Project Proposal

This page is designated to gaining a better understanding into each of the headings within the project proposal document, and gathering resources as to how I can better approach them. I want to use the project proposal almost like a checklist for each of my 6 ideas before I narrow down to 3, so I'm going to create a set of questions (like the interrogation method) in order to help steer my ideation and keep it consistent.

Abstract

"500-1000 word synopsis to include description of the general project and reasons for choice.

Introduce it, describe it.

What is your research so far?

Provide key examples of visual research"

For this heading, I think its a bit difficult to do right out of the gate. It's something that I think is best approached by continually updating as you explore the idea and develop it, since there is no way I'm going to have 500-1000 words of information ready to go after only just having come up with the idea. Perhaps it could be good to have an ongoing document that I can continually update with little tidbits as I go along, then assemble them into one final abstract to present.

Goals

"What you hope to achieve by producing this project from both a personal and a professional/commercial angle."

This heading is about simply outlining what I want to achieve. As it stands, I think it's a bit difficult to really know for sure what sort of impact I want to leave on the world as a result of each idea, so I'm going to look into different ways of going about understanding this headings. In terms of personal goals, I think it's always going to be the same:

To create something I am proud of
To showcase a part of who I am and the things I enjoy
To create something I can confidently use to spearhead my portfolio

User Experience: Audience

"Identify and define the intended audience with research to back

this up."

This one shouldn't be too hard to address. A lot of the aesthetics and concepts I'm trying to get across with my ideas are inspired by the underground bass music community I am a part of - these aesthetics and concepts can be observed in the music itself, and within cover art and merch. So I think it'll be good to look into this community and try to gauge a target audience from it.

I also need to look back into the different media I researched to try and understand their own target audiences. The Matrix is a massive one, since it is a staple within pop culture and a potential driving force behind why there is a community that actually believe we are in a simulation.

Another place to look is competitors that approach similar theme/aesthetics within their games. Looking into these games is a mandatory aspect of game design, so this will be something I do quite a bit of.

User Experience: Competitive Analysis

"Compare how your work will differ, offer improvement or enhancement with the competition."

Like I mentioned in the previous heading, it's just a matter of discovering and playing some different games within a similar sector to each idea in order to understand what my game needs to do to be different and/or more enjoyable. This isn't just a matter of mechanics and gameplay however, it is equally a matter of audio, visuals, UI and even accessibility. I'm going to do a fair bit of research into different articles about how to hit these concepts well with my ideas.

User Experience: Critical Analysis

"An indication of the critical and analytical framework and key research sources for the project include how your believe your project will be supported by these.

What are the topics you researching specifically that are not games related?

Key academic books/ journals/ articles"

This heading is probably one of the harder ones to address, as it requires a bit more of a deep dive to really ensure that my ideas and concepts are driven and informed by appropriate research. It's really important to do this, as it is usually quite apparent when an idea is uninformed versus when it is informed.

I think the best way to approach this as of now is to make sure, before even prototyping or developing an idea, that I know what themes each idea is actually trying to address so that I can look for media that I can refer back to. For example, if I'm making a dreamscape within an idea, I need to understand the mechanisms behind how our memories form our dreams, what problems the brain is trying to solve etc. I absolutely hate it when things feel 'convenient' within media as it feels like a lazy path to take to speed up a narrative, so I want to try and avoid doing things that feel convenient so that an idea can develop naturally and according to expectations (within reason). Some of the things I want to look into specifically are:

The biochemistry of dreams
How trauma affects dreams specifically
Developing aesthetics
Typography

Project Content: Components

"A detailed discussion and list of the actual components you will be producing. Based on your research so far what do you think your final deliverables (end of semester 2) may be, you decide.

Unity game?
- Physical game?
- Arcade event?"

This heading is simple enough, it's just a matter of detailing the medium by which the game will function, and extensions of that if necessary. The most important thing to do however, is to justify why the chosen medium is the correct one to choose, not just objectively speaking in terms of the idea, but in terms of my own abilities and limitations.

Project Content: Functional Specifics

"Technical, software, hardware for development and concepts for distribution of project.

HTC Vive?

Room 20x20m?"

This heading is also quite simple, it's simply a matter of using competitor research and an understanding of ones own capabilities to inform why a specific set of equipment is necessary to play the game, or why its necessary for the game to be realised as best as possible,

Project Structure: Schedule

"A week-by-week summary of what you hope to achieved by the end of each week.

Initially a simple outline for your own plan relating to Phase’s 3 and 4."

I think a schedule is really hard to develop at this point in the project, as there is already so little time to really flesh out and develop ideas, let alone do that AND research/inform them. If I'm being honest, an accurate schedule based on my experiences in this project is not going to be entirely possible, as I'm feeling like the workload is too great for the time we've been given. I feel like we're under a crunch at the moment, and time constrictions have shown the world over to be the downfall of good concepts.

How do I go about developing a schedule despite this however? I suppose the best thing to do is to develop some prototype elements and to test how long it takes to develop them, then to apply that information on a bigger scale to create estimates for a schedule. I'll have to look into different articles and strategies to this as well, as I personally don't feel like I've got the time to mess about with coming up with a schedule, since all my time is being spent developing/researching/prototyping at the moment.

Design Appendix: Presentation

"Create and specify finalised appropriate presentation covering, key concepts such as mechanics, colours, typography, language, texture, feel. Include an edited review of sketchbooks, notebooks, initial research, initial concepts, moodboard’s, artwork, concept visuals and prototype details."

This one is simple enough, the brief lays out everything pretty clearly. I think this one is just a matter of making sure I keep things consistent, to make sure I showcase where I've come from and how I got to where I will be.

Design Appendix: Concepts

"Concepts of preliminary designs for visual aspects of your project. Examples of screen layouts, characters, graphics, moodboard’s and colours etc in digital formats.

include tests and test reflection
- iterations and feedback
- models/ sprite sheets"

Again, this heading is relatively self-explanatory. This heading is especially important to me though, since visuals are my primary focus. If there is any game element that I feel I have to get spot on, it is the visuals. For each of my ideas, I want to generate a variety of moodboards and simple concept art for essential aspects of said ideas. For example, if one of my ideas revolves around exploration, I need to concept a place in which the player could explore. I need to break down my ideas into a few essential elements within this category in order to better develop a few concepts.

Design Appendix: Prototypes

" Create and list self-contained functional components and early prototypes you expect to make should be listed and eventually linked here.

list out initial ideas
- Paper prototypes ?
- Simple mechanics concepts ?
- Can you embed? "

Prototyping isn't something I'm particularly good at, since I like to focus purely on ideation and visuals. Of course, I can prototype visual elements, but I am not particularly good at developing mechanics, let alone balancing and developing them. I think I'll need to look for quite a few resources to help me prototype my ideas.

Design Appendix: Blog

"To support your personal developmental work and research, you will be expected to keep an ongoing documentation projecting tasks for the week ahead and stating/evaluating what has been achieved in the week previous, this should include visual and written material.

Link or links here. "

What should I focus on?

Since I'm going to be developing only one out of the three ideas I present, I only need one properly done project proposal. Because of this, I feel as though I should choose a few of these headings to focus in on specifically for each of my ideas. For example, I don't think there's much point in researching and developing a schedule for my ideas when this time should mostly be spent prototyping and creating content/developing the ideas. To help make this process more efficient, I'm going to focus on the following headings specifically:

- Abstract

- Critical Analysis

- Concepts

- Prototypes

I've chosen these headings specifically because I feel as though they are the most developmental out of the headings. The remaining headings do not offer me quite as much at this stage, and seem more appropriate to look into once I've narrowed down my idea and have already prototyped by chosen idea.