Unit 71 OO DESIGN

Unit 71: Object Orientated Design for Computer Games

In Game Maker the first step we have to take is to make sprites, these sprites then become objects that you can apply code to and this is what makes Game Maker OO design. Unreal Engine 4 is OO design because you can apply code to pretty much everything. Some similarities between these too engines would be in the code











This is an example of code in Game Maker that you can use to make your character walk and jump. As you can see it is fairly simple, this shows that when the left arrow is pressed the character will move left and it also shows how far it will move.







This is the code for movement in Unreal 4 as you can see it is a bit more complex than the Game Maker counterpart, because it is a 3D engine the code has to get the characters position in the world via velocity and then uses the key inputs for movement.



We also use things called Action Event in Game Maker this is a simple drag and drop mechanic that really simplifies the whole coding mechanic. Underneath you can see an example of how you can make a health bar in Game Maker using these blue prints.

HEALTH BAR IN GAME MAKER:   https://youtu.be/kBQHGHKkePk?t=289

First you have to draw the health bar on the screen with the draw command and then set the size of it. In this example you can then set the game to reset when the health is smaller than 1.

To set the health in unreal it can be a little complicated depending on how you do it, personally I found it quite easy. You simply have to set a float variable for health so that you can increase and decrease it, you can then drag and drop a bar into the window and set its colour, sections and size on the right side of the screen.


Another difference you can see between the two is that Game Maker is a 2D game engine and Unreal Engine 4 is a 3D engine. This means we create 2D sprites either in Game Maker or another program for use in the game whereas this isn't the case for Unreal we have to make a 3D model in a program like Maya, ZBrush or Blender and then import them for use in Unreal. When you code in Game Maker it will save as a GML file and in Unreal it simply saves the entire file as Unreal Engine Project.




I can see the benefits that each of the engines offer as they are both suited for making different kinds of games, I did really enjoy using Game Maker to design a 2D game however it took a long time to make a very simple end product. Comparing this to Unreal, I was able to make something that I feel is a lot more impressive in a shorter space of time. I personally enjoy Unreal more because it feels more professional and you can create things on a lot larger scale. I also really prefer creating models and importing them as you can add a lot more in depth detail when compared to a 2D sprite. The Blueprinting also seems a lot more logical than the drag and drop Action Event system, especially things like using velocity to move.

Unit 6 - Critical Approach

Unit 6 - Critical Approach

How to find the market for the game 
To find the market for the game we will have to look at several thing, for example what are the levels of violence in my game perhaps if they're high then the age rating and therefore the target audience would start at 18, the same would go for swearing or sexual themes. We also have to think about what the game is based on, this being the film Big Trouble in Little China. The target audience for the film keeping in mind it came out in 1986 is around 18 to 30 and so this means people that would have seen the film back then would be around 25-50 today and so this also caters to what our audience is going to be.

Data
There are several different sources that both praise and criticise the film. Praise comes from IMDB which claims that the movie is an 7.3/10 and that 'This movie is magic'. However the estimated budget was around $25,000,000 and only looks to have made $11,100,000, meaning overall it lost profit. One person, who rates this a 3/10, says that the film simply isn't funny and tries too hard to 'explain the joke'. The film seems to have been more well received in America and we can tell this from the quantitative data that is provided by IMDB where it says the average score from America was 7.6 which is higher than any other country.

How did I conduct my research
I did my research by searching for ratings and reviews on the movie Big Trouble in Little China, there are several movie websites that provide that this data. By analysing the ratings we can see what age group, ethnicity and country enjoyed the films most.


How good was my research
I think my research was conducted well and was relatively accurate however I only had a few sources and so my data might not be as accurate as it could be. I do however feel like the information I extracted from the data presented was well thought out and precise. By expanding the range of my research I could get a more accurate representation of how the statistics show various data. Examples of this data would be which country the film was best received, where it made the most money, which age group found it most appealing and which gender preferred the film.




TASK TWO

How does the film target specific people
The country that gave the film  the highest score on IMDB was America and I believe this was the intended outcome when the film was being produced, as there are several aspects of the film that I think would appeal to the stereotypical American person. For example there are many over the top action scenes in the film that include many explosions and fight scenes. The film is also set in an American China Town something that the American population would be able to relate to. The main character Jack Burton is also played by an American actor Kurt Russell, a person who was a very big hit back when the film came out.

I think the film also specifically targets males, it does this through the actual story, by having Jack the hero trying to save a damsel in distress whom has been captured by another man. The film is saying that women are just around to be saved by men. The intense action sequences and colours included in these scenes also suggest that the film has been targeted towards men. For example one of the more predominant colours in this movie would be the colour red, which is more often a mans colour, can be spotted everywhere in China Town and all over Lo Pan's lair. I'd say the age group for the film would be anywhere from 16 to 40, the simple plot line and the humour of the film appeal to all ages and allows for a fun watch for everyone.



The Target Audience of My Game
My game has a very dark setting and the story involves many messed up demons and creatures. It will include violence, gore and swearing because of this I would rate at least an 18. The movie that my game is based on Big Trouble in Little China which came out in 1986 and so the audience of the movie back then would be around the age of 40 now. For both of these reasons the target audience for my game is going to be 18 to 40 years old, in terms of gender, I am going to make it so you can play as either a man or a woman and I hope these will be one of the main reasons that the target gender is both male and female. A game similar to mine would be anything from the Dark Souls series, its dark undertones match the themes of my game very well. The target audience is very similar to mine as well with most sources saying that its males around 20 to 40 years old. This is one of the main reasons that Dark Souls is such a successful series, its grounded and mature nature that appeals to this audience.