Final Evaluation, Illustrative Synopsis

This post is an overall sum up of the creative diary/blog I have been keeping and it is time to say farewell folks. This will be a shot summary of the project I have created and hopefully it will be short, sharp and punchy for you all to remember me by, who knows I may start up another blog....maybe. Right onto business, enjoy!

Main Character

The main character I have created is a female protagonist called Imelda and in the game Imelda will be in two different states one being young and the other being an older version of herself. The younger version of Imelda is the main version of her but the older version is her different reality state, this being her powered version. I believe when players play as her younger version they will connect with her due to her emotional state being fragile but players will enjoy feeling powered whilst playing in her adult form. Below is my concept art pieces for her younger and older versions, as well as the reference images I have used.

(Sketches of Young Imelda) 

                                           (Reference material to how I want young Imelda to look like)

                                                                                   (Sketches of adult Imelda)

        

                                                         (Reference material to how I want adult Imelda to look like)

The Primary Antagonist

As I have mentioned in previous posts before this one, Faded will include a wide cast of antagonists but will feature a main villain being Imelda's father. This development comes about once Imelda travels through the dark portals which is an alternative reality to real life and is very dark compared to our reality. In this reality her father has been transformed into a villain who is obsessed with his daughter baring marks on his body because of the days he has went without seeing her. Throughout the game he is only known as "father" giving him a sense of mystery about him but he wishes to be with his daughter forever.....in death. Below is a screenshot of the main antagonist in the game, Imelda's father.        

Stealth Gameplay

Although I have touched on the gameplay elements in posts before, I will focus more on the stealth aspect of the gameplay as my client needs to see this area. The stealth element takes place in both realities (real world, young and fantasy, adult) more so in the young reality however, because Imelda throughout this reality is young and powerless to the monsters around her so she has to be vigilant in what she does. Should players be spotted the game won't be as harsh to shut down, but rather will make these areas difficult to explore so it is best sticking to the stealth element when possible. 

Reward for the Player

Once players have completed the game they will have the option to go back and do things differently than what they did in their first playthrough. This is included in the game because there are multiple endings these being a good, bad and neutral ending based on the players choices throughout the story mode. There are also additional rewards for the player to discover. For example the player will be able to collect hidden collectibles in the game, these being proper facts on some of the fairy tale inspirations which can be found in the game. Doing this will hopefully make players explore and go back to keep playing the game.

Hack and Slash Style

Another core element and requirement of the game Faded will be is that it is to have a hack and slash style element. This is mainly seen throughout the fantasy worlds of the game and will be used when Imelda has her weapons as well as mystic powers at her disposal. Imelda will carry various weapons enabling her to defeat the masses of enemies which plague these said fantasy world Imelda will travel to. There will be many enemies on screen therefore the fast paced style of the hack and slash element is core to these parts of the game.

Tag Line

The tag line or description of the game is as follows: Embark on a dark grueling quest to save realty from becoming the work of fiction, help Imelda discover what is real and what isn't. Featuring gameplay elements of stealth, horror, action and hack and slash this is one game not to be missed. Instant Buy! This game will hopefully be released on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 platforms respectively. 

I Survived My Pitch!

Welcome back folks and I'm pleased to announce my gaming idea and particular character idea of Imelda has been somewhat of a success. Now I'm not getting big headed or anything and usually I hate public speaking and all the rest of it but I believe my pitch was strong despite a few, maybe, confidence hiccups. These hiccups just being make eye contact constantly, be dynamic in posture and other things but nothing real big. Upon my own reflection I would have liked to be more enthusiastic or excited but maybe the nerves got me there, but yours truly will work on this.....I'm only human of course :) Anyways, my client believe I was strong overall but did point out just to work on my confidence a bit more but other than that they were pleased with what I had.

So there you have it folks my pitch is complete with the next post being final evaluation of the full project itself. First time blogging is what this got me into, truth be told.....I'm going to miss it. Thanks guys see you next time in the final post. Tissues at the ready then, plus I hope you all have enjoyed my quirky sense of humour and not made you cringe at anything, I do try and make it all fun. Thanks again and see you in the next post.  

Additional Information on Faded - Inspirations, Sounds, Antagonists and Settings.

This post will provide additional information to you on where I got my inspirations from coming up with such a character (Imelda) and game play elements for Faded (the game itself). I will also detail some sound assets I would like to hear in the game, antagonists the player will face and settings the player may explore. He we go then:

Sound

The game will have many sounds within it, this mainly being the use of dialogue as well as atmospheric background music to suit the tone of the level that is being played out. There will also be numerous sound effects to ranging from weapon noises to spell casting effects.

Settings

I have envisioned for there to be many settings in the game based upon fairy tales but with a dark twist adding a horror element to the game. There will be sections in some of these settings where there will be many enemies to overcome hence the hack and slash theme, but I will also include sneaky or quiet sections from where the player must be silent exploring some of these settings, giving the game a stealth element of gameplay too. Below are three images showing some reference material I would like for some of the settings to be represented by.

Gameplay 

As mentioned previously in posts before this one, Faded will have a mixture of gaming genre elements found within it but the two defining elements will be of a hack and slash style element as well as stealth/horror gameplay aspects. This will be achieved in the game because players will have to slay many enemies making it a core hack and slash game, but there will also be parts where the player will need to think and out maneuver enemies in a stealth manner. Failure to comply with these gameplay elements may result in difficult situations for the player to face or they may possibly die in the game.

Antagonists

Although I was asked to just create one character a game needs a cast of characters and usually in the form of antagonists. Antagonists are the big bad bosses you face but are usually following orders from a primary antagonist. The main antagonist Imelda must face is her own father but in a twisted alternative form of his once loving self. All of the other supporting antagonists I had a visualisation of them being taken form a fairy tale but with a dark twist added to them. Below is a collection of images I had gathered wanting to portray the enemies and twisted characters Imelda must face on her dark quest. There are 4 antagonists being supporting boss characters, with the primary antagonist being the final boss, Imelda's father from whom can be seen in the middle of the images I have gathered.     

Inspirations

I got much inspiration from my fascination on all things horror and I have always looked upon works for younger audiences but thinking how I could apply my own take on them, usually being a horror element being applied. This was the ground work form which I have built this whole project upon with other inspirations being documenting in this blog too. 

Phew! If your still awake this concludes this post as I now will pitch my idea to the client and the next post will be my self assessment/evaluation on how it went. Nervous much? See you all later. 

The Unique Selling Point (USP) of the Project. (Game & Character)

This post will give an insight into what I think players will be sold upon when buying this game and the appeal of Imelda to them. Enjoy!

Unique Selling Points

¨The main selling point of the game and character (Imelda) is choices made in the fictional world will have an impact in the real world. This gives a sense of responsibility to the player in which the choices they make will effect the character and surrounding worlds around them.

¨The game will have multiple endings based on players decisions making the game have replay value.    

Faded - Story Synopsis

Hello, hello and welcome back to another post of mine describing the story of the game from which my gaming character will star in. The game I have titled Faded and also I will touched a bit more on the character of Imelda too when explaining the story of Faded. I do mention Imelda is very much still the focus of this whole project but did need to come up with a game name to put my character into. Enjoy!

Story Synopsis (Faded) 

Imelda (protagonist) has a short backstory in which her mother died during child birth, resulting in her going to live in an orphanage because her father was unable to look after her alone. Imelda took refuge in fictional fairy tales/stories seeing these characters as family. The game’s story is rather dark in the sense portals start appearing over the orphanage, with Imelda being transferred to fictional fairy tale lands but with a dark re-imagining. In these lands Imelda’s orphanage figure heads have been transformed into villainous fictional characters. It is up to Imelda to stop them coming into the real world, with anytime Imelda goes into these lands she ages 15 years older as well as becoming a witch excelling in mystic arts. The main antagonist is a dark version of her father taking the persona of the big bad wolf from the red riding hood fairy tale. 

This concludes this post on the game which is now named Faded, the next post will explain what I believe is the unique selling point of Faded and my character Imelda. Catch you lot there then, thanks for reading!

                  

Imelda Visualisations

So we now know I'm creating a female character, Imelda, for Shiny Money Entertainment and hopefully she will be the next big gaming icon. In the post before this I gave you a bio on my character and this post will look at my concept drawings I have done myself for this character. Please do note, there are two version of this character one being a young state and the other an older state, because the game sees you advance through time with Imelda transforming respectively. I have also used existing reference images in her bio post as to what I would really like her to appear like, because these concept pieces I drew.......well, I'm no artist folks but I gave it my best shot. Enjoy my sketches and try not to hide behind whatever is close by.

Imelda (Young Version, Sketches) 

Above I have drew three sketches of a young visulaisation I have of Imelda as to what I would like her to appear like in the the game she will star in. I much like my far left sketch of her being in the elegant dress seeing it kind of takes inspiration from the appearance of Alice from the Wonderland fictional universe from which Lewis Carroll created. My second favorite sketch would be the far right image giving Imelda a school girl like appearance, this would give the impression to players she is somewhat still very young and would be scared of the dark themes scene at this age until she transforms into her adult state.   

Imelda (Adult Version, Sketches) 

From the image above these are my concept pieces for Imelda's adult state in the game whenever she transforms into her witch persona. I like my far left drawing as it has a mystic edge feel to it but did not like my far right image sketch because the appearance of her came across to me as being too "normal" for her persona in this state. 

I hope you have enjoyed these sketches and that your eyes have not popped out of your head, my next post will be describing the back story of the game and more on Imelda. Join me then, thanks.  

Meet Imelda

Well folks, I am delighted to announce I have came up with my gaming character idea and I have created her visually too in the form of reference and concept materials. The character I have made is called Imelda and she will star in a videogame with hack and slash, horror, stealth and adventure elements this fulfilling my client's Shiny Money Entertainment's needs. I took inspiration from various games during my researching stages (posts prior to this one) and jotting down ideas in my spare time too. So without further ado I give you Imelda's Bio. I would also like to mention the story involves Imelda travelling through time/portals hence why there is two profiles for her, one being a young child profile and the next being her adult witch state, you can see some of my reference material as to how I would like Imelda to appear as in her young and adult states. These images are from existing games with the source being provided at the end of this post. I will put up my own concepts in another post. Enjoy!

Imelda (Real World, Young Version) (Bio)

¨Age: 15 yrs old

¨Interested in: Fictional Fairy Tales, Rhymes and other fantasy materials.

¨Studies at the Orphanage from which she entered at a young age, after the passing of her mother.

¨Appearance: In the real world she is often seen as wearing a small elegant dress.

¨Motivation: To stop other world (Fantasy Creations) beings from crossing over into the real world.

¨In the real world Imelda is defenseless and has no real weapons at her disposal.

¨Traits: Shy, good at problem solving, easily scared, forgiving towards others. 

Imelda (Fantasy World, Adult Version) (Bio)

¨Age: 30 years old.

¨Excels in mystic arts, magic and witchcraft.

¨Apart from her mystic skills Imelda’s weapon of choice is a sword in which she uses to hack multiple enemies at once.

¨Motivation: To seal of the portals/gateways  from the fictional lands to the real world. Another motivation of Imelda’s in this world is to free the innocent souls from which they have been transformed into dark fictional characters .

¨Traits: Expert in witchcraft, confident, takes no prisoners attitude, will do whatever possible to see her meet her goals.  

This concludes Imelda's Bio and please do note there are two versions of my character because the plot involves this character traveling through mystic and dark fairy tale fantasy like worlds in conjunction with the games story and gameplay elements. These transitions take place once the player goes through a portal in the game from young Imelda to adult Imelda, advancing her age 15 years older to her younger self. 

Ref Image Source of Young Imelda Image: http://media.pcgamer.com/files/2011/08/Bioshock-Infinite-Elizabeth.jpg
Ref Image Source of Adult Imelda Image: http://www.creativeuncut.com/gallery-13/art/bayo-bayonetta-bust.jpg

Nice Research...Where Is My Evidence?

This is a short and sweet post just showing you, my followers, as to what materials aided/helped me in looking at character research. These are books I own in my own possession and are very good reads if I do say so myself but let us not get sidetracked. The Sonic the Hedgehog book provided me an insight into how this iconic character was created, and I have certainly looked at the process SEGA took to undertake my task of creating the next big videogame icon for Shiny Money Entertainment.

Next I looked at book entitled 1001 Videogames You Must Play Before You Die helping me expand my knowledge of more gaming characters and the games themselves. What was also very good when reading this book is I have played most of the games mentioned, lets just hope I get to play more games before I.....sorry for getting sidetracked there, good book and read with it brimming with knowledge too.

Then to aid me a little step further, I looked at both gaming Guinness World Records books doing so, helped me understand the successful videogame characters currently as well as the ground breaking games which have been made, these starring more characters in these games mentioned in the book too.

Finally, I looked at a completely different book altogether this being a Marvel Comics Character Guide but believe it or not this also helped me out greatly. My motive for such madness was to also research character creation in general, not only limiting myself to games but broaden how other characters were created and what makes them unique. I have gathered all of my research together now and will apply this to creating my own videogame character and videogame too. Because you can't just have a character with no game to put them in now can we, nope. I'll catch you all in the next post and thanks ever so much as always for taking the time to read this. :)          

Videogame Characters - Money Talks (Research)

This next post will explain briefly on another key and core element in which videogame creators know their character has been successful or not. It is all fine and well if you come up with the greatest videogame character of all time having all the unique features a character should have, BUT should the game from which this character is found in does not sell well, then ultimately the character is a failure along with the game. There have been many instances were characters have been created but amounted to nothing due to the sales of the game from which they are found in, resulting in these characters never to get a second chance, because a games developer would not take the risk of producing a sequel if the first game did not sell well leaving the character to become under developed and forgotten about.

Looking at successful videogame characters today such as Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, Solid Snake, Lara Croft and others, all of the games from which these characters can be found in have constantly had sales of over a million units for most of their games. This shows us with a game which sells over a million units once or perhaps constantly if it is a franchise, the developers see two things mainly being the game is a success and there is interest in the character they have created among players. Once the developers see such good results, the natural course of action they take is to produce a second and third game expanding on the character as well as features of the original game, this could then result in a franchise being created.

It is also important to mention should developers hit the jackpot so to speak with a character they have created, then it is possible this successful gaming character may crop up into other forms of media and may even have their own merchandise based upon the character themselves. Such merchandise may include: schoolbags, pencil cases, cups, teddy bears, clothing, etc. The character may also explore forms of other media other than gaming, perhaps getting their own TV show or a movie based upon the game they are seen in with the characters of the game starring in this medium too. Below are some images showing existing merchandise for existing gaming characters these being a Mario themed schoolbag, Sonic the Hedgehog clothing and a Link collectible figurine from which this character stars in The Legend of Zelda series.

Enjoy the pictures folks and I be seeing you in the next post. Remember the importance of this post is once developers know they are onto a winner with a character they will exploit their creation to make as much money as possible. Money Talks! ;-)

            

Ref Image Source (1) Wario with money (top image): http://hyperallergic.com/24122/nea-video-games-art/

Ref Image Source (2) Sonic T-shirt: http://www.choozen.co.uk/ts-hedgehog~children-s-clothes,6030000.html

Ref Image Source (3) Super Mario Bag: http://www.zimbio.com/Super+Mario+Brothers/articles/0iCefrIjbAV/Small+Backpack+Nintendo+Super+Mario+School 

Ref Image Source (4) Link Figure: http://www.videogamesgoodies.com/zelda-phantom-hourglass-figurine-link-p-649.html

Videogame Characters - Getting The ICONIC Ingredient. (Research)

This next post will be looking at already existing videogame characters which have made their mark in the games industry with me hoping to gain inspiration from them as well as looking at their "uniqueness" of how they have stood the test of time. From looking at various sources of what a videogame character should be like or consist of, the following important elements kept coming up during my research which were they should have: a unique appearance, emotional connection with the player and a good back story or storyline to their game if possible.

Some videogame characters which have stood the test of time are Lara Croft (Tomb Raider Franchise), Mario (Super Mario Franchise), Solid Snake (Metal Gear Solid Franchise), Sam Fisher (Splinter Cell Franchise), Crash Bandicoot (Crash Bandicoot Franchise), Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedehog Franchise) and many others. Some may be recognised solely because of their appearance, others because of their story lines or emotional connection to the player. For example, if someone were to say to you describe the character Super Mario or Mario (whatever name you prefer) it is more than likely you would respond by mentioning red cap, plumber and or moustache to describe this character. This is because these are Mario's defining characteristics and have made him identifiable over the years, all iconic characters would have their own defining characteristics or appearance elements.

Depending on the nature of the videogame or audience the character is directed towards most of them will have a strong back story as to who they are. This can be seen as the creators developing the emotional connection between this fictional/virtual character to the real life player. The back stories of characters nowadays usually include some form of hurt feeling, because this makes the player instantly feel sorry for the character depending on the circumstances being portrayed of that character. 

Image Ref:https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/295379_373226746031576_1041627769_n.jpg

Progress - Where To Now? What Happens Now?

This post is going to be short and sweet just giving you an idea as to where I am with creating my iconic videogame character for Shiny Money Entertainment. After having various talks with industry figureheads particular Joel Simon from Flickerpix, seeing industry standard work in the form of William Simpson's concept pieces and characater research which will be posted soon, I now feel ready to start creating my iconic videogame character. I will pitch my idea to the client and hopefully they will like what they see and hear. First things first though, I will post my research for existing videogame characters in general before diving straight in. Enjoy and thanks for reading folks!

Image Smiley Ref:http://thekop.liverpoolfc.com/_3622745-3d-render-of-an-toon-smileyjpg/photo/18705765/173471.html

More Wisdom - Meeting Joel Simon From Flickerpix

Coming off the high and excitement which was having the opportunity to see some of concept artist William Simpson's work, I was able to get another opportunity today which was meeting in person Joel Simon. Indeed, I came into college class just going about my daily routine (working ever so hard of course) until the class was informed Joel Simon would be coming in to give us a small talk on the industry. The purpose of the talk was to give me and the class a more detailed insight into the creative sector of animation, as well as giving us some guidance on how we can approach creating the iconic videogame character which Shiny Money Entertainment requires.

If you don't know who Joel Simon is let me explain and give you a brief profile on who he is. Joel Simon is founder of Flickerpix based in Holywood, Northern Ireland whom specialise in the animation craft within the creatitive industries. Flickerpix have worked on mainly animation shorts for children but also have worked on comedic materials for adults using clay animation techniques known as Claymation. Since being founded Flickerpix have won many awards based on their expertise again with animation. Joel Simon stated he was unemployed for quite sometime but had the idea of bringing this unique craft which is animation to Northern Ireland, because Northern Ireland doesn't have such a company like Flickerpix until now.

The talk Joel Simon gave was quite inspirational to me because he is proof nothing is impossible, all you have to do is to be realistic and focus on what you do. It is also worth mentioning, Joel Simon presented some of his clay models from  which he used on some of his anmation projects during his talk, giving me a better understanding of the hard work which goes into some of these projects. If all of this is nonsense to you up until now let me summarise the talk Joel Simon gave and my understanding of it: Nothing Is Impossible! :-) Catch you all later then.

Flickerpix Logo Image Ref: http://www.flickerpix.com/

A Picture Paints A Thousand Words (William Simpson Exhibition)

Before I start I would like to sincerely apologise for me not getting you guys up to date constantly but I have been very busy behind the scenes researching materials for this project I am faced with, so it isn't all doom and gloom. With that out of the way let me start head on with what this next entry is about, although I touched briefly on it in the last entry, I was able to meet an industry figure head as well as having the opportunity to go and see some of the works done by comic artist William Simpson. If your looking at this saying who is William Simpson either feel ashamed or let me explain briefly who this great guy William Simpson is.

William Simpson is from Northern Ireland and is notably recognised in the creative sectors as a comics artist having done artwork on many mainstream standout comics. Although William Simpson is seen as a comics artist by many William Simpson has now more recently provided his artistic skills to the television and film industries respectively. Me being a HUGE comic buff it must be said I admire his works in the comics industry. His comic works have included working for DC Comics (Batman), Vertigo Comics which is a DC Comics imprint (John Constantine) and AD 2000 (Judge Dredd) to name a few. William Simpson has also now applied his artistic skills to television and film but more recently is recognised for doing artwork on the hit TV series known as Game of Thrones.

I must admit and hang my head in shame I don't watch Game of Thrones but just know those words really, though I do know it is a very popular series and has been filmed in Northern Ireland at parts. Making me feel happy because nothing ever this exciting rarely happens here but hopefully more stuff like this takes off here in Northern Ireland.

Back on topic then, so me and my college class had the opportunity to go and maybe not see the man himself, William Simpson, but we were treated to an art exhibition of his Game of Thrones work. This was really important to me because it will give me an insight as to what concept approach I should take whilst developing my new iconic gaming character for Shiny Money Entertainment. I managed to be snappy happy with my camera taking the following photos from the exhibit at the Odyssey W5 building in Belfast they can be seen below, showing his artwork for chracters and storyboards for Game of Thrones as well as other works. Catch you all later in the next blog post then and thanks for reading.

        

          

Ref Source for Introduction Image: http://www.w5online.co.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/item/14/the-art-of-william-simpson/

Progress Update

Bringing you a quick update on my current project which if you can remember way back was to create a new iconic video game character for my client and game company Shiny Money, which I can say is still ongoing. The character I do create will be (hopefully) the next big icon, gamers will care about the character, Shiny Money's official company mascot and for them to star in many games. So what is taking me so long I hear you cry? Well before jumping in I had to research the games industry so I could get my bearings but now most of that is done I'm now able to look into video game character development which I'll be making blogs about, after all this is the whole purpose of this full blog. I do have a few ideas in mind and will tailor it to the needs of Shiny Money, they have also said the game in which my character will be portrayed in will be of a hack and slash genre themed game but the character needs to be likable to all ages who play the game, this is no easy task folks considering characters are usually all serious, bad, don't give a toss attitude in these types of games but will do my best. So there you have it a small update on what I have been doing so I AM NOT TWIDDLING MY THUMBS! One piece of info, I'll be soon meeting an industry figure to further help me in my character development idea and just really to gain inspiration from him, keep your eyes peeled on the blog then to see how the visit goes. Until next time and thanks for reading.

Image Ref: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ0q4aHupVsTbIkFfocWtabJvXEICVkNnDVEKj3MQIE032LwUEz0f_sk41EMQ18gpFEQMaeQKPe1cira_IrbxXd0K7jmv-CohFbSZRFTotQMKqQe4k8Sc6_JCXABFChID0J-U7ytFzUSM/s1600/update.jpg       

Multitasking Game Companies (Developers & Publishers)

Many video game companies in the industry have more than one role/job to fulfill especially if we are talking about the mega or global companies. This shows us companies just don't limit themselves to one particular role whether this is being a games developer or a games publisher, but rather companies sometimes do both. These roles of either a developer or a publisher are the industry's two most important jobs without them games wouldn't be made/created or wouldn't get the green light to be sold in shops.

We all know the job of a games developer, right? Well I'll be quick then explaining just what this role is should one be completely new reading this. The game developer role sees the creation and technical side of making games, for an example the programming elements in a game of a door opening or an action in the game taking place will be triggered due to the programmings putting these events in place, a publisher does not concern itself with such things. A game developer are the ones (company) who comes up with the idea but before any work begins on the project they must first find funding this is where publishers come into the mix.

A game publisher's role is to provide funding and marketing to a particular game that has been created by the developers who approached the publisher. A publisher handles all the business elements of a game project and rarely gets into the technical side as this is left for the developers to do. Publishers are often seen as the "suits" within the industry with some publishers having a "cut throat" attitude in the industry. Publishers decide whether a game gets made based on the pitch from the developers and if all goes well publishers will make sure the game is distributed to shops once the project has been finished.

Then there are companies who do both jobs as developer and publish their own games this usually involves such as Capcom who develop Resident Evil games as well as publish them, however recently Capcom have been handing developer duties to other companies to help them with their workload. Nintendo are another example of a company who not only makes hardware but develop and publish their own games too as all of the Mario games have been done like this. In fact Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft are guilty of doing triple work as they make game platforms, develop their own games and publish their own or others games too. 

Well I hope you enjoyed this insight on the differences between a publisher and a games developer but they all have one thing on common which is getting the games into our grubby hands :-) I also hope this post will be the last on the business jargon of the industry and we get onto the fun things such as looking at game characters very soon. Thanks for reading, time and your support........I shall see you next time then!

P.S Sorry but no flashy graphics/pictures for this post folks ;-/    

Keep Your Enemies Closer (Competition Within the Industry)

This next post will describe what competition is like between the big game companies we discussed last time.  Us gamers tend to make a big mistake in which we assume all the games industry is about is playing games, games and more games, but in fact it isn't as straight forward as that. We know this because of the earlier posts I have made, but we seem to forget there is a huge aspect of business involved in the games industry in which the gamers seem to forget. The main reason why gamers forget about the business aspect side of the industry is because all we care about is playing the games and rightfully so. So I promise or hope this post on competition between companies will be short and not as painful as you might think, plus hopefully you will learn something from it too.

Every game company whether it is a game developer or publisher will always have competition, due to there being so many companies wanting the sales and attention of gamers. There are other key things companies will strive for when going up against each other but as stated it is mainly the factors of who has the most sales and the biggest fan base of gamers. Competition between companies can be either be "clean" where there is no abuse given to one another i.e. bad mouthing off at the enemy's product on social media sites, or can be "dirty" where companies may start a verbal war with one another about who is best.

Usually it is the world wide game companies and those who think they've made their mark in the industry to start pointing the finger at their competition, whereas the smaller companies are aware of their competition but don't make a big deal about who is better, they just have a tendency to deliver the games and make their fans happy. It is also not a rare occurrence to see a company pour lots of money into a marketing campaign just to cheese of their competition, as this is widely done in the games entertainment sector. The perpetrators of such campaigns are usually link to the companies who have a games console in the market with one probably saying they are the best and most powerful gaming machine in the market.

A great example of heated competition between two game companies and at this particular time two console manufacturers would be SEGA's constant bashing of Nintendo during the 80s and 90s. When I write this hopefully some of you remember this or even lived through it. Basically, it was about SEGA saying they had the best console out which was the Sega Genesis in comparison to Nintendo's clunky old 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), plus that was SEGA's words not mine on Nintendo's NES. SEGA would have stated in their television commercials they do what Nintendo don't which was often seen as Nintendon't on their ads. Anyway, this shows us just how vicious competition can be between two game companies, below is some materials of the famous SEGA vs Nintendo competition marketing campaign.

 
Hopefully now you realize the companies within the games industry don't hold hands or sing Ring Around the Rosie with one another but instead fight it out for the very last gamer to follow them. So this concludes this post with only one or two more posts to go on the business speak or terms of understanding the games industry, then we'll go head in on characters in the games industry. Thank you for reading, your time, support and I hope your enjoying this blog as much as I am, until next time then.

Image (1) Cross hairs, Ref: http://trinketsandtees.com/webpics/crosshairs.jpg
Image (2) SEGA does what Nintendon't, Ref: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/377390/blog/sega-does-what-nintendont-and-other-trolling-game-ads/?page=2#top_banner
Video from YouTube URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7nsBoqJ6s8 

The Puppets and The Masters (Marketing in the Industry)

Well known game companies (even your favourite) had to start somewhere and have established their name through many methods. There is no point in claiming that a certain company or your own company is the best in the world if no one has heard of them, because it is through publicity companies can establish themselves, this is where those methods come into play. These methods are marketing strategies the company will use so they can spread awareness of themselves to the public, once the public knows about the company they will tell others about them (this is the old word of mouth technique right there), with a good game catalogue and publicity this is how big game companies establish themselves.

Just like the title of this post, a company is the master with the marketing strategies at their disposal being the puppets,due to the companies being able to manipulate the strategies anyway they see fit for their own personal gain. Game companies are most likely to use conventions (public meetings) to showcase themselves, posters & leaflets, viral marketing campaigns, the games they make, magazines, social media and others all in the effort to make a name for themselves. Below is a small image showing some of the mentioned strategies and others when I was studying this topic in my college.

With that all pointed out this concludes our look into how companies make a name for themselves as well as getting themselves known in the industry. The next post will look at competition between companies in the industry so bring your sword and shield because it might get messy. Finally thank you for reading this, your time and support, until next time.

Ref of puppet image: http://www.streetsofmadison.com/2010/04/puppet-politics.html

The Power Behind The Games - Game Platforms

This next post will serve as a quick brush up on what a gaming platform is, just like we had a quick recap on what a genre is in an earlier post. Your probably wondering at this minute why is he taking the time to explain what a gaming platform is, after all it is the 21st century and we all know what a gaming platform is, right? Again this post will be short and sweet then for all the experienced folk but those who need to brush up on their knowledge, listen up.

The origins of video games can be dated back to the late 1940s but with the first recognisable home console being introduced into the industry in 1972. This console was known as the Magnavox Odyssey developed by Ralph Baer, since then there have been many consoles created, below is a picture of the Magnavox Odyssey.

In conjunction with the above information, gaming platforms are needed to run video games off making them playable to the users. Without these platforms you would be able to buy games but not play them, which is pointless really. Gaming platforms can cover home consoles, handheld devices (Nintendo DS, Playstation Vita, etc) and mobile devices (iPhone & tablets). Over time these gaming platforms have become very advanced due to technical advancements and hardware improvements. Such advancements with these platforms have allowed games today to currently achieve life-like visuals compared to what the hardware was like back in the 1980s and 1990s, with these platforms still currently advancing due to that technology is always evolving. Below is a screenshot showing the graphical improvements of games particularly character visuals overtime due to the advancement of the hardware/platforms and game engines they have been running off. (Note the image below of the visual evolution of the video game character Lara Croft only goes so far and not to the most recent games, but again it gives a brief insight of how graphics have changed in games). 

This concludes the post and information on gaming platforms with my next posts showing how companies utilises marketing strategies for their games and overall public company image. Finally let me thank you all for reading, your support and time. Phew, until next time then.

Ref Image Source (1) Platforms: httpwww.goxmg.comwp-contentuploads201112history-of-gaming.jpg 

Ref Image Source (2) Magnavox Odyssey: http://www.pong-story.com/odyssey.htm 

Ref Image Source (3) Tomb Raider: http://laracroft.wikia.com/wiki/Lara_Croft

Video Games Have Identities - Genres

The word genre can most always be found in any entertainment industry today and helps people like you and I identify immediately the themes of what we are watching, playing and or reading. Genres spread across books such as: fiction, non-fiction, thriller, horror, etc. Within the movie and television industry you can find mostly the same genres appearing there too i.e. horror, fantasy, Sci-Fi, action, etc. Finally video games have genres  unique to them, some of which are: puzzle, first person shooter (FPS), platforming, real-time strategy (RTS), adventure, etc. By identifying a game's genre the player will get a rough idea of what themes will be in the game, how it could play out (structure), etc. In fact, a particular genre a game has can be the deciding factor what the target audience will be like, this is mainly down to people's personal tastes. For example I like games that are horror orientated, however you might like games that consist of platforming elements and don't like horror stuff. From this we can see I am more likely to buy the horror game than one who isn't into horror therefore the genre a game has plays an important role. Until next time and thanks for reading :)

Image Ref Source: The above image was photo edited by me consisting of image (1) genres outside image from: http://www.rfgeneration.com/news/genre/ and image (2) joypad from: http://www.chicagonow.com/tween-us/2012/05/not-all-video-games-are-bad-for-tweens-some-games-encourage-positive-behavior/      

Shiny Money.......WHO!?

So by now your probably wondering just who is the games company known as Shiny Money Entertainment, well this next blog post will act as a profile detailing them. Shiny Money Entertainment was first established in 1998 making their mark on the games industry form the get go, since then they have expanded to becoming a global independent game development company with a whole host of great games to their catalogue of games made. Shiny Money Entertainment's games are not limited to just one gaming genre but rather a mixture of many different genre elements within their games. Some of the games they have made have been adventure, puzzle and role playing genre based games including many others too. They have also had games released on many gaming hardware platforms such as home consoles, PC, mobile devices and handheld gaming platforms too.

I hope now you have a better understanding of Shiny Money Entertainment and why the task of them giving me an opportunity of creating the next big gaming character/icon is a very important job for me to undertake. Shiny Money Entertainment also acts as my client for this task of creating the character for them, after all it was them who approached me about such an opportunity. Until the next time and thanks for reading.

(Image Ref Source: http://www.clker.com/clipart-money-bag.html) 

Welcome Aboard (About Majestic Farms)

My name is Gareth Young and I have created this blog entitled "Majestic Farms" to document my creation of  the next big video game icon (character) for Shiny Money Entertainment, hopefully. I will document my various ideas, stages, concepts, reasearch, updates and any other important things that will be relevant to the task. I will make these up dates regulary and keep you all informed of what is going on here at Majestic, thanks for reading this. :-)