Mario Kart Track Assets
Research Into Target Audience
The target audience for a game like Mario Kart is young children or families, however it's also important to make tracks catered to Old School fans. Creating tracks that have a balance of fun and competition, making it both chaotic and skillful. The graphics, gameplay and aesthetics need to be created with the pegi age rating regulations and restrictions:
For instance a quote from the site pegi.info states “The game should not contain any sounds or pictures that are likely to frighten young children. A very mild form of violence (in a comical context or a childlike setting) is acceptable. No bad language should be heard.”
Other than this legality, the levels should be lighthearted and anything spooky should be slightly comical.
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When considering the factors like balancing, graphics and regulations, you have to consider the target audience and the PEGI rating of the game.
Research Into Nintendo
Nintendo marketing has changed a lot over the years, but more importantly on the switch from the wii u to their new console, nintendo decided to switch their marketing to an older audience, making the switch seem sleek and more professional in its design, this audience change benefitted nintendo heavily, especially within their failures of the wii u. In a nintendo direct after the hype of the switches announcement, they officially revealed mario kart 8 deluxe, this, undoubtedly, increased the sale of switches over time. As anyone, even casual gamers, would buy a mariokart game for the system. Its widespread popularity is expected.
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Nintendo are known to be a family friendly company and their marketing is a reflection of this. They have to appeal to their primary and secondary consumers: the children and the parents.
Research Into Nintendo
Nintendo marketing has changed a lot over the years, but more importantly on the switch from the wii u to their new console, nintendo decided to switch their marketing to an older audience, making the switch seem sleek and more professional in its design, this audience change benefitted nintendo heavily, especially within their failures of the wii u. In a nintendo direct after the hype of the switches announcement, they officially revealed mario kart 8 deluxe, this, undoubtedly, increased the sale of switches over time. As anyone, even casual gamers, would buy a mariokart game for the system. Its widespread popularity is expected.
Starting with bowser's castle, the second to last level of the entire game, and the game takes this into account, the levels layout isnt complex, its easy to understand for the player, however it has a high skill ceiling with some 90° turns, a half pipe with the various boosters and trick spots, labled in red, and the course splitting itself in 2. The geysers at the end of the course. The aesthetics match the name, bowsers castle would be a large palace with lava surrounding it; Bowser, being an egocentric bad guy matches his personality with a huge statue of himself shooting at the players. The tracks aesthetic matches the selling point which seems to be common for every track.
Coconut mall is the most unique course in the game, taking place in a shopping center and parking lot. The course is sometimes separated into levels, a common theme in malls in the US and UK, labeled in blue, the level features the characters cutting through the malls shops and interior and exiting into a parking lot. The level is dynamic and changes as you progress, with the cars driving forwards and back and the escalators changing its direction. The level has boost pads and trick spots, leading for more replay value as players find optimisations and shortcuts. Using noclip, we can see that the level features buildings surrounding the mall, which adds to the immersion of the level.
My design
This track is designed around a children's birthday party. Its unique selling point is revolved around this. The two main points of interest are located mid way through the track and contain an exterior cake which you climb up and an interior pizza box which you climb down. This spiral motion will lead into a figure 8 which leads you to the end of the track.
This design went through many revisions as the group as a whole was unsatisfied with the original. This was a group effort to compromise and create something we were all happy with The originals are shown along the bottom.
How I made the models!
How I made the Textures!
UE4 Work
Final Renders! (+Extras)
Evaluation
This project overall met the aesthetic and guidelines of the target audience. All models were created with a colour scheme in mind and the specific style of the model is consistent throughout and consists of two contrasting groups. A dark gritty track and colour scheme, similar to Scalextric sets that you might see, and a lighter smoother around-the-edges type, where the table and items on it reflect the mood of the track. Specific level design elements include the turns being smooth and not jagged and the models made to reflect a calmer atmosphere. The contrast between these allows for the track to still be speedy and fun, whilst conforming to the USP.
We had many issues with the project including team and time constraints. Missed participation in the work was a problem that I attempted to correct, perhaps on account of misinformation. So I gave tasks for my team to do just in case, however, some members of the team were not able to complete their work which left the crunch to me. In the future, I should actively check up on progress and make sure everyone, including myself, knows what they are doing. Another issue that arose was how we as a team assigned roles and responsibilities. Maybe with better management and helping each other out, we could have made some better progress. As much as I can blame myself for this, I understand now how these things operate and will do in future projects.
Across this project, I have made many models and throughout the process, I have learned about the importance of organization when it comes to modelling. Having your files properly named and in specific folders speeds up the process of creation. Over the projects. My modelling skills have improved significantly and I have been more independent when creating the models. I wasn’t as confident with my Texturing skills when I started the project, however, now I am much more knowledgeable and confident.
My contributions to the project have been mainly through modelling, as this was my assigned role during the project. This doesn't mean I did not help out in other ways. I was the group's main-level designer and created the tracks idea and USP I also created the colour scheme and helped out with the programming. Overall in this project, I was able to find my footing and more importantly find the things I am really passionate about in the industry.