Final Evaluation Rogue Spy

My game is called Rogue Spy and it is about a spy who feels cheated by the system and uncovers the government’s dirty secrets while on his search for justice, his end goal is to gain piece and an understanding of the reason his life long friend Prash died. The brief was to produce a story for a new adventure video game aimed at males and females under 25. I feel Rogue Spy really suits the brief for many reasons, I will explain my thought process throughout the project from that to finish and explain how my video game successfully meets the brief.

When coming up with game ideas I took inspiration from many places including current games, films and my target market. James Bond was a major influence on my game as there is currently no game on the market based around spies however, I thought it would be more exciting to have a spy that goes off the rails but has a reason for his actions. When thinking of ideas it was important to understand the market I was making the game for so as preparation I carried out primary research, this included questionnaires, vox pops and interviews. This allowed me to find out essential features they love and hate about modern day gaming allowing me to tailor the game around them. Examples of my results show 9 out of 12 people prefer complex storylines over simple storylines, storyline was voted the most important feature that they look for in a game and again 9 out of 12 voted that they prefer realistic environment in built up cities and towns. These are just a few results from my questionnaire however all of my results had a massive influence on my project. Looking back on my research I feel I could have improved it by increasing the scale of it, I had 17 questionnaires returned to me. While the information was very useful and influence my final outcome I feel this could have been conducted on a larger scale so I could ensure this is how the majority of the target market feel rather than a small minority. Finally when in the creative process of coming up with ideas for the game I feel I could have improved by spending longer on the process and going though each idea thoroughly and coming up with some more options in order to keep all game opportunities open. I also could have improved this process by undertaking audience research after creating my character to find if my target audience found it appealing. 

There were many stages to the creation: firstly I planned my game so I roughly wrote out step by step the events that would happen during the game, this was in pencil so I could chop and change it how I would like in order to ensure its how I want it. After this I created sketches of how I would like the characters to look, by this stage I had already come up with their names and considering some foreshadow later events I wanted their appearance to suit their true personality weather the player knows it or not when in this stage I encountered a problem. I am not the best drawer therefore I looked online at other sketches and drawings in order in improve my own skills so my drawings looked good, while not being a major incident this did make the process longer . Following on from this I created character profiles, these are more in depth analyses of the characters allowing them to truly come to life with details about themselves. I could have improved this process by undertaking audience research after creating the characters to find out if they appealed to my target market. This was all of the planning stage, the next step was to write the story itself, I created a script for the opening sequence, and this included all the dialogue heard and directions of their actions. While creating this I struggled with the layout as I wanted it to look professional and understandable however, I found it very confusing where to place what text and seeing what words had to be upper case or lower case however with persistence and time I managed to overcome the confusion and create a successful script. Later I created 2 storyboards, these were enjoyable to create, as I am quite a visual and practical person however as I mentioned before I am not the best drawer. I created 24 shots per scene, for each shot I provided a hand drawn image alongside any dialogue heard and the actions taking place in that shot. I overcame the problem of drawing the same way I did when creating the character sketches, looking online at others and trying to incorporate features I like. This would be another good point to have conducted audience research.    

In my story I have used many techniques including plot twists; I have incorporated the first major plot twist in the opening sequence when the protagonists best friend is killed triggering the spiral of events that happens throughout the game. I feel this technique really appeals to my target market as this is an exciting feature that will increase excitement within the game. Another technique I used was foreshadowing, this is where subtle hints implying or giving the audience a clue of an even that will happen at a later date which the audience may not realise till after the event. I feel like my audience would appeal to my target market as it can give them a sense of wonder and let their brain get lost within the story thinking of possible outcomes which is great for active young minds such as my target audience. Finally another technique I used as a complication, while seeming small at first a complication has had a massive twist on my storyline. MI5 (the company who employed MK) has now turned on him so he must live off the grid meaning the player must then ensure within the game they are self sufficient making sure the player stays motivated and excited to play the game, another feature my target market would greatly enjoy. While having many successful features I feel there are a couple of points within my story in which I can make improve upon. I feel I could include more red herrings to make the player think more about the outcome as they play the game meaning the game will be on their mind out of the game meaning they will be eager to get back to the game ensuring they play it more. Another feature I would like to elaborate from is goals to achieve, I feel although the overall goad is very clear however, I think I could maybe include a planning board with smaller goals allowing the player to have a sense of accomplishment when they can tick multiple smaller targets off quite frequently allowing them to stay excited to play the game.  

After I had written my first script I game it to 5 fellow members of the school in order to gain others opinions. My first piece of feed back was as followed “Good unique concept. No other game like it on the market. Clear who the main character is but some of the centred text looks a bit confusing” I feel this is very positive feedback and only minor adjustments were needed to correct this issue making it a quick fix. My second piece of feedback was “looks good. Sounds like a directed version of GTA. Especially like character names. The game tutorial needs to be more detailed.” This is more focused feedback direct from my target market, to ensure I appeal to them I must correct this issue. I have since reviewed my game tutorial and added in grater detail in order to ensure it is successful and appeals to my target audience. Thirdly, “Like the look of the game sounds fun to play. Interaction with Atrox at the end sounds a little false” was another statement given when gaining others opinions, to correct this issue I must make the interaction between MK and Atrox more fluid and conversation like by possibly showing more of MK’s emotions to so the audience and visualise his sadness. Overall, from the 5 participants I gained that my game is unique and fun sounding, when talking to them in real life you could hear the excitement however, there are a few minor tweaks to make before finalising it. While this research was very useful to me the information I gained from it was limited as it took place on quite a small scale therefore to ensure I gain more accurate averages I will conduct the research on a bigger scale.

As a whole I feel that “Rogue Spy” has met the brief comfortably as I have ensured it is exciting and captivating by using techniques as explained above and also ensured it appeals to my target audience though through research/preparation beforehand and also some further research after. From beginning to end I have constantly had my target audience on my mind as they are how my game is targeted at and overall responsible for the success of the game so ensuring that they like the concept and ideas was essential, I have used a number of storytelling conventions. One more thing I would have preferred to do was connect more with my target audience when creating the character profiles and initial sketches as it is a very visual process so their input would have been useful within this section of the project however, overall I am very pleased with the game.