LO1: Business Report

Team Cooper is a games development company that was founded in the year of 2006 and was since then built up after a two year span to incorporate more members into the business rather than just the founder himself, converting the company into a full on team rather than a one man band. Since then Team Cooper has worked on a multitude of projects and developed a large quantity of games, ranging from many different genres and types over the years. Mainly the group focuses solely on app games for both the apple and android devices, yet they also produce games within HTML5 for browser-based games as well.

Structure

The company itself is a sole proprietorship, which means either a single person or a family owns it. The founder and overall managing director, Tim Cooper, is the one who is in charge and owns the entire company, seeing as it was his creation in the first place. Taking the role of the business development director we have Emma Cooper, who was the first member that Tim hired to join his team in May of 2008, alongside Kyle Rodgers, a developer. Russell Stearman was hired in May of 2010 as the lead developer and, one month ahead, Simon Morris was took on as a developer who then became a full time member in May of 2012. Jumping ahead a year Tim then gained two more members to his business, Adam Clay, who joined in January, became an illustrator and animator, and John hunter, the current team assistant and content writer, joined in September. The newest member to the team is Angelique Williams, who was welcomed in January of 2013 and is at this moment in time the project manager.

Platform Technology

The company produces games for both the android and apple devices through the use of apps, as well as a few HTML and Flash games for browser based games as well, particularly on websites of social media. Production is obviously different because of this thanks to the amount of programs one would have to use to develop games on these varying devices because of how they are built, programmed and interacted with. The company facilitate these development processes simply by having the entire team working on different things, and specialising in that aspect in order for them to finish their work as efficiently as possible.

Game Types

There are many different types of games out there, and Team Cooper seems to have covered quite a large part of it. Within the puzzle genre we have games such as Beehive Bedlam, a game which involves aiming, firing and matching up groups of a certain flower to eliminate them all to pass the level, and Fraxinus, where players would create and manoeuvre rows of coloured leaf shapes to get a high score, and then they add that pattern to their collection. It’s then up to the other players to achieve an even higher score to claim said pattern. Bobble Bots is a different type of puzzle game, requiring the player to guide the ‘moshlings’ to their destination through careful planning by opening and closing routes for them to move. Dani’s Castle – Hidden Treasure is an example of a point and click game, utilizing the touch screen interface to let players navigate through various locations in search of a bunch of treasures. With sidescrollers we have games such as Roof-Top Rush, where the player would control Santa running across the rooftops to pursue his reindeer that have seemingly left without him. Nurse Quest – Love Hurts is a throwback to the old free roam action/adventure point and click games such as King’s Quest and Monkey Island. A full roster of their games is as followed:

• #ShareTakeCare
• Angry Buyers
• Beehive Bedlam
• Blockbusters
• Bobble Bots
• CBBC'S Pup Stars
• Choices
• Dick 'n' Dom's Hoopla!
• Edward and the Strange Invasion
• Farter Christmas
• Hidden Treasures
• Man Up!
• Nurse Quest - Love Hurts
• Retro Arcade
• Roof-Top Rush
• Scary GodParents
• Sick, Snot & Explosions
• The Marathon
• Tiny Tumble Bubble Art
• Unclean Canteen

Games on Multi-platforms

The same game, just on different platforms. 'Fishing with Percy' is one such game, having been initially developed as a flash game for an internet browser, being on the computer, one platform, it was then ported over to both the Android and Apple smartphones available to download through Google Play and the App Store respectively, and that's two more platforms that this game is apparent on. The controls are different considering what inputs the games use, with the mobile apps utilising the touchscreen and the computer instead uses the mouse.

Regulatory Bodies

Team Cooper have to comply with what their clients want, and produce a product based on those proposals and guidelines. They have worked with many clients over the years, with a list of them being:

• Addicting Games (Nickelodeon)
• Adult Swim
• Beazley
• Brass
• CBBC
• Cbeebies
• Challenge
• Croda
• DFDS Seaways
• EBuyer
• Jeem TV
• Mind Candy
• Nickelodeon
• Quba
• BBC Radio 1
• Safe@Last
• Sky
• Third City
• Terrence Higgins Trust
• Topps
• TheSainsburyLaboratory
• World Gold Council
• Yellowbrick

Developmental Software

The software pieces that Team Cooper regularly use to develop their games are mainly Flash and HTML 5. HTML 5 is basically a markup language, used for structuring and presenting content for the internet and is pretty much it's core technology at this moment in time. Whilst HTML 5 has been considered superior to Flash in many ways it isn't entirely true, considering the program can do a lot of other processes probably vital or at least very helpful to this sort of design within the gaming industry, with both software's having their own strengths and weaknesses.

LO1: Ratings

PEGI

• Pan European Game Information

Types of Labels

•   - Violence - games that depict violence.
•   - Bad Language - games that contain bad language.
•   - Fear - game may be frightening or scary to young children.
•   - Sex - games that depict nudity and/or sexual behaviour or references.
•   - Drugs - games that refer to or depicts the use of drugs.
•   - Discrimination - games that contain material which may encourage discrimination.
•   - Gambling - games that encourage or teach gambling.
•   - Online Play - games that can be played online.

•   - PEGI 3 - Given to games given this rating is considered suitable for all age groups. People should not be able to associate the character on the screen with real life characters, and the game should not contain any sounds or pictures that are likely to scare or frighten young children.  No bad language should be heard.

•   - PEGI 7 - Any game that would normally be rated at 3 but contains some possibly frightening scenes or sounds may be considered suitable in this category.

•   - PEGI 12 - Games that show violence of a slightly more graphic nature towards fantasy character and/or non graphic violence towards human looking characters or recognisable animals, as well games that show nudity of a slightly more graphic level would fall into this age category. Any bad language in this category must be mild and all short of sexual expletives.

•   - PEGI 16 - Applied when the depiction of violence or sexual activity reaches a stage that looks the same as would be expected in real life. The use of tobacco and drugs, criminal activities and more extreme bad language can all be content of a game of this rating.

•   - PEGI 18 - This is an adult classification. This is applied when the level of violence reaches gross violence and includes other specific types of violence too. As it is difficult to define it is generally classified as depictions of violence that would make the viewer feel a sense of revulsion.

•   - PEGI OK - For a game to receive this rating it must be an online game and not contain any of the following: violence, sexual activity or sexual innuendo, nudity, bad language, gambling, promotion or use of drugs, promotions of alcohol or tobacco or scary scenes.

LO1: Inputs and Outputs

Input - what is put in, taken in, or operated on by any process or system. A place where, or a device through which, energy or information enters a system.

Things like controllers are a good example of inputs, as well as a keyboard and mouse, headphones and similar stuff, even the touchscreen on a phone is an input. Sometimes games can have more than one input, utilising other features of the console, like Xbox with Kinect, or a phone using the microphone and/or camera, or a ton of the old accessories like the Nintendo Zapper for the good old NES.

Even though it's not designed for the actual system, you can plug a Sega Genesis/Mega Drive controller into an Atari 2600 console, and it works!

When developing a game with multiple inputs, the factors that would inform how the gamer uses the device would be:

• On screen tutorials?
• In-game instructions
• Help menu's specifically designed for these inputs
• Controls configuration menu
• Warnings and cautions
• How easy it is to use
• How enjoyable it is to use

Output - the amount of something produced by a person, machine or industry. A place where power or information leaves a system.

Common Outputs

• Sounds
• Images
• Vibration

INPUT -> PROCESS -> OUTPUT

Multiple DS games use many different inputs in order to play the game, but the one that stands out most to me from the games that I've played is a game called 'The World Ends With You'. In this game any fight that takes place simultaneously exists in both the top and bottom screen and you can control either screen manually, or have the computer take control of your partner if you want to concentrate on your screen and your screen alone, which happens to be the touchscreen. The touchscreen is operated by all sorts of movements through the use of your finger or stylus in this game to activate what are called 'pins' which have hidden 'psyches' which are basically your attacks. You can tap on the screen, drag the protagonist across it, draw a line, flick to the side, rub it or hold it down to activate all sorts of attacks, based on what pins you currently have in your deck. Some pins are also activated through the use of the microphone, with one example making the main character swing around to slice any enemies around him, or to summon huge speakers onto the touch screen which promptly hurts any and all enemies on the screen as the sound waves rip through them. As mentioned before, you can also use the d-pad to control your partner character, if you want to, but that requires multitasking and can be quite tricky to master as the three partners you gain (and lose) through the game have different ways of fighting. It ultimately makes the game much more enjoyable to find out how all these attacks work and which deck suits you best to your playing style, which adds in a personal touch for the best experience. Sure there are times when you need to wear certain pins in order to gain access to other parts of the game, but mastering every type of pin is yet another fun part of the play through.

LO1: Writing Business Reports

Hello there. My name is Bethany Goodjohn, currently 16 years old and I attend the UTC studying Creative and Digital Media, English and Art and hope to become either a games concept designer or an illustrator when I'm older, either one of them works. I have an unhealthy obsession with games and anything to do with beasts and monsters, creepy things, robots and unusual oddities, but I also love adorable things, too.

Introducing the Company

• Who
• What
• Where
• When
• Why + How

Team Cooper is a game developing company that was founded in 2006 by Tim Cooper, they are situated within Sheffield at the Electric Works offices and specialise in making apps for both apple devices and android devices. Their games range from all sorts of genres, including side scroller, point and click, puzzle games and action/adventure games. They also have games aimed specifically for kids, as well as adults, too.

• Add who - talk about specific staff members, why and how. 

Team Cooper is a game developing company that was founded in 2006 by Tim Cooper, they are situated within Sheffield at the Electric Works offices and specialise in making apps for both apple devices and android devices. Their games range from all sorts of genres, including side scroller, point and click, puzzle games and action/adventure games, with some examples being Nurse Quest: Love Hurts, Edward and the Strange Invasion and Scary GodParents. They also have games aimed specifically for kids, as well as adults, too, and various projects have been developed for charities, such as Choices for the charity Safe@Last. Tim kept the company to himself for two years before he began to employ more staff to build up a team, who include Emma Cooper, the business development director, John Hunter, the team assistant and content writer, Angelique Williams, the project manager, Adam Clay, the illustrator and animator, Russell Stearman, the lead developer, and both Kyle Rodgers and Simon Morris, who are both developers.

Structuring the Report

• Use headings
• Bullets for lists
• Reference throughout
• Intro goes first, followed by the structure of the company
• Then organise the other 5 sub topics as you see fit
• USE FOOTNOTES.
• Web: URL, Date and Time
• Book: Title, Author, Publisher, Date, ISBN
• Magazine: Name of article, Magazine, Month published, Publishing house.
• Primary: Location of interview, Date.
• Make note of the development software and platform technology as well.

REMEMBER THE SIX TOPICS TO COVER AND RESEARCH

GAME TYPES

STRUCTURE

PLATFORM TECHNOLOGY

GAMES ON MULTI-PLATFORMS

REGULATORY BODIES

DEVELOPMENT SOFTWARE