D1

D1- Justified Release Date

The release date for my game will be the 17^th December, 2017. With the release being later on in the year, I am provided with adequate time to work on the production and ensure it is at its best before being exposed to the public. I decided to make my release date near to Christmas as I expect that people may be interested in purchasing the game as a Christmas present, which will increase the sales rate by being distributed at such a time in the year. It is also noted how no other games are scheduled to be released at around the same time as my game, meaning it is less likely for the focus to be taken away from it and so it is easier for my game to become more popular than others at this time.
As my release date is not until December, I will ensure that the time I have before this date will be spent on clearing up any legal or ethical issues which may arise after release. For instance, the time I spend may be on contingency and to rid of any problems I may have at this late time in the production process.  The marketing Team involved will also be provided with enough time to build up the hype for my game, meaning that they will gain many potential buyers attention and get them interested in the game in the lead up to the release date. This is similar to the hype created for GTA 5, which was heavily rumoured before the release date was even mentioned, meaning the hype was developed to fever pitch and as a result become one of the bestselling games of all time. I will use this idea when working with my video game and hope that a similar success is reached.

The budget for my game is $60,000. This is quite a high budget as it is understandable that feature such as the graphics in my game need to be of a high standard in order for my game to be rated positively by users.
It is clear how there has recently been a large increase in real-life simulation games when looking at games from the previous 5 years. Such examples consist of The Sims and Virtual Families. A clear marketing technique which I may use to publicise my game is through the use of 'you tubers'. These are people who rate several games online regularly and so if they were to review my game positively, the popularity would immediately rise.

P5 E

P5 E- Relevant legal and/ or ethical issues


When looking at the development of my game, it is clear how there are several possible legal and ethical issues which may be identified throughout the production process.

One issue which would need to be strongly considered when producing a new game includes the legal factor of holding an age rating. This however, is not necessary for my game as it is targeted at the young minority of teenagers, meaning that no content is involved which could cause harm or offence to my target audience. The characters in my game have been designed in a particular way as to be appropriate for a younger audience to view. This means they are in discreet clothing and will not use any phrases that can be considered as offensive or inappropriate.

A second legal factor which needs to be considered is Copyright and Royalties. During the game, there are times at when music is displayed after characters carry out certain actions or the layer has completed several tasks. I have ensured that when choosing the music being used, I will have ownership over this or permission from the current provider. If I was to disregard this, there would be several issues with a potential lawsuit being involved for unpaid royalties. This would have a clear damaging effect on the production stages for my game.

Another issue involves the use of Copyright, which advises that any game developer must take into consideration how you cannot copy other company’s tools. For instance, I need to ensure that when designing my characters, they do not show similarities by their looks or designs.

It would also appear unethical if my characters were to be categorised in one way. This means that they must not all come from the same social class or religion. If this was the case, some game players may be offended.

 

P5 C/D

P5 C- Gameplay with associated visuals

There are several ways in which players will be able to interact with the characters my game. For instance, by controlling their lifestyle and making decisions for them based around this. This is what links the main purpose of the game- to design a life which is successful for your virtual friend. By doing this, players are able to increase the playability, making the game successful and increasing the overall enjoyment and satisfaction throughout gameplay.

The graphics, user interface and mechanism within the game each add up to complete the overall satisfaction rate for players. This is identified as a highly subjective attribute that provokes a difficult measuring due to player’s preferences and pleasures having influence on the satisfaction for specific game elements. This includes factors such as the characters involved, along with the challenges inside the virtual world which is my game.

It is essential for players to become immersed in my game, meaning they hold the capacity to believe in the game’s contents and integrate the player into the virtual game world. This provokes that the players become involved within the virtual world as if it is real, becoming part of this and interacting with it. This means that the player perceives the virtual world represented by the video game, with its laws and rules that characterize it. A successful game involves having a strong immersion level, when it has equilibrium between the proposed challenges and the necessary player abilities to overcome it.

Below I have added visuals to demonstrate two scenes which are featured within my game. It is clear that the player is able to choose and care for their own virtual pet, completing activities such as walking, feeding and bathing them as demonstrate in the images designed. I created a tool box/ key to show how players are able to choose which features they like in order to play with their virtual pet.

P5 D- Target Audience

The audience for my game will be people of each gender but mostly women. This is due to the game being involved with topics such as family and education, which are usually related with the female audience. Although despite this, many males will also find the game appealing. The average age range for my game will be those between the ages of 13 and 17 years, as those older are unlikely to still be interested in online games. It is expected that teenagers will find the game most appealing as they usually hold an interest in the topic of lifestyle.

The chosen demographic does not involve those from a particular social class, as this is not essential when looking at those from a lower age category such as teens. Therefore, the standard target consumer is a teenager either male or female, who holds an interest in the topic of family life.

P5 A/B, M2

P5 A- Treatment/ Proposal

Platforms: My game will be available on multi-platforms, meaning it is available to be played on several consoles for instance; such as PlayStation, X-Box, Microsoft and iOS.
Levels: As previously mentioned, there are no levels involved throughout my game. However the player is able earn points for completing tasks such as feeding their virtual pet, which can later be returned for rewards such as new accessories or accessories for your virtual home.
Characters: The characters involved in my game are all animals, as you are choosing and caring for your own virtual pet.

P5 B- Competent Production Schedule

As shown above, I have added a Gant chart to demonstrate the Competent production schedule for the game I am producing. I used this to make it clear and effective in the way that my production will take place over a series of weeks and how I will focus on various areas for production at different stages. For instance, during the first two weeks I will focus on developing the initial ideas for my game, before moving onto different areas in my production such as the developmental programme, voiceover actors and coding in week 9.