Logo and name

 Coming up with a logo is harder than it sounds - way harder - as it has to keep the theme of the game without blending in too much.

I started with silhouettes of the main dragon on the pencil first as to get an idea of the logo, but none of them were quite what I was expecting - in theme but stood out - so I went for a different approach.

 I did this silhouette and I kind of liked it so I gave it some colour and shading. It was still not appealing enough so I then tried emphasizing the pencil (below)

 Now that I found one I was happy with, i just put the title in. It was quite difficult coming up with a name but Dragons Unleashed seemed to stick around the longest and work.

Dragons Unleashed!

More concepts and Ideas for gameplay

Concepts probably not the word as I'm using these as a final thing
Cover (without name as I don't know what to call it yet)

 Left are the dragons you unlock by defeating the boss in the respected Level (those with price tags would cost money to unlock).

Once purchased, you'd be able to play through the respected level to unlock the dragon and use it within the game.

HYPER DRIVE - Once at a certain part of the level, you'd enter a mode called Hyper Drive. During this time, there are no walls or obstacles except for the enemies that fly at you (the ability to shoot is disabled during this time so dodging is all you can do).
To control your dragon, you'd hold down on them with your finger and drag them around the screen. The bar at the top right shows how much time is left until Hyper Drive runs out and the hearts represent your health.

ESCAPE - Similar to that of Hyper Drive except that this would only occur after defeating a boss at the end of the level and your character would be flying away rather than towards (shooting still disabled here). Bar in top right shows how much longer you must go without dying in order to escape the boss while he's defeated. Failing to do so results in your death and fighting them again. Succeed and the boss runs out of energy to chase you with and perishes (if you have not yet unlocked the dragon from said level, you'd then receive them; having them with you already takes you straight to the score page)


HIGH SCORES - I'm planning to have different modes of play; The Regular way to unlock other dragons (just called PLAY), Survival Mode (survive as long as you can in the level of choice and hit enemies for extra points) and Endurance Mode (similar to Survival however it involves fighting as many Bosses as you can but only those you have unlocked). Scores would then be recorded on a list for each world along with the dragon you used and your name (once entered, max of 8 characters, no bad words).
MENU would take you back to the Survival Mode option to choose another level and dragon, QUIT would take you back to the main menu.

Mock up

 Here I just have a few mock ups of level design (I went with the Helicopter themed game play in the end). The levels are themed and have enemies and backgrounds that go with them.

FIRE - Rocky Barriers with fire enemies

 SKY - Cloud Barriers with bird and whirlwind enemies










 
 

FOREST - Vine Barriers with Thorn Snake enemies













ICE - Ice Crystal Barriers with Furry Bat enemies

ICE BOSS - Giant Ice Golem with health bar














All of these mock ups were done using the Adobe programmes Photoshop and Flash (CS5.1, CS5.5 respectively) however, I will be making an animation in AfterEffects CS5.5 for all to get a more in depth feel of the game play and levels.

Game Play ideas

I need to think more of how the game play would be. After researching games such as Robot Unicorn Attack, Drain Works, Cut the Rope, Angry Birds and others I realized that the most simple games were the most popular. To make my game simple but addictive would be my main goal.

At first, my game was to be a 2D action/adventure game but then I looked to making it more simple; 2) here shows the game play if you were playing it portrait and shooting upwards whereas 3) has a more 'helicopter' style of gameplay which appealed to me more.
This has more promise as it requires only one button: hold to go up, release to go down. I want to add another button to the game: shooting enemies (tapping, possibly) and maybe even collectible power ups and/or super attacks that can be used to wipe out several if not all enemies on screen.