MD2Research

This week I did some research into fonts and what ones would be best to use for our e-learning game. The type of font that is chosen has to reflect the game itself since the game is aimed at a younger audience the font will have to suit their criteria such as, easy to read distinguishable style and also have a fun and fresh tone that goes with the game.

I read some online articles that give helpful tips on how to pick the right font for a project, these articles where a he help and gave me helpful points on how to go about finding the perfect font for a new project.
Article on font designing why its important
Choosing fonts for marketing

Fonts make a huge difference to your work because if the font is wrong it can give off the wrong mood and tone to the audience, if the font is too hard to read people aren't going to enjoy their experience with the project.

The fonts I choose all came from fontspace this website I found was the best place to find exactly what I was looking for from my research , I was looking for a fun that:

1. Went with the fun theme of Tiny Farm
2. Was easy enough to read 
3. Would entice audiences
4. Not be too bold or harsh on the eyes
5. Work with the overall look and feel of the game 

These are the 5 fonts that I narrowed down from a long list that would suit the game and tick all the boxes.

These fonts suited the title Tiny Farm best I choose fonts that I found to be the most childlike and fun and would also go with a simple arial font which will most likely be used for the speech bubbles when the farmer is giving out instructions for the game.

This week I also made another illustration for the game. I created a bunny that I thought would be nice to have show up on the levels as a little Easter egg so when the audience spots the hidden bunny they can earn themselves a point in the game level they are on.

This week I also tried to find some videos that would help us and give us some guidance while making a e-learning game. I found one video that seemed to be of help and went through the stages of creating and interactive online game. The video was over an hour long and the first 20 minutes didn't really help but as the video went on it went thorough what to do when making a fun game and what should be added to optimise the users experience.

Video

image info

MD2Final GDD

Over the past week I have been working on some characters and background pieces that will be going into the game. I made some farm animals including a horse, donkey, chicken, hen, a sheep dog and a bulldog. I also created some housing for the animals including a chicken coop, dog house and a horse and donkey stable, I created a tractor as well that will be used for multiple games the tractors can be changed in colour and size too. It took me a good amount of time to create all these characters. I did some research into the style of artwork we liked which was leapfrog and animal crossing, in these games the characters all have a round appearance they don’t have any sharp edges or a stroke so we decided the characters should go with this style of illustration. 

My illustrations made on adobe Illustrator

I did some more research into what the levels will be like in terms of difficulty

The game levels will progressively get harder each time the player passes a level. The first level will be simple adding just to see what the learning capability is of the player and give them a feel for the game it’ll be really easy and fun it’ll make the player want to learn more

The next level will bring in subtraction, the level will be a touch harder than the first and will get the player used to adding and subtracting but in a fun and creative way.

Level 3 is going to include both adding and subtracting it will get the player used to using both of them and will be a vital stepping stone in their maths skill level.

The next levels will start adding simple multiplication and a touch of division. This will cater more to the players who want to be challenged more and become more comfortable with maths.


Over the next few weeks we will keep on working and collaborating for the project each week we will make sure to meet on the Wednesday and the Thursday to discuss our progress, we also have a group chat which is where we mostly make our decisions and talk about what work we are doing and how we are getting on. 

We will be working more on our game and how we want it to to turn out as a whole.

gdd video

Image info

 

Game Design Document

For The Tiny Farm Games Design Document, I was in charge of writing and researching the target audience, Look and feel and the story.

For the target audience the game is being aimed towards a quite young demographic its a simple maths fun and Interactive E-Learning Game. The game is being targeted towards kids who enjoy video and online games but who also struggle with maths so Tiny Farm is the perfect medium for them to have fun but also learn.

For the look and feel I researched similar games that we could take some inspiration from and help base a solid outlook for our game around. The game is going to be very relaxed and interactive we took inspiration from Animal Crossing because of its use of speech bubbles that give helpful tips and its overall vibe. Leap frog was another e-learning centred brand of sorts that was a perfect it gave us guidance and showed us how a good e-elearnng game can promote positivity and fun around learning which is what we want to portray with our game.

I also wrote a bot about the story of our game. The game is centred around a farmer who needs help around his farm so that everything on the farm can be happy and healthy. The story will be lighthearted and easy to follow as we didn't want anything to complex for a game targeted towards such a young demographic.

Colour Look and Feel for our game Tiny Farm

image info

What I wrote for the GDD

Target Audience

The Target Audience for our game will be for children aged between four to eight.

The game will be aimed towards kids that enjoy playing games on phones and online who also want to learn and have fun at the same time.

The game will be targeted for kids as just game we want the kids to think they are just playing fun interactive game but they will be getting the added advantage of learning and improving their maths skills.

The game will be targeted towards kids who find maths a bit tricky and need a bit of extra help.

The Look and Feel

The look and feel of our game will have quite a calm and cosy vibe.

We will use bright colours so that the game is enticing to kids. We will be using a lot of greens and blues which will produce a calming mood.

The game will be based around a farm there will also be a lot of autumnal shades of colour added including yellow and oranges which will evoke optimism and happiness, because the game is targeted at kids who struggle with math we want the game to be a fun and safe space where they can learn and have fun and not feel pressured or rushed.

The game will take inspiration from games such as “animal crossing” and the popular E-Learning programme of sorts “Leap Frog”.

Animal crossing uses little speech bubbles to give tasks to the player. We would like our main character to give tasks, so we thought this would be a nice way to give the player little helpful messages and tell them how to play the game

Leap frog is a brilliant E-Learning programme that uses different platforms to teach. Leap Frog has a way of teaching but with the illusion of it just being a fun activity.

Story

The game is based around a farm the farmer is struggling to complete his daily tasks by himself and needs extra help to get them completed. The player will be helping the farmer with the simple tasks but will be learning maths along the way The tasks given out such as counting how many tractors were seen passing by counting how many pigs are in their pen and how many animals will it take to fill the barn tasks around the farm. Tasks such as these will play into the overall story and tell the player how they are getting on with the game, if a player isn’t doing too well the story wont progress and the farmer won’t get all his work done but little helpful tips will be displayed on screen to help and give the play guidance and keep their motivation going.