Game Music

Today I have been working on creating sound for the game. As It is based on Lady GaGa the sound track will all be her music especially as it was part of the brief to promote the artist. I have worked on MIDI sequencing some of her songs using Cubase. Using MIDI files will create a classic retro video game feel, as the files are small it will aid with fast loading times and also it is probably the best way of creating a piece of music yourself without recording a full band. The song started today was ‘Just Dance’, hopefully there will be several more songs to form the games soundtrack.

Banner

This is the developing 800x600pxl banner to be set at the top of every screen of the game. The main buttons created by John each invert when the mouse is hovered over giving the player feedback. The row of icons are taken from John's textures and cycle across the screen to make it more interesting. The clock top-right was designed by Matt and ticks round according to the second hand of the users computer, adding a point to the schedule statistic every time it hits 60. The rest of the layout and icons are for all of the other stats the player will have, allowing them to see them at the top of the screen whatever section of the game they are in.

Presentation

The presentation and first meeting with Joel are complete and I think it went really well. We got just about everything across in the powerpoint and we all spoke during the presentation. We got some useful feedback from Joel as well as discussion in the group about areas to improve:
The campus/career/compete sections will require good definition within the game. The acamedy lessons will be introduced by LGG, the carrer minigames be the only source of money and the competitions be where the player's 3 stats are implemented. The competitions could also be for a fixed special prize or trophy.
to avoid every player having the identical experience as with the main competitors, there could be stages where the user chooses a path such as a choice of one of three careers or lessons.
There should be an impact within the game from the player's dominant stat. This could be visual or change what they can do or buy in a rock/paper/scissors style.
A St Trinnians concept put forward by Calum could give the game more of a narriative setting and unique style.
The portable tamagotchi concept should be included as one of our goals to accomplish for the project, even if we can't connect it to the game databases.
It has been confirmed that LGG can be a mentor rather than the protagonist as the brief says, as this way the experience will be more personal.
Top items could be actual LGG outfits and we will need to remember to maintain the visual style based around her.

This week we hope to build a preliminary core mechanic for the game; with the money, level and XP working.

Some work in progress

I've created a logo, it may or may not be used and may be subject to change due to being an early version

I've also created the buttons to be used as the main navigation within the hud they have taken the same style as logo to try and add a consistency throughout the eventual application , i really like how these have turned out and ive also made inverted versions to be used when you hover over them to get the user some feedback, all of these can be found on the skydrive for now.

Over and out, back to Photoshop i go

Further research

Further investigation into the target market for the Lady Gaga game has revealed the following as popular gaming websites for girls aged 12-17:

www.stardolls.com
www.ggg.com
www.y8.com
www.bratz.com
www.addictinggames.com
www.heavygames.com
www.neopets.com

Also the following shortlist was highlighted as being the most entertaining mini-game themes for our target market:

Maze based games
Pairs/Matching games
Memory games
Dress-up/Fashion games
Jigsaw puzzle games
Colouring/Designing games

Killers Concept

We're developing ideas for each artist and will generate several for our final chosen one.
Las Vegas, Nevada. The Killers new lyrics are stolen by The Bravery and Fall Out Boy (their industry rivals) and become embroiled in a web of extra terrestrial conspiracy in the deserts around Area 51. The content would take the shape of a side scrolling action/adventure game fighting the corrupt military, aliens and their rivals in order to GET BACK THOSE LYRICS!

Early Development

We have started to experiment with styles for the visual design as well as discuss core mechanics for gameplay which could be applied to either of the 3 artists.
Matt has been developing an artistic style for the characters with an american friend, which look really professional and unique. I have also experimented with drawing in Flash for the simple item images, using thick cartoony outlines and strong colours. After a bit of development we decided the style could work, using the msn group Skydrive to share and discuss work.

Market Research

Following our discussion I conducted some market research with our target audience regarding what they would expect from a game based around Lady Gaga and they detailed the following as content that they would like to be available either to be won or purchased:

-Outfits worn by Lady Gaga on tours/music videos.
-Video and Audio clips from tours/music videos/interviews.
-End game content to include "attending tours/gigs with Lady Gaga"
-End game loot to include celebrity features like a Limousine.


Possible Mini-game ideas:

-Pop Quiz about Lady Gaga and her music.
-Memory games based around dance routines.
-Mock interviews playing the role as Lady Gaga.
-Memory games based around photo shoots.

Lady Gaga concept 1

Looking at the game market, some of the most successful titles especially causal games such as Nintendogs (possibly the best selling game to date at 22 million sales) are bought by females; mainly teenagers. We therefore felt a casual Flash game designed around Lady Gaga might have the greatest market appeal.
The first concept is a dance/singing/fashion academy where the player would enrol; completing tasks in lessons or careers through minigames. It would be run by Lady Gaga and so all of the content would be themed around her. A story and non-player characters will give the user a motivation lacking from many casual games.
Experience, money and loot would be generated from completing jobs. RPG elements such as levelling up and improving player statistics could keep players coming back every day. Other concepts like a player character and property which the user could customise extensively and a wide variety of loot might make the game more appealing.
A number of multiplayer aspects could also be included, from gifting items and competing with friends.

BLOG STARTED

Yesterday we got the brief - definately unexpected, but after thinking it through we've come up with a few ideas.
The brief is to design a game for a record label for the fans of either Dizzie Rascel, The Killers or Lady Gaga. The game itself could be any genre but would have to avoid the 'rhythm action' format such as with "Rock Band" and "Dance Dance Revolution".
At first we didnt think the brief had much scope but after an hour of brainstorming for each of the artists, we had a few good concepts. While we havent yet finalised which artist to design for, we are all agreed that the current popular web based management games should be a key influence. Massively popular titles such as Mafia Wars (25 million users) and Farmville (45 million users) offer a relatively basic gameplay. If we could develop a detailed core mechanic we feel our Flash knowledge could create a more animated and much more varied gaming experience.