Using both feedback from the form completed in the previous stage and our own discussing our own personal favourites we selected three final game concepts to develop further. From the start we knew we wanted to keep one idea from each theme. Not only did this give us more variety moving forward but it also felt more fair, as we didnt want to choose between our two themes quite yet.
We didnt want to base our decision solely on the user feedback, both me and ayse wanted the opportunity to explore ideas we were passionate about. So instead we used the feedback more so as a guide to understand which ideas might be better received. As i’ve mentioned before narrowing down ideas can be quite difficult due to personal favoritism, but by using the feedback it ultimately made the decision process of picking just three concepts much easier.
For This stage we completed a GAP analysis for each concept, This is a way of determining were we are at what we might need and we also used it to better flesh out our ideas and give them proper structure.
Refining Ideas and Exploring mechanics: GAP analysis
Incel Culture
AGE:
teen (mature themes and threatening situations, foul language)
PLATFORM:
PC hopefully if successful would be ported onto itch or steam.
Scope/What are we actually looking to include?:
story with multiple choice with two endings, endings are decided through a hidden point system affected by minigames/events in the browser.
Story:
you are an up and coming streamer with a newfound fanbase, one day during your scheduled stream, you receive a dono with a menacing message, threatening to doxx and reveal your location.
Endings:
- you prevent the incel group from exposing your personal information to the internet, they get arrested.
- You are unable to stop the incel group and your personal information becomes widespread across the internet, you now live on edge and become isolated as fans bombard your door.
Minigames:
- Firewall defender -> malicious bots attempt to break into different sectors of her computer system. Lane layout, intrusion packets will attempt to travel all the way into her cpu. Player must drag & drop the right counter measure onto them, matching the colour or symbol. By matching them all correctly, player will have kept the system safe and push the attacks back.
- OSINT scrambler (puzzle minigame) -> incel group are utilising pictures posted online, player must clean the different pieces of personal info to prevent the incel group from finding out her info. Examples include; replacing username, blurring photos, removing metadata like locations, flagging certain posts with her tag in them.
- Password Hardener -> Incel group tries brute force entry into her system -> Player has to type rapidly increasing complex passwords before the ‘crack meter’. Fake pop ups occasionally happen to try and trick them and slow the player down.
- Chat Cleanup -> Incel group buys bots to flood her live chat with coded phrases and doxxing attempts. Players must react to a live chat and must ban/timeout/delete specific worrying patterns, player loses points for ‘over-moderating’ if they delete the wrong messages, keeping the ‘stream vibe’ up..
- Final minigame would be an amalgamation of a few minigames, making it hard, story explanation would be a full group of people attacking at once and not just one obsessed fan.
How could we include 3D in this?:
- Could do it where everything on the pc is 2D and the actual PC and room environment is 3D. When a minigame starts or interacts with the PC, it zooms into the screen, turning it 2D. Still allowing for complex minigames without having the pressure of producing it in 3D. As the incel group applies more pressure to the streamer, the environment could portray her mental state, changing as the game goes on. Could do it in the story where this situation occurs over multiple days and she has to log out as well, showing more of the environment.
GOT:
Concept majority of things shown on pc would be drawn – can split it up by having a UI artist, 3D modeller workload wouldn’t be too tough as it would be only three different environments low poly.
NEED:
complex with the coding workload, would be preferable if we had coder.
For presentation:
- Concept art + prototype
- Could do grey boxing or environments changing.
Animal Grief
Animal Grief –
You play as a pet waiting for your carer to come home, you must get the house ready for their arrival, but they never come back home.
AGE:
E (mentions death)
PLATFORM
PC could launch into web browser sites.
Story
You are a wise dachshund living happily with your loving owner Sheila. You and her have been companions for many years, living out daily routines together. One day, Sheila leaves for her weekly appointment but doesn’t return in time.
Characters
Sheila should be old, frail-looking, Sheila leaves for her routine weekly appointments but no one knows why. She has an illness that she hasn’t told anyone about.
Dachshund – girl dog ‘Vienna’ after the sausage, older dog, has lived her whole life with Sheila.
Loosely narrative, parkour game focusing on exploration, you play as a pet waiting for your owner to get home. You have to navigate your way through the house, starting in one room then advancing to the next, this will be done mostly through parkour. The player will also have to move items back to their correct place, ‘cleaning’ up the house for their owner in order to do some of the parkour. There will also be opportunities to interact with different objects that remind you of your owner. Towards the end of the game it is revealed to the player that their owner is never coming home, you now must backtrack your steps through the house one last time as you learn to accept your owner is not coming back. This would be done almost entirely in a 3D style.
Example of story telling through parkour, when your character is hungry you must find your way to the top of the fridge to get your food as your owner has not been home to feed you.
GOT
Concept of core gameplay, 3D modeller would have a moderate workload, having to create the characters and environments. UI + concepts
Need
would be nice to have a more advanced coder, but this concept is not too coding heavy and as we both are familiar it is within our capabilities.
How would we include 3D
Side scroller, everything would be 3D excluding the backgrounds and particle effects when interacting.
For presentation we could either –
- Concept art or models of one of the characters.
- Orrrr we could code a parkour mechanic with grey boxing.
Catnip Crimes
AGE
Teen as it has underlying drug mention and insinuations.
PLATFORM
PC launch, if successful could be transported to console.
Play as a catnip dealer,dealing to recreational and medical users. Avoid police and include gambling.
Story
You play as a street cat Scotch, trying to make it into a warm bed. You must grind using the only methods you know, being a Catnip Dealer.
Scotch, street cat so fur is multiple colours, has some scars on face from previous fights, maybe lost an eye or has a clipped ear, menacing kind of aura.
Dealing
- Catnip
- Black Market Fish – Shark, Swordfish, Beluga, Bluefin Tuna, salema porgy ( Lsd fish )
- Treats – any type of customer, could be stray cats or ones from homes that want more.
Tycoon simulation game, basically like schedule one. No real narrative except from core progression. Core loop would be producing product and dealing it around town.
How to make it include 3D:
Background would be concept art, characters would be 3D.
GOT
Pretty simple to make honestly could just do it the two of us. Would be nice to have someone else on just to improve speed.
NEED
not really mate
For presentation
- Low poly 3D model of kitty/ headshot concept art
- Paper prototype, showing how the dealing would work.
Bibliography
nvestopedia, 2010. What is a Gap Analysis? Investopedia, 9 May. Available at: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/gap-analysis.asp
University of the Built Environment, 2025. Mind the gap: how to conduct gap analysis. UBE, Available at: https://www.ube.ac.uk/whats-happening/articles/gap-analysis/