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