GAME RESEARCHJETPACK JOYRIDE

Game Outline• Name: Jetpack-Joyride • Genre: Side Scrolling• Type: Pixel Graphics

• Jet Pack joyride, by Halfbrick was originally brought out on the iPhone, as a simple mini game to be enjoyed by millions. The name is linked to the story of the game. On the launch of the game a full motion video is played, showing the main character, Barry, break into a secret laboratory to steal, and “Joyride”, a machinegun powered “Jetpack”.

• The games aim is to get as far as possible without crashing into obstacles such as laser-beams or being hit by speeding missiles, which will end the game, resulting in the player having to start over again. There are other aims than just distance travelled on the game, for example mini challenges during gameplay, such as high-fiving a certain number of scientists CC characters or survive 500m in the “lil’ Stomper” vehicle.

• The genre is a very simple one, it is the popular side scrolling genre, but jetpack joyride is also an action-adventure style game. This helped make the game as popular as it is today, with around 75-Million downloads on the Google PlayStore, due to its simplicity and ease of play.

• Jetpack Joyride is a Pixel Graphics Endless Side Scrolling game, there is no way of winning, the aim is to get as far as possible without being destroyed by obstacles, the game is highly based on the social media side of things, with the instant option to share your score on Facebook or Twitter after every game, showing that the competition and aim is other people and their scores.

Sources used• http://halfbrick.com/our-games/jetpack-joyride/• https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.halfbrick.jetpackjoyride&hl=en_GB

Audience

• Who is the audience? age, gender, psychographic etc.• How big is the audience (how many sales did it make)

● Jetpack Joyride is aimed at the male gender, that are over 13 years of age. This is mainly due to the action/adventure theme of the game, lots of graphics which are aimed at men, such as explosions and laser beams, electrocuting obstacles and perk vehicles such as the “Bad As Hog” Chopper motorbike or the Strong Arm Machine, which is the ultimate robotic cause of mass destruction in the game, something that will definitely appeal to the vast majority of men. The aim towards the age is due to the social network integration, Social networking is a huge part of the game, and the 2 main social networks used in the game is Facebook and Twitter, both of which have a minimum age requirement (Facebook) and age recommendation (Twitter) of 13. The target audience is also 13+ because it is common for a 13 year old to have a smart phone which the game will be simply downloaded onto

● The psychographics of the target audience will be people who have an inner child, which is most men. The game strays far from the usual teenage/adulthood computer games which are usually age 18+. The game targets those who have the spare time to play the game over and over, in attempt to get a new score and share on social media, or simply for the self satisfaction.

● The audience for Jetpack Joyride is huge, the game has around 75million downloads on the Google Playstore. The audience spans from children to the elderly who want a simple yet entertaining game to play. But the main audience is teenagers and adults who have the spare time.

Sources used:https://en-gb.facebook.com/help/210644045634222http://halfbrick.com/our-games/jetpack-joyride/ http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/does-twitter-have-minimum-age.html

Critical Response

• look up reviews/metacritic• The customer reviews of Jetpack Joyride prove it to be as popular as it is, with 1.2 Million 5/5 stars on the Google Playstore,

and a 4.3/5 average score. The people who have downloaded and played the app rave about how addictive and fun the game is. The most recent reviews are all very good too, people excited about the new customisations and vehicles that have been released onto the game in the new update.

• The critic responses are also great, and very similar to the consumer reviews. They critics mention the addictiveness and urge to gain coins and distance, so simple, so pointless, yet so entertaining. The critics compare the game to fruit ninja, which was created and developed by Halfbrick studios, telling us that “Jetpack Joyride is the most addictive game yet, surpassing the seminal Fruit Ninja”, which says a lot.

• There appear to be a very little amount of bad reviews, bad reviews seem to all be based on device issues with the game, such as crashing or not supporting old devices with less than 1000Mhz, causing the game to lag or freeze often, or simply not run at all. This is on a very little number of devices, out of 70 short mixed reviews, only one mentioned the actual style of game being a problem, saying it was slightly repetitive, this was not long before the new update which released new missions and new upgrades/customisation.

• Altogether the reviews are very good, the game was a huge hit and was enjoyed by millions, the critics and normal consumers have rated the game highly.

Sources used:http://www.metacritic.com/game/ios/jetpack-joyride https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.halfbrick.jetpackjoyride&hl=en_GBhttp://uk.ign.com/articles/2011/09/01/jetpack-joyride-review-ios

Production ProcessJetpack Joyride was produced and developed by ‘Halfbrick Studios’, an Australian game development company. During development Jetpack Joyride was called “Machinegun Jetpack”, but the developers soon before release realised that the name didn’t really flow. The game was aimed to be made in 4 weeks, a sort of “on the side” game by Halfbrick Studios, due to the low succession of there post Fruit Ninja release of “Monster Dash”. Jetpack joyride was supposed to be a simple space filler, that would keep the consumers entertained until a more powerful game could be released. But the developers saw the high potential of the app, they spent a lot longer on it, 10 months to be exact.

The developers wanted to make it the kind of game that you could play during an ad break or whilst sitting in a waiting room. Although they also aimed to give the game more depth, in order to give the more hard-core gamers a good experience too. They succeeded in reaching this aim by adding in micro missions, for example kill 20 scientists using the ‘Bad As Hog’. The controls of the game were made to be very simple too, the player simply has to touch the screen to make ‘Barry’ (the played character) lift off the ground using a variety of jetpacks, the player only has to tap the screen with 1 finger, the rest is done by it’s self, such as the horizontal movement which is done by the side scroll.

The game doesn’t end until the player hits an obstacle, and this happens very frequently. So a lot of thought was put into lowering the emotional cost the player feels when he/she fails. For example when the player fails, a screen appears showing a slot machine that can be played to win prizes such as an extra life or double points in the next play, which gives the player hope and a sense of achievement to lessen the frustration of losing the game.

The final production & developments of the game were the name, and the retina display integration for iPhone/Apple Devices with Retina display, without making the game larger than 20mb. The file size went along with the simplicity of the game, although a lot of time and effort was put in, they still wanted to keep the file size low so that it could be downloaded quickly and played instantly. The name

Sources used:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jetpack_Joyridehttp://www.gdcvault.com/play/1015527/Depth-in-Simplicity-The-Makinghttp://halfbrick.com/our-games/jetpack-joyride/