I have also draw up a few scene ideas for the locations i will use in the animation.
Monday 26 December 2011
Design ideas
After the post about character design i was testing out ideas for characters that i would put in my game adverts
So with this characters i doodled out opposite i have figured to what alignement of the game they will be. The snake/rolling ball character shall be the player's model and the robot/walking face shall be one of the foe's the player faces. The rolling ball will be the way the powers of the character is used (the 4 elemental powers). I will draw up some more detailed designs of the characters
I have also draw up a few scene ideas for the locations i will use in the animation.
I have also draw up a few scene ideas for the locations i will use in the animation.
Ideas for the magazine advert
I was using photoshop to test out ideas for the magazine advert, this is the first image i have made.
This image took roughly about an hour to make and i feel it has some good and bad points about it. The good points is that it conforms to some of the magazine advert styles as it leaves a enigma to who 'they' are and also to what animal/person those eyes belong to. The destruction on the text plate is meant to draw in attention as well as it asks the question to what did the damage to it. However, the magazine advert seems to look poorly made as the colours and the way it feels seems to be childish and unprofessional.
Improvements i can make: redesign the eyes, adjust the background so it is more interesting and work on the metal plate so it looks more realistic and fits in better with the rest of the picture.
The intended outcome is to have a magazine advert that shows a little bit of information about the game but keeps a question which draws viewers interest into the game. I am not sure i want it to be a character for the magazine advert though, i may switch the design to a place or some item within the game
This image took roughly about an hour to make and i feel it has some good and bad points about it. The good points is that it conforms to some of the magazine advert styles as it leaves a enigma to who 'they' are and also to what animal/person those eyes belong to. The destruction on the text plate is meant to draw in attention as well as it asks the question to what did the damage to it. However, the magazine advert seems to look poorly made as the colours and the way it feels seems to be childish and unprofessional.
Improvements i can make: redesign the eyes, adjust the background so it is more interesting and work on the metal plate so it looks more realistic and fits in better with the rest of the picture.
The intended outcome is to have a magazine advert that shows a little bit of information about the game but keeps a question which draws viewers interest into the game. I am not sure i want it to be a character for the magazine advert though, i may switch the design to a place or some item within the game
The Game i will be advertising
The general idea for the game i will be advertising is as follows, it will feature several aspects that i feel would make a fun game
- Puzzle solving elements
- Fast pace action
- Involving story line
- Good Character design
- Subtle humor
- Unique art style
These are the rough elements i want to show in my TV advertisement, As i do not have to explore the design of the game too deeply i can roughly add a few elements of the game. The general story line is as follows
- Protagonist (you) has the power of 4 elements; air, fire, water and earth.
- Protagonist is looking for a object/reason/person which is held by the enemy/foe of the game
- The game features a combination of puzzle solving, action and a mixture of the two.
The things i want to promote in the magazine advert is the game's feeling and either its character of some other prominent feature of the game, this could be the logo, a foe you face or one a action shot of the game. The game cover will be similar to this in the sense of promoting a certain aspect of the game for the viewer to be drawn into.
Character Developement within video games
Video game characters from the recently released games, from about the 90s and newer, are said to have such an important role that they can almost match the mechanics within the game it self. A game with good character design and characters that are able to thicken and make the plot line of the game better are able to draw in the player and make them want to continue with the story to see how it pans out. Games such as the recently released 'Elder scrolls V: Skryim' has an excellent example of this, this genre of this game is called a Role Playing game and personally i think that Skyrim has done an excellent job of this. With its in depth character customization and deep story line that is filled with sub stories that can be discovered and followed through out the game. Skyrim shows who important character development can be within a RPG game such as itself.
Good characters are important as it helps to add a special feel to the game that makes for its own unique playing style. For example the games 'Ratchet and Clank' and 'Crash bandicoot' are both of similar genres but they play as two completely different games. 'Ratchet and Clank''s characters have a slightly older feel to the way the characters act and react to the environment. They will react to events within the environment to help drive the story line and the player's involvement within the game.
Advertisements of games usually involve the characters of the game as its main advertising point. Good characters help to make good games, that is why i am going to put another post about the character of my game, though i will not be putting much emphasis on it/him/her in the advert.
Good characters are important as it helps to add a special feel to the game that makes for its own unique playing style. For example the games 'Ratchet and Clank' and 'Crash bandicoot' are both of similar genres but they play as two completely different games. 'Ratchet and Clank''s characters have a slightly older feel to the way the characters act and react to the environment. They will react to events within the environment to help drive the story line and the player's involvement within the game.
Advertisements of games usually involve the characters of the game as its main advertising point. Good characters help to make good games, that is why i am going to put another post about the character of my game, though i will not be putting much emphasis on it/him/her in the advert.
functions of magazine ads and tv ads
Magazine adverts
From all the research i have done about magazine adverts i can now summarize the main points of what the functions of magazine adverts are
- To attract attention to the game's release
- To show a slight insight into the game's story and genre
- To help boost hype for the game's release
TV adverts
TV adverts seem to have a similar purpose to that of magazine adverts, however they have more flexibility for what they can show within the time slot. TV adverts' functionality whilst being very similar to Magazine adverts the have a few extra points which they can play about with to heighten certain aspects of their advert. For instance a TV advert can have a focus on the game's narrative so that it will help to introduce the viewer to the game's story line and try and hook them by a story focused approach.
TV advert costs
TV advert costs are based around prices per adult view. Most channels will trade on a discount off ITV's price each month, which averages at £6.36 per thousand adult viewers.
TV adverts are also measured in 'impacts', impacts(your advert) are placed in the spots (ad breaks) and are usually 30 seconds long. The number of spots that you will get for your ad breaks depends on the size of the channel and how many impacts each spot delivers on average
ITV example
ITV's £250,000 asking price for a 30 second slot during the 2010 series of Britain's Got Talent is currently the most expensive advertising slot on television
TV advert conventions
Length: 10-30 seconds
Selling point clearly shown
Product shown clearly
Features the product in a good light
TV advert costs
TV advert costs are based around prices per adult view. Most channels will trade on a discount off ITV's price each month, which averages at £6.36 per thousand adult viewers.
TV adverts are also measured in 'impacts', impacts(your advert) are placed in the spots (ad breaks) and are usually 30 seconds long. The number of spots that you will get for your ad breaks depends on the size of the channel and how many impacts each spot delivers on average
ITV example
ITV's £250,000 asking price for a 30 second slot during the 2010 series of Britain's Got Talent is currently the most expensive advertising slot on television
TV advert conventions
Length: 10-30 seconds
Selling point clearly shown
Product shown clearly
Features the product in a good light
Saturday 24 December 2011
Context research into game covers, mag ads and tv ads
Game covers, magazine adverts and TV adverts all have specific places they must be shown. This is for a reason, mainly because of the audience that will view it and that it will increase the effectiveness of the adverts. For adverts related to me, game adverts, my theory is that they will be in/on game, tech, multimedia or wide national media artifacts.
Magazine advert placement, after viewing the results of my questionnaire i have decided that i would publish the magazine advert into magazines like Wired and Geek
These magazine types will be a better place for me to publish the advert as the audience will be more aware of types of games and will show a interest into the product.
The TV advert will be put across onto ITV channels and onto Youtube, this is because of the popularity of both companies and the viewer numbers they have on their services. ITV will help to possibly draw in sections of the market overlooked in the targeting of the demographic. Youtube allows for adverts to be placed on related videos and also to have the front page of Youtube taken over by a company's product advertisements.
The placement for the retail game copy will be in stores like gamestop and game, these big name high street shops are well populated with open minded gamers who would show a avid interest in the product
The digital distributions side of the product will allow for the TV advert and the game cover to work together on the game's page. The digital distribution company that i will use will be Valve and its Steam software. Valve can also provide the choice of borrowed interest to be used from its products auidences to the game's release. For example; before the game is released (as with retail copies) a pre-order bonus can be applied to customers for bonuses within the game; custom game features, soundtrack of the game or artwork to be sent to the customer. Another feature valve has done is that with customers purchasing or pre-ordering a product they will receive items for one of their most popular games (TeamFortress 2), this is a widely used tactic which sky rockets the game's release.
Magazine advert placement, after viewing the results of my questionnaire i have decided that i would publish the magazine advert into magazines like Wired and Geek
These magazine types will be a better place for me to publish the advert as the audience will be more aware of types of games and will show a interest into the product.
The TV advert will be put across onto ITV channels and onto Youtube, this is because of the popularity of both companies and the viewer numbers they have on their services. ITV will help to possibly draw in sections of the market overlooked in the targeting of the demographic. Youtube allows for adverts to be placed on related videos and also to have the front page of Youtube taken over by a company's product advertisements.
The placement for the retail game copy will be in stores like gamestop and game, these big name high street shops are well populated with open minded gamers who would show a avid interest in the product
The digital distributions side of the product will allow for the TV advert and the game cover to work together on the game's page. The digital distribution company that i will use will be Valve and its Steam software. Valve can also provide the choice of borrowed interest to be used from its products auidences to the game's release. For example; before the game is released (as with retail copies) a pre-order bonus can be applied to customers for bonuses within the game; custom game features, soundtrack of the game or artwork to be sent to the customer. Another feature valve has done is that with customers purchasing or pre-ordering a product they will receive items for one of their most popular games (TeamFortress 2), this is a widely used tactic which sky rockets the game's release.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)