Unit 6 - Task 1 - James

Unit 6: P1P2 Understand how media producers define and create products

Task 1

Title	A Night Of Laughter	Slender – The Arrival	Skyrim – The Elder Scrolls
Genre	Survival, Horror, FPS	Survival, Horror, Strategy	FPS, Adventure, action role-play
Selection of content	Dark, cold, harsh landscaping, gritty sounds, dingy colours, decaying feel, exploration	Dimly lit, exploration, isolated feel, Jump Scares	Vast landscapes, picturesque views, large open world, exploration, hand to hand combat
Construction of content	An immersive story, Linear	Linear, Partial Narrative,	Narrative/character driven
Narrative Conventions	Searching for an escape, Survival	Survival, Page finding, looking for an escape	Story driven, bettering yourself, saving the realm
Codes and Conventions	Health, ammunition, sanity levels, free roam/free choice, variety of weapons	No weapon, event triggers (finding certain objects) escape slender man	Variety of weapons, Quests, Main Storyline, fighting enemies
Target Demographic	Teenager – adult (14-30)	18+ (young adults - adults)	16 – 50 (Rated Mild)

Task 2

Media Text: This can range from posters that advertise/promote something, to a TV show/movie. Media text has the purpose to either show or promote the text that it is showing. For a Night of laughter there will be posters along with an intro video to the game, possibly even a trailer so that it can hook players into the game before its release to create a need for the game. With little to no promotional media text for slender the arrival it made it hard for their to be such a buzz for the game, however through word of mouth and YouTube videos the game was publicised to be a great successor to the first slender man game which was vastly popular as a free download. The videos created by people led others to then try out the newer version, working as good advertisement, with some videos reaching millions of views. As for Skyrim there was an initial trailer that was released which caused a lot of people to get excited for the game, with it being another instalment of the already popular series of games (elder scrolls) it already had a vast amount of fans who followed the games and long awaited their return. Advertising wise Skyrim has a lot of media text that was used for advertising such as posters and trailers, alongside the videos that were also produced for skyrim from youtubers, who would speculate on the upcoming features further creating excitement for the game.

Genre: Genre refers to what content is to be expected from a game, a horror will normally have dark lit areas in order to scare the player, whereas an adventure game is built with adventuring in mind, or a first person shooter being a game where you shoot other people like call of duty. A night of laughter will primarily be a survival horror game, meaning that the player will have to survive enemies (clowns) and will also have moments where gore or jump scares may be used to engage the player, this is much like slender the arrival, which also uses jump scares and "scary" enemies to engage the player in the horror genre. This is unlike skyrim however which is an adventure action role play, which is done through the customisation of the player character at the start and throughout the game. Aswell as this the character engages in quests, which are objectives that can be optional, something players enjoy about the game.

Selection of content: selection of content normally refers to what is in the game, such as sound, imagery and colours. For a Night of laughter the game is cel shaded, and uses bright colours in a dimly lit world replicating night. This is much like slender the arrival, which is also dimly lit to add to the horror atmosphere, however instead uses photo realistic graphics, something which makes the game more immersive to some players. Skyrim also uses photo realistic graphics, but has a brighter look to the game, with it only being dark at night or in caves. The bright lighting of the game helps to emphasise the detail of each object, with fire lighting used at night perfectly to create an ambient atmosphere that the player can still navigate and see in. As for sounds skyrim utilises sounds of literally everything, from a river to a man speaking to a bird tweeting, this adds to immersion and makes the game almost feel real, this much like a night of laughter and slender which both also use atmospheric sounds to build an environment around the player.

Construction of content: Construction of content is how a game plays out, for example skyrim is a clear narrative based game where you follow a story given to you through cutscenes and character exposition to allow the player to navigate through the story, unlike a night of laughter which instead is more survival based, with little to no story, instead has the player attempting to just simply survive. There is middle ground however with slender, which utilises the survival option, and the narrative giving players an option as to how they wish to play the game.

Codes and conventions: every game has some conventional feature that all games either have or attempt to use, such as a HUD or health bar. This can be seen clearly in a night of laughter which has a health bar, sanity bar and an inventory system, something used in most survival horror games. This is nothe always obvious as a bar however, as slender does not have a noteable bar or icon for health, which is done to put the player in more fear without the understand of how much health is left. This is unlike skyrim however which is very conventional with a health bar, inventory and full HUD. This is done to allow the player to know every part of their character, whether they are tired or carrying too much weight, and to fully immerse the player.

Target demographic: every game has a target audience that it wishes to appeal to, this is done by adding certain elements in a game to stand out to certain demographics. For horror fans, and those who enjoy a thrill games such as a night of laughter and slender appeal, however those looking for a story heavy solo game would look to skyrim. Each demographic is considered carefully and it marketed towards the right audience through advertising. Skyrim appeals to teenagers and young adults as it gives them an escapism to a virtual world where they can create their own character, it is also aimed at both genders with the possibility to play as either gender. As for slender and a night of laughter, the audience is more niche, specialising in people who enjoy a thrill from being scared. This audience tends to also be teenagers, however varies in age as the content may sometimes be too scary for younger teens (as shown with slender).

   

Unit 6 - assignment 2 - task 2

P4 - Analysis of a Computer Game

Game: Total War Rome 2/Attila

Total War is a real time strategy game that focuses on human history for the setting/themes of their games. Using photo-realistic graphics the game capitalises on fast paced upfront action, accompanied by a board game style map setting which allows for ease of navigation around a top down map of the world. Utilising a strong campaign with various playable factions each total war has been vastly popular with the total war community (made up of its players and fans) and has been a benchmark in strategy games since its first release back in 2001 with "Total War: Shogun".

Each game released by creative assembly makes use of some historical event and uses it to create their games, however this format was changed for their most recent release 'total war: Warhammer' which used elements from another vastly popular franchise, something fans of total war have asked for.

Total war rome 2 and attila uses photo realistic graphics, this helps the player feel more immersed in the game, as if they are actually controlling real people's lives. After a popular mod by the name of "more gore" creative assembly added this as a permanent feature, making it an option whether you want more or less gore in the game. Along with its graphics the game also utilises environmental sounds, along with a soundtrack for each game that helps to further immerse the player into the world they are controlling. These sounds can include the sound of crashing waves by the oceans of the map, to birds tweeting before the battle begins. Aswell as the environmental and soundtrack sounds, there is a lot of dialogue, mainly found as a tutorial sort of dialogue that educates the player on how/what to do. Acting as an advisor to you, it helps to further place you in the position of power, and to lead your armies who also speak in the game.

There isn't much to a narrative structure in total war unless it is chosen, since the campaign can be either free play (make your own decisions) or follow the advised routes of commanders before you. An example of this is when playing as rome, you will be encouraged to subdue the gaelic tribes and the other Italian tribes that may pose a threat to you later on, however do not pose immediate danger. This is encouraged however as it was the action that in history, the Romans took. A more notable feature of the game that does have narratives, are the add ons/dlc packs that add new campaigns that actually follow history, such as caeser in gaul (following the events of Julios caeser) and hannibal at the gates (the carthaginian wars). These became very popular for history buffs, who were able to play out key battles in each campaign that actually happened in life. My highlight of these campaigns was being able to play as the Romans, and having to defend my legion deep in enemy territory against the suebi (germany). My army consisted of very strong units, however was only 500 strong with no cavalry or archers, as for the suebi they had almost triple my numbers fully equipped with archers and cavalry. This was a famous battle known throughout the roman empire, a story of betrayal, slaughter and death. The battle was not won by the Romans, however the creators added a possibility of the Romans winning through cunning maneuvers. I managed to win the scenario, after sustaining terrible losses however. This is one of the many appeals the game has, it relies on heavy strategic play and learning what troops you have, and also what troops you are going against.

I believe the narrative that the game encorporates is brilliant, it fully immerses the player into the role of a military and civilian leader. Using different notifications and pop ups through dialogue and events keeps the player on their toes, as with life nothing is made simple.

When you go to start a battle, you have time to set up your attack, which is key in determining the outcome of the battle. Other features in this time include choice of weather, and where you will place your units. This is key as you can and should use the environment to your advantage, archers in a high place, spears at the front, swords on the side and cavalry on the flanks. This requires the player to become a strategist, and when playing multilayer requires the players to out think one another.

With total war there are no main characters, instead the player is the main character, choosing either to rule the world or take over it and govern it properly. This sense of power to the player is what becomes addicting, having the choice to spare a civilisation and make it an ally or obliterating and raiding all their towns can be something players lose themselves over.

Being an intense strategic game, total war isn't normally aimed at children, yet the odd exception comes about. The main target demographic for total war is 16 and up, due to some of the language used. Targeting people who enjoy history, and also those who enjoy a game where strategy is needed it hits it's demographic perfectly. I believe the games created in this series use the right ratios of history with free choice. Some games can go wrong where they force a decision out of the player that they would not normally make, total war however suggests the course of action that another (normally a historical figure) would take, however let's you choose what you would do. This can normally lead to a lot of problems with what happens in the game, but allows for the player to experience the consequences of their own choices, and after time formulates a style of player different to each person. The demographic is also met well due to creative assembly actually listening to what people have to say about their games, for example total war fans requested a game after rome 2 that was more gore and had a more ruthless villain for the player to either play as or play against, thus attila was born. This game encorporated many ideas stemming from customer reviews, however to all its brilliance each total war has had its down sides and features that don't work. Empire total war was the worst in the franchise and did a good job of not only ruining historical events, but also the game itself with poor graphics, and out of sync sound issues. Later fixed by games to follow, however coming with another issue that some would say is worse, the over use of dlc's to fill a game, requiring people to continually purchase and spend money on the game. With the games already being a high price this was too much for some, and has caused total war to not have the high opinion that I regard it with. To me it's brilliance lies within the decision a player makes, a game that is more of a vessel that the player commands as opposed to a game that forces a player to make and do unrealistic things.

The genre of strategy games hasn't been most popular with the vast public, however has a nice community that comes with it. A community that enjoys to outwit one another, as opposed to winning by luck (call of duty). The genre has grown bigger however with games such as total war leading it, and I believe strategy is a genre that will always be apparent, much like the game of chess or hnetafl (viking chess) which has been around for centuries. 

Animation For Game Planning

Animation Planning

Setting: Table with a book of Polaroid photos, each being of characters present in the game.

Story: The camera opens panning slowly over the table which has a large book which is a brown hardback, as the first page opens photos start fading in (Polaroid's) to the song 'No surprises - radio head'. With a contrasting image in each photo, one being a bunch of happy friends on a camping trip, another being a secret image of a clown thrown in, another being a sad image of one of the friends dead.

Camera will focus on one photo at a time, maybe two at points. The final image will be the character looking up and seeing a clown in front of him.

Storyboard