LO4: Cut scene

This is a short cut scene that we made to show the characters and style of out game, Filmed by Caitlin Baker and edited by me.

LO4: Game concepts

this is the start of the pre game research i did, brainstorming ideas about plots and genres and thinking about target audiences and platforms that are currently available to run our game on. 

LO4: Treatment

Treatment

Plot/Idea:

Our game will take place in new york, with one team of zombies and one team of vampires. There would be a battle inbetween the two teams with new york as the battlefield. When playing the game you can do the campaign as one team or the other, however each campaign is slightly different depending on which team you choose.

First initial Ideas:

Caitlin’s Idea:

The set is New York and you are a team of vampires carrying out different tasks throughout New York to progress through levels versing witches and more.

Jakes Idea:

To play the typical Zombie game but to be on the other side, as in have a zombie apocalypse in New York but you are controlling a zombie instead of a human in the army.

Influences:

The different things that influenced me when coming up with a game idea is all the different films and TV shows that I watch for example The Walking Dead or Zombieland. Caitlin's Idea was influenced from TV shows that she watched, such as True Blood and Vampire diaries.

Target Audience:

The target audience for this game will be between the age of 10 and 18 then gender ratio for this game will be quite equal but slightly more favoured by the female gender. The demographics of the target audience will be C1C2D.

Platform:

Our game will be first brought out on Xbox One and Playstation 4 and then go onto a later release on the Xbox 360 and the playstation 3. We would think about making a adapted version for smaller hand held consoles but at the moment it is only available on the bigger main consoles. 

Costs and Recourses:

Actor Costs: £15,000

Office rental and costs: £132,000

Staff Total: 100 people for a 1 year and 10 months

Total Development costs: £5,700,000

Marketing Costs: £4,000,000

We aim to sell at least 900,00 copies

Ethical Considerations:

Our game is a supernatural fantasy game so we are able to feature murder and violence throughout the gameplay. In our game we will make sure that no swearing or inappropriate language is used so that the game is suitable for our target audience and also make sure that no certain religion or type of people are specifically focused in being on the bad side of the game. 

Marketing: Our marketing will include posters at bus stations and magazine adverts, but also doing a marketing event where we will get actors to dress up as zombies and vampires and each team starts at different sides of new york handing out flyer to the people walking in the streets.

LO4: Production Schedule

LO4: Game Ideas

LO4: Customer profile

Our Target Audience: the target audience for our game would be aged between 10 and 18 years old, this is becuase it does not contain anything that would be primaraly targeted at an older more mature audience. The gender ratio would be 65% Female and 35% male, and our target demographics would be C1C2D

A typical customer profile…

Hi, I’m Mason and I’m 14 years old. I live with my Mum and Dad in a small town in Sheffield and I go to Notre Dame high school. I go to the extra curricular drama club where we are currently rehearsing for the play Immortals. When I get home from school I enjoy watching different fantasy TV shows such as The Walking Dead and The Vampire Diaries, I once wrote about supernatural myths for my history assignment as I find myths and legends fascinating. My two best friends are Luke and Will and on the weekend we enjoy playing on Xbox live mostly on Fifa 14 or Skate 3.  Every Sunday me Luke and Will and some of the other boys on a street have a game of 5 a side football; I am normally in goal as I love being the goalkeeper. We get to choose our team names as well and I almost always choose Chelsea.

When I am older I would love to be an actor like Leo DeCaprio or Ian Somerhalder, I love the films/TV shows they star in but also their acting style. I want to start going to the Sheffield drama club when I’m 15 to so that I can take part in bigger productions other than the ones we do at school.

I am a Christian although I do not attend church every Sunday, I come from a White middle class background where my mum works in an office and my dad is a teacher. Each week I get £5 pocket money that I’m saving up at the minute to buy a new game for my Xbox. 

LO4: Legal and ethical considerations

ETHICAL

There will be no offensive language in our game that could be seen as disturbing or inappropriate for the people playing. 

The Violence in our will not be classed as disturbing or too much for the players of this game.

The game and game play will not promote any illegal activities such as theft or drug use.

The powers that the characters have will be given too them through appropriate situations and not through any indecent way, such as the effects of drugs.

OBSCENE PUBLICATIONS ACT

‘’ The obscene publications act centers around the idea that no publications (now including games) should:

‘If taken as a whole, such as to tend to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely, having regard to all relevant circumstances, to read, see or hear the matter contained or embodies in it.’ 

In our game we can avoid contravening the obscene publications act by our characters not showing any indecent parts of their body or using any inappropriate objects or using any inappropriate sound effects. 

COPYRIGHT 

When making the visual images for our game, the original pictures were taken by us as well as them being photo shopped by us with our own prosthetic make up on the models as well.

        
   The background music we used from the game is not made by us but has been edited to be our own back ground music in software such as audition so the original track would just be taken as inspiration. 

The setting of our game is images taken from google maps but are again edited to fit our specific idea and stay in theme with the game.

      LIABLE/SLANDER

this law relates to defamation of character where you use a person or organisations image in a way which could cause measurable damage to their reputation in the eyes of the common public.

Even though we have used actors and celebrities from the internet for our production, we have made sure that they can not be seen in a negative way or can not take any offence from our designs.

LO4: Visual designs for game characters

LO4: Budgeting

This is the budgeting documents for out game it includes the target price we would like to sell the game at costs for staff and offices and everything else needed in the production.

LO4: Mood Board

   

LO3: Forza Horizon Review for magazine format

Genre – the genre of this game comes under action/adventure, I think that it belongs to this certain genre because, it involves fast pace racing which could be seen as action but it is also classed as a sport which can make the game fit better into the action category, the game also fits into the adventure category because in the game you are able to explore the map on free play and go where ever you want.

Narrative/Storyline – the storyline to this game is that there is a music/festival based in Colorado and you (the racer) go to it to climb the leader board of the racing festival from the bottom to the top of it. To do this you have to do a series of racers all around the map and also complete challenges that come from other races to become the best. 

Characters – the main characters that the player is involved with is the main driver and the narrative voice that helps you, which is supposed to be a friend of the player talking to him through a headset. The main driver is a man that seems to be between the age of 25 and 35, these elements have been chosen for the main character because it is similar to the target audiences ideal age, for example younger teenagers that the game is aimed at want to be that age and the older adults that may have this game want to be young again.   

Platforms – The platforms that this game are on is Xbox 360 and ps3, I don’t think that this game is on any other platforms. I don’t think that this game is ready or suitable to be played on another platform yet because of the work that has gone into the controls behind the driving and the physics, you couldn’t really feel the sensitivity with a key board or mouse, the best way to control this game is with joysticks and sensitive triggers. 

Appeal to target audience – The appeal to the target audience comes from the expensive and fast super cars that are available on the game, but there are also classic rare cars that would appeal to the audience. The target audience for this game are from the age of around 14 years old to about 50 years old because that is near the age when people get more interested and I would say that people over 50 wouldn’t be that bothered about the new cars and the narrative of the story because it is based on a festival with chart music and drum and bass and quite modern music. 

Quality of gameplay – The quality of the game play in this game is in my opinion very well developed and entertaining. It consists of a character that you control and you drive in different races with different sports cars.  I think that the graphics behind the game have been produced to a high quality because the cars look very realistic and the driving in the game has been made to be very realistic and physics behind it all seems as if it is from actual racing. 

Personal Recommendations – Personally I would strongly recommend someone to play this game. Even if you are or are not a lover of driving games I still think that you should try this game because it is very entertaining an fun. But if you are a driving game lover and like games such as the older Forza games or any of the need for speed games I suggest you play this game because it has such a great gameplay experience with different cars, terrains and places. 

Task 2

Price – The price of Forza horizon when it was released was £39.99, I think that this price is reasonable for a game because if you look at the games for the Xbox one the games are nearer to £50, so for a brand new game I think the target audience would rather pay the £39.99 price. You can get this game for cheaper now due to the amount of time it has been out for. The cheapest price now is around £25 I think this is due to less people wanting this game. I think that it is at this starting price because the game is aimed at teenagers or adults up to 40, so they can either get money from work or the bank of their parents.

Publisher – The publisher for this game is Microsoft Studios the video game production wing for Microsoft, responsible for the development and publishing of games for the Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Games for Windows, Steam, Windows Store, and Windows Phone platforms. Microsoft studios were also the publisher of the other Forza games for example the Forza motor sport series.

Developer – This game had two main developers, playground Games and Turn 10 Studios. Turn 10 Studios is an American video game developer located in Redmond, Washington. It was established in 2001. And Playground Games is a British video game developer located in Royal Leamington Spa, England, United Kingdom.

PEGI Rating – "The content of this game is suitable for persons aged 12 years and over only". This is due to bad language on the game, PEGI ratings give guidelines to buyers of the game an idea of what it is suitable for, this game consists of racing but not violence and no blood or murder so the ratings would only only be effected by the amount of bad language in the game.

Sales Figures - Global Total as of 22nd Nov 2014 (units): 1.79m, this game was the most successful in europe with a higher sales figures than japan and north america. I think that this is due to the content of the game and how you play. It seems very americanised and i dont think that it would be successful in far countries such as china or japan. 

LO3: Review in Magazine Format

This is my review in a magazine format. I have included the title and graphics from the game, a picture taken from gameplay footage, a address to Facebook and twitter pages for the game and 2 results of other magazines judging the game also.

LO2: Forza Motorsport 5 review analysis

Task 2

The use of phrases such as “you can” and “you will”, have a personal direct to the audience. This can make the audience think that it is directed to them and is seen as a letter instead of a review. I think that this could make the audience feel more welcome to read it. The phrases also have a theme of order or advice. When they see this it could encourage them to do things, for example if in the review it says “you will enjoy this game” it will be a lot more persuasive to buy the game than if it said something like “the game is fun”.

Task 3

“Cars are some of the most intoxicating, most beautiful things ever forged by mankind”

Intoxicating – This is my favourite word in this section because it describes as if cars pull you in and are like a drug or an addiction.  The elements of the game that are being talked about in this section Is the main part of the game, the cars. In the review of a game one of the biggest things are the elements for example the narrative and the characters, so it is a good review when the main elements of the game are being described as “intoxicating”. The author is speaking to the target audience at a personal level, he/she feels strongly about this game due to the use of adjectives he/she has used in the review. If the elements of the game are described as intoxicating that makes a bigger difference towards the reader than if he/she called it fun or good.

Task 4

I think that as a whole this review would influence to buy this game because the way the author writes it with very descriptive words is interesting and makes me think differently about it. The use of words such as “beautiful” or “intoxicating” or “tremendous”, make me think of the game in a different way, For example I would just think of it as another game but the way he/she writes it, it makes you feel like it is the best game you will ever buy. Another reason why I feel very influenced to buy this game is because of how he writes in on a personal level. This makes me think that he/she could be near my age group and if they have had that much fun playing the game then that makes me want to buy it more. 

LO2: Analysis Of Game Reviews In Different Media - Forza Motorsport 5

Video Review From The IGN Youtube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnaH6YvG2PM


Written Review From http://www.trustedreviews.com
On one level, Forza 5 is everything it should be: the kind of launch title that makes you glad you’ve coughed up for a new console. It looks incredible, plays brilliantly, and ably demonstrates many of the virtues of Xbox One. If you have any kind of love for driving games and find it running in a store or get to play it around a friend’s house, then you’ll come away wanting both it and an Xbox One. In this respect, it’s arguably the best launch title on Xbox One or PS4, though fans of 
Killzone might beg to differ.

On another level, it’s slightly disappointing. You see, Forza Motorsport 3 was the first game to really break Gran Turismo’s stranglehold on the console driving sim, and Forza Motorsport 4 was even better. Being picky, we wished that it had had some of the thrills and spills of EA’s grossly under-rated Shift 2: Unleashed, but second for second, mile for mile, Forza 4 is the best driving game of the last generation. We can be sure that the same won’t be said of Forza 5. In isolation it’s a fantastic entry in the genre, but it’s simply not as good as Forza 4.

Why? Well, it really comes down to the career structure and the tracks. Forza 4 aced the former with its World Tour mode, which dragged you from track to track in a set order, but allowed you to decide which event you competed in on that track. Not only did this allow you to focus on the cars and events you liked playing, but it also kept you shifting from car class to car class if you liked. This – plus the generous dishing out of new cars every time you reached a new driving level – meant that you were constantly trying new things, and getting tangible rewards for your efforts. This was leagues away from the pedestrian championship grind of the Gran Turismo series. It was a case of bigger, better, faster all the way.

Forza 5 unwisely junks this idea, dividing its events into different car categories, covering compact sports cars, track toys, touring cars, exotics and the like, with each containing several lengthy series of races. All are unlocked straight away, providing you can afford a car to participate in them, and you work your way through them, only switching to a new series or new category once you’ve polished off the last.

The 2 reviews that I am looking at are in the red font above. 

Genre - Both reviews of this game have a similar genre, full of information and strongly based on opinion. The genre of the delivery of the report is informal and opinionated, the both reports have many points backed up by facts about the games and the companies that produced, developed and sold them. They also both consist of there authors opinions about the games and the consoles that they can feature the games on. The Genre of the game is action/ racing, but both reviews seem to be like a documentry of the game and the games content such as cars. I think this is well done and effective because if we look at TV shows such as Top gear that also do reviews on cars even though the cars is fast and its action style footage, the presenter seem relaxed and professional as well as having there own opinion whilst providing the facts.

Narrative - The narrative of these 2 reviews both start differently. The video review starts with the content of the game for example the cars or features on the game and even talks about well known voices that feature in the game such as the 3 Top gear presenters, but the written review starts with the author talking more about the consoles and how its only available on a certain one such as Xbox 360. On the written review the author goes onto to talk about comparing the previous games Motorsport 3 and 4 to the game in the review, and talks about how different things seem disappointing or not, this makes a difference to the video review becuase the written one contains opinion of someone that has played the game about previous or other games but in the video review it goes onto talking about the physics behind the game such as braking or acceleration and then onto choice of cars.

Characters - In this game there are no specific characters but the closest thing to that are the cars. The cars are most spoke about things in both reviews due to it being a racing game, the talk of cars feature a lot more in the video review, i think that because the video review focuses on the game it self and not the platforms or audience for the game. the author gives his opinion on the cars and the tracks in the game as well as details and facts about the amount and style of what you can drive. The written review does not go into as much detail about the cars them selves due to it being based more on opinion and a wider cover of information such as platforms and older games in the franchise.

Platform - The 2 reviews are both brief about the platform that it is played on,  in the video review the narrater briefly talks about how the game feels against an Xbox one controller but doesn't really talk about the platforms, i think that the video review consists strongly just on the content of that single game for example he talks about the cars, the tracks and the physics and controlling behind the driving. But on the written review the first line mentions the next generation consoles and then goes onto talking about how the game makes you want the next Gen console more and how the game has been a really good release for the Xbox one. One bad thing about the written report is that the author clearly hasn't done his research because the Forza franchise is exclusive to Xbox, both One and 360 and can not be played on the PS3 or PS4.

Appeal to target audience - Both of the reviews mention on how it is a successful game for Forza lovers and they will not be disappointed, in both reviews they mention on how features from previous games have come back in the newest games. Even though the video review talks about the cars and tracks a lot more, both reviews to mention that, the video review mentions on how the amount of different cars you can drive has gone down since Froza Motorsport 4 and I think that this could make a difference to target audince becuase the players will wont a varity of cars. But they also mention on the cars in detail for example the "iconic classics", "cutting edge current models",  "world famous race cars" and "hardcore open wheelers" such as the arial atom. I think this would make a difference in audience appeal due to the new cars on the game that have never been on before.

Personal recommendations - My personal recommendations on the 2 reviews is that i like the video review better, it comes across as more professional and entertaining due to gameplay on the screen as the narrater speaks, so you can physically see what the author is speaking about, I also think that even though the written one has wider information such as platforms and older games, it sounds to be based on opinion and not statistics or research, for example the video review goes into the game you are looking at, whilst the written one has not researched properly due to it saying a good release for PS4 and Xbox one, but any Forza fan would know that Forza is exclusive to Xbox.