Primary Research (demakes as an artform):
Winner), M., 2018. Metro Cop (Demake Jam 2018 Winner) by helpcomputer0. [online] itch.io. Available at: <https://helpcomputer.itch.io/metro-cop> [Accessed 11 January 2022].
A game I played of my research into demakes I played “metro cop” on itch.io which is a demake of a classic Sega arcade game Virtua Cop I think this is a good demake as it translates a 3D game and its aspects into 2D whilst still being fun to play one aspect I really enjoyed was the shooting as it still kept the feeling of playing an arcade game with a light gun which this game replaced for mouse controls and kept mechanics simple by keeping the number mechanics low. Overall I think this game is a good demake because of all the attributes I talked about such as keeping the arcade game feeling and keeping mechanics low.
Demake], H., n.d. Hollow Knight Beta [Gameboy Demake] by Elvies. [online] itch.io. Available at: <https://elvies.itch.io/hollowknightdemake> [Accessed 11 January 2022].
Another game that I played in my research into demakes was a demake of Hollow Knight which is a game for PC,Nintendo Switch, PS4 and Xbox One. It has simplified the graphics of the game whilst also having simple mechanics and controls whilst still keeping the look and feel of the original game which in a simplified manner which is important for a demake to do to succeed.
Project, C., n.d. Club Penguin Demake Project by Carlos656. [online] itch.io. Available at: <https://carlos656.itch.io/clubpenguindemake> [Accessed 12 January 2022].
Another demake game I played in my research is “Club Penguin demake” which is a demake of the web game Club Penguin for the Game-boy I think it is a good demake as it translates an online game relatively well into a single-player game whilst still being enjoyable to play it features simplified versions of the club penguin mini-games which is one aspect of this demake that I really enjoyed and had simplified versions of areas from the game and still manages to keep the feeling of Club Penguin.
I feel that overall my research into demakes has gone well as I have learnt more about demakes from the ones I have played one thing that I learnt from playing these demakes is that it is a good idea to keep controls simple as older controllers didn’t have as many buttons so keeping the controls simple makes the demake seem more authentic.
In my research I conducted a survey about my chosen game to see what people wanted to see in the demake.
The first question I asked in the survey was
“Which Mechanics do you think are most important to a halo game? and why?”
Here are the responses I got for this question from these answers it seems that people think the most important aspects of the game seem to be the variety of guns/abilities followed by the recharging shields this gives me some insight for when I am making the demake to try my best to get these mechanics right as they are the ones that people seem to find the most important.
The second question I asked was “What levels from Halo would you like to see de-made? and why?”
Here are the responses from this question although most of the answers are different to each other a lot of them are similar for example most of the levels that people have asked for are open rather than linear. I feel that the responses to this question will help me when it comes to make my demake as I will choose to make an open level as it seems that people would like to see an open level.
The third question I asked was “Which of these halo games would you like to see demade”
The responses for this question were quite clear as to which game people want to see as a demake the most is Halo Reach as it was half of all the answers I got. The responses for this question will help me when it comes to making my demake as I know that people would like to see a halo reach demake more than the other halo games I listed.
The fourth question I asked was “Would you prefer to see a top down game or a side view game?”
Here are the responses to this question to which the majority said top down so I think I will make the game top down as it is what most people would like to see.
I feel overall that this survey has helped me in the production of my game as it has given me insight into what people would like to see in a Halo demake such as what are important things to be in it and what type of game they would like it to be which I would not have known without this research.
Halo Reach (chosen game to demake)
The game I have decided to demake is halo reach, my reasoning for this is it was the game that most people on my survey wanted to see. I thought it would be a good idea to play the game again to refresh my memory as I hadn’t played the game in a little while. Halo Reach was released in 2010 and is a prequal to the 2001 game Halo Combat Evolved. It is the 5th instalment in the halo series and changed up a lot of the gameplay aspects of the halo games by including a lot of new features like sprint and many other armour abilities as well as changing up the way the game looks opting for a grittier more grounded style than the previous games.
Secondary research (demakes as an artform):
Youtube.com. 2015. Halo Zero – [Full Campaign]. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgAN_6iF4ws> [Accessed 13 January 2022].
In my research I found a video about a game called halo zero which is a demake of halo as a side scrolling shooter/platformer this is an especially useful source for my research as I would like to make a halo demake for this project and this will help me to see in what ways the mechanics of halo can be simplified. It is a good demake as it has translated a 3D game quite well into 2D as it keeps a lot of the aspects from halo such as the recharging shields, various enemy types and many weapons which seem to be translated fairly faithfully. Something else this demake does well is it has a simplified pixel art aesthetic that also keeping the distinct look of halo intact quite well.
I feel that research into this game will help me in the production of my demake as it has helped me to see ways that the mechanics of halo can be translated into a simpler game and still keep a similar feeling to the original game.
Youtu.be. 2009. Gang Garrison 2 (Freeware) Gameplay. [online] Available at: <https://youtu.be/kS3HQSAHIDM> [Accessed 17 January 2022].
Another demake I found in my research is Gang Garrison 2 which is a demake of the game Team Fortress 2 one aspect that I saw in this video was how the demake makes maps from the game into 2D versions of the originals very well I feel this could really help when it comes to making my demake as I am planning on trying to do this with a map from a halo campaign for my demake and the maps in this video helps me to see ways that a 3D map can be made 2D. Another aspect of the demake that I saw in this video was the weapons from TF2 and how they have been made into a 2D version whilst still keeping similar characteristics to there 3D counterparts I feel this is an important aspect of the demake as if the weapons didn’t feel like there 3D counterparts it would give the demake a much different feeling to the original game.
I feel that the research I have done into this game will help me when it comes to the production of my demake as it has given me a look at how a 2D level can be made 2D whilst still keeping its defining features and feeling.
Youtu.be. 2019. Dead to Rights (GBA Gameplay) | Demakes #30. [online] Available at: <https://youtu.be/-amoNVyURR8> [Accessed 18 January 2022].
Another demake/port I found in my research Is “dead by rights” for the Gameboy advanced which I feel is quite useful for me to look at in my research as it is for the platform that I am aiming my demake at and is also the same genre that I am considering which is a top down shooter and it has been useful in my research as it lets me see how a game can be demade for a Gameboy advanced for example it is now a 2D game with much simpler graphics and mechanics that the original game but in such a way that still manages to capture the look and feel of the original.
I feel that the research I have done into this port/demake will help me when it comes to the production of my game as it shows ways that a game can be demade into a top down shooter for the GBA.
Chosen game audience research:
n.d. [online] Available at: <https://www.similarweb.com/site/halowaypoint.com/#geography> [Accessed 21 January 2022].
This is a source I have used in my research which allows you to see the data of were websites are visited from so I tried the official halo website to find out were most halo fans are located to which I found that most people visiting the official website are from the USA making up almost half the visits of the website. Although this information is useful as it tells me were most players are located it does not tell me the most important factors of what the age range, gender and other interests.
Platform Research:
Nintendo. n.d. Game Boy Advance. [online] Available at: <https://nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/Game_Boy_Advance> [Accessed 18 January 2022].
I feel that this source has helped me in my research as it has allowed me to find out more about the intended platform for my demake and gain some more insight on it for example It was first released in Japan on the 21st of march 2001 and was a part of the 6th generation of consoles. The best selling games for the GBA were Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire The console ceased production in 2009 and was succeed by the Nintendo DS as Nintendo’s handheld console.
I feel that this source has helped me gain a greater insight into my intended platform for my demake such as when it was made and what games were made for it.
Youtu.be. 2019. Games That Push The Limits of the Game Boy Advance. [online] Available at: <https://youtu.be/zBW27dhEwso> [Accessed 18 January 2022].
Whilst doing platform research I came across this video that I think is particularly useful because it shows were the real limits of the game boy advance are. some of the games mentioned in this video are Smashing drive, Street racing syndicate and Star X these are just a few examples from games in this list but what most have in common are true 3D graphics which can look pretty impressive considering the limitations of the Gameboy advance although it did mean these game sacrificed a lot on framerate. As well as these 3D games there were also some 2D games that really pushed the limits of the GBA as well such as Boxing Fever and other 2D games that featured detailed sprites, scaling and independent background layers and makes full use of the GBA’s 2D processing power.
I feel that this video has been useful in my research as it has shown me were the absolute limits of my intended platform are and shows me the sort of stuff I could push my game too if I really wanted although I am planning to keep my game on the simpler side of games for this console.
Platform research questionnaire.
The first question I asked in my questionnaire is if people preferred 16 bit graphics or 32 bit graphics and why? as both are graphics the GBA is capable of and I wanted to know which people preferred and the majority answered that they preferred 16 bit with the most common reason being is they enjoyed the stylised/classic look and the smaller group that answered with 32 bit most said the reason was that they preferred the higher level of detail.
The second question I asked is “do you think that top down shooters control well on GBA?” to which most people answered yes so this means that the majority of people think that top down shooter control well on the GBA although there is still quite a large portion of people who think that they do not.
The third question I asked was quite an obvious one but I still thought it would be a good idea to ask as I wanted to know if the people filling in the questionnaire have actually played a GBA as I feel someone who has played on the GBA would be able to give better and more valuable answers all of the people apart from one who did the questionnaire have played a GBA so I feel the answers I have gotten are of a fairly high quality.
I feel that this questionnaire has helped me in my research into the intended platform for my game as it has helped me to see what GBA players think about certain aspects of the console.
Consumer journey map research:
Batchu, V., 2022. Improving Customer Experience with the aid of Journey Maps. [online] Medium. Available at: <https://uxdesign.cc/improving-customer-experience-with-the-aid-of-journey-maps-b533ffeea1cb> [Accessed 19 January 2022].
This is a source I have used to research into Consumer Journey mapping I feel it has been very useful in my research as it has helped me to learn what a consumer journey map is as a technique. A consumer journey map is which is used in the games industry as well as many other industries used as a way to track the predicted journey of a potential customer starting from when they find out about a product to when they buy it. I have learnt that this is a relatively effective way to gather information on the sorts of people who will be likely to buy the product. This source specifically talks about a consumer journey map for a potential buyer of a game and talks about the steps to find out who the potential customer is and how that should influence the product for example this source talks about a strategy game and the potential buyer is someone who is overwhelmed by work so the game is influenced to have shorter levels so the potential buyer will have time to play it.
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