# Love Sh(C)ock
## Holly, Keira, Ella, Poppy and Rachel
### Title page
#### Pre production
This game is designed for PC with in mind of it being placed on a website like steam where it's easily accessible and reliable. Eleanor Rodgers, a researcher from Falmouth University found that 60% of people who play visual novel games, which have significant overlap with the dating simulation genre, are female. However our target audience is any gender or sexuality between the ages of 16 to 25. Due to our game having a range of both female and male date-able characters, whether the player be a straight or gay male or female they have options that suit their sexual orientation. The majority of the characters are between the ages of 19 to 21 with a few older exceptions for people more inclined to go for an older person. The game would be a 16+ as it would contain a few darker themes that may be triggering for younger audiences such as sex, death and strong language however, it will contain no nudity so that it is still acceptable to play on platforms such as Twitch and Youtube where it is against their TOS to show nudity. This is all a part of our own production cycle (Pre production stage).
___
### Story and Gameplay
#### Pre production
The game starts with the playable character Morgan moving into their first apartment, where as they are unpacking discover that the kitchen appliances left from the previous owner are sentient. After discovering this Morgan's not sure what to do exactly so continues to attempt to live there life as normal but with these 8 interesting roomates. As they start to get to know the appliances, discover their personalities Morgan slowly finds themself falling in love. As Morgan gets to know each appliance they open up about themselves and how they came to be turned into said appliances by the witch who lived there before them, all having a unique circumstance that lead them to being transformed whether that be for a journey of self love or to be taught a valuable life lesson. Morgan must choose which appliances they would like to further their connection with ultimetly choosing one to confess their feelings to hoping they are reciprocated. If so they shall share true loves kiss where the appliance chosen will break their curse returning to their human form.
The game is set mostly throughout the apartment such as the livingroom, bedroom, kitchen with a few other settings such as a pet shop. Other than the main character Morgan there are 8 datable appliances (Microwave, Oven, Kettle, Fridge, Freezer, Blender and Toaster). The pain conflict of the game is Morgans inner feelings that are developing and having to choose just one to love.
The gameplay is broken up into days, over a 2 week period. The days consist of a segment where the player is at work and then an afternoon segment where they are interacting with the appliances. The first day is the introduction so there will be no work segment but Morgan is moving into the apartment and having their first introduction to each one. Over the next 8 days Morgan will have a work segment and then an interaction with a different appliance each day. For the next 4 days Morgan will do their work segment like usual but get to choose which appliance they would like to spend their day with, then on the last day of the two weeks Morgan must choose to confess their love to one appliance.
____
### Game Flow
#### Pre production
The main objective of the game is to build up a connection with the chosen appliance although you can build connections with multiple you are expected to choose the one with the highest connection, this can be done by choosing to spending time with them during the 4 days, speaking about things they like or giving them gifts. Our playable character has a job at a pet shop, where each work segment she will get asked questions relating to the industry and if the right answer is chosen they will earn a certain amount of money, which they can then use to buy gifts or take a chosen appliance on a more expensive date out of 3 options they will be presented with each costing different amounts. As the player grows they will gain connection points that will go into a meter showing who they have a connection with and who has the most point. Each date option will result in more connection points depending on the price. As the connection grows the characters attitude and way of speaking can change towards the character to be more flirty or more tolerable if they are considered to have a harsh attitude.
___
### Characters and Controls
#### Pre production
Our game is a visual novel so it's essentially a point and click which makes it easy for the user to navigate. If we was to expand it to multiplatform game example being Xbox the controls for the controller would be the left joystick the switch between choices and A to select. Overall the game is just a choice game, where you read through the dialogue and make choices of your responses that are pre-laid out. The player controls the decisions of our main character Morgan as they have conversations that develop their relationship and overall will impact the final outcome of who they fall in love with.
The element that is most unique to this genre of game is the story. There are few dating sims about kitchen appliance that hold the same high quality character design and the gripping backstory's and emotions the characters show throughout the game. Their personalities are well fleshed out it'll be hard to not become emotionally attached.
____
### Main Gameplay Concepts and Platform Specific Features
#### Production + post-production
Our game is a romance visual novel, so its a story game where your choices effect the outcome.
The story is broken up into days, on each day they will go to work where they can gain money by answering questions and then a second segment of the day where you interact with the appliances, make choices on who to engage with and spend time with slowly growing bonds.
These are a variety of different gameplay examples including environments and character's to show the layout. I wanted to make sure the personalities of the characters were also shown clearly and include a slight glimpse into their story's.
---
---
---
---
### Microwave Character
---
### Toaster Character
---
### Loading Screen, Logo & Animation
There are no specific unique hardware required to run the game. It will be a relatively small file size with low system requirements and will be able to be run on most computers or laptops.
___
### Game World
#### Pre production + Production
As the player has just moved into this apartment with sentient appliances, the environment's mostly visited will be rooms throughout it such as bedroom, living room, bathroom, kitchen as well a pet shop where our playable character works.The flow diagram shows a layout of the 14 days and what environment they will be on each day and with who except the last 5 days where they have options of where to go depending on the choice and money and they get to choose the appliance attending with them.
---
---
### Research and Inspiration
---
---
__Loading screen due 27/10 - Rachel
---
### Production Pipeline Research
#### Pre production
There are two ways of publishing games - internally and externally. This means that indie developers such as Hades and Stardew Valley can develop and publish their games themselves in their own studio. However, bigger games that cost thousands and millions will use an external studio that publish it for them. A couple of examples of games that chose to publish with companies are Elden Ring and The Last of Us.
Some of the largest publishers in the industry right now, according to learn.g2.com are Sony, EA, Activision Blizzard, etc.
*Activision Blizzard:*
Owns/partakes in Treyarch and Major League Gaming (the leading Esports organization). Notable games are World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Diablo.
*EA:*
Owns/partakes in Ubisoft and DreamWorks Interactive. Notable games are Madden, Apex Legends, The Sims.
*Sony:*
Owns/partakes in Naughty Dog and Guerilla Games. Notable games are God of War and Uncharted.
Publishing companies have their own unique way of governing the game development cycle which becomes very important when game creators come to get their game out into the world. Some publishers are "notorious micromanagers and require check-ins after every milestone." however, on the opposite end of the spectrum some publishers provide creative freedom to studios so the studio takes on the responsibility for deadlines dates and ultimately the launch date of the game.
### The production cycle
A big part of this project is understanding the production cycle of games, so I wanted to delve deeper into the subject in week 2. There are 3 main stages of the pipeline - pre production, production and post production.
#### Pre production
Pre-production is the very first stage of making a game. This can take anywhere from a week to a year depending on the game and its complexity; to compare it to our own time frame, the first 3 weeks in my opinion we will be spending answering the pre-production questions. Within a larger game, this will only include a small group of people like the producer, programmer and concept artist. However, if you were to be making a game alone, you would be taking on all these roles.
The concept artist sets the tone for the game early on by creating art in order to give everyone an idea and feel for game initially.
Many ideas do not make it past the prototyping stage of pre-production; this is when the very core of the game is tested to see if it would be mechanically plausible and worthwhile to develop, whilst also being cost effective.
"Prototyping can also reveal unexpected challenges, which could potentially change the entire course of your project. It’s important to have others test your prototype too, because things that are obvious to you, may not be to others."
[Information](https://https://www.cgspectrum.com/blog/game-development-process#:~:text=The%203%20stages%20of%20game,production%2C%20and%20post%2Dproduction
)
#### Production
Production is the longest and most arduous stage of the pipeline, but it is when the creators really start to delve deeper into the game. It is also the most exciting; assets are being made, worlds are being built and the story is being refined. While researching I found that the games are constantly being tested throughout this stage of production as initial ideas do not always translate effectively and complications arise, so it is important to find and solve the issues during this stage before it becomes too late to solve. This stage definitely takes the longest with years being spent on it in bigger games; our production pipeline I expect will take around 6-7 weeks of our alloted 11.
##### According to Troy Dunniway, an industry veteran, 75-90% of the videogame budget is used towards visuals, with competition getting more intense and the target market expecting movie-like graphics.
There are many milestones that the various teams work towards which mark a step closer to completion...
Prototype: first initial test of the game in pre-production.
First playable: this milestone gives a clearer idea of the aesthetic and gameplay, and while it is still far from finished at this stage artwork is added and higher quality assets are worked into the game.
Vertical slice: this is a playable snippet that can be used to pitch a game to studios and investors.
Pre-alpha: the majority of the content is developed in this stage. Big decisions are being made with some content being cut due to gameplay/budget and elements will need to be added.
Alpha: at this stage, the game is fully playable from start to finish. It is feature complete but assets are being added still and most controls and functionality should be working efficiently. The QA (quality assurance) testers are testing the game to check how good the user experience is and if there are any bugs to reevaluate.
Beta: At this stage all the content and assets have been integrated, and the teams will be focused on optimizing the game rather than adding functions and features.
Gold Master: this is the final stage, the game is ready to be sent to the publishing outlet and released to the public.
Google Drive
Gist
Clipboard
Sign in with Wallet
