Clarification of Intent - Manhattan Project

Over the course of the last 3 weeks my ideas for this Apple iOS game have vastly evolved. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to produce a game that would encourage people to be more responsible in their use of energy. I had read in the book Fun Inc. by Thomas Chatfield that an architect was looking to create a fully remote controllable virtual 3D home. This home would be able to viewed in real time and identify where the utilities in the home are being used. These could be accessible via the Internet, and connected through social media in order to create virtual neighbour hoods. I wanted to gamify this concept as I thought it had true monetary potential.

I feel that I wasted a lot of time looking into technological capabilities on whether it would be possible to create, when I should have been drawing character concepts and writing a plot for my game. Subsequently my game has only really fleshed itself out in the past week. I decided I wanted to give it a distinctive 1950s feel and style, and after speaking to Chris, we looked into how I could work the idea of saving energy into a fun to play game. The nuclear age was of particular interest to me and so Chris suggested looking at the 1953 world fair in New York. This spurred me on to look into 1950s sci-fi styles and how I could base my games plot within this 50s sci-fi era.

I then went on to look at retro modernistic art styles in games and was naturally drawn to the fall out series. In particular I looked at their brotherhood of steel design document., and the series' overall art styling. My plot then developed to be that similar in Portal where you are kept contained in a space against your will in order to conduct an experiment on the human psyche. The game has an AI system which narrates your progress and provides company in an otherwise isolated existence in game.

You cannot leave your home and so any items you wish to purchase have to be accessed through the Order Display on the Containment3000. As you gain skills in game, you gain more knowledge by tricking the AI into letting on secrets about the experiment that you are part of. You can increase your electronics skills in order to hack equipment and gain extra features in the game.

Eventually you become skilled enough to outsmart the AI and escape your home. The game provides the player with a set amount of energy to use each day and it is this practice of allocating energy to certain tasks that I would hope begin to adjust people's thoughts and habits in real life towards their energy consumption. After all everyone wants to save money!

Market Research and Analysis

The App Store

I looked into the top free to download games available on the appstore for iPade and iPhone at the moment in last month's Apps Magazine (www.knowyourapps.com).

I downloaded Tiny Tower which was the top rated free game, and tested out its game play. Its simple graphics give it an instantly recognisable brand image, and its time-dictated managing system gives it a casual feel - yet it does surprisingly demand a lot of your time in order to manage your tower well.

It includes an option to pair your tower with your freinds and so you can create a high-rise city, competing in real time to build the highest and most profitable tower before your friends do!

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/tiny-tower/id422667065?mt=8

I also spent a lot of time looking into casual and more in depth games available for free on the app store. Many of these free games have purchasable items within them - and that is how the developers make their revenue. Games like CK Zombies have a very distinct and professional style, with great 2D visuals for the loading screens and opening introduction, and impressive 3D graphics for the game play.

Their controls system is a lot better than most first person shooters, as developers seem to forget that the iPad is quite cumbersome to hold and aim a gun with. A simple shoot button and free movement of the viewpoint by draggin your finger onscreen allows you to move quickly and precisely which is essential in first person shooters!

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/contract-killer-zombies/id438979179?mt=8

An interesting casual game I have found personally quite entertaining is a Horse Simulation game called MyHorse. Its gameplay is very simple, and you care for your horse by feeding training and grooming it. The game uses mini-games in order for you to complete certain tasks, and then uses timed tasks which require a level or skill or money which the player can schedule. These timed tasks only require you to schedule it and then the rest is done by the game. The thing that kept me coming back to this game was its ultra realistic horse in the game. Natural Motion (http://www.naturalmotion.com/) have captured a horse's intricate characteristics so well that you begin to believe you are tending for a real horse.

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/my-horse/id421167112?mt=8


Flash Games


http://www.aorchard.com/content/point-and-click-game-tutorial-flash-as30

After painstakingly piecing together very short, simple animation on flash, it would not work when I played it back. I know that if I had more time I could go back and fix it, but I would like a coherent finished product for the design document. Therefore after attempting to create an interesting item in flash, I will now be doing story boards instead.

However I don't think that doing story boards is a step down. If I can draw well planned insightful story boards then that in itself is a form of animation, and this skill will help me plan ahead for future projects using flash.

The website above is a well written tutorial on how to create a point and click game in flash. I have posted it here so that I may have record of it for future projects as I would like to tackle flash again.

Design Document Backgrounds

Inspiration for Designs

When looking into how to present my design document for The Manhattan Project, I took Mark's advice and visited. Www.gamepitches.com.

I found a great document to use for inspiration on here; Fallout 2: Brotherhood of Steel.

http://www.scribd.com/mobile/documents/32184089/download?secret_password=2lnexmix0tta16yrz6w0

They too looked to create an aesthetically engaging and stylised document which conveyed the games ideas through text, imagery and publishing of the whole document. I particularly like their faded atomic background design which runs throughout the document, and their clear and dramatic artwork style for the game.

Ideally I would have liked to have printed off my design document backgrounds and front cover on good quality paper, and then used a typewriter to type out my document.

Sadly I think this idea may be a little unrealistic, but the intention was thee all the same if I had been submitting this to a large company, I feel the quirky touches to the document would have made it ( to use Nigel's phrase) 'Visually Arresting'.




Initial Background Concepts

After my Critique session with Chris today, I decided to explore the idea he had for my project's design document - making it look like a US secret project folder - classified style. These are the intial concepts I have done for this.

http://akinna-stock.deviantart.com/art/paper-texture-43428123

This was the Paper Texture I used to make up part of my background for the design document.

http://www.nano-dds.com/2011/Pics/DTRA-Logo.gif

This is the US Army Logo I used on the Front Cover of the Document


Updated Concepts

I decided on changing the backgrounds as there was still something not right. I wanted them to give the impression of a dossier in my Design Document, but the initial ideas were a little too 'gimmeky' and in your face about it. I think that these seem a lot more subtle and professional. They give an air of a secret project feel but they don't ram it in your face and distract you from the writing that will be over the top of it.

I am currently playing with the idea of having a paper clip over the top of some pages to hold on the 'photographs' (concept images), and the text will look as if it has been produced on a typewriter.

If I could have an overarching stylised feel to my game I think it will hold more weight as a creative idea.

Making of.... the Title Style

I started to draw out my title by drawing out a grid with vector lines, then drawing over the top with the paintbrush within these grids. This was not working at all as the letters looked very shaky and were uneven in shape and size. Charlie (from boardgame team) then very helpfully suggested I use the pen tool to create the outline in angles and then stroke the lines with the paintbrush (Photoshop did this for me). It worked a treat - there were no fuzzy lines.

There was a problem forming however, I couldnt seem to create a consistent perspective on the writing. It does look like its going further away due to the angles I used, but instead of the lettering looking polished and consistent it still looked a bit hap-hazard. And so I went back to the drawing board at home and worked out a new way to realise my desired effect.

Side Note: As you can see, in all my panic at trying to make photoshop give me the results I wanted I managed to spell Manhattan incorrectly. Another reason to start again I think....

After trying and failing to re-produce the "When Worlds Collide" title on photoshop - I regrouped myself, went home and then re thought out how I could create the polished yet retro style I wanted to acheive. To make sure that I had an even letter spacing and shaping I used several (as you can see!) guide lines creating my own custom grid sizing. Using the tip from Charlie about the use of the pen tool, I soon began to make the right style of lettering. (To my great relief) These letters are well proportioned and spaced, and their long thin style will really accentuate the space-age feel in my opinion.

As you can see here, I did end up using the guidelines quite a lot, but they were working really well at helping me space out the letters so I  did not see why I should stop! Below is the almost finished title before I have shaped it - I have added in a background shadow to the lettering.

Now that I have applied a perspective shift to the lettering, the title now looks like this;

Making of....The App Store Icon

I took the shape of the atomic symbol from this picture found online;

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0G2uCjkBnixa_82zj-Ql1QrMgAIsPo8u4qxxZwyyLdSGAQxP4vP1ju5aU8wc4PtZeJ7evtb6WHui9Y_daZRkZ5AAa4LIrEnUagvVaW2R7Mrley-AhyXn-v_kocFeyGya7NxuqmEAfgFC4/s1600/atomic.jpg

I want to develop this Icon further, to make it instantly identifiable with the game I am designing - as from looking at the app-icons for games such as "Tiny Tower", "Crimson Pirates" or "CK Zombies". I also want to give the icon a 3D edge to it. (see below for adjustments)

After Total War Comes Total Living

I have decided that I want to base my app game on 1950s post war America, where nuclear energy is just starting to become a viable energy source for residential areas. The back story will read something like this;

Congratulations! You have been selected to take part in NucleoTechs exciting new venture! You and your family will be relocated to a beautiful new home in Sunnyvale. This delightful estate will be solely powered by our cutting edge nuclear energy! We look forward to welcoming you to your new home very soon!

http://zebu.uoregon.edu/1999/ph161/l16.html

http://infranetlab.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/vigar_01.jpg

Nuclear Research

Whilst Searching for a brief history of the Nuclear Dawn in America, I found a useful tidbit on the first place in the USA to accept Nuclear Energy;

"Arco was the first community in the world ever to be lit by electricity generated by nuclear power. This occurred on July 17, 1955, powered by a reactor (see BORAX experiments) at the nearby "National Reactor Testing Station" (NRTS), which is now the Idaho National Laboratory. NRTS made further history on January 3, 1961, when the SL-1 reactor melted down, causing three deaths. It was the world's first (and the U.S.' only) fatal reactor accident."

Quoted from; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arco,_Idaho

"Electricity was generated for the first time by a nuclear reactor on December 20, 1951, at the EBR-I experimental station near Arco, Idaho, which initially produced about 100 kW. Work was also strongly researched in the US on nuclear marine propulsion, with a test reactor being developed by 1953 (eventually, the USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, would launch in 1955). In 1953, US President Dwight Eisenhower gave his "Atoms for Peace" speech at the United Nations, emphasizing the need to develop "peaceful" uses of nuclear power quickly. This was followed by the 1954 Amendments to the Atomic Energy Act which allowed rapid declassification of U.S. reactor technology and encouraged development by the private sector."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power#Origins

"

1953

April 25, 1953 - The description of a double helix DNA molecule is published by British physicist Francis Crick and American scientist James D. Watson. They, along with New Zealand born scientist Maurice Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery in 1962. July 27, 1953 - Fighting ceased in the Korean War. North Korea, South Korea, the United States, and the Republic of China sign an armistice agreement. August 19, 1953 - The United States CIA assists in the overthrow of the government in Iran, and retains the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to the throne. October 30, 1953 - The Cold War continues in earnest when President Dwight D. Eisenhower approves a top secret document stating that the U.S. nuclear arsenal must be expanded to combat the communist threat around the world. December 30, 1953 - The first color televisions go on sale."

http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1950.html

I would like my 'pseudo historical/fictional' game to have a rooting in what really happened - but with a light-hearted modernist feel. I think I will set the game in 1953 America.

Initial Ideas and Research

For this interactive project I wanted to look into an idea I first discovered reading "Fun Inc." by Thomas Chatfield.

A handful of technologically gifted practitioners are looking at ways of blending reality with the virtual in order to promote saving energy. On the surface this idea sounds incredibly dry, but as you begin to explore it further you will understand its appeal.

Professor Byron Reeves whishes to take the technology of Swiss entrepreneur Oliver Goh to create a real-time virtual model of your own home or office building which you would be able to control remotely through the Internet, and monitor energy usage of specific rooms or even appliances in order to try and reduce your energy costs. I want to explore Reeves' idea further by trying to implement such a concept into a game environment. Add a feature to create online streets with your friends, the ability to be rewarded with virtual prizes for being the lowest energy user in your group of friends, a levelling system, and you see the start of a community based competitive game.

Rewards for low energy scores at the end of the day could be upgrades for your virtual house such as a loft conversion or a more ornately designed roof. Such aesthetic rewards are proven popular with men and women in games such as pet central and FarmVille on Facebook.

Because the game is linked to your real world home the act of playing the game would effectively be improving your energy consumption and your way of thinking almost by osmosis. We have all felt the effect of a favourite game on our way of thinking even if it means you notice architecture more as a climbing wall after playing assassins creed! If this energy game could have the same positive effect on the way people think about energy it could even spark the younger generation such as children to start to understand why we should turn off the lights when we are not in a room, etc.

I hope that by further reading and research I can begin to forge a way that this game idea could become viable.

I'm all for games saving the world.

Save the world by saving energy


If you only had a set amount of energy you could use each day, what would you use it on? Would you choose a gaming session over a hot meal in the evening?

How would your day change, if you were more aware of your electricity usage in real time? I know that I would probably be shocked by how much I use.

Something I don't want this game/app to be is a guilty conscience, demoralising the user. I want this app to be a motivator for change, a form of osmosis whereby the user's energy habits change without too much cajoling.


ARG - Alternate Reality Games

I have stumbled upon a great video of Jane McGonigal talking about her 'world changing' AR simulation games.

http://gamification.org/wiki/Gaming_can_make_a_better_world

McGonigal talks about how using a crisis on an epic scale in the game, players are inspired to invent creative solutions to solve the global problem.

A game which covers the event of Oil Shortage in Northern America is of particular interest to me as the research carried out on its players showed that the habits they developed in game were transferred to reality and stuck with the gamers even after they stopped playing the game. This would be the ideal outcome of my game, a change in the way people think about electricity as a resource and how best to conserve unnecessary usage.