Our Completed Game Cover

We have now completed our game cover for the Best Sellers Collection. I will also annotate our game cover explaining why we included certain features.

The Completed Game Cover:

Annotations:

• The Title "Best Sellers Collection" - From looking at the game covers we researched, we found that most game titles are positioned in the top centre, so we did this to. The font we used is also a block font that is quit eye catching and we felt that it is important for the title to stand out.

• We also added Xbox One around the game cover to give our a game a platform. We also felt it made the cover more realistic. It also improved the appearance of the cover overall giving it that element of professionalism.

• We also included an age rating appropriate to the type of games we are including. This is a feature that is on every game cover, so we knew we had to include it in ours. Also it's a legal requirement to show the age rating of the game.

• In the bottom right hand corner we included the name of the developers. We created our own logo saying JC Games. By using the Pacman it represented the C. 

Construction of Subsidiary Task 2

This is the construction of how we created our game cover step-by-step.

Using Adobe Fireworks CS6, we started our design on our game cover with the images below showing how it came together.

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This is the template of our game cover. We started by inserting lines with each shape containing an image of a game we will include in our game.

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We then put in image into one of the shapes by resizing using the shift key to keep the image in proportion so we didn't lose quality. We then cropped and adjusted the image to fit into the space.

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All the images are now inserted, sized correctly and adjusted and now fit in all the spaces. However, it didn't look like a game cover. Therefore, in order to make it look like a game cover we added the Xbox One cover as shown above to make it look like a game cover. 

Ancilary Task: Game Cover

Creating our game cover, we looked at Grand Theft Auto V to inspire our creativity and design for our game cover. We liked the way Grand Theft Auto V conveyed different parts of the game through the use of different images in the same way a collage works. As a result we chose to design our game cover in the same way to convey the different games we will include in our own. 

When creating our own game cover, we wanted to make sure it looked unique whilst also using the same idea that Grand Theft Auto V has in its game cover. We also researched other types of game covers, and found they used similar styles which we then modified into our own. Grand Theft Auto V

Game Cover:

Second Advert

For our second advert, we wanted to ensure the audience would like it. To do this, we created a questionnaire and gave out 20 copies for people to fill in. We then analysed the results and found that the audience wanted to be shown more gameplay. Our first advert we had created was more slow placed, so we wanted our second advert to be different and appealing to the audience.

We collected our gameplay footage using a software called 'Fraps' which allowed us to quickly capture our gameplay for different games we are including in our new compilation game; Best Sellers Collection. By using this method compared to others we didn't lose any quality which was something important to us for our a second advert. This is because our first advert consisted of different games all in one frame which we feel wasn't the best of quality. The reason why we lost the quality is because we used a pan and zoom effect into a smaller frame of the gameplay footage. Therefore, we decided as a group that we needed to come up with a solution to retain a high quality. So, we thought that it was best to think of a different way to present our advert. To do this, we imported the different clips and shown around 5 seconds of each gameplay with a transition in between each. This made it more fast paced which relates to our audience research and helped us to retain a high quality advert so that it looked professional. 

Our Second Advert:

First Advert

This our first advert we have created using a software called iMovie. Initially we was going to use Adobe Premiere Pro, however we wanted to use a pan and zoom effect but experienced some technical issues with the software. We then switched our choice to use iMovie which allowed us to do what we wanted. We felt this suited us better, because we have already used the programme before, so it saved us time to read online guides/tutorials to know how to use the software effectively. 

For our first advert, we collected various clips from different games and imported them into iMovie. We then positioned the clips in the frame so all the clips fit on one. We also purchased a voiceover from Fiverr and in our timeline we arranged it so that when the person says the name of the game, the camera would then pan and zoom in and out of each game. 

Our First Advert is Below:

Ancilary Task: Magazine Advertisement

We have now completed our magazine advertisement for our new game. We created it with our research in mind. We chose to use a lot of images to make it look interesting to whoever sees the advert. We also used big bold text to make it eye-catching to the reader. However, we feel that the advert was quite good, despite the limited resources/software we had. We used Adobe Fireworks CS6 to create our advert. Even though, this software was good, we felt it had limited tools which another software could have had that might have been used to enhance our advert.


In our advert, we used the different logos to represent each game we will include in our new compilation game. At the bottom we also used the logos to represent each platform the game supports.


We felt our advert used elements of the one below:

At the bottom of the above advert, various logos are used to represent each platform the game supports. We felt that this was a good feature to use, so we chose to put this in our advert.






Our Magazine Advert:

Magazine Advertisements for games

After researching magazine advertisements on a wider scale. I wanted to look more closely at magazine adverts for games as this is the area we are focusing on.


I feel that the images below, inspired our creativity for our own magazine advert.

The image above is a magazine advertisement for a game. You can see that the advert is mainly made up of images from the game. We felt that would be an effective way for us as we could show images of different games because of its genre; Compilation of different games.

The image above is a magazine advert for a racing game. You can see that it uses a big bold title so that it stands out on the page. It also uses a large image to represent game, and from seeing a racing car you know what the genre is straightaway.

Overall, I believe the research into different magazine advertisements was effective because we learnt that the use of images was important as it would make our advert more appealing and interesting to the reader. Also, through the use of big bold titles it was important to do this in order for them to stand out, so the reader knows exactly what the advert is for. 



Magazine Advertisements

As part of our ancillary tasks which is to create a magazine advertisement for our new game, I thought it was a good idea to carry out research into different magazine advertisements to inspire our creativity and design.




To start off, I researched solely into magazine advertisements to find a wide range of different adverts for anything. I wanted to do this, as it enabled me to make an overall decision on the kind of features most use. I came to a conclusion that big titles and use of lots of images makes an effective magazine advert.

The image above is a magazine advert for weight watchers. Looking at the magazine advert, the first thing you see is the '100' because it is the biggest size font. There is a gradient background used which improves the appearance of the advert. It also uses a number of images to enhance its look.

 

The image above is a magazine advert for some sweets. The image appears to be the most dominant as it takes up most of the page. The advert mainly uses images and little text which makes it more interesting to the reader.

Construction of First Advert progression

At the start we initially used Adobe Premiere Pro to edit our first game advert. To arrange our clips on the frame based on our storyboard designs, we used Adobe Premiere Pro. We was then ready to use the pan and zoom effect that we had planned. However, we found that the pan and zoom effect wouldn't work due to technical issues. In order to overcome this issue we used a different piece of software that we was more familiar with; iMovie. As a result, it saved us time to learn how to use a new software because we already had experience with iMovie.

The annotated image below shows our construction of the first advert in iMovie.

Construction of First Advert

We are now in the production stage for our first game advertisement. The images show how our advert is coming together in the software we are using; Adobe Premiere Pro

The image above shows us started to import the clip and positioning it in the frame. Each clip will be equally sized and presented in grid form. On our storyboard we planned it so that we will use a pan and zoom effect so the camera will zoom in and out of each game clip accordingly in time with our voiceover.

The image above shows most of clips that have been imported and positioned in the frame. We adjusted and resized the clips so all clips will show. At this stage, it's still at the fundamental stage.

Editing Software: Adobe Premiere Pro

We have decided to use Adobe Premiere to edit our video game advertisement. This software allows us to access a wider variety of features meaning we are able to produce an industry standard advert that is professional. To further my knowledge and understanding of the software, I used YouTube and watched video tutorials on how to import media, use different animations/transitions, colour correction of different shots.

YouTube Videos used were:

Subsidiary Task 1: Magazine Advertisement

We decided to name our new game: Best Sellers Collection


Using fireworks, we have created a magazine advertisement for our game. Whilst creating the advert we took print screens of how it was being constructed which showed our effective use of Fireworks to produce a professional advert. Some text we used on our advert was from dafont.com and we wanted to choose a big bold blocky font. On our advert we included the logos of the different games included in our compilation game.


Our magazine cover:

Our Voiceover

This is our voiceover. We produce a script and sent this to the voice-over artist. The script contained the speech, pronunciations of some words we thought he may struggle to read and the durations between each sentence.


When we received the file it had been sent as a MP3 at the best quality (320kbps). We was sent two voice files and listened to both and then came to a decision on which one we will be happy using in our advert. I believe the one we chose (see below) sounded more professional and clear which would make it suitable for using it in a TV advert.


The editing software we are going to use to edit our adverts is Adobe After Effects. This is a more advanced software package offering a wider variety of transitions, animations, effects which can all be used to enhance and make our advert more appealing to our target audience. We will use this program to edit the voiceover and use the timeline to ensure the speech is on the right shot.


Image shows the software we are going to use.

Second Storyboard

Fo our second advert, we drew out a second storyboard. The storyboard will tell us exactly what is going to be in each shot on our advert. We wanted a voice-over for our advert, and using the storyboard would help us create a script to give to the voice-over artist. Creating a storyboard will allow us to check over each shot and quickly add or change anything if necessary. Using the storyboard helped us to be more creative as it gave us a visual illustration to what our advert might look like when complete. It gave us more ideas which can be used to improve the overall quality of our advert so that it looks professional and appeals to our target audience.

The storyboard contains what the shot will look like, the duration of each shot, transitions between each shot, animations for each shot and the type of shot.

Voiceover

We decided to buy a professional voice-over from Fiverr.com because it not only makes our a TV advert sound good, it makes it professional. It was also relatively cheap and this made it suitable and fulfilled our purpose. We both agreed on buying one each as we have to produce two advertisements and thought it would be best to include a voiceover in both of our advertisements to ensure consistency and professionalism.

We browsed through and listened to a number of voice-over artists and in the end chose the artist below.

After we had chosen, we used Word to produce a script which was to be sent to the artist and we based this off what we had written on our storyboards.

We placed the order on the 8 January 2016 and should arrive 11 January 2016 and once we receive the voice-over we will sync this up against our storyboard video to give us an idea on how it will sound.

The voice-over artist that we bought the first one from is: https://uk.fiverr.com/retrovoice/record-a-movie-trailer-style-voiceover-up-to-60-seconds?funnel=9038f4bd-7e94-4b34-b116-4d19f57e863d

Storyboard

We took individual pictures of each frame on our storyboard. We then uploaded this to the computer, and imported all the images onto Movie Maker. Based on the order of how we drew out the storyboards, we put the images in order on Movie Maker. We then put the duration for each frame and played it back. In each frame of our video it will show a preview of a game which is included in our compilation video game. We initially thought that they would last five seconds, however after watching it back we felt that this was too long and then reduced the duration of each frame to three seconds. Overall, this advertisement will last roughly 31 seconds which we feel is a suitable length for a TV advert.

TV Adverts: Form and Style

Television Advertisements - Structures: Form and Style.

Form

Different forms are used in advertising in different ways. Depending on the audience and product or service, the form of an advert will vary.

Animation

The term animation encompasses a wide range of techniques from 2D images all the way to CGI. 

E.g. The Milky Way - Red Car, Blue Car

Mini Fictions

Many ads present mini fictional narratives, including a main character with whom we are asked to identify in a given scenario.

Documentary
Documentary style adverts are used to suggest ‘real people’ whoare using the product. They borrow from the trust we have indocumentaries to ‘tell the truth’.

Talking Heads
Following on from documentary, the celebrity or expert may be presented as a 'talking head', usually addressing animplied interviewer.

Looking at Video Game TV Adverts

I found a useful website that showed what they felt were the '20 of the best video game ads, ever' which would be useful for us because it was able to give us some inspiration in what we should look into doing in our own. Throughout all, we noticed that they were all fairly atmospheric adverts therefore this is something that we decided we need to incorporate into our own TV advert. This also gave us an insight into industry standard adverts and would influence us into being able to produce an advert similar to the ones I watched.

I watched different video game adverts for:-

• Little big planet
• Guitar hero
• World of warcraft
• Killzone 2
• Halo ODST
• Gears of war 2
• Call of duty 4

Website: http://www.adweek.com/agencyspy/20-of-the-best-video-game-ads-ever/6476

Our Game Genres

Our Genres 

Arcade

The traditional arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines,electro-mechanical games, redemption games or merchandisers. Despite, arcade being more well-known for being in amusement arcades, bars and restaurants we aim to bring a game with the arcade genre incorporated within it. 

Action

The action game is a video game genre that emphasises physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes diverse sub genres 

such as:

• fighting games
• shooter games - this genre will be portrayed in our game because of the increasing popularity and demand for shooter games.
• platform games 

These sub genres are widely considered the most important action games, though some real-time strategy games are also considered to be action games.

Racing

The racing video game genre is the genre of video games, either in the first-person or third-person perspective, in which the player partakes in a racing competition with any type of land, air, or sea vehicles. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to entirely fantastical settings.

Sport

A sports game is a video game that simulates the practice of sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including team sports, Track and field, extreme sports and combat sports. Some games emphasize actually playing the sport (such as the Madden NFL series), whilst others emphasize strategy and sport management (such as Championship Manager and Out of the Park Baseball). Some, such as Need for Speed, Arch Rivals and Punch-Out!!, satirize the sport for comic effect. This genre has been popular throughout the history of video games and is competitive, just like real-world sports. 

Simulation

A simulation video game describes a diverse super-category of video games, generally designed to closely simulate aspects of a real or fictional reality.

A simulation game attempts to copy various activities from real life in the form of a game for various purposes such as training, analysis, or prediction. Usually there are no strictly defined goals in the game, with players instead allowed to freely control a character. Well-known examples are war games, business games, and role play simulation.

Our video game

Our Genre: Compilation

Our game will be a  compilation of games from different genres. Similar to Rare Replay which is a compilation of 30 video games. Also, Capcom Digital Collection will be a game we will also focus on. We aim to include a variety of genres in our game as we have found a growing trend in compilation games.

Genres which will be addressed for our game are :-

• Arcade
• Action
• Shooter
• Racing
• Sport
• Simulation

Games we plan to include :-

• Rocket League
• GTA V
• Call Of Duty: Black Ops 3
• Payday 2
• Saints Row: The Third
• Chivalry: Medieval Warfare
• Portal 2
• Fifa 16
• Borderlands: Pre-Sequel
• The Last of Us

Despite this, we may change or add to this list depending how things go. This is just a rough idea for now.  As you can see we have chosen a variety of games in different genres which is what we aim to provide in our promotional package.