LO3 - Game Review CS:GO

Counter Strike : Global Offensive

Counter Strike : Global Offensive (CS:GO) is on of the worlds largest growing games to hit the steam market.

CS:GO is a FPS game where you are subject to different game modes on a multiplayer server, There isn't a single player storyline but there are DLC add-ons which you can purchase which give you a set of challenges to complete in the allotted time. The game is aimed for 16+ ages but is played by a whole range of different aged people, ranging from 13 up to 30-40 years old. If you are a fan of FPS games (First Person Shooters), such as Call of Duty or Battlefield then I would highly recommend this game as it is more of a challenge and yet it is time consuming, you gain a sense of achievement due to the ranking system within game.

The storyline within the game is based around multiplayer, as there is not a single player campaign where you follow a dedicated story line in games such as Call of Duty, You follow a storyline of DLC which is mentioned earlier, you are able to purchase different challenge tokens where you are given a storyline book, where you are given different missions to complete with in the map, you can take your own route as you are given options, the aim is to complete the missions which give you stars, this then changes the colour of the display badge you are given, it progress from bronze to silver to gold. The main storyline is 2 teams fighting against each other, Terrorists and Counter Terrorists, you have 2 objectives, plant the bomb and kill the counter terrorists, this is what you have to do if you are on the Terrorist side, if you are part of the Counter terrorist team your aim is to kill the terrorists but also protect the bomb sites to stop the other team from planting, if they do plant you have to retake the site and defuse the bomb, but you have to do this in the given 45 seconds. There is also other game modes within the game but they are not as popular as competitive, these consist of; Arms race which is a race through the guns, each kill progresses you onto the next gun until you get the final kill with the "Golden Knife" to win the game, Casual and Demolition, these are along the same lines as Competitive but they aren't as demanding and strict, you are free to do what you like as there is no ranking system in this game mode.

With in the game there are no specific characters, there is just 2 teams with different characters which consist of different player models. In the DLC missions there are a few characters with in the comic but you don't get to play as them, they are just there to tell you what to do in your mission, they are called Chase Turner, Sergei, Valeria Jenner and Marcus Chapel As there are no characters and no customisation, Valve added the system of weapon skins, These are in game purchases, there are a range of skins for the different weapons varying in rarity. Others are worth a lot more than others. Due to this, this CS:GO market is one of the biggest In Game markets to exist, with skins ranging from prices of 3 cents (USD) all the way to $15000 (USD).  The game is derived from an old version of Counter Strike known as CS Source, which also developed from another game Valve (the creators) had made called Half Life.

Counter Strike is available on a different platforms which are Xbox 360 - Now compatible with Xbox One due to the new Backwards Compatibility, The Playstation 3 but the game is mainly based on PC, The PC game has burst through the roof with sales and people playing it in the past year, With huge competitive LAN gaming events such as MLG and ESL, the game has become world renowned. Xbox and Playstation have the basic and limited version of CS:GO as they have one game mode to play and no other features, while the PC opens up to more. I would highly recommend buying this game on PC if you are interested in it as you feel more open to do as you please, you have the power to customize your guns and show your weapon skins to other players, you have a rank system which gives you an aim and a set of personal achievements as you want to go as high as you possibly can, this game is very addictive, once you start to play it you can't stop. With 1.1 million positive reviews on steam and only 80k negative reviews the game stands out as a great game to play. The game is available on Windows via steam, but also in 2013 valve allowed the game to be played on IOS and also Linux.

LO4 - Team Roles

A) Treatment or proposal  for the final game. - Kayna

B) Competent production schedule for the final game. - Kayna

C) Gameplay with associated visuals. - Matt

D) Target audience – Moodboard - Sammie, description - Alex & Kayna, imaginary entity- Kayna, Josh & Sammie

E) Relevant legal and/or ethical issues – PEGI rating, Copyright, Music etc.- Alex

F) Platform details and requirements – Justification for selection. - Alex

G) Examples of levels – Visuals and layouts - Matt

H) Plot synopsis and characters. - Alex & Kayna

I) Financial breakdown of development costs - Sammie & Josh

LO4 - Platform Details and Requirements

On IOS:

Category: Games

Size: 74.5 MB

Rating: Rated 3+

Family Sharing: No

Compatibility: Requires IOS 6 or later. Compatible with iPhone (4 or later), iPad (2 or later), and iPod touch (4th generation or later).

Languages: English

On Android:

Size: 40.5 MB

In-app purchases: £0.99 - £19.99 for pieces of railroad - buy things in shop, continue playing.

The game will be available on Android phones and tablets. Android version 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) or higher will be required. Recommended 1GHz processor required.

LO4 - Treatment

The Brief
We have been asked to develop an original game idea and illustrate planning for a new game that we will pitch to professionals within the gaming industry.

Concept Idea

Our final game idea is a never ending mobile game that challenges the player to avoid obstacles. The aim is to stay on the train tracks for as long as possible without dying; otherwise the game will be over.

Target Audience
The target audience for our game will consist of males and females between the ages of 10-20. We are aiming "Off The Rails" at people of both ethnicities and any subculture that belong to the social demographics B-E.

Key Milestones

Planning - 14/03/16(Identify target audience etc.)

Creation- 28/03/16
(create assets, identify gameplay etc.)

Finalise the presentation- 04/04/16

Pitch the presentation-   14/04/16

Equipment/Resources

Computer - to create all the pre-production documents & design visuals.

Word/Blogger- to type and store documents and material on.PowerPoint- to create pre-production documents on.
Photoshop- to design visuals and platforms.
Internet access- to save files and send them to the rest of the team.

Legal and Ethical Considerations

Copyright– This enables original material such as pictures, music, literature and videos to be protected. It prevents others from using your material without the necessary permissions. It is important to gain permissions so we don't run into any legal implications within the development of our game. we will have to be careful not to infringe the copyright of games like Subway Surfers and Rail Rush.

Rating- This identifies the most suitable age for players of our game. It is based off the content of the game. The app would be rated age 3+ on iOS and Android. It wouldn’t be rated by PEGI since it is a free app and not a major console game. We plan to only include very mild violent content such as when the train crashes. Other than this, "Off The Rails" will be suitable for younger players.

Contingencies

Our work gets deleted. - Make sure everything is backed up.
A member of the group isn't here. - Make sure we all have access to copies of all the work.
Somebody pitches a similar idea. - Research ways to make our game more original.

LO4 - Graphics

LO4 - budget

This is the budget we worked ou ton the total costs of the game.

LO4 - Imaginary Entity

Graham, aged 14, is all about gaming. It's a fun way for him to pass his time when he's bored at home and it's subconsciously become a part of his everyday life. Gaming has become one of his main hobbies alongside the rest of his social activities.

Whether he's gaming alone, or with his friends it has become an easy way for Graham to relax and enjoy himself. Graham and his friends play on video games together most days after school; it's become a good form of social interaction for them all. When he's not gaming he is talking to his friends about his most recent gaming experience.

Although Graham focuses a lot on gaming, he's able to pull himself away and focus on his everyday tasks. But when he’s not able to game, Graham keeps up to date with the gaming world through his weekly subscription to a gaming magazine which he spends his nights reading.

LO4 - Presentation

Off the rails power point from JoshWragg


This is the powerpoint we organised for the presentation we did for sumo

LO4 - Production Plan

LO4 - Gantt Chart

LO4 - Game Idea

Off The Rails

Our game concept is a game called 'Off The Rails'. It is an 8-bit game for mobile devices. It will be on both android and IOS devices. The game consists of 4-5 tracks and you have to get the train the furthest distance without crashing or destroying the train. Along the way we have Traps and obstacles to try and catch the player out. The player will have to swipe the screen either left or right to change tracks to try and dodge the obstacles. The player has a  chance of collecting power ups to help them get through the game with a few seconds of invincibility. The player will see the game from above in a birds eye view. allowing them to see every track at once. Also on every track there is a set of lights which either display a red or a green colour. The red means that the track is bad and that you will lose if you go down it but a green will mean that the track is safe and you should go on this particular one.

Other games which follow the same basis would be;
 - Temple run
 - Subway Surfers
 - Falling Fred

These games are endless running video games where we took inspiration for our game and made it different to them.

The target audience for our game would be anyone with a smart phone from the ages 10-40, they may also enjoy addicting game which lead to high scores thus giving people a chance to play against their friends and beat each others scores.

My Responsibilities

I have been assigened the role of doing the budgeting along with Sammie, also I have been given the task of helping out with target audience profiles and groups. I also did the Gantt chart for our group within the production planning.

My Game Idea

My game idea is a puzzle/horror game where you have to solve a series of puzzles to progress through the game. but also as you are playing there will be something following you throughout the game, you are timed and if you run out of time a number of events will happen to you, each aiming to make an erie and scary atmosphere for the player. The challenges will consist of

LO1 - FIFA 16 Analysis

FIFA 16 is a sport game which also some features allow it to be a simulation/reality game. It is a football game where you play as different real life football teams with an aim to score goals and win. It replicates real life football, which is a sport so it links in with the sport genre. It compares with its rival Pro Evolution Soccer as they both follow the same concept.

There are many stories being told within the game with the different game modes, Career tells the story of you progressing the club as a manager over the years. Also not just the club but yourself as you can get sacked and move onto other clubs. Otherwise you can create a player career and you follow the story of your progress as a player, how you improve or become worse.

While making the game the top flight teams around the world had their players faces scanned in to make their in game faces look realistic. Using body motion tracking they incorporated new techniques of playing and skills.

The characters in the game are all based around real people and they are scanned in for facial features and then they are made on the system as a game face. The player is also given the choice to create their own character in the career mode where you are able to fully customize your player all the way down to the shape of his nose. FIFA 16 brought a new capability of playing as a woman for different international women's teams. This opens up to more options than other FIFA games where you were only able to play as men. 

The target audience for this game are fans of football in real life, thus not giving it a specific gender aim, with FIFA being a huge area for Youtuber's you can see that there are typically more male players but there is still a huge range of females playing the game. It is a PEGI 3 as there is no violence or bad language or gore, this opens up the game to have a larger market. Football is deemed as a family event and also young children are starting to play football for a team at younger ages, these children are a good market for FIFA to aim at as the children are brought up with football via family, also giving them the chance to play video games which is a big part of most peoples lives now a days but playing a video game of something they do personal gives them a connection.