have worked on have failed miserably, my work on the group projects fair exceeded the expectations the brief, however, other members of the team let down the group project and thus I will be working independently for this concept.
The second game idea that I have come up with is a digital game and the main focus for this idea will be programming, as the focus will be programming I wanted to go with a game idea that relied heavily on the programming side of game development and I believe that the idea that I have crafted fits perfectly not only with the brief but also the role of programming. The concept that I have crafted is a digital game because I believe that I am best suited for a digital game as stated in the SWOT analysis reports. I have more experience with digital games than that of analogue games and so this will be a better choice.
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The digital game will be a puzzle-like exploration game set within a vast temple system in Maya Mexico, the player will traverse through thick trees and towering temples in search for the heart of the Mayan culture. The game will require the player to avoid traps and solve puzzles and riddles in order to reach the heart. The game will not have any enemies as the main focus will be solving puzzles and avoiding traps. I feel that this idea will be ambitious because I will be able to stretch my programming skills as they are currently at a basic level so by taking this outcome I will be able to improve these skills in an ambitious way.
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For this concept I would be working independently and not as a team or group and this is firstly due to the fact that I want to showcase my independent skills and secondly because the last two group projects that I have worked on have failed miserably, my work on the group projects fair exceeded the expectations the brief, however, other members of the team let down the group project and thus I will be working independently for this concept.
Potential Research Sources
Research Source Plan
Source List 2: Videos
For the Final Major Project I am required to carry out research into different processes, techniques and workflows to further improve and expand upon my knowledge going into the several stages of development throughout the project. I will carry out this research to improve upon my previous knowledge and to also learn new techniques surrounding games design, Unreal Engine, programming and more, this new set of research will be used in coordination with experimentation to iron out any issues or kinks before taking the technique or method into action.
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Over the course of the several research reports I will be required to gather both primary and secondary sources, I will be doing this to gather generalised information and then expand upon this information from professionals within the industry or surveys sent to help improve my outcome. The benefit of using both primary and secondary sources is that I am able to compare the techniques or information provided to comprehensively make links and comparisons to better inform my judgement when it comes to taking on new techniques and putting them into action.
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Below I have created a research source plan that details an array of sources available, both primary and secondary, that I can use to better inform my outcome and the production stages. This plan includes various digital sources, book sources and also professional contacts that I can use going into research, the reason for each source has also been presented below as well as the reason as to why each source will be helpful and also to what technique or method the source can be used to improve my outcome.
Source List 1: Books
Matt Apsland. (2025) @MattAspland [Videos] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/@MattAspland
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Ryan Laley. (2025) @RyanLaley [Videos] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/@RyanLaley
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Gorka Games. (2025) @GorkaGames [Videos] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/@GorkaGames
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BoroCG. (2025) @BoroCG [Videos] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/@BoroCG
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CodeThings. (2025) @codethings [Videos] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/@codethings
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Into The 3D. (2025) @intothe3d [Videos] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/@intothe3d
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BBC iPlayer. (2020) Inside Games [Video] Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p088sdqg/inside-games
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DamzGames13. (2025) @DamzGames13 [Video] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/@DamzGames13
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FcbDev. (2025) @FcbDev [Video]Available from: https://www.youtube.com/@FcbDev
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Source List 3:
Websites / Articles
Richard Hill-Whittall. (2015) The Indie Game Developer Handbook [Book]
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Luke Ahearn. (2008) 3D game Environments Create Professional 3D game Worlds [Book]
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Benjamin Bauer. (2023) A Practical Guide to Level Design [Book]
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Scott Rogers. (2014) Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design [Book]
Jon Yablonski. (2022) Laws of UX [Flash Cards]
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Tobias Heussner. (2023) The Game Narrative Toolbox [Book]
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Keith Burgun. (2012) Game Design Theory A New Philosophy for Understanding Games [Book]
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Christopher W. Totten. (2014) An Architectural Approach to level Design [Book]
Whynow Gaming. (2025) Whynow Gaming Powered by WireFrame [Website / Magazines] Available from: https://whynowgaming.com/
Epic Games Inc. (2025) Learn Unreal Engine [Website / Articles] Available from: https://dev.epicgames.com/community/unreal-engine/learning
GDC Vault. (2013) Digital Edition Archives [Website / Magazines] Available from: https://gdcvault.com/gdmag
Tom Looman. (2025) Unreal Engine Tutorials [Website / Articles] Available from: https://www.tomlooman.com/
Source List 4:
Professional Contacts
Joe Davis
Who Are They?
Joe Davis is currently employed by Rockstar Games at Rockstar North and is a Game Designer there. However, he also has experience with QA Testing.
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How / Why they may be useful?
As Joe has experience as a game designer he may be helpful when it comes to creating blueprints, a GDD and also level design. In addition, his experience in QA Testing can help me to supply him a build of my game and ask for feedback or improvements based on the game build.
Bastien Gorissen
Who Are They?
Bastien Gorissen is currently employed by Team Panoptes and is a Mid Indie Dev/ Programmer / Game Designer, so has experience in all aspects.
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How / Why they may be useful?
As Bastien has experience in almost all aspects of game development, he will be a valid resource for any feedback or information regarding game design going into the project.
Scott Maclean
Who Are They?
Scott Maclean is a lead level designer at Epic Games​
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How / Why they may be useful?
As my outcome and area of development as a professional is level design, Scott will be helpful at gathering information and feedback about my level blueprints or level designs.
As I have stated in the opening paragraph I have gathered a potential list of professional contacts with help from an online spreadsheet detailing a vast array of job roles, professionals names and also contact details. I set out to contact these professionals to firstly gather relevant and supported research information, but to also learn and evolve my knowledge on specific areas and also game development as a whole so that I can further improve my professional knowledge, setting me up with the dedication needed to excel in the industry.
I have attached several links and pages that I can use to contact these professionals if I wish to and find relevant when it comes too research and experimentation. This will give me a better chance at gathering responses, because as I found out last year, most people do not respond to Twitter (X) direct messages, so by expanding my contact to email and other social media apps I will have a greater chance at gathering a response.
Lasse Bruun Hansen
Who Are They?
Lasse Bruun Hansen is currently employed by IO Interactive and is a Principal Game Designer there. Previously working on titles such as Hitman: World Of Assassination.
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How / Why they may be useful?
As Lasse has experience as a Principal game designer he will be helpful in providing me information with the inner workings of game design if I need to consult him about level designs or narrative design.
Wyatt Bushnell
Who Are They?
​Wyatt Bushnell is the co-founder of a game studio called Coin Crew Games
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How / Why they may be useful?
As Wyatt has experience in almost all aspects of game development, they will be a helpful research source for my process research report as this will evaluate all processes of development.
Isabelle Blanken
Who Are They?
Isabelle is a lead Level Designer at DSFishlabs.
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How / Why they may be useful?
I believe Isabelle to be a useful research source because my game concept relies heavily on level design so I will be able to consult her if I need any advice or feedback on my work.
Matthew Thomas
Who Are They?
Matt Thomas is currently employed by Bethesda Game Studios and is a Senior Level Designer. He also has experience in Gameplay Programming on games such as Fallout 76.
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How / Why they may be useful?
Because I am planning to take a game design route in this project and my main focus of development will be level design, I will be able to contact Matt to gather any information or research that I need to further improve my designs.
Boba Studios
Who Are They?
Boba Studios is a female lead games studio based in Baltimore.
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How / Why they may be useful?
As this is a game studio and not a single person, they will be helpful for almost every section of this project, I can ask them advice or feedback and every aspect of my outcome, and I believe that they will provide valid and reliable information.
Dan Marshall
Who Are They?
Dan Marshall is the Director of a BAFTA winning indie studio, Size Five Games.​
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How / Why they may be useful?
Because Dan is a Director at a game studio he will be helpful at gathering information for the process research report, as this report looks into all aspects of game development even the admin side that Dan will know a lot about that he can share with me.
Source List 5:
Research Visits
 Levant Mine |
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 East Pool Mine |
 Geevor Tin Mine |
 Teotihuacán |
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 Calakmul |
 Tulum |
 Chichen Itza |
 Lakeside Shopping Centre |
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 Braintree Village |
 Bluewater Shopping Centre |
 Battersea Power Station - Shopping Centre |
First Concept Research Visits:
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For the first concept that I generated, I was planning to create a digital game about a mine and also dungeons, to be able to create an accurate environment in the game I would need to visit a set of real life mines and gather photographic information. For this concept I have planned a few research visits and these will involve the following: Levant Mine and Beam Engine (Cornwall), East Pool Mine (Cornwall) and Geevor Tin Mine also in Cornwall. I have chosen these potential locations for research because I believe that by visiting these locations I will be able to not only learn about the architecture of the mine and its shafts but also learn about the lives and daily life of the miners that used to work there, this will further improve my concept and ensure that I am creating an accurate outcome.
As good as these research locations are, I feel that these locations may be hard to get too with money and time constraints so I may have to reevaluate my concept or look for closer research visits for this concept.
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Second Concept Research Visits:
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The second idea that I generated was to create a digital puzzle-like game set in Maya Mexico. To successfully replicate the environment and architecture of the Maya Temples I must visit these structures in Mexico to better understand the life of the Mayans. In addition to this, by taking photographic evidence I would be able to perfectly replicate the architecture in the game to better improve immersion and worldbuilding. The research visits that I have planned, if I choose to follow through with this concept, are: Chichen Itza Mayan Ruins, Tulum, Calakmul and finally Teotihuacan.
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Just like the previous concept and the research visits I planned for that, I feel that these visits will be extremely helpful for the quality of the outcome and research however, due to money and time constraints I do not feel that these research visits will be achievable or even likely.
Third Concept Research Visits:
The final idea that I generated was to develop a digital game in Unreal Engine 5 set within an abandoned mall. This concept idea was very hard to generate a list of research visits; however, I have managed to come up with a few visits that could potentially help me in the research phase and subsequently the development of the game. For this concept I have planned to visit several shopping centres and malls to get a better idea of architecture and the atmosphere of the environment so that I can base my architecture off of these real world locations. Below I have created a list of potential locations that I can visit to elevate my research and aid me in the development of this concept. The list includes: Lakeside Shopping Centre, Braintree Village, Bluewater Shopping Centre and Battersea Power Station (Shopping Centre).
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Compared to the previous two concepts, I feel that the research visits in this concept are more achievable and within time and money constraints, whilst still providing quality resources for my development. I feel that this concept will be more achievable and so I think that this will sway me toward choosing this concept.
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Conclusion:
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After reviewing all of the concepts that I have generated and summed up the pros and cons of all of the ideas, I have decided to settle on the third idea as my final outcome for this project. I have decided to go forward with the idea of a digital game that is set within an abandoned mall and the player plays as a security guard solving puzzles, obstacles and fighting zombies to escape safely, because I feel that when compared to the other two ideas the research visits on this idea are more achievable within the time that I have. In addition to this, I feel that this project will test both my game / level design and also programming skills and so this outcome will be more beneficial for me in the long run to showcase my skills and ensure that I am always improving upon my skills in these areas. Furthermore, I feel that this idea will be more achievable because I already have knowledge on these types of games and the programming required, however, the project will also be extremely ambitious because I will need to design and develop a large map, the biggest I have ever worked with and thus this project will be very ambitious.
Problem Solving plan
How I will evaluate my work and present Problem Solving
As I know from past projects, problem solving is a very large and important part not only for the grading matrix but also for personal and professional development. Throughout this Final Major Project I will be evaluating both my work and also my personal performance, these will be presented and recorded as a mix of Dev Log Videos and also written evaluations at the end of every working week. When it comes to evidencing any problem solving in this project I will use OBS Studio to record all of my work in video form. I will be presenting these problem solving videos in the Reflective Journals tab of the website and I will be highlighting the problem that I encountered using the videos and then explaining how the problem arose, how I plan to solve it and finally stating how or if I overcame the problem. Each solution will be presented in either video form or photo form, this will clearly show the progression that I made in order to resolve the problem, thus helping me to stop the problem from recurring.
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My Reflective Journals and problem solving will look something like this below, as I believe that in the past this format has been very clear at showing the problem, how it arose and how I evidenced the solution and makes it extremely clear the evidence I presented to show the solution.
 How my Reflective Journals and Problem Solving may be presented |
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pre-mortem
Pre-Mortem
During this Final Major Project there may be a wide variety of issues and problems that could occur or arise during all of the stages of the production process, impacting my performance or ability to carry out or complete that stage of the FMP. I will be stating all of these probable issues below and will be creating a contingency plan just in case any of the problems arise during this project, so I will be able to continue working as smoothly as possible.
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The most common issue that may arise is my Wi-Fi freezing or becoming completely inaccessible, because I will solely be working on a PC or Laptop both in and out of College I will be unable to access any Word Documents or Planning Documents that are not available offline. Thus stopping production and ultimately negatively impacting my ability to meet the deadlines throughout the project. If this common problem does in fact arise I will either switch networks to a mobile hotspot or continue to work on my project in my free time at College, as the College is open to me Monday to Friday from 9 till 5. If this issue is to occur I will record this issue for evidence and reflect upon this in my reflective journals describing the issue that arose and how I overcame it using either video or photographic evidence as stated in my Problem Solving plan. In addition to this, if my internet were to drop then I can also continue working using a mobile connection on my phone or iPad because Google Documents, Classroom, Drive and Wix can all run on a mobile device, so I will be able to continue my written work on a mobile connection. However, I am unable to run Unreal Engine 5 on a mobile connection as the program cannot run on a device such as a phone or iPad. This issue will affect all of the stages throughout the project and does not just affect one stage of the project. Furthermore, I feel that this issue may not occur because I have recently switched from a 64/mb Wi-Fi connection to a 500/mb connection, so my network is now more reliable and less likely to freeze or drop.
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A further issue may arise where my PC or Laptop may crash resulting in loss of work or loss of access to work software. This will be a very large problem when it comes to completing my work on Google Documents, Wix or even Unreal Engine 5 because my PC will stop working and may be inaccessible for several minutes or hours, resulting in me being unable to access documents that I will need to complete to meet the deadlines in the project. Furthermore, when a PC restarts, crashes or freezes the RAM is deleted and so all of my programs are shut down, this may result in loss of work and more prominently progress in Unreal Engine. If this was to occur I would firstly record the evidence in photo form and detail it on the reflective journals on Wix in the layout set out in the plan above. To stop or reduce the impact of this problem I will continue to back-up my work to both Google Drive and an external SSD so that the damage of the crash will be minimal and I also plan to continue working on a mobile device if the problem arises.
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The next issue that could occur and affect my production stage specifically is if my SSD gets lost or is to stop working. As I will be working off of shared PCs and handling large file sizes I will be using a 2TB SSD to quickly and securely load and save my work so I can access it across an array of PCs, so if the SSD was to get lost, damaged or even stops working then I will not have access to my work and I will have to start the production process from the beginning. Although SSDs are very reliable and are very unlikely to fail I still have to consider this as a possible issue that could arise. To stop or reduce the impact of the problem on my workflow, I will ensure that I back up my work in multiple places such as Google Drive or a separate portable SSD or HDD, by backing up to Google Drive I will have instant access to my work even if the SSD is to fail, so I will be making regular backups throughout the project. To evidence the issue if it was to arise I will take pictures of either the physical damage to the hard drive or the unresponsiveness of the SSD in the PC, I will also reflect upon and evidence this in the Reflective Journals I will write at the end of every week.
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Another issue that could possibly arise is that my mode of transport breaks down or I encounter a car crash on the way to college. This will affect all stages of the project and will stop the workflow for the day because I can not successfully and safely travel to college. If this problem was to arise I will take photographic evidence of the damage and contact one of my tutors, at that point I would phone another mode of transport or use a bus to pick me up and take me back home or to college depending on the severity of the damage, at which point I will continue to work from home so I do not fall behind the deadlines throughout the project. To ensure that this problem does not arise I will ensure that my parents drive safely, so I arrive safely and on time prepared for the day. I will provide photographic evidence of this issue in my reflective journals on my Wix site and how I overcame it.
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A further issue that could have a high possibility of occurring could be that I fall ill and am unable to attend College on the days that I am ill. If I am to fall ill, this will have a negative impact on my outcome and workflow because I will be unable to attend Colleges on these days resulting in me losing several hours of in class work time. To stop this issue from arising I have taken steps to reduce the impact of the illness. I plan to continue working from home on these days off (if I am well enough) so that I do not fall too far behind the workflow expected. I will evidence this issue, if it were to arise, in the exact same manner as the other problems detailed here, I will take photographic evidence of the problem and detail this on my Reflective Journals page, showing the issue and how I managed to overcome it.
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During the pre-production and research stages of this Final Major Project, I may encounter an issue with my professional research sources and the research visits that I have planned to aid me in the research, for example I may not gather enough information from my professional contacts or a vast majority of my contacts do not respond to my social media Direct Messages or Emails. This will ultimately affect the level of quality of my primary research as the contacts I plan to reach out to are very busy professional people who are currently working at indie or large game studios, so the information that they hold about an area in game design or the industry as a whole will be relevant and up to date, so if I am unable to receive any form of response then my research will not be as relevant or up to date than with the responses. This is an issue that I have previously experienced and I have learnt from previous mistakes and so in order to reduce the impact if this was to arise again, I have already planned a document with several contact details of professionals who I could contact if my first responders do not respond. In addition, this year I plan on expanding the quantity of people contacted, if the problem arises I plan on showing the issue in photo form on the reflective journals and detailing the issue, how it arose and my steps taken after to overcome the issue. As I have said I will be using my fall back plan and contacting a larger number of people if I do not receive sufficient responses.
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In addition to this, in regard to research visits I may not be able to visit my research visits in person either due to a financial issue or personal issue, so I will have to plan additional visits that do not require a lot of money to visit, for example if I am unable to attend a location in person I could use a Virtual tour or use a digital tool such as Google Earth to view the location without the need to physically visit the location in person. If any problem regarding this subject was to arise I would use photo or video evidence on my reflective journals, detailing the issue and evidencing in video or photograph form the solution I took to overcome the issue.
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An issue during my production process may arise where I work too far off of the path and start to create a too ambitious and overscoped outcome. This issue can be very common and will affect the quality of my final outcome as well as my workflow because I will have an incomplete game that does not meet my planning, research or FMP brief, thus affecting my final grade. As a contingency plan I will ensure that I carry out thorough, detailed planning and experimentation that will state every step that I will carry out and what I will solely include within the game. To ensure that this does not become a large problem I will stick closely to my plan and ensure that the concept I plan is achievable in the time constraints that I face, but still allow a creative direction from the plan to improve the game further. I will evidence any issues on this subject on my website using screenshots of the game and the planning to show how I have either stuck to the plan or reworked my workflow to stick to the planned outcome.
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Another issue that may arise during the production process of my digital game is that the mechanics that I implemented do not work or function as intended, this would halt the production process as I would have to review the visual code and nodes and work out the cause and solution of the bug. To ensure that this does not affect the workflow I will ensure that following my research I carry out an experimentation phase that will allow me to experiment with the mechanics I intend to implement so that I can work out any issues or bugs before moving into production. I will evidence all bugs and the solutions to the issues by recording the production process to give a representation of the problem solving I carried out. This will be evidenced on my Wix website the Reflective Journals tab. In addition to this, I will reflect back on my research and experimentation because this should allow me to resolve issues quickly and efficiently. I will always be reflecting back upon the experimentation, planning and research because research is an ongoing process that will contribute to the final outcome.
Website analysis
Website Analysis
Website 1: Dead Rising - https://www.deadrising.com/1/en-uk/
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Dead Rising is a horror themed, third person, beat em up and survival game that I will be using as one of my research sources going into this project. I took a lot of inspiration from this game to construct my game concept and that is mostly due to the fact that I felt that this game is a great basis for my project. The website designed to promote and provide support for the game of Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster has been designed to look, feel and respond like a shopping malls website, the design is very professional and matches the theme and setting of the game perfectly. Looking at the specifics of the website and most prominently the design and consistency of the design. Straight away, as you open the website you are presented with a clean and professional design, the fonts are consistent throughout the various pages of the website and this helps to unify the design, something that I will ensure that I take into my web design. I find the font chosen to be fitting with the theme of the website and I believe that the design being consistent has really helped elevate the theming of the site, I will take a similar approach when it comes to consistency throughout my designs because I feel that it helps unify the site and keeps it professional and clear.
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Furthermore, the colours and branding throughout the website are consistent and clear, the games logo and colours can be seen across almost every page on the website, this helps to showcase the brand and also ensure that the product being promoted is clear to the user. A large pop-up can be seen in the bottom right corner of the site, when hovering over this it opens the games logo and a link to buy the product. I would class this as clear and consistent branding because I am able to clearly see the product being showcased on the site. Imagery, videos and also galleries have been utilised throughout the site to showcase and advertise the game and its technical enhancements that come with the game, for example before and after sliders can be seen on the site. This is excellent use of technology and I feel that this added to the website experience and also helping to promote the games enhancements clearly and in a fun and interactive way, when it comes to drawing inspiration from this site in terms of design and technology, I will be adopting the use of galleries to display images of the game or product. I have chosen to adopt this in my website because I feel that this is a more creative way of showcasing my work than simply attaching a set of images and calling it a day.
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When first looking at the website, it is hard to deduce the target audience for this product, at first glance it looks like the product being showcased is for a shopping mall and no clear indicators stand out to reflect the target audience. However, when scrolling through the site you then begin to see the type of target audience that this product is aimed at. When it comes to creating a consistent and well targeted web design for my site I must ensure that when glancing at my Wix site users can easily see the audience that I am targeting my game toward, as this shows that my target audience's needs have been met clearly. When talking about the enticement of the site, I would say that this site is extremely enticing, the theming is very fun and creative and fits well within the story of the product that is being promoted (Dead Rising is a game set within a zombie infested mall, so this site design reflects the malls website and the games story). To keep this enticement with my site I must ensure that I choose my fonts, colours and imagery carefully to ensure that I can correctly target my audience and keep the users invested in the site.
Website 2: Resident Evil 4 - https://www.residentevil.com/re4/en-uk/
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The next website that I will be analysing and drawing inspiration from will be the site used to promote Resident Evil 4 (Remake), this site is a stark contrast to that of Dead Rising, the theme of the product is extremely clear and prominent from first glance. From the colour scheme, font choice and also the animated background I can tell that the product being promoted is most likely a third person, horror adventure game, with elements of combat. In addition, I can quite easily see the influence of the target audience on the website. I can tell that this website and game are promoted toward an older audience over 18 and predominantly male, this is due to the theming, colour scheme and attached gifs, videos and interactive galleries that are on display for the user. When it comes to my site I will take on the inspiration of the use of gifs and embedded videos because I feel that this has created a more immersive experience and allows the user to fully understand the product being promoted.
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In terms of consistency across the website, the fonts and colour choices flow throughout the site and so I believe it to be consistent, this creates a more professional look to the site and allows for better user experience, something that I will adopt to improve the experience of the user on my site. Additionally, just like the Dead Rising site, galleries have been used throughout the site to showcase and advertise the game, this was a clear way of displaying vital information about the game because the user is able to clearly see the mechanics, characters and more that they will find in the game. Unlike the previous site, this one is displayed on a single page and this helps to reduce the amount of clicking and swapping between pages, I really like this idea of a single page site with buttons to direct the user, however, functionally for my site I do not believe this to be viable as I will be working with a large amount of text it would make more sense to break the site down into pages that show the work for each stage of production.
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The use of technology on this site is minimal when compared to the previous, there are no page animations or button animations, the information is already displayed as you scroll through the site, this creates a bland and lifeless experience when compared to Dead Rising. So when it comes to using technology and Wix to the fullest in my outcome I will ensure that I use animations and buttons to further improve the user experience and to show the creativeness of the outcome. One element that I will also be taking over into my site is the use of social media icons and buttons, I feel that these buttons are a great tool at directing the user to social media pages that showcase and display the outcome created, so I will use a similar approach so the user can easily access my contact details or see the development process on YouTube.
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Website 3: The Last Of Us (Playstation Site) - https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/the-last-of-us/
The third and final website that I will be analysing and drawing inspiration from will be the Last of Us official website on the Playstation site, I have chosen this site because it fits with the theme of my outcome, that being horror. This final website is used to promote the Last of Us franchise and this is very clear as soon as you access the website, you are greeted with a text pop-up stating “The Last Of Us - Welcome To The Official site”, this is a great way at promoting the product and I feel that I could take a similar approach on my website, because this will introduce the user to the game and its themes. In addition, the fonts and colours seen on the website are consistent and in keeping with the dark mood and theme of the game, the colours are very dark and ominous yet again fitting with the themes and experiences in the games, as I have said before I will also adopt a consistent theme to ensure that my website is professional and reflects the outcome that I intend to develop.
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When looking at the site and the technology used, I will say that the website uses the technology and design to the fullest, just like the previous two, this site uses embedded videos and galleries to showcase the products being promoted. I will also adopt embedded videos, buttons and galleries to create a more clean and professional design that will keep the users and target audience enticed and intrigued. However, when looking at the enticement of this site, I believe that it is severely lacking, the pages are bland and the information presented on the site is to a minimal standard, I believe this because the site does not feel as full and creative as the previous two above. To ensure that my site is creative and enticing I must use the technology to the best of my ability and mix up the features that I include on the pages such as buttons, icons, galleries and gifs. However, saying this the website is clear and user friendly.
Brand package
Brand Package
Colour Palette
For this Final Major Project I am required to develop a branding pack, a branding pack consists of a company or project logo and font and colour choices. This allows me to unify my website and ensure that it reflects the outcome that I intend to develop. Overall, a branding pack will allow for a consistent set of rules that I must follow to help the website reflect the themes, context and target audience of my outcome and ensure that it is professional and accessible for all users. To ensure that my brand pack and website design matches and reflects that of my target audience and outcome I will carry out future research into my target audience and outcome themes to ensure that I am presenting my work to reflect the outcome. To ensure this I will look at and reflect back upon my future research into target audiences for my outcome and then update my website presentation to reflect the themes and target audience.
When it comes to my brand pack I plan on using technology, creativity and Wix to the fullest, so I will be using several different methods in Wix to ensure that I am using it to the fullest. These methods will be: I plan on using icons and logos to represent my professional contacts instead of writing out the contact details, these will be linked to a button that will take the user directly to the social media page or email address. In addition, I will also use other buttons that will link the user to Google Drive folders or even the final outcome and its many versions. This is more visually pleasing and professional than embedding the game directly because the website will utilise white space effectively. Furthermore, I will also be using various galleries and media players to showcase videos and images of both development and research sources. This is a more unified and cleaner method of inserting and showcasing images and videos than just placing them on the page. So thus my website will look and function more professionally.
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Following analysis into websites and professional web designs in my preparation work I have been able to compare and contrast the brand packages of each site and have been able to construct a brand package of my own that has been influenced by my theme, target audience and also researched websites.
Colour Schemes:
After analysing and exploring several websites for inspiration I have been able to develop a branding pack based upon my game theme and also conventions used within my game theme of horror. I have used an online tool called Coolors, this tool allowed me to generate a colour palette based upon the logo that I designed on Design.com. Overall, I would say that this colour palette generated reflects the theme of my project nicely, the dark hues and deep reds reflect the use of these colours in media themed as horror and so without a doubt anyone visiting my site will be able to see that the project is going to revolve around the theme of horror.
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​​​​​​​​​​​​​Looking at the colours themselves and how I will utilise these within my web design, I will be using the darker hues #141C24 and #1B1F26 for my backgrounds, as this will allow the text to contrast nicely and stand out against the page. Furthermore, the colour #CF0B0C I will be using for header font colour. I have chosen this red to be the colour of the headers of new sections in my website because I believe that this will jump out the user and highlight their attention to the next section of my site. For the main body font colour, I will be using a basic grey or white, I believe that a lighter more neutral colour for the main body text will be more suitable for my site because the text will pop off of the page against the darker background, making the text clearer to read and also more user friendly.
Font Choices:
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To ensure that my web design and brand design are consistent throughout my site and in the outcome, I have created a list of fonts that I shall use throughout my designs. The first font that I chose was for the headers that will be paired with the bright red that I chose above, this font reflects that shown in the logo design below and I found this font on 1001 Free Fonts, just like the rest of the fonts will be. The font, Bloody Font has been chosen by me because I believe that it reflects the theme of my project perfectly, the horror styling and blood drips reflect the theme and style of my game, this font will be used for headers on my website and also as the main font on my logo. I have chosen this font for headers because I believe that it is an easy to read font, that stands out and draws attention and also connotes the project outcome I am planning.
The next font that I have chosen is called Steelfish font and falls into the Sans Serif category of fonts, I have chosen this particular font because I feel that it is easy to read and is very clear even at small sizes, so I feel that it will be perfect for main body text. In addition, this font in keeps with the horror theme that I am portraying across my website and outcome because the font has sharp edges which can often be linked to the theme of horror.
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Logo Designs:
After creating a colour palette and font plan, I then went on to design a logo for my game that will be featured on my website to market and showcase what my project is. I have created two logos each with a second version, by doing this I am able to compare the designs and choose the correct logo that I feel best represents my outcome and the theme of the game. The first logo I created featured a set of shopping bags, reflecting the mall environment, a zombie (reflecting the horror theme and zombie apocalypse in the game) and finally the name of the outcome Mall Of The Dead in the font and colour choice that I picked in the previous task. I then made an updated version of this logo, only this time the bags were more spread out to fill the negative space and the zombie was resized and adjusted so that it sat in the middle of the logo, I made these changes because I felt that the logo was off balanced and now the main theme of the game is more prominent within the design.
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The next logo that I designed removed the zombie and added a mall to the design alongside red shopping bags. This logo in my opinion did not reflect the nature or theme of my outcome, I had removed the zombie and this was a key indicator that my outcome was in fact a horror game, now the logo is reflecting a shopping centre logo, something that I do not want, because I want the user to be able to pick up the theme of the game just by looking at the designed logo. I then updated this design, removing the shopping bags and re-adding the zombie, this updated version of the logo now reflected the horror theme, however, I did not like the building that I had added in the background. Reflecting back upon the logos designed I have chosen to stick with the updated version of my first logo, I have made this informed decision because I feel that this logo best represents my outcome and the game theme will be instantly recognisable just by looking at the logo.
Sub-Header - Font
Header - Font
Logo 1
Logo 1 - Updated Version (Chosen Logo)
Logo 2
Logo 2 - Updated Version
Interactive platforms
Interactive Platforms
When it comes to advertising a game or gathering feedback for a game, studios may choose to use interactive platforms to do so, such as Instagram, YouTube, X or even Twitch. Throughout this project I will use several interactive platforms to influence and showcase my work, for instance, I will be using YouTube frequently, not only to record and upload problem solving and reflections but also to host videos of my development and builds of the game outcome. On YouTube I am able to upload playlists of my development process so that I can quickly reflect back upon my processes in the future and to also showcase my skills to employers in my portfolio. If I were to carry out this project professionally I could consider using Twitch, Twitch allows me to livestream my game and this would be extremely beneficial to the project because I would be able to gather primary research first hand and in the moment, this would help to better improve my outcome and ensure that it meets the target audience because I would be able to target my Twitch streams toward my target audience and receive feedback from them.
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Furthermore, I could consider using platforms such as Instagram, X and Pinterest to post different versions of a mechanic or design and allow the audience to carry out polls to receive feedback and further improve my game to suit their needs. This would be extremely beneficial for the project and the outcome because it would allow me to better understand my audience and the themes and mechanics that they would want to see in my game, potentially leading to more sales and followers if I were to host this game on Steam or Itch.io. In addition, Tik Tok or Red Note would be excellent platforms to use to gather this information as I would be able to reach a wider audience using the in built poll tools, in addition to this, as these platforms support video uploads I could use these to advertise my game if I were to ship it at the end of the project. In this project, I will be using X (Twitter), Bluesky, Email and possibly Discord. I will be using these platforms purely for gathering primary research data from my professional contacts detailed on the Context page.
I have chosen these platforms because they provide an easy service to contact and interview professionals, which will greatly benefit this project because I will be able to gather relevant and up to date information / research feedback that I can use to further my research and improve my outcome to better suit my audience and to also improve my workflow, this is because primary research will be more tailored to my outcome and will be more professionally reliable than some secondary sources that I will use online.
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In addition to the platforms above, I will be using Wix, Wix is a website building tool and hosting platform that will allow me to detail and showcase my work to employers and also more importantly examiners, they will be able to see every single step and task that I have completed from pre-production right the way through to post-production, this allows me to better improve my workflow and practice in the future because I am able to access this work and learn from mistakes and evolve as a creative professional.
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The final interactive platforms that I could use for this project are Steam and itch.io, these platforms allow me and other developers to host their games, whether that be for a small fee or completely free. Steam is a larger platform for hosting games and so this platforms comes with a fairly large fee, especially for a small project that I am playing on creating, of 100 USD, although Steam is a large and widely available marketplace for games, I do not feel that this marketplace is the right choice for me as a College student. If I were to continue developing this project and outcome beyond the College course I would possibly look into hosting my game on Steam because I believe that I would be able to target a wider audience and potentially earn more revenue from sales of my game when compared to itch.io. For this project however, I will be using itch.io to host my project outcome and its many build versions. I have come to this decision because I believe that itch is a more viable platform for publishing free games such as mine as they do not charge a publishing fee like Steam. On itch I will create a developers page allowing for anyone to play my game and this will help to showcase my skills and put myself out there to build my portfolio.
Festivals & outlets
Festivals & Outlets
Just like interactive platforms, festivals and outlets are a great way to advertise and showcase your creation to a wider audience to spread awareness of your creative skills and to also gather important first hand feedback and advice from people playing your game. The first festival or event that I could possibly attend and showcase my outcome at the end of the project would be EGX in London, EGX is the UK’s largest festival of all things gaming and I believe that this would be a perfect place to showcase my outcome. This is because anyone can apply to attend the event and display their work to creative professionals or fanatics attending the festival. This application process for EGX is simple and I believe that I could attend this event to show off my creation and to network with other industry professionals who will be attending. Furthermore, this would help motivate and stretch my outcome and work standard because I would have to ensure that my outcome reflects that of an industry standard product, I would have to ensure that my game is polished and that I have developed marketing tools to market and sell my game such as posters and a trailer. This would stretch my goal as I would have to look at developing new skills in marketing to be able to successfully showcase my work and spread my name and skills.
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Another similar festival event that I could attend within the UK could be UK Games Expo, this expo works in a similar way to that of EGX, several industry professionals will be in attendance and other exhibitors will be showcasing their creations. However, I do not think that this festival will be as beneficial for a digital outcome like mine because this festival seems to focus more on analogue and tabletop games more than digital, however it is always good to use these festivals and events for networking, so this event may be beneficial to put myself out there and connect with people working in the gaming industry to build links and improve my chances of progressing into the industry as a professional after University.
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After looking at physical festivals and events I wanted to look at digital outlets that are available to me to showcase my outcome and network with people in industry. One digital outlet that I looked at was using itch.io to host or join games jams. A game jam will allow me to expand upon my outcome and submit it to a set of members in industry so that they can judge my game based on creativity and other factors. On itch.io it is extremely easy to host or join an existing jam, and this would stretch and challenge my outcome and working practice because I would be entering my work into a live competition that will be judged so I would have to ensure that my game is polished, free from bugs and meets the needs and wants of the target audience, because I would need to make my work stand out and fit for the games jam theme to further improve my chances of winning.
I feel that a games jam will be more beneficial and viable for a small developer like me because the competitions are free and easy to enter and do not require travel to an external venue, I would be able to improve and amend my outcome following judges results and if I were to win this would be a massive boost for not only my game but also me as a creative individual. Furthermore, on itch I can find and join jams that are suited toward the theming and mechanics of my game so in that sense the games jams fit with my project outcome very closely, meaning that I would be able to go head to head with other games of the same genre and theme for a fairer and more relevant judgement.
Initial Concept pitch
Initial Concept Pitch Presentation
