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