Pre Production And Planning For A Video Game

Pre-production costs of developing a game

Funding

Funding is extremely important as it’s how you pay for everything. You can be funded in a variety of ways. These include self-financing, crowd funding like kick-starter, indie funding, grants or publisher funding like Bethesda.

Hardware:

            Computers: Computers are necessary for making a game and also for testing games. It is important to have a relatively high spec computer to run the applications used to make games. A good gaming laptop can set you back £200 to £500 in addition the software can be expensive but I will cove that later on, you might also want a MacBook for sound production and at the moment the can cost between £999 to £1,399 but does come with garage band already installed.

            Peripherals: Peripherals are external pieces of hardware used in game development like keyboards, mice and monitors. It is important to have high quality peripherals in order for you to be able to work at a computer for long periods of time for example if a mouse is not ergonomically designed it can lead to hand cramps impeding on your work time similarly if your monitors are not clear enough the you might miss some mistakes that people who play with a higher quality resolution can easily notice. A good keyboard can cost from £50 to £100 a nice mouse might cost from £25 to £100 depending on your requirements. Monitors can cost £100 to £400 it is also popular to buy multiple monitors to maximise screen space. Some extra things to look into is speakers, microphones (for recording voices) or sound cancelling foam to stop noise bouncing off the walls, these are all things to consider based on what you want your game to be like for example if you want to make a 8 bit style game you might not need that good a monitor

            Dev Kits: Dev kits are used to test or publish a game to consoles like Xbox or Play station, currently Dev kits can cost up to £2,500 and some can be free like the Xbox one offers. Dev kits are basically consoles that let any game be played on them so when you make a game for Xbox and it hasn’t been approved a normal Xbox wouldn’t run the game but a dev kited one will.

Software:

            Unity: it can cost anywhere from £75 a month to a one of payment of £1,500

UDK: free but with royalty fees

Game maker can cost anywhere from $150 to $700 depending on the platform.

Maya: is £1,160 a year.

Publishing

Steam green light: £70 per game

ID@xbox: it is free to publish a game

PSN: about 2.5 thousand pounds

IOS: £500 to £10000

Android: £500 to £6000

Timescale

They are used in the gaming industry as a way of managing teams

The timescale depends on a variety of things such as deadlines, equipment availability, how many people that are making it, the time it takes to go through the legal requirements such as a PEGI rating, also delays in publishing.

At the beginning of a project you set a timeframe, and while this is not for definite you should try to stick to it as much as possible.

You should set deadlines for each task or segment required to make it, such as the animating should be completed in a set amount of time and then the voice acting and so on.

When deciding start and finish times it is important to take into account working hours, sick days, holidays and other things that may delay the project and then set the timescale according to that.

Personnel

When making a game it is important to take into account the amount of people making it. You need to know how many people are doing each job. You need to know how much experience they have, where their strengths are, how much they are getting paid, and do you have enough space and workstations for them.

The job roles are.

The animators- they are responsible for how the characters move and the behaviour in a game

Assistant producer- they work with the people making the game to make sure they are meeting the correct deadlines.

Audio engineers- they are responsible for making the music and all the sound effects in the game, also the character dialogue.

Creative director- they are responsible for the look and feel of the game.

External producers- they are responsible for the successful delivery of a game and they work from outside the game development team.

Game designer- they are responsible for the core elements in the game, like what’s in it and how the game feels, and how it plays.

Game programmer- they design and write the computer code that runs the game.

Game artist- they create all the visual elements of the game like textures, how clothes look, scenery, vehicles and etc.

Lead artist- they are responsible for how the game looks overall.

Lead programmer- they lead the team creating all the code.

Level editor- they create all the interactive elements in a game including landscape, buildings and objects.

Marketing executive- they promote the advertising and raise awareness of the project.

Marketing manager- responsible for boosting product awareness to make more sales.

Product manager- help create marketing campaigns to maximise sales of a game.

Product manager/producer- ensure the successful delivery of the game.

Public relations officer- look after the corporation’s image and reputation.

QA tester- they test, tune and debug a game and suggest improvements that could be implemented.

Technical artist- they act as a bridge between the artists and programmers.

Equipment and facilities
In my game their is not that much equipment needed because it is a small game so i would just need game maker for the game and Photoshop for the sprites and background.
big game companies though would use alot of computers and a working space, you would need to advertise the game and use industry standard software such as maya, unity, or their own custom made engines. this is where the finance section comes in because you would need a budget and also money to pay the people who are working for you.
For my game though i will not need any extra personnel because i can do it all myself and will only need a computer to do it with. 

Materials
This includes things such as concept art, storyboards, scripts, graphics, audio, the internet and assets. 
all of these can be made by yourself or by a team but can also be found and bought off other people to which you would need to do credit to in your game. 

Contributors
This means any people who would help to make the game such as voice actors, crowd funders, advisers and presenters.
Military games for example would have advisers from the army who they would consult with to make sure their guns were realistic and that the scenarios in the game were believable. 

Codes of practice
These are things such as legal issues, insurance, copyright, PEGI ratings and health and safety.
the PEGI ratings are:
Ages 3 and up,
ages 7 and up,
ages 12 and up,
ages 16 and up,
ages 18 and up,
bad language,
discrimination,
drugs,
sexual themes,
fear,
and violence. 

BTEC Extended Diploma in Computer Games Design Unit 22 : Computer Games Design (IT) / Unit 72 : Computer Games Design (Media) Assessment 1 : Researching Games

BTEC Extended Diploma in Computer Games Design
Unit 22 : Computer Games Design (IT) / Unit 72 : Computer Games Design (Media)

Assessment 1 : Researching Games

Types of games

here are 10 different types of games.

RPG-
A role playing game is a genre of game in which the player controls a character in a fictional setting, often being able to customize their character. These games have a heavy emphasis on single player story. Usually the aim of the game is to make your way through various quests that can be completed whenever you like.

Skyrim is an RPG game.

The aim of this game is to create a player character and kill the dragon god Alduin before he destroys the world. The quests in the game can be done at any time and you level your character to get better gear.







FPS-
A first person shooter is a game played from the characters perspective in which the aim of the game is to kill enemies to get to the objective. Most modern FPS games have a multiplayer feature.
Halo is a series of FPS games in which you control the player of master chief from his perspective. The aim of halo 4 is to stop the diadact from destroying humanity. The game is very linear at times such as get to this point in this amount of time. The game also has a competitive multiplayer feature.




MMO-
A massively multiplayer online game is a game capable of supporting a large amount of players in the same world. Usually they run off the internet and use massive servers to make it work. They are usually open world with many quests.
 World of Warcraft is a very popular example of an MMO game in which you create a character and team up with other players in the game world or go up against them in various quests. In which you have to destroy the orcs. The game is the highest grossing game of all time.





Hack and Slash-
A game played in third person with combat mainly involving two buttons one heavy and one light attack, they tend to be heavily story based as well. They tend to only follow one character.

metal gear rising: revengeance is a hack and slash game made by PlatinumGames and it was published by Konami. The game got mostly positive reviews. The game is set in the Metal Gear universe and you follow the story of the cyborg ninja Raiden




Fighting-
Fighting games are usually played facing to the side with a fixed camera. it isn’t heavily about any storyline and more about the gameplay they mostly feature a multiplayer element.

Mortal Kombat is a fighting game originally made by Midway Studios. the game pits 2 characters of the players choice against each other in a fight to the death and can either be played 2 player or against the computer




simulation-
simulation games are games that put you in real life scenarios to act out a job or a lifestyle, they can be played in 3rd or first person an can use VR technology. they usually don't have a story just a list of objectives and giving the player free reign. 

Farming Simulator is a game that simulates the life of being a farmer such as planting and harvesting crops. it has no story just some objectives and the ability to upgrade your farm.




Driving- 
Driving games are games that focus mainly on driving. you control a car either in an open world or on a track and can compete to unlock different cars and races.

Forza Horizon 2 is an open world driving game that is set in Italy and follows the 'horizon festival' of racing. it is open world free roam and you can participate in single player or online races.




Strategy-
strategy games are focused on controlling an army or a group of characters and the objective is to command them and build them up in order to defeat the enemy. they are heavily single player games. Halo Wars is a strategy game based against the covenant army. 



Survival Horror-
these games are meant to make the player feel scared and vulnerable. they can be played in both first and 3rd person. an example of this is resident evil 5. you control a character called Chris Redfield and you have to survive against zombies. 








music-
music games simulate making music and you usually have a real world controller like a guitar or drums. games like this include guitar hero where there is no set story you just pick and play songs in a set order.








Unit 22

Playing too much on that game you love can seriously affect or even completely destroy your social life. If you are inside playing on your game then you're not out with your friends, this could mean that eventually they will leave you and when the time comes that you're bored of that game you will have nothing to do because your old friends are doing something without you. It can also effect your social skills, the ability to talk to new people confidently and make new friends, this also extends to your ability to get a job as you wont know how to talk to your would be boss because your social skills have degraded. 
There are however people, including me, who think the opposite of that, we think that it actually improves your social interaction.

Gaming can also have an effect on your psychological state. spending too long indoors can lead to difficulty interacting with people and conditions like social anxiety can start to surface, meaning you find the outside world scary and don't know how or you don't want to talk to people so you just spend more time on the game. also, it is debated that playing violent video games can make a person imitate the behavior in real life. such as the disputed case about the teenager who went into a school and went on a killing spree after playing GTA, although it is debated on whether the game is a cause it is possible.

good things about video games-
1. some games such as wii sports promote physical exercise making people who feel uncomfortable going to gyms or etc get into exercise in their own homes.
2. hand eye co-ordination, games help you get better hand eye co-ordination by using controllers and wii remotes.
3. reflexes- games greatly improve reflexes, in iphone games such as fruit ninja it's entirely based on reflexes forcing you to get better.
4. social skills. people taking over Xbox live or other online services learn valuable life skills like how to interact and talk to new people.
5. Team skills, playing team games greatly improves your ability to work with people as a team as it is required to beat the game you are playing meaning we learn a valuable skill. 
6. good sportsmanship. when gaming we lose to another player a lot, this teaches us how to lose fairly and can handle not winning.
7. stress reduction. taking out anger or stress on a game is a great way to relieve tension instead of taking it out on other people.
8. they make people happy- gaming is a very enjoyable thing to do, this means we are barely ever bored or annoying other people.
9. games may improve your vision, by looking at a screen and watching a game it can heighten your vision by teaching you to look closely and watch out for things.
10. some games are educational and really help children learn and develop.

Bad things about games-
1. seizures, gamers can develop epilepsy from playing games or trigger an epileptic fit. 
2. constant use of a controller can give you joint problems in wrists and fingers.
3. obesity can set in because of low physical activity when constantly sitting sown playing.
4. it is suggested that games make people aggressive because they are used to taking out anger on a game and not in real life.
5. it is suggested that it can make you violent because you copy the behavior on games.
6. poor grades because instead of doing homework and studying people are playing games instead.
7. lack of vitamin D because low exposure to sunlight.
8. sleep deprivation because people are staying awake to finish missions or play with friends.
9. attention problems because gamers are not really used to other environments than a gaming environment.

Task 3- Create a game-
My game will be a 2D platforming game. The graphics will be simple because it will be easy and less time consuming to make. the style that it will be done in is pixel art like the original Mario games because i like this style and will be easy to produce. The backgrounds will be simple like cave walls and skies and will scroll across as the character moves through the game. There will be enemies that try to kill the character but you will counter them with weapons and spells that you can upgrade and get new ones from an in game shop. 

Task 4-
The protagonist is called ShinyFace, A misunderstood anti hero. He was cast out of the shiny cult (the secret organisation that controls the governments and distributes power between the countries) for his “unorthodox methods”, and also, to punish shinyface the shiny cult murdered his wife and child. Since this shaming he has taken up the title of “shinyface” and has vowed to disrupt and destroy the shiny cult by forming the “shiny squad” with Bant-Man and Sir Bantalot. He is armed with his sword called “inquiens decessus” (shiny death in latin).

As the game progresses you learn more about why he was cast out and the aim of the game is to take revenge by killing the leader of the shiny cult.
The shiny cult leader has sent soldiers to kill you and has put up magical barriers that you will need to kill and take down in order to progress through the game until you eventually get to the end boss fight. 
to help you on the journey there will be a shop to upgrade your sword and spells.

 

Concept Art

Concept Art

Concept art is used to design thing in the game and to use as promotional material when advertising the game, it is usually done in the same style the game is made with and displays features of the game such as weapons, characters and background.

For Fallout 3

This piece of concept art displays the ‘lone wanderer’ who is the main character of the game, as you can change the player’s appearance the art displays the default setting. It sticks to the themes of the games with the green filter that is used heavily in the title screen and other parts of the game. It portrays the 1950’s style of the game very well with the haircuts and the style of how it is drawn. Lastly it also displays some of clothes the character can own known as the ‘vault suit’.

This piece of Fallout 3 concept art is of some of the places you can visit in the game, in this case the capitol building and the Washington monument in the background. In is done in the same photo realistic style as the game and shows the building mostly destroyed because of it’s post nuclear war setting. It also shows us the dark sky that is a common feature in the game, and so is the barren, lifeless wasteland.

This next piece of art shows the Pip-boy 3000 item that you use a lot in fallout 3, it serves as your inventory, map, a way to administer medical aid and shows your quests. It shows the various different designs considered with the chosen design enlarged in the middle. It has the same green filter used a lot in the game and also follows the design of a 1950’s imagination of a high tech computer with a small green screen.

This last piece of concept art displays some of the weapons that can be obtained in the game such as the laser rifle and plasma pistol, again using the heavily emphasised green filter. It still follows the 1950’s idea of the future by using laser weapons and various high tech items.

Computer Game Graphics

Pixel Art

This art style is used in 2D sprites and is typically found in older games such as Mario, Tetris and track and field. It is a very simple and easy style to use and make a game from this style as it is just a flat image. 3D isometric is pixel art but with depth such as the later Mario games.

Concept art

Concept art is used to design a game and the characters, drawn by an artist an then used by the animators to create the character. They can go from a simple pencil sketch to a full on detailed picture and a story board. Like this concept art of big boss from the new metal gear solid 5 The Phantom Pain.

Texture art

Texture art is used to set the scene in a game, for example, if you are in a forest there wood be a lot of trees and bark texture. Also grass and light breaking through the trees creating shadow and individual rain droplets. If it is a photo realistic game the texture will be much more detailed and high resolution. In 2D games there is texture but it’s less detailed like the lines in the bricks. Like in this picture the trees are extremely detailed and it also uses a depth of field effect.

Background art
Background art is used to give an environment to the game. in games like super Mario it uses  a scrolling 2D background while you move along the level. 3D games like GTA use skybox backgrounds. 


In Game Interface
These are things in game like a HUD (heads up display). in games like Call Of Duty it displays how many bullets you have and a mini map. on 2D games such as Pac Man it tells you how many lives you have. this photo of a HUD in Battlefield 4 in which you can see there is a map and ammo.

Artistic styles within games.

Cel shading

Games such as the Borderlands series are a great example of cel shaded games.

The art style used stands out significantly and is easily one of the most prominent features in the game.

This picture of Borderlands 2’s main antagonist shows very clearly the cel shaded art style that has contributed to the feeling of the game. As you can see the lines in the hair and clothes are very bold and prominent, this makes the game feel less serious and more like a comic book, adding to its RPG fantasy like theme. It also makes the lighting more dramatic and plays heavily with depth of field, the character is much more focused than the blurry background.

Photo realistic

Games that use this style attempt to make their game look as realistic as possible. Games like this contain a lot of detail in the graphics.

 This example of Sgt Maj Johnson in the cut scenes of halo 2 remastered. It was made by 343 industries in 2014 and the halo series among other things. Other games such as GTA and metal gear solid the phantom pain. Most FPS games use this style such as halo and battlefield, also some RPGs like the Skyrim. As technologies in game engines advance, the depth and realism of the animations become a lot better. But games like this also take a long time to make.

Pixel

This style is used mainly In older games such as pacman and super Mario. It is a very simple style and is mostly to always in 2D. it does take long to create games like this because of the simplicity. It was mainly used because of the limitation of software. It is not a realistic style.

Exaggerated

Exaggeration is an art style most commonly found in JRPGs, with the style being used to reflect the popular Medias of manga and anime. As the name would suggest this art style consists of highly exaggerated objects and features with two popular examples being the Devil May Cry and Final Fantasy series with their oversized objects such as swords and their facial features like their eyes being quite sizable when the character is sad. The body types of the characters will follow a similar way with male characters being strong and muscular and female characters often being overly sexualized. This style is often used in japan but quite a lot other games like the darksiders series rely heavily on this style.

UNIT 1: PRE-PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES FOR THE CREATIVE MEDIA INDUSTRIES - FINANCE - TASK 1

- Hardware (Computers, Peripherals, Dev Kits)

Computers- 
You obviously need a computer of some form to make a game. it's where you make almost everything. a good one of these with the specifications you need will probably set you back anywhere between £300 and £1000. but it can go much higher.
the minimum specs you need to run development programs like UDK are Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista or Windows 7. A 2.0+ GHz processor. A 2.0 system RAM. SM3 compatible video card and 3.0 GB of hard drive space.

- Software

Game maker can cost between 100-300 pounds depending on the platform you want to export to.

Maya costs £180 a year.

UDK and UNITY are free to install but take royalty costs.

My 10 game review. 9 i like, 1 i hate.

Game 1:

RED DEAD REDEMPTION 

Red Dead is an open world action adventure game that was released in 2010 and made by Rockstar Games. The game's style is photo realistic.

SPOILER ALERT:

The goal of the game is to hunt down the main protagonist John Marstons old gang members since his family have been kidnapped by the government and he can only have them back when his old friends are either in prison or dead by his hand.

I like this game a lot, because it's done so well. the story is really well written and the voice acting compliments it really well. It mimics the feeling of the wild west brilliantly with the harsh terrain and lawless frontiers. the music also adds to the setting really well and sets the ambiance brilliantly. finally the open world setting is really well detailed with a ton of side challenges and objectives.

My only criticism for this game is the intro sequence does drag on abit and john's character could have been a bit better developed, the character development wasn't bad but it could have been better.

TRIVIA: contrary to popular belief Red Dead Redemption is actually the second game in the series, not the first like so many believe. It's predecessor, Red Dead Revolver was released a number of years prior.

Game 2:

THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM

Now anyone who knows me knows i am a bit too obsessed with this game. 

This game is an open world fantasy RPG which was made by Bethesda Game Studios and released in November 2011. The games art style is photo realistic but with exaggerated elements in the gameplay such as the orcs and dragons.

SPOILER ALERT:

The games main objective is to 

ETHICS : Impact of computer games on society.

games in society:

Concerns such as excess playing time

Playing on your Xbox, PlayStation or computer for extended periods of time can have an effect on a persons health and social life. Most of the time when playing that game you just got or if your battling through a dungeon on your Favorite RPG, it's way too easy to completely lose track of time and suddenly find yourself not eating and it's 2 in the morning! 
But all this gaming can damage your social life by spending all of your time on a game and next to none with your friends. It can make it harder to find and keep a job and you can lose all interest for the real world itself. If you would like to read more about this please follow this link. http://www.livescience.com/22281-teens-video-games-health-risks.html 

Social isolation

Playing too much on that game you love can seriously affect or even completely destroy your social life. If you are inside playing on your game then you're not out with your friends, this could mean that eventually they will leave you and when the time comes that you're bored of that game you will have nothing to do because your old friends are doing something without you. It can also effect your social skills, the ability to talk to new people confidently and make new friends, this also extends to your ability to get a job as you wont know how to talk to your would be boss because your social skills have degraded. 
There are however people, including me, who think the opposite of that, we think that it actually improves your social interaction, you can read more on that here. http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/104226/gaming/video_games_as_isolating_activities.html 

Cost

Probably the worst thing for any gamer is the money. Gaming ain't cheap, when we want that new console or that special edition of a game, it's our wallets that take the hit. An Xbox One at release was around £400, and that's just on it's own, then you've gotta buy the games, £50 at release, and that's just the standard edition. and most gamers have to buy subscriptions to Xbox live, true while PSN is free there's still a lot of money to pay, and after all this some game developers have the nerve to stick a subscription cost on a game. And it's not just the actual games that cost us either, you've got the electricity bills and internet plan to pay for. 
if you don't fully understand the struggle, check out this interesting article on the matter.   http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2013/09/hyper-mode-the-costs-of-being-a-real-gamer.html 

Separation from reality

A problem with gaming is that sometimes you can be detached from reality itself