D1

D1

I have given myself a timescale of 60 weeks to make my game, I believe this an adequate time to make a game that only has around 6 hours of gameplay to it and also won’t be too complicated to make due to the fact that the setting of the game isn’t the biggest due to it being set in a village. In that time, I will have to do things such as my research, story, script, gameplay ideas, concept art, game levels, voice overs, graphics, advertising, game engine, sound and music, prototype, testing, prototype release, bug fixes/game improvements, testing, advertising and finally the game release. All this in my opinion can be achieved in a time period of 60 weeks and I have proven this in the development of my Gantt chart. In my Gantt chart I have set out how long each section of my development will take and when I need to start and finish each one. For example, due to my Gantt chart I now know that my research for my game should take around 4 weeks to do, after my research comes my story development, my story development will begin on the last week of my research and will take 3 weeks to complete. Thanks to my Gantt chart I now know how everything is going to be set out and when I need to be finishing each section of development, this is useful as it can justify my 60-week time period that I have given my game.

As for the popularity of my game it is something that I need to worry about less despite it being an indie game, the indie game scene is on the rise in recent years with the amount of games being put on kick funding sites such as Steam on the increase. In fact, Steam is becoming so popular that now other websites are being set up to support the indie game scene to make sure less indie games get unnoticed, sites such as Itch.io is a site that offers a pay what you want technique and offers minimum pricing. Due to this it has become hugely popular and it was revealed by Itch’s co-founder Leaf Corcoran that the company has already paid out $393,000 to developers which is likely to rise. Not only that but due to sites such as YouTube and Twitch, games have become more recognised and popular than ever. If a YouTuber or Twitch streamers plays my game, especially one that is very popular and well known, then it can lead to my game being instantly well recognised and well received in the games industry. This is something that is crucial as it could lead to a massive increase in sales for the game as people may want to check out what their favourite YouTuber or Twitch streamers is playing. The best way to make sure that the games do get played by these people I could possibly hand out free copies to them as then they will be more encouraged to give the game a chance and if they like it then it can only benefit me in the short and long term.

From looking at other well received and popular indie games I have noticed that they the majority seem to be released in August or September, therefore, the launch date for my game will be August. This is a more sensible idea in my opinion, one reason for this is because it means my game will avoid the Christmas surge of games that are released either in December or near it just in time for Christmas, by doing this they maximise their profits. This usually includes the big franchises such as Call of Duty and Battlefield; I also have to consider games such as FIFA who usually release their games in September. If I released my game too near Christmas, then I would be competing against the big companies and franchises and that is something I wouldn’t be able to win, this would then probably result in my game going under the radar as it is highly unlikely that someone would pick my game over one of the bigger ones, therefore I will take the precautionary measures to make sure that doesn’t happen. As for the budget of my game it will arguably be in the tens of thousands, this is due to the fact that my game would only be receiving funding off me and off a kick-starter campaign meaning the amount of my money available to me will be quite small, on top of that my budget won’t have to be that big anyway due to the fact that I won’t have any multiplayer features on my game and I won’t have to advertise it at a mass level in terms of things such as TV adverts.