Understanding my Audience
Audience Survey
Question 1: What is your gender?
This question was designed to ascertain what gender my audience was predominantly male, weighing in at 73.3% of the responses, whereas only 10% were female, and the other 16.7% were "other". This helps me with understanding my audience by letting me know which sort of audience I should cater towards with further developments of the game, but also lets me know it's not just a male audience, meaning I should try and target the other audiences as well, as there are people interested in the game. However, it will be predominantly based on the male responses due to it being a majority of the responses.
Question 3: How often do you play video games per day?
This question was put in the survey to see how long the audience played games per day, so that I could gauge how much content I should put in the final product, so that players wouldn't run out of things to do, making the game a worthwhile purchase in terms of the amount of time and content they'd get out of it. A majority of the answers said 4-5 hours a day, meaning that I should make the game decently long, and try to put in as much content as possible, as if I make the game too short, it could lead to them completing it in one or two sittings. Alternatively, I could make sure the game has a lot of replay value, giving them more content to last them more than those one or two sittings.
Question 2: How old are you?
This question was designed to filter responses, so that I'd know which responses to prioritise. The responses I'd prioritise would be anyone 12+ and I'd take any responses 12 and under into consideration after. This is because whilst I do want my game to be rated 12+, it doesn't mean that everyone that will play it will be strictly 12+, so it's better to get an overall view on everybody that'll be playing this game, so that everyone's happy. However, I will still be prioritising the 16-18+ range of the audience, as that appears to be the two largest groups among them. In hindsight, I should have added an 11 and under section and deleted any responses from there, but I do still firmly believe it is better to get a word from every potential audience member.
Question 4: Do you prefer when games/media are uniform or when they are chaotic?
This question was to figure out how I should go about the level design for my game, as I had mostly settled on the idea of making a sequel to my year 1 FMP in one form or another. I wanted to have as many folklore as possible in each level, as opposed to having a select theme and sticking to it with each level, as that ended up being quite restrictive. 50% of the audience said that they prefer chaos, whilst the other 50% was almost equally split between uniform and no preference. Due to this, I will be going with the level and character designs from as many folklore as possible. This also helps with meeting my unit 12, as it gives me more variety to choose from when making my character designs.
Question 5: What sort of games do you enjoy?
I used this question to see what sort of approach I should take to my game, and what genres I should incorporate into it, as I wanted to create a very linear horror platformer for my FMP. The results came back, and the most popular were RPGs, Sandboxes, Shooters, Strategy games, platformers and survival/horror. Due to this, I will be changing my idea slightly to a more RPG-esque horror platformer, focusing more on story than initially intended, as well as featuring some sandbox-like elements throughout, such as secrets hidden in areas off to the side of the main path. I didn't want to change my initial idea too much, so I mainly used this questions to ask about the finishing touches on the idea, and maybe for a bit of inspiration too.
Question 6: Do you like 2D, 2.5D or 3D games the most?
This question is very cut and dry, I wanted to understand whether the audience would have a preference of 2D, 2.5D or 3D games, and 60% of the responses came back saying they didn't have a preference. However, 30% had a preference of 3D, and that was sort of my idea to create, however, a small portion also said 2D and 2.5D. So whilst I will have a mostly 3D game, it will also feature 2.5D aspects, such as sprites and decorative objects in some areas, and maybe even entire areas made out of 2D objects, creating the 2.5D. However, most of the game will be three-dimensional, as that will be the main focus. I will only apply each style where I see fit. This may change as the project continues however, as 2.5D would work better for my skillset, as I am more used to drawing assets rather than modelling.
Question 7: What is your favourite video game of all time?
This question was simply to get some idea of what the audiences favourite games were so that I could get some inspiration for what to research into if any of the games were similar to what my final project aims to be. I may or may not look into these over the course of the project, but if I chose to, it will be on one of my research pages.
Question 8: Are you familiar with folklore/urban legends/mythology?
This question was to see if the audience was familiar with folklore and things like it so that I could help determine further what folklore I'd be using in the final game, and 86.7% said yes, so a majority of the audience is familiar with folklore, so it will be of some interest to them. As for the 13.3%, the game will aim to inform them on certain folklore. However, as the audience is so familiar with folklore, I will try and incorporate slightly more obscure folklore into the game, so that they have a higher chance of learning something when playing, as a set of profiles for the folklore in the game is something I'd like to incorporate, as that also puts forward the character designs I made for the game.
Question 9: Are you interested in folklore/urban legends/mythology?
After the last question, I wanted to know out of how many that were familiar with folklore actually were interested in it. What I got was 100% of people who said they were familiar with it were interested in it, and half of the people who said they weren't familiar with it were interested in it, bringing the interest rate up to 93.3%. Due to this, I will try and keep my character design ideas slightly more informed from my research than initially intended, but keeping my own creative liberties here and there on the designs. However, I will try and keep as many facts as possible on the profile sheets.
Question 10: Do you like simple or Complex character designs?
This question was put in the survey to try and get some opinions about character design from the audience as that is the focus of my project, due to it being my Unit 12's focus. I wanted to get an idea of what kind of character designs my audience liked, and so I wanted to see if I should take a simplistic or complex approach to my character design. Whilst complex character designs did technically get the majority vote, it was by a very small margin in comparison to simple designs, and technically it is still the minority if you were to combine the mixed responses and the "simple" responses. Due to this, I will design characters as I see fit, but try and have a healthy mix of both simple and complex characters where necessary, so I can please both sides of the audience.
Question 11: Which design do you think works best for a female protagonist?
This is very simple, I asked which character the audience preferred, and C was chosen with a 60% majority vote. This will be the protagonist I will be using in the final game and throughout, so the other designs will not move past this concept phase.
Question 12: If you could make any improvements to ANY of the designs, which of them would you improve and how?
-Santa hat or is that not i dont know santa
-Wavy hair rather than how they are
-Add something to the hat on B
-No comment
-B is kinda boring cos you can very easily guess what their character is like.
-Really not sure
-Nothing I can think of
-C looks like they would murder me if they had the chance. A just looks crazy.
-Colour them and refine the designs I suppose?
-No headwear for any of the characters
-I would not change anything
-Make A and B look more friendly, as they are supposed to look like a protagonist, which is usually a positive, eye-catching character design. The first looks like a villain and the second looks like a main character but not quite the protagonist.
-If B should be the sad looking one, put her more into a goth outfit. :)
-The headband on A's design seems a little bit too high up and the consistency of ruff's that seem to go round their neck does not always fit the design. I feel like B has a bit too much darkness around the right eye. I feel you should put more variety in the shirt designs; it would create a bit more character that would be unique to each design. Furthermore I feel that the bangs on B's design has a rough shave design but also smooth line on the bangs at the same time? I just feel that it is a bit of a peculiar design. Also on B there is a bit of ear that clips through the hair. I feel that is not necessary to the design. In addition I think the v shape on the pants of B is a bit weird looking and I get its trying to represent skinnier jeans (In comparison to A's design) But I feel like it doesn't fit the character. Lastly going over to A I feel like there are not enough protrusions in the hair and it makes it look some kind of cross between a banana and an afro.
-B doesn't give protagonist energy, since she looks sleepy
-If given the opportunity i would like to improve all of them with a bit more of a complex design to their clothing to contrast with the characters simplistic design giving it a whimsical effect.
-external factors such as accessories to give more of a basic and better initial impression of the character
-More distinctive clothing for all three
- B - I think she looks cool but the silhouette doesn't seem to stand out as much, I think maybe exaggerating the hat or making her posture droopier would help with that.
More detail on the body shape, seems generic
all great
-Maybe don’t have a really angry or really sad character as the protagonist unless it correlates with the story in a certain way
-I dunno
-give her fancy shoes
-A hat would look good on C
-I would give C a knife because she looks unstable like that. I would also give A a knife.
-idk i think they all look good
-I would improve C to look more like a friendly protagonist, have B look less messy, and wouldn't change C because I like her :)
-The first character has a pretty wild hair style compared to the others, depending on the theme it can work (that means the theme is in the context)
Summary
This question was to get feedback on all three of the designs from the audience, and to see what design improvements I could make for the main character that got chosen. As C was chosen, I will be prioritising the feedback given on C, but will also take in feedback given on the other characters, just in case it also applies to C, so that I can try and make the design as best it can be.
Question 13: What sort of colour scheme do you think would work on these characters if they were put in a horror game?
This question was another one which had very cut and dry responses, most responses were just different ways of wording a dull/desaturated colour scheme, or grays, whites and blacks. I may use other colours mentioned in these responses in experiments with the designs, but that depends on the time spent on the art phase of the project.
Question 14: Are there any specific traits you like in character designs?
-A personality (some games dont know what that mean it ok when multiplayer make your own character thing)
-Expressions
-Long hair on men and short hair on women
-Gothic
-being able to self insert or if not, good backstory and determination. Also having bad things about a character is good too because nobody is perfect and people like being able to relate to a main character if that makes sense idk.
-A standout feature, like a scar, tattoo or something symbolic. Like the X on the characters above
-Stylized designs
-Nah
-Exaggerated expressions
-Any laid back characters
-I wished the 3rd character had a bit more creepiness to it since she looks cute yet her cuteness bring fear and despair
-Entertaining Character designs and Mysterious character designs
-Should fit with the game design, but otherwise very open
-Personally I like the contrast of the three designs and think it would work if all three were involved in the game. I like the sporty look of A; the sleepy-casual-gothic design of B and the more innocent and caring look of C.
-idk
-Visible Personality
-Tattoos
-BIG. MASSIVE. detailed and sinister. Feeling overwhelmed by an enemy
Basic characters that could look like anybody but still have some distinct feature that makes them unique.
-I like the look of little trinkets and accessories, I think they really enhance character design.
-The clothing style
-backstory
-C looks happy to be there
-I like good armour designs
-hot
-I like hats a lot and accents
-I like it when they look badass or cute
-no
-Simplicity
-No, as long as they show them in different situations.
Summary
This question was to see what kind of traits I should keep in mind and try to recreate when making my own character designs for the game, as that would be in the audiences interests, and would invest the audience in the character designs, which is the main focus of the game. So I will keep this list in mind when designing my characters, so I can create the most likeable character designs possible for the game.
Question 15: Are there any specific traits you don't like in character designs?
-Just don't anything Balan Wonderland did for characters thanks
-Overly complex hairstyles
-Unnecessary Over Sexualisation
-Cutesy
-Too simple or predictable, no flaws
-Where they look over developed which causes them to appear noisy and makes it hard to look at any one thing as everything around it is a distraction.
-Overdesigned, too many small details that clutter the overall look
-Nay
-Hyper-realism
-No
-nope
-overly realistic characters
-Having sexy females just for having them. A game should sell through game mechanics or story.
-Idk im running out of time!!
-idk
-Not sure
-Pigtails
-too basic or following a trend of features across a genre
-For horror, I don't like when things try too hard or give too much away, creepiness and the feeling of not knowing what you're up against is scarier than an obvious threat.
-Lack of diversity (both in hairstyles and ethnicity)
-The variation of different eyes types
-no
-C doesn’t have a golden star for attending
-Nope.avi
-ugly
-Unnecessary clothing
-That stupid fucking smile art style that every goddamn kids cartoon and animation uses nowadays. You know the one, the one that Steven universe and turning red use.
-among us
-Overly Complex designs
-No, every character has a purpose in a story, that includes their traits, even if they may seem useless.
Summary
This question was to see what kind of traits I should avoid when creating my own character designs for the game, as that would be against the audiences interests, and would deter the audience away from the character designs, which is the main focus of the game. So I will keep this list in mind when designing my characters, as to avoid creating dislikeable character designs for the game.
Question 16: What is your favourite character design of all time?
-Roronoa Zoro
-Moon knight
-N from Pokèmon Black and White as he appears to have a very plain look similar to the player character yet his hair and accessories as well as his facial expressions give off a quiet elegance and kindness
-No comment (don't have a favourite)
-Cloud because he has his own story and character but you can also self insert yourself as well, he is a good in-between of silent protagonist and story driven protagonist i think
-Kratos - lots of standout features while not looking too busy making him a very intresting character to look at.
-Sissel from Ghost Trick. Cool looking character with sleek profile
-Jack from Ghostrunner
-Ralsei from Deltarune - I like the silhouette design with the hat on!
-Rayman as his hands are detached
-Zagraus from Hades (i didnt spelled his name)
-Adeleine from Kirby because she has a very simplistic, but very appealing design
The 3 playable characters from Nier: Automata. It gives a very nice vibe fitting for the setting the game plays in.
-Big floppa (thank you god!)
-Honestly I play it for the game, not the graphics as long as it looks pleasing im okay with it :)
-Anything from Jojo's bizarre adventure
-Kaido from one piece as he has many intricate details to his character which explains much of his past.
-Oryx the taken king because he is a massive enemy and he is very cool in my opinion and defeating him feels very rewarding and nostalgic. However, there are external factors such as lore and so forth as to why I love this character
-Hat Kid from A Hat in Time, she has a distinct silhouette and is easy to identify, and of course she's really cute!
-Pharah's Thunderbird skin in Overwatch
-Astolfo -v-
-Rots from Kena: Bridge of spirits.
-cute, lots of backstory and a tad dark history
-Homer from the Simpsons
-Shovel knight I like the look of his armour
-reaper leviathan
-I like the design of hanzo from overwatch since its accurate to cultural japan
-Kirby; he is round and pink and cute and he'll take any chance he can to eat you whole.
-Hatty hattington
-Stocking Anarchy because of her colour scheme, style and clothes
-Main character of Ruiner, the whole aesthetic fits in the world, even it may be a bit basic with the only over the top part of it being the face screen, it still feels like it has a good explanation behind it.
Summary
This question was to get a good idea of the kinds of character designs that my audience liked to see, and so that I could both see what they liked in the designs above, and to gather some inspiration from what's appealing about each of the designs. It would also be good to see what sort of trends lie within each of the characters, for example, seeing which gender is more prominent in responses, different shapes found in each design, colour schemes, etc. Overall, this is a useful sheet to consult for inspiration when making my character designs.
Audience Profile
Summary
This audience profile is an average person in the audience according to the survey. Everything is based on the majority vote, and how the charts were split among each of the questions, and features data from most, if not every single one of the questions on the survey in one way or another. I'd say this audience profile came out quite well. (P.S: The image is of my friend, so I wouldn't have to waste space crediting someone on the image to fit as much detail on it as possible whilst still keeping it looking neat.)
Pitch
Slide 1: Introduction - This first slide was designed with the intent of introducing the viewer to the pitch of the game with a visual aid of what might come throughout the pitch. I created the image on the slide with the intent of it remaining ambiguous, as I had not decided on final designs for each of the characters, and the nameless mist was the only returning character, hence why the design is the only one shown, and not a silhouette. I'd say this slide is successful at doing its job, as it does give a visual aid, and I'd be explaining the general idea of the game over it anyway, so it'd help getting the idea further into the audience's heads.
Slide 2: Elevator Pitch - This slide was solely to give me prompts on what I should improvise and talk about, very self explanatory. I only really added the image of the elevator so the slide wouldn't be as boring for the audience to look at whilst I give a TL:DR description of my game, using the prompts on screen to explain my general idea. Overall, this slide proved quite useful when presenting my pitch.
Slide 3: What is the game? - This slide was to inform the audience about my game, and give a general rundown of the setting and idea of the game. I wanted to explain the idea in a shorter version than what was actually on the slide, so I highlighted the key points to speak about when presenting, whilst the audience could read the extra bits whilst I was explaining each of the highlighted points. Overall, I think this slide served its purpose quite well.
Slide 4: Gameplay / Mechanics - This slide was to show the general idea of the gameplay mechanics for the game, and give a slight visual aid and description for each. When presenting, I would expand on what was written, as again what was on the slide exists as a prompt. Overall, it came out quite well, and served its purpose to a satisfactory degree.
Slide 5: Target Audience - This slide was to inform the pitch receivers of the game's target audience, and the reasons behind it. It's a very simple explanation, so the slide only had to be very simple itself, so it came out and served its purpose quite well. I think I could have laid this slide out a little better though, as it looks a little messy and crowded.
Slide 6: Platforms + Pricing - This slide was to inform the audience of the platforms the game is intended to be available on, and the reasons as to why I chose against other platforms. One thing I should have mentioned is that I would intend to put the game on consoles as well if it did well on PC. Other than that, I think this slide is presented nicely, and was useful when presenting.
Slide 7: Influences - This slide is to tell the audience about my influences for this project, and how they have influenced it. The writing on the left gives a basic explanation for each, whilst the images on the left give a slight visual aid for what sort of games they might be. However, I feel like I should have included visual aids such as gifs of exactly what I was talking about, rather than a cover image for each game. Other than that, I covered everything that I wanted to for this slide, and feel I gave enough information about each to present the ideas effectively.
Slide 8: Gameplay Loops, Pillars, and USPs - This slide was to inform the viewer of the general gameplay loops and pillars, as well as tell them the USPs of this project. Any important information is highlighted on this slide so that I could make sure I covered everything I wanted to. In terms of USPs, I could have maybe thought of some, but the only thing I really want to prioritise when making this game is not to make a unique game, but rather to just make a fun experience for everybody.
Slide 9: Thank you for listening + Questions - Final slide, used to say thank you for listening to the pitch and to ask if anybody in the audience had any questions. Serves its purpose quite well, but I think I could have put a question prompt on the slide as well. Other than that, it came out well, and I think the drawing was a nice addition to keep the audience interested.
Actual Presentation of the Pitch
Right off the bat, the first thing I can say about the pitch is that it went a lot better than I expected it to, as I managed to convey nearly everything that I wanted to over the course of the presentation. This was an effective way of presenting the idea towards my audience, as I could present it to people in my class and get relevant feedback and questions, as my classmates are in my age group. I used the main character as the “mascot” of sorts throughout the pitch to sell the pitch a little further, as well as give a better example of the artistic direction of the game to show the audience.
The focus group is important to developing my ideas, as it allows me to get my idea out, and get feedback on how I could improve, and what the audience might want from the project. It also allows me to get feedback on how I present the project, and how I could improve on my presentation skills for future projects, allowing me to improve on all fronts.
The only issue I had was outside of what is shown in the video, I received three pieces of feedback via message on teams after the presentation, as opposed to around 5-6, as that was the amount of people in. The two I got are below:
In terms of actually presenting, Connor did say that I presented my pitch quite quickly, and I should pace myself more when presenting, as it could be quite overwhelming for the audience. Another piece of feedback I got from the year 1's was that there were large chunks of text, which could also be quite overwhelming for a viewer. However, I was also told that I have a "very solid idea and pitch", "detailed gameplay loops, pillars and USPs", and a "developed PowerPoint". I was also told I had a "great idea with the art style, and gameplay mechanics" and that it was "clear to see I had a good hold on what I want to do". From this feedback I can gather that even though I tried to cut down on the amount of text on my slides, I still didn't cut it down enough. Other than that, I received a decent amount of praise for my project and how I presented it. One thing I did get asked about was what folklore exactly I'd be incorporating into the game, which is something that I slightly glossed over in the presentation, as I didn't really have a concrete idea of what folklore I wanted to put in at the time of creating the slide, but I did when I was presenting, hence why I could give an answer. I should have maybe gone back and fixed this on the presentation before I presented.
I was also asked about the potential of a VR version or compatibility with VR, which was a very interesting idea that I realised could work well. Whilst I don't have the knowledge to make a VR game, it is an interesting concept that I could think about in the future maybe. I was then asked about the story, which I had intentionally left out of the presentation, as that was something I was still trying to create, and was going to write about in my GDD, so if I had done my GDD beforehand, it would have been in the presentation. I was also asked about potential DLC and extra content for the game, which I would have introduced if the game did well in the form of extra levels filled with folklore and other playable characters. Finally, I was asked if there would be a kid friendly version/mode of the game, which I found to be quite a nice idea, but I doubt I'll incorporate it into the final game, it did relate to an entirely new version of the game rather than an extra mode or something. Alongside this, Connor said that due to my very cartoony and kid-friendly art style, I should have a very explicit warning that this is for 12 and up, and isn't suitable for those below age 12.
In response to this feedback, I will try and keep my art style a bit more consistent with horror, and make it less cartoony, whilst still retaining the cartoony charm. I will also maybe incorporate a secret hidden mode, where it's the same game, but with funny, overly cartoony visuals. This would be a funny secret to incorporate into the game, and players usually enjoy secrets in games, as it gives replay value, and more content for them to discover. Also, I was asked about the story, so that shows that there is interest in the story aspects of my game, so I will put more of an emphasis on the story throughout the game.
Overall, from here, I will consider all of the feedback I've been given, and try and keep it in mind with any further advancements throughout the project. This pitch has been rather informative for this project, and therefore useful, especially for the amount of time I spent on it. I will do this as if I respond to my audience feedback, then I will create a more desirable product for my audience, and thus get a better response from them upon the games final release.