Research Dossier:

SWOT Analysis:

Strength:
- Quick at 3D
- A lot of knowledge of how 3D modelling works
- 4 years of experience with 3D

Weakness:
- Time Management
- Orthographic

Opportunity:
- Able to work on my 3D skills
- Able to learn about meeting with clients and sharing ideas with them

Threat:
- Mental Health 
- Time
- Other deadlines to complete

IP:

What is Deadzone:

Deadzone is a tabletop game that is a fast-paced skirmish wargame that uses miniatures set in the Warpath Universe.  It's a turn-based game that uses cubes and dice to be able to move instead of having to use tape measures to be able to move the miniatures.

Deadzone is a small scale 2+ player game that you complete objectives for instead of battling large amounts of enemies such as eliminating the other team, capturing a certain place on the battle field however this can really depend on the people playing as everyone wants different things from the game so some people want to stay true to the lore and what happens but some just want to play the game for the fun of it without focusing on the lore so much. 

Deadzone Featured Products [online]. Mantic: Deadzone. Available at: https://www.manticgames.com/deadzone/featured/ [Accessed 6 February 2025]

The backstory is there to say why your faction has a reason for fighting but it doesn't say why your specifically fighting right now here in this specifically place fighting this specific faction so the story of the game doesn't really matter if the players don't want to spend time thinking of a story to it.

Abandoned places that used to be lived in but aren't anymore
Firefight is the same universe but with bigger armies and big space ships where deadzone happens in more covered areas and you want them to be behind cover rather so that its harder to hit you
True line of sight so if they can see the other model then they can shoot at them
Simple movement and easy to learn the game
Can move and shoot

Factions:

Asterians:

The Asterian's aim for balance throughout the world where they avoid violence and use their cyphers which are their version of a robot where the person controlling it doesn't have to be near the robot as they can remotely control them but it feels to them as if they are in the cypher.

Asterian's Deadzone [online]. Mantic Companion: Deadzone. Available at: https://companion.manticgames.com/deadzone/asterians/ [Accessed 6 February 2025]

Enforcers:

The Enforcers use new technology that make them better than most of the other factions with both their physical and mental strength being much higher than regular humans. They take on different orders that they are assigned and they have the best and new weapons to help them complete what they need to.

Enforcer's Deadzone [online]. Mantic Companion: Deadzone. Available at: https://companion.manticgames.com/deadzone/enforcers/ [Accessed 6 February 2025]

Art Direction:

The Asterian Kalyshi don't have a lot of armour on and its quite smooth and round rather that jaggedy like the Black Talons where they have sharp edges. The Cypher Prime's have quite skinny arms and legs but have long rectangular pieces that stretch upwards from their shoulders

    Visual Research:

    Asterians:


They control marionettes so have a bigger mech type version which is stronger than the 3 smaller ones they do have one version of their marionettes that are slightly bigger and have more armour however I thought that having a bigger and bulkier version would be best 
    Enforcers:    



The Enforcers have quite angled armour and there isn't any skin showing as its all covered. A lot of the armour is either gray, white or red on it. A lot of the armour is quite big and bulky though rather than being slimmer. 

It's important for me to look at how their armour is and if it contains sharp edges or if the armour is very round and curved so that I can use that to help me when I draw my own version of my character so that it still looks like it is from the deadzone universe.


Genre:

There are several different tabletop games that have been digitalised such as Tank on Tank, Warhammer and many others. Most tabletop games get ported to digital versions the same as the tabletop version for example the board games cluedo, ticket to ride and the game of life all have digital versions of the game and follow the same game mechanics however are shown in either 2D or 3D depending on the game. 

I wanted to take inspiration from the game LA Noire for the game genre as I think that the enforcers could be similar to the detectives as they try and figure out what has gone on when they come across a battle where or crime scene where they have to which faction was responsible.

The way that LA Noire has the player go around crime scenes and you need to find clues on what happened and who the murderer was. I think that could be a cool mechanic to happen between fights with other factions as then they are still keeping the battle element of the original but adding a new twist to it.

In heavy rain there is a similar system where you have to find clues however you can scan the area using the R1 button on ps4 to be able to see the clues near by.

Graeber, B., 2018. Chapter 3 - Crime Scene [online]. IGN: Heavy Rain Guide. Available at: https://www.ign.com/wikis/heavy-rain/Chapter_3_-_Crime_Scene [Accessed 20 February 2025]

Licensing:

Intellectual Property is something that you have created yourself with your own ideas or bought from someone else. It also needs to meet the requirements for copyright, a patent or a design however owning IP doesn't mean that it has to be limited to just one owner of it, it can be owned by a business too. The creator of the product is the intellectual property owner of a product and the agreement when licensing intellectual property happens between the owner and another person or company.

Intellectual property and your work [online]. Gov: Patents, trademarks, copyright and designs. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/intellectual-property-an-overview [Accessed 8 May 2025]


Licensing intellectual property [online]. Gov: Patents. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/licensing-intellectual-property [Accessed 8 May 2025]


Most companies will either go to other companies to help them with creating assets for games under the original companies IP or they will commission freelance artists to work on the game assets. It means that companies like Mantic can spend less time working on those assets and work on other things that need to be completed. To apply for an intellectual property licence you need to apply at the intellectual property office for a trademark and lasts for 10 years before it needs to be renewed.

Environments: 


I didn't do too much with my moodboard due to me already having an idea of what I wanted to do for an environment however I still wanted to make sure that I had the right sort of idea with what I wanted to do for it. I was looking at a lot of lab images so that I could show a lab that the Mazon lab had but someone had maybe broke into for example.
Level design:

Level design is where you need to think about how the players are going to get from point a to point b and designing what is in between those two points. Depending on the type of game that could be puzzles or just places for them to explore or even scripted events that need to take place for them to continue with the story. You need to include different things such as music cues, a path that directs the players to where they are specifically meant to be and other ways. Having to think about which way the player will take can affect the level design as if you have to get the player to a higher part of the map then there are several different ways to do it such as stairs, ladders or even lifts but if it's a 2D game you have to think about the best way to have the player move upwards but only staying on that 2D plane.