Amazing memory - the designs/refining

Today is the deadline and today I will submit my completed Flash game.

Having gone from a rather blank idea - remember a maze, I'm pleased with the progress. I initially put off the design side to things, unusual because I usually enjoy getting involved with that. But encouraged by the likes of Sarahs and Jacqui's visuals, I knew I had to make an effort. 

The initial look I tried was a sand background. I just wanted something that wasn't the flat and plain white background.

 

I then decided to try inverting it so it was the maze that had visuals. Admittedly this idea fell short pretty soon as the walls disappear, so I would have been back at square one - white!

 

However, I liked the grassy look. The hue and saturation is really vivid and strong. It looks good. I thought about it and tried to develop a  scene that would resemble some sort of wildlife/nature in the backyard feel. I added a ladybird as the 'ball' and flower as the 'end'. It worked well.

I went on picking out a typeface and colours that would bode well. I think the red contrasting against the green is perfect. There is a distinct clarification. 

I decided to add a cooky sort of indie typeface which again bodes with and makes up a good thematic visual. 

Making the item you navigate around with a character, named as Dotty, it gives the game a more sort of personal feel, a little life/character to it. I like this touch.

From my experience, I knew that instruction page was important. I was aware it definitely shouldn't appear too crowded, yet I didn't want to make the instructions so sparse that they weren't informative enough. 

It's minimal, but I like the visual representation of the game's aim here - get to the flower, with a curved dotted line from Dotty the ladybird. This should connect much quicker with the audience who probably don't wish to read all the text.

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In terms of the coding/structure, I have added a points score system that collects the time left after each level and combines into one large score at the end. As with other similar games, the incentive to 'better your score' should prove encouraging enough to want to replay, being quicker and more skilled in remembering the mazes.

I am really pleased with the design after having completed it. It looks a lot like the current branding used by Robinsons. Perhaps this was an unconscious influence.

All that needs to be done now is user testing. From experience, I have found this to be vital in pointing out bugs or making me aware that something isn't clear enough/needs evolving.

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