There are a lot of different professional bodies that regulate the gaming industry. The regulations they apply to thee gaming industry are made to protect people from games that may be inappropriate for them and they also make sure certain rules are followed when making and creating a videogame. Some regulations include, advertisement laws, data protection and privacy and age rating and classification. These all mean different things when making a game and you must abide by them to get your game sold.

While making content for collage i haven’t come across any issues when it comes to regulations in the gaming industry. When it came to making our game trailers i had to keep in mind that I would be uploading it to youtube so i had to be sure to abide by YouTubes rules. While making concepts for our games I had to make sure to avoid any content that would be deemed inappropriate to make sure not to offend anyone. Many Triple A game companies have to follow similar rules.

The gaming industry has regulations to protect people from games that may be inappropriate for their age group. Some regulations make sure that game companies keep any personal information about their customers private so that no one can steal from them. Another regulation is the fact that if a trailer thats made is not gameplay footage they must specify that in small print. The reason for this is that people will be disappointed if they bought a game for a trailer they saw that was not gameplay footage, this would in turn give the game bad reviews.

A Monopoly is a situation when a single company or group owns all or most of the market for a given type of product or service, in this instance it would be games. It’s important that no one company has a Monopoly, the reason for this is because they will have full control of a complete market which means they would have to release lots of content quickly, due to this, the content they release would be bad quality and be very expensive.

Consumer choice is exactly what it sounds like, it is the choices that consumers are or have been making over time. This can determine weather or not a company should make another game in a series or weather a console hasConsumer choice is very important for game companies as their consumers choices will effect how much they make and what they should make next. It can help game companies know weather they need to change anything in their next game by seeing what their consumers have been choosing recently.

Censorship is the suppression of information that may be considered harmful for the consumer. An example of this is when games may censor swear words as to not persuade people to use swear words. Some people think that there is a fine line between protecting the public interest and censorship. Public interest can also be considered the welfare and well-being of the public. So censoring swear words could be considered protecting the public interest.

Under 18’s are subject to particular consideration by regulators as they are more influenced by things they may see or play. If you were to break a regulation when releasing a game then you could be fined or prosecuted as they must be followed. Regulations and deregulations can slow down production and release of videogames as there is lots of legal process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the gaming industry, ethical and legal issues are taken more lightly than they are in other industries such as the movie industry, one of the major differences is the fact that you have control over the video game. Most games almost include anything they want. Most games have murder, war, stealing, illegal drug use, killing of civilians and the list goes on. The age rating changes what you can and can’t put in a video game, in a game that is rated a 12, you couldn’t pass off more than a swear word and some violent scenes, in a game rated 18, like Grand Theft Auto V, you can go on a murder spree and your character is constantly involved in drug smuggling. To sum up, the gaming industries have a lot of free reign when it comes to putting content in games that would be deemed hurtful to certain cultures and religions.

In the gaming industry a large issue they have is underage people playing a game that is rated above their age. To stop young people being drawn towards such violence videogames, the PEGI rating was introduced.

The PEGI rating tells users how old you should be to be able to purchase and play this game, this stops younger people playing such violent games. If someone who looks younger than they say tries to purchase a game that is made for age groups above them they will be asked for identification thanks to the PEGI rating system. Unfortunately, to get around this, young people will ask their siblings or parents to buy it for them.

In the work I do for college i must be sure not to offend anyone from a certain culture or religion as this will show that I haven’t thought about how people may react to my work and how they may be offended. To get around this I make sure to not put any racial or stereotypical like comments in my work. For the trailer I made, no one spoke in it, this way I didn’t have any trouble making sure not to offend anyone.

 

Making sure that your games are legally and ethically acceptable will make other companies and advertisers want to show off your game which will make more people want to buy it which would also in turn give the company more money. Games have started putting disclamers on their game title screens

This is the Assassin’s Creed title screen, this is shown due to the fact that the Assassin’s game series is based on historical events that have been altered for the games purposes.

There are plenty of laws that regulate the videogame industry, one of them i talked about earlier, that one being age ratings, this law protects young people from violent videogames. Something I didn’t mention however was videogame classification.

This would show the more specific reasons as to why a game is rated how it is. You may see a 16 rated game and it would also tell you the reason for that is violence.

Another law that regulates the game industry is the the data protection and privacy law. This means that if you were to give some bank details to a company (I.E. PlayStation Network) they would have to keep your details private. To make sure of this, companies make sure that not only will your details be leaked digitally but physically too, which is why password protection on consoles is so important.

It is good to know about these laws and all the others if you want to create a game, this way you can’t be seen as breaking any of these laws and people will have much more respect for your game.

 

 

 

Pokemon Red Trailer

Market and Audience Research

I am making a trailer for the game Pokemon Red. Pokemon Red was released in 1996 and many new versions have been and are still being made today. The game would be released for all ages, the game isn’t graphically violent and is very child friendly. My trailer will also be released for all audiences, the reason for this is because the trailer is supposed to make you want to buy the game, so releasing it to everyone will make more people want to buy it. My trailer wont be violent or scary so younger viewers should be okay with it. My trailer will mix animation with live action recording to make the viewer feel immersed in the Pokemon world.

Although my game is being released for everyone, my main target audience is older teens to young adults as they will have more patience and time to play through the whole game. another reason for this is that most young adults would have owned the original Pokemon games and may be more interested due to that fact. I think it would be a good idea to put my trailer on youtube and on other social media websites so that more people will see it. The reason this may get more peoples attention is because a lot of people now use social media everyday, so they would be more likely to see my trailer. When doing my survey, lots of people said that trailers influence them to buy games, not only that, but they also said that they would like to see Pokemon Red re-released. Nintendo have actually released a Pokemon red re-make, this proves that people definitely wanted to see another one.

 

Production research

My trailer should be relatively easy to record. For the live action shooting I have acquired an SLR camera that I will be using to record. I also have a tripod for shots that require the camera to be still. All the recording will take place in my house as my trailer is trying to show everyone that you an be immersed in this game. For recording the sound I may have to go to different places to get certain sounds, such as smoke or dry ice. As my Dad’s a musician, I can get access to proper sound recording mic’s. This is helpful as it will be able to capture the sound as cleanly and clearly as possible. This will also help me to back up my point of people feeling immersed. As I am doing my work outside of college, I have had to start paying for Adobe Suite. Adobe Suite gives me access to all the Adobe applications, including Adobe After Effects. This will allow me to animate the animated portion of my trailer. I wont need to record anywhere else but my house, this saves me having to ask permission to record in certain places. I will have to use Photoshop a lot to create the characters that I will then animate. They will be easier to animate in Photoshop as After Effects is primarily used to actually animate the characters.

 

Rational for Trailer and Marketing Strategy

I have tried to keep my trailer violent free, this way more people will see it and share it, not just those in my target audience. One of the main reasons i chose my target audience to be older teen and young adult is due to the fact that they would be more time to play them and appreciate them. The chart below shows that a high percentage of young adults (between 18-35) play videogames online or offline, which makes them a perfect target audience. It also shows that the gender of the average gamer is slightly more male than it is female, my trailer isn’t directed towards either gender which gives me an advantage.

My trailer is basically an announcement trailer for the Pokemon Red.

Image From: Videopixie

As you can see from the image above, an announcement trailer is made to get people excited about a game. This is why I will have to put the more exciting aspects of Pokemon into the trailer, for this I will be animating the main Pokemon characters from the game into my trailer. It also says it is good not to reveal too much, my trailer will follow this guideline as i do not have much to reveal apart from the trailer itself.

Pokemon is defined as a Role-Playing Game (RPG) and and Action game. Luckily for me both RPG and Action games are high on the list of favourite genres. This is good because it means that fans of both the genres can enjoy my game and will want to watch the trailer to find out more.

I will be putting my trailer on YouTube, this will allow more people to see it, it is also good to put it on different social network sights as more and more people are using social network sights.

This shows just how many people are now using social networking sights.

 

In conclusion, I hope make a trailer that will portray the Pokemon Red game well and I hope it is enjoyed by my target audience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Animation Before Film. One of the earliest animations before film is the thaumatrope. This was a small toy that was popular around the 19th century. The toy consists of a small disk that would have two pictures on either side (like a bird and a cage) and is attached to two pieces of string. Once the string is twisted between your fingers then the two images seem to merge into one.

The phenakistoscope was another early animation device created in 1831. It is a disk with images drawn evenly around the centre, small slits are cut into the disk slightly closer to the centre. the device would usually be placed in front of the mirror and spun. You would then look through the slots which will momentarily show an image as each slot passes.

Another wall mounted version was made which allowed people to use one without having to use a mirror.

The zoetrope operates almost the same as the phenakistoscope. Its a cylindrical device with a few frames of animation printed inside. The viewer looks through the slots and spins the device to see the images moving on the other side. The zoetrope has got many advantages over the basic phenakistoscope. More than one person could view the device due to the fact that its cylindrical, it also didn’t need a mirror to be viewed.

Flipbooks are one of the most basic was to show moving images. Frames of image are drawn on pieces of paper, once finished the pages of the book are flipped quickly to show as if the images are moving.

1900 – 1929 The Silent Era. In the early 20th century theatres began showing animated movies, especially in the United States and France.

One of the first completely animated films using stop- motion to create action was Humorous phases of funny faces.

Fantasmagorie is the first animated film using hand drawn animation. It is considered by film historians to be the first animated cartoon.

 Image from Fantasmagorie

Traditional Animation

Traditional Animation (sometimes referred to as cel-animation). This is one of the older forms of animation. The animator draws every frame to create the animation sequence. All the drawings one after the other, gives the idea of movement. This animation completely consists of hand drawn frames. This is normal recorded in 12 frames per second (fps) and occasionally is sped up to 24 fps for faster scenes. This isn’t really used anymore as this style has become obsolete.

1995. This was the year that Toy Story was released and it was the first fully computer animated feature film. From here, lots of animated feature films have made box office hits.

Current Forms Of Animation

Flash animations have become more popular in the last decade. An increasing amount of people can make them due to the access of the technology. Flash is cheap and easy to use, so are other vector based animating programs. Unlike traditional animation, people can create rigs for characters then move the body parts individually, instead of drawing the character over and over. After effects allows you to create complex rigs for animations. All these flexibilities give beginners more options when approaching animations, especially if drawing isn’t their strong suit, unlike traditional animation where drawing skills were needed.

3D animation (also known as computer animation), this is currently the most common form of animation. 3D animation is more like moving puppets than it is drawing 3d pictures. Like flash animation, most programs will allow you to have a lot of control over the character and move body parts. A big difference between 3d and 2d animation is that the characters body parts are always present, which has to be taken into consideration while animating. When animating 2d, if the character is viewed from the side, then half of his body isn’t visible and therefore technically non existent.With 3d however, parts are always present which adds more work for the animator because they have to be aware of the whole body all the time.

Motion graphics are still a form of animation, however, motion graphics are not character or story driven, motion graphics is used to create moving text or graphic elements, motion graphics is usually used for promotional purposes. The skills to make morion graphics don’t necessarily need to be the same for the other types of animation. With motion graphics, you don’t need an understanding of body movement.

Stop motion combines live action film making principles with traditional character animation. Stop motion is done by taking a photo of an object, moving it just a little bit and taking another photo, this process is repeated several times. When all the photos are played back, they make the illusion of movement. This is a similar idea to traditional but it uses real life material  instead of drawing.

Different styles of stop motion.

Claymation. A popular form is claymation. This is working with clay characters that can be manipulated for animation. These clay characters are usually built upon a wire skeleton. This helps make it easier to animate.

Puppets. Some animators will use puppets for stop motion. Like claymation, puppets can be built around a wire skeleton, this makes them easier to use. The expression on the puppets faces can be easily changed to fit the emotion they may be trying to express.

Cut out. This uses cut outs of cardboard or different flat material placed upon a paper background. The animation is shot from above. There are lots of pieces to every character, that are all switched out and swapped while shooting.

Silhouette. Similar to cut out stop motion, silhouette follows the same principle however, all the shots are dark and they are all depicted as silhouettes. This is a very old form of stop motion that is very rarely used today.

Action figures. A few people use action figures in stop motion. Robot Chicken is famous for using action figures to make fun of pop culture. Some YouTubers use Lego in stop motion videos.

Pixelation. This is a form of stop motion that uses real people to create unreal scenes. It uses the method of taking photos and moving things around, the major difference is that the main subject in the video is usually an actual person.

Where animation can be used.

Advertisement. Lots of adverts show real life scenarios portrayed by animated scenes. Big companies will normally use lots of different animated scenes, sometimes the scenes don’t have much to do with the company. The reason for this is because it is much more interesting and it keeps the viewer watching, this in turn could help their sales. It is also much more expensive o hire actors and actresses.

Entertainment. The biggest use of animation is entertainment. Animation is used everywhere in entertainment, TV, phones and the internet. Animated entertainment is used a lot on kids programming. Animation can keep children occupied and entertained due to the bright colours and funny characters. Lots of television shows and movies are created using animation, a lot of animated films have made a lot of profits.

Educational. Animation can be used in education to help pupils understand something easier or show how something works. Animation can keep children interested by having bright colours and characters. Some children’s programmes are also educational and completely animated.

Simulations. Simulations are used in lots of places, they are used greatly in the military. Pilots will use simulations to practice flight training. Instead of buying new equipment and fuel they will just use a flight simulator.

Current trends in animation.

• High-End 3D – Now high-end 3d isn’t just found on big budget movies. Because of the technology people have access to, high-end 3d can be found much more commonly on television.

• Tangible – The use of tangible physical materials and human interaction. This shows animation engaging with reality.

Here’s an example – The Twinings tea advert.

• Non-Photorealistic rendering – enables a wide variety of expressive, natural looking styles to be created digitally.

Here’s an example.

• Augmented live action – A live action scene is filmed and then motion graphics are overlaid onto the scene.

Modern animation software. 

• Unreal engine
• Houdini
• Maya 3D
• Cinema 4D
• Blender 3D

Animation. Animation is very important in media. You can’t watch anything without some form of animation in it, wether its a feature film or a youtube video, animation will probably be present. Since technology is much more advanced in recent years, it has become much easier for anyone to start animating.

 

 

 

 

Apologies on lateness. Lateness due to moving house in middle of project.

All work including the first task which can already be found on my blog.

Task 1: Report on 3D

Task 2: 3D Environments Proposal

Equiptment Budget Contact List

Task 3: 3D Environment Production

Concept Art

Apologies that this is in pdf form but i was having trouble translating my work to wordpress. Other work will be uploaded in blog form.