Unit 60:Games industry
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Brief
In this unit of work you will investigate the games industry and the factors affecting the success of its product before developing an original idea and illustrative planning for a new game to pitch to industry professionals. You will work individually on Lo1-Lo3 however the final pitch will be undertaken as a small (2-4 person) group. The aim is to gain a greater understanding of the factors affecting production of produce within the games industry and the factors leading to their ultimate success of failure within the market.
LO 1:Analysis a games studio/developer
I liked this part of the unit as it was something I had a great interest in, the games studio/developer I choose to analyse was Sucker Punch as at the time it was my favourite developer.
Games that Sucker Punch has developed
They make action adventure games. Infamous is 3rd person, open world hero/villain game. Sly
Cooper is also 3rd person but has a different game play focus. It is aimed at linear, stealth, platform.
They went in to a horror style DLC in infamous 2 called festival of blood. Where the main character gets turned into a vampire and has to cure himself.
Games on
Sucker Punch only made one game that was not on the PlayStation it was made in 1991 called Rocket: robot on wheels for the Nintendo 64. All of their other games where made for the PlayStation. They started off with the sly cooper franchise in 2002 for the PlayStation 2. Even though it was Microsoft that they leafed they went on to sign a contract with Sony so that their games can only be on PlayStation and no other devise that are not owned by Sony. Sucker Punch is now owned by Sony so they are their subsidiary.
Platform Tech
There is just one input for their games and that is a controller because there is just one console it is on they do not have to code for different consoles. The games they make would not really work in any other input mode.
LO 1 Task 2: Game analysis
For this task we had to analysis ten game of different genre and they had to be on different platforms. I found this task rather easy as the level to which we had to study the games I did normally, when taking to friends because of this I found this easy to do. Here are two games that I analysed.
Infamous 2 : Festival of Blood (PS 3 D.L.C)
Infamous 2 Festival of Blood is a third person shooter, set in an open world. I would class it as an action adventure game. Within put from other game genres like Beat ’em up. It shows stylistic conventions from the third person shooter in its own way as rather having different guns you have different ways of using you powers. The main character Cole McGrath has the ability to manipulate electricity. So his basic attack is to release a blot of electricity. This attack use the least amount of power as Cole has to store electricity in his body. He does this by sucking the electricity from other thing around him like car, power generators, lamp posts and lots of other things. There are different types of enemies that differ in difficulty. This is also a stylistic convention for third person shooter.
The story for this DLC is that there is a yearly event called Pyro Night. When Cole and Zeke are in new moray (New Moray is based on New Orleans) they attend Pyro Night ( Pyro Night is based on Mardi Gras) Just as the night starts to pick Cole and Zeke start to hear screams from underneath the cathedral Cole goes to investigate to witch he finds multiple people laid on the floor. After healing them he is told that there are more people farther in the catacombs. He goes and finds more people but the last one attacks him. He is then dragged somewhere in the catacombs and gets his neck sliced open and his blood pores in to some corpse mouth and then the corpse snaps to life. Then bites him on his neck the more blood she drinks the more life comes back to her and she becomes young again. This turns out to be bloody Marie. Who is a vampire and then goes on to turn Cole in to a vampire. The works well for the game play because Cole now also gets the power of a vampire. This just starts off with the ability to turn in to a swarm of bat this is called shadow swarm. It is use at first to get around New Moray faster and then is later upgraded so that you can do like a charge attack with is that kills other vampires instantly. You will lose this ability the more you use it. This is shown on a blood gage where the karma level was. When it runs out you have to find someone to drink there blood and get your vampire powers back. Cole now has just till sun rise till he loses his humanity and freewill as after sunrise Bloody Marie will control him. The main reason I think they made this DLC was because at the time vampire where a big topic because of the Twilight films. There are only two other character to speak that Bloody Marie and Zeke. You will feel the need to protect Zeke as he is a very funny and likeable character. Bloody Marie on the other hand has a very condescending character so you will be looking forwards to your battle with him.
The engine that was used is a modified engine from infamous 2 the engine was never named so there is nothing to really say about it. They would have had to enhance the games engine to fit in the ability to fly. When I was playing there was never a moment where the characters or game bugged out.
Zeke is the only person who the target audience would like as Cole is a bit to plain and does not really do anything for the player to like or dislike. Blood Marie is the only villain with a name and she is just there to make you hate her. The character of Bloody Marie fits the gothic look of a vampire as she where a corset and it is all red and black. Cole fit the character of the hero as he has muscle and a deep voice and gruff as if he has been smoking for ten years.
The only challenge in the game is that you have to fight the different types of enemies in different ways like the vampire woman who teleports everywhere all the time so you cannot use the slower attacks on her because they will not hit. Then on the other hand there is an enemy called the First Born witch is a massive bat thing that that can take a lot of abuse and hit very hard. There is not much to say for different level design as most of the levels are set out side. The thing that make this DLC interesting is the vampire aspect of it this makes it different and new. The narrative and gameplay go hand in hand because Zeke is narrating over most of the game and when Cole does something Zeke narrates over it. One of the thing keeping you on your toes is that Blood Marie has sent vampire to try and kill you and test you.
The target audience for it is infamous fans and people who like vampires thing E.G. films. There are lots of vampires in it and you play as the conduit Cole McGrath. This appeals to the target audience because you can play as a vampire. It is hard to compare it to other games as games that are based on vampires are far and few between. But DLC like Skyrim’s dawn guard where you play as a vampire hunter or a vampire lord but the ways you play are very different so it is hard to compare.
The games it is just for Sony devices because the studio signed a contract so they get paid more for it and get more funding for it but it can only come out on Sony devices.
Killing Floor (PC)
Killing
Floor is a first person, wave based survival, Horror, shooter. With a focus on
team work. The game shows stylistic conventions because you are all ways in the
point of view of you player. The wave based combat is show by having increasing
difficulty with each wave and a big amount of enemies. It shows horror by
making all of the enemies are deformed and the many maps or all destroyed
version of places in the UK. The shooter element is there because there are
many different types of guns. From pistols to flame throwers. This game sit
well with in the wave based survival game as there are not many other game in
this genre out there.
There
is no story being told throw the game play. The story informs the game play
because it is the reason that the play is in the situation they are in. There
is no proper interaction with the character because of a lack of a story. None
of the character have a name. Because of a lack of a story there is no
audience. There is a story but you cannot find it from playing the game.
Killing
floor was made using a heavily modified Unreal 2 engine. The gameplay is
managed so that the waves are made fare the start off with the two basic
enemies. Then you get more and more enemies that get harder and harder to kill.
They also get different ability’s like turning invisible, screaming really loud
and many different things instead of hands.
There
are very small details about the character most of them from what they are
wearing and some of the dialogue that is said. Most people who are not from
England will like the way that the people talk. As it is a very typical British
voice. The Characters are cool but there is not much to like but what they look
like. But there is the Pyro from Team Fortress as a character to play as.
The
challenges in the game are the escalating difficulty. The levels do not present
any difference in how the game plays apart from moon base where you can jump
higher. It is just that there is a different lay out to the maps. There are
different type of classes to play as. The class change how well you use
particular weapons. There are lot of different types of weapons from knifes to
rocket launches and flame throwers. The player is engaged because the more
enemies you kill the more money you get so you can go to the shop between
rounds to get body armour, refill ammo and get new guns. The game evolves by
each round getting harder than the last.
I
would say that the target audience is the ages of 16 and above but I think that
if it was to be rated by pegi it would be given an 18 because of the gore and
violence. I would think that the gender would be mainly male as well. The game
would get a big following as it is really good to play with friend
Killing
floor is a PC exclusive as is can only be got from steam. I is just on Steam
but I think that it would work on any plat form. The game would work on any
platform because there are not many buttons that would be used.
I think that the analysis reports above show my under standing of what makes a game successful. Here are the rest of the analysis reports if you wish to read more.
LO 2: Comparing reviews of different media's
In this LO we had to look at the difference between two different types of media that are reviewing the same game. This was a new task for me as I never thought of the differences of different media and when I looked it was a rather big surprise, I never thought that there was such a difference between them.
Magazine review
YouTube Review
The two reviews are very different the first just talks about the good and the second just looks at the bad in the game. The first review spend the first half talking about interviews with Ellen Page (The actress for the main character) and David Cage (The director of the game). In this review there was a very heavy look at the production of the game rather then the game its self. The second review talk about nearly all of the games aspect.
The first review spend the first paragraph just joking and does not really say much about it I didn't get any feel for the review as I could tell if it was making fun of the game are just trying to be funny. As for the other review I can tell what he thinks of the game from the first 20 seconds.
I think that the first review does not spend any time on the game. It talks about the Ellen Page not here character the actress here self and here feeling, thought and experiences. On the other hand the second review talks a lot about the character here journey in the game, personality, relationships and much more. The reviews are the opposites of each others. One hates it and the other doesn't love it but thinks its good but never says why. The other says that why its bad and gives every reason under the sun.
LO 3: Review
The idea behind this LO was to be able to write a review that would be able to be printed in any magazine. I enjoyed this as I like giving my opinion on game and would like to also try reviewing in any media, but I think like before that this proves that I'm able to identify what people like to play and why.
Let me tell you a little Fable
Fable Anniversary is an action, adventure, RPG game that is set in an open world. It is in the conventions action because there are multiple weapons in the game and different types of enemy’s that differ in strength. It is in the conventions of adventure because you can go to most place with in the game after you finish the tutorial. The aspects for the RPG side is that there are many ways to build up your character. There are three different types of character disciplines is the games term for it is strength (That is there term for melee), manna (That is magic) and skill (That is ranged combat and stealth). There is also a karma system in the game to further enhance the RPG aspects.
I would not say there is an age rang for this game as there is such wide group of people who could like it. I suppose you could say it was aimed at a younger audience because of the art style. The game would also be suited to a younger audience as there is a very silly humour to it. But the reason I think that the game is not aimed at this one age group is because there are points in the game where a younger person would not understand and or a bit too dark for them. I do not think there is another game that is like Fable but has such a wide audience. There are game like Skyrim I could compare it to but then I could easily compare it to some like sky landers as well something really out there like Stubs the Zombie Rebel without a Pulse. It is not fitting in to a gap in the market more like filling all the possible audience member it could.
The first challenge on the game are enemies you will have to defeat to continue. The enemies start off with simple insects then go onto bandits and keep changing and getting harder as you prosed. There are also different methods to beating each enemy but they are not needed just help. When you accept a quest you may also take on many boast. Boast are extra challenges that will make you more money if you can complete them are lose money if you cannot. Such as not taking any damage throw out a quest are not losing any one in an escort quest. As you kill enemy’s you will get points to spend upgrading things. The points are split into four different things general points that can be used in any category but then there are blue, red and yellow points each representing points for each skill. Red is strength blue is for will /magic and yellow is for skill, Skill is an odd skill tree to explain as it is for long rang weapons, stealth and attack spend. These colour points are for their skills and no other and can only be obtained by using there type of attack.
The game came out for Xbox 360 and PC. I would not say the game is aimed at one platform more than another because it works well on both and there are no advantages to playing on one particle platform.
The character are relevant to the target audience because most of them will be like able to someone. But the main unnamed character will be liked as you may personal touches to him. But the main character who most people would like I would think is Jack of Blades because of his bad ass appears and personality. He has one of the best back-story in the games. The main character for the game fits in with the conventions because he starts of week but then grow in power and strength until he is the most power full person in the land. The main villain in the games fits in with conventions because he is made to look very power full and by the person you have to overcome and beat to get your prize.
LO 4: Game concept and pitch
This is the last LO for this unit and it consists of making a team and then making a concept for an original game concept. My main contribution was on the development of the the utile player aspects of the game more specific the gameplay mechanics that would make the game stand out. As we all had to make some sort of concept art for the game I made some different types of armour that could be made.
I used a template of an outlined body for the shape of a body then made different designs off of that as one of the major game aspects was that you could make your own faction. so the bottom picture was in my mind like a high end gun for higher and the one above that we a faction based on Japanese samurai.
As a team we made a mood board that consisted of games we had taken inspiration from. The game that I what to emulate was the ascetic and themes of the Fallout franchise.
I gave input in all of the presentation but I focused on the gameplay mechanics.
