Task 5/6/7/9/10- Planning- Michael Cartledge and Harrison Marlow

Idea

Genre: Action RPG

Title: Malevolence

The idea for my video game is the story of a man called George Frost, he is framed for killing his family by a mob family after he was unable to pay off a debt after he loses his job but didn't want his family to live on the streets. He is incarcerated and spends 7 years with the anger boiling up within him. He eventually escapes prison and goes after the mob family that kiled him.
Over the course of the game the protagonist will target and kill members of the mob family that killed his, leading up to the Godfather of the family who will have lost everything by the time he reaches him. The game will be a release title for a fictional console of our own creation called the 'Omega Gaming System'.

Concept Art- Protagonist

Task 5- Script

Trailer 1

Script Idea 1

In this script idea we imagined George Frost as a less mentally stable person, with an obsession with symmetry.

[George is seen walking down the street towards the camera, he is wearing a long black coat and his face is obscured by darkness, a voice over reads]

George Frost:

I’ve always been obsessed with symmetry, from a young age I hated things being out of place or unbalanced, if things are unbalanced, I am unbalanced.

[Cuts to guys on the ground begging.]

Bad Guy:

No! Please stop!

[Back to George in the street]

George Frost:

It’s been 21 years, and ever since it happened I’ve had this niggling, pain in the back of my head. Every… single... day.

It’s time to restore the balance… I need to restore the balance.

[Cut to George’s friend’s house where they appear to be mid argument.]

George’s Friend:

You can’t do this, George. He’s too powerful.

[Back to George on the street again.]

George Frost:

He killed my family, he framed me, he took everything from me, and now… well now I’m going to take it from him.

My name is George Frost, and I am malevolent.

Script Idea 2

[George Frost is sitting in a darkened bar, wallowing in his sorrows]

George Frost:

                       Same again, Sam.

Sam:

                       You know you can't keep coming in here in the middle of the day.

George Frost:
                       [Sighs] What have you got for me?

Sam:
                       There was a guy in here the other day talking about moving some pretty serious stuff.

George Frost:
                       How do I find him?

Sam:
                       He drives a Ford Fiesta.

George Frost:
                      What's he look like?

Sam:
                      Heavy set, browne hair...

Task 6- Storyboard

Idea 1

Storyboard- Idea 2

Storyboard- Idea 3

Game Cover Designs

Task 7/9- Role Allocation and Casting

Directors- Harrison Marlow and Michael Cartledge

Writers- Harrison Marlow and Michael Cartledge

Producers- Harrison Marlow and Michael Cartledge

Camera Person- Harrison Marlow

Music- Harrison Marlow

Editor- Michael Cartledge

George Frost- Michael Cartledge

George Frost is the protagonist of Malevolence, his family are killed by a mob family after he borrows money and is unable to pay them back. He is framed for the murders but after being released from prison he seeks revenge on those that took everything from him.
Once a family man, the emotional trauma that he has been through has made him cold and emotionless and willing to do anything.
He has no formal combat training causing his melee and gun combat to be sloppy at first, but as players play through the game he will become more and more skilled with weaponry.

Bad Guy- Steve Moore

The mobster that George Frost is seen attacking and killing in the first trailer. Not much is known about this character by Frost or the audience except that he has an affiliation with the mob and is responsible for smuggling drugs into the country.
He is targeted by Frost simply for his affiliation, Frost kills him as a message to the mob.

Tortured Bad Guy- Joseph Prendergast

The mobster that George Frost is shown torturing, killing and burying in the second trailer. It is presumed that this character is a high up member of the mob family as he has information that Frost wants.

Sam- Harrison Marlow

Sam is George Frost's best and only friend, he is also the owner of a bar and is highly adapt at keeping his ear to the ground in order to find information for Frost. When Frost is lost for leads he will go to Sam who will have most likely heard something about the mob's activity.

He does not agree with Frost's desire to chase down the mob as he cares about his friend's well being, but he understands the reason for it and that Frost feels that it is what he must do so reluctantly helps.

Production Schedule

Props and Costume

We bought some air-soft guns to fill the role of weapons in our trailers, when using them on set they were not loaded to ensure there were no injuries.

George Frost's costume is customisable in-game, we show this by changing the costume between trailers but keep the iconic long, dark coat to stay with the feeling of Frost being a caped, antihero figure.

The hedge trimmer we used in the torture trailer was used to show  how George Frost is willing to mutilate people in order to get revenge. When using it we ensured that we never got close to anyone else other than Michael, who held the trimmer and has plenty of practice with it as he has trimmed many a bush. Although this scene was eventually cut from the second trailer.

Licensing

In order to use a licensed piece of music in our A-Level Project we had to email the record company which leased the song 'Too Old To Die Young' by 'Brother Dege' from the 'Django Unchained Original Soundtrack' from the record company 'Republic Records'. In order to use the piece we emailed the company seeking permission to use the song;

Consent Forms

Task 4- Audience Research- Michael Cartledge and Harrison Marlow

Questionnaire Template

Analysis of Results

1. Are there any game trailers that you have found particularly memorable, if so which?

This question found that some of the main memorable trailers were quite dramatic heavy action trailers often leaving normally one of the protagonists in some sort of danger or peril such as ‘Uncharted 2 – Among Thieves’ where we see the protagonist ‘Nathan Drake’ waking from being unconscious in a train wreck with him losing a lot of blood from a wound to his stomach. Game companies use this as a drip feed effect for the audience and the fans of the series, leaving the fans wondering what happened to their favourite characters.  

2. Which gender would you expect the protagonist of a video game to be?

All of the results were for a male lead, this suggests to me that a large proportion of the gaming community prefer a male protagonist, this could be because when they play the game they feel like they are the guy who they're playing as.

3. What do you understand about the 'Action Role Playing Game' genre and it's conventions?

Out of all of the participants in the observation 8/10 knew what sort of game an RPG is and what they believed was important about an RPG is exploration and adult themes and violence with the most important element a leveling system, this is so the better a player gets and the more hours they put into the game the better and stronger their character gets, a great example of an RPG would be ‘Fallout New Vegas’. They also pointed out that more of the better RPG’s are set in apocalyptic world where you have to really push yourself to carry on and not die, they said that an important part of an RPG would be that it has to be difficult but fun.

4. What themes would you expect to find in an action game rated 18?

Everyone said they would expect there to be heavy violence, with a dark narrative and even immature, rude or vulgar jokes (GTA/ Saints Row). But most people want a heavy dark storyline making sure that the character is relatable and makes the player question what they might do if they were plummeted into a much darker world than they currently know.

5. What genre of game do you enjoy playing?

The participants had a multiple choice here, they could all choose as many as applicable to their personal preference, all 10 participants ticked Action Adventure letting us know that clearly that they all love action games where they are the hero, this could be because it opens up a world that would be improbable in real life and would be impossible to reach, the next choice with the top marks was Racing which means I at least need drivability in the game, like 'GTA' style open world where the player can race around in a car at stupid speeds doing stupid things, RPG was the next highest choice clearly showing that they like the ideas of exploration, from the choices given it is transparent that all of the applicants want a good free-roam RPG with driving, possible random encounters and challenges.

 6. Do you prefer a game to be Linear or Sandbox?

A majority of the people said they preferred a Sandbox game rather than a Linear purely because of the exploration, but some participants preferred Linear for the story, so it would be a good choice to take elements from both and incorporate both elements into one game.

7. What percentage of action to story do you prefer in a game? 

In total after some scientific calculations it turns out that 41% should be action and the other 59% should be story driven which personally I agree with, this means the game could have a great story and enough action to keep you into the game and feeling like a bad-ass in certain points also really connecting you to the characters in the game and making you care for them. 

8. What kind of protagonist are you drawn to?

The most checks went to a relatable everyday guy, that’s been forced into a world that he usually wouldn't know, a world that he doesn't understand but her still goes through it because he feels responsible for some reason or he’s doing it for some sort of cause (Lee Everett – The Walking Dead). The next top choice was for a cocky character, the ‘Nathan Drake’ of sorts, he knows the severity of the situation but he still makes jokes in order the intimidate his opponent or even just lighten the atmosphere for the company he travels with. The last most important element to a protagonist is that they are Heroic, if the player is given a choice between right and wrong they would feel obliged to go for the good because they want to feel like that character and feel accepted by the NPC’s in the game.   

9.What age do you like a protagonist of a game to be?  

The main choice of age of video game characters are middle aged, I suppose this is because it shows that they have lived a lot and have a lot of experience and even wisdom under their belt, and this is also an expected age of a Hollywood action hero to be. The next choice would be young adult where the character would likely have to learn the skills to become a stereotypical hero.

10. What is your favorite game of all time, and why?

The main genre of games chosen for favorite games were action adventure games such as ‘Uncharted – Drakes Fortune’ or the action RPG ‘Skyrim’ these two games alone sum up the answers as they both have the key elements that we are looking to put into a video game the action elements with the great story in both and the cockiness put forward by Nathan Drake with characters we get connected to in the same game Sully and Elena. And ‘Skyrim’ one of the largest games I’ve played with a crazy large map and the leveling up system where we slowly progress as a character and get stronger and stronger, and learning new skills to help you play through and finish the game. This is the proof of what sort of things we would have to put in out game, we’d have to make it open world with random encounters and optional quest lines or missions, with some hard choices to make which could in fact change the outcome of the game with characters that people need to make a connection with and even worry about or be upset if something happens to them.