Unit 1 Contextual Studies
Lesson 1 (10 Feb 16)
Subjects of Discussion:
Marketing
Current Market
Branding
Logo
Distribution Models or Business Models
Freemium
Premium
Ads Supported
Hybrid
Ads Supported
Hybrid
Advertising
TV
Internet
Billboard
Press/Magazine
Word of
mouth
Audience Theory
Legal constraints
Regulations
Theoretical approaches + concepts
Limitations
Technological
Time
Budget
Source material
Regional
Ethical Issues
Rating Systems
What are the implications of marketing on the game industry?
Increased sales
Viral promotions will affect the game contents
Can impact on distribution method and increased competition
Triple A titles will dominate over indie titles on marking
Exaggeration of game market
Here are the 6 ways to divide audiences:
Favorite game genre - some people only played game on a specific game genre and some will avoid to play a certain genre.
Platforms - most people only play games on a specific platform and there are quite often that the developer release game exclusively for that certain platform.
Amount of time spend playing games -
Hardcore Fans - these people could be collectors and will buy any games and collect any extra contents on the series that they are interested, this also including merchandises.
Personality trades - some people only played games because of certain aspects of the gameplay such as story, graphics and/or emotions of the game that has convey to the player.
Laws - some countries banned games because of its contents, especially sexual and violence.
Also, we had discussed about the implications of marketing, which was what we did last week and I will be taken a role of distribution methods.
First, I have talk about why desert environment are most used in games and how does it different from other environments, things like overall visual and feeling has also been mentioned. next I have talk about which game genre is suited with desert them and the reason why. I begin my research by looking into popular game genre which platformer game is the most popular and then I explain as well as using examples of platfromer games that has desert theme. Lastly, I am talk about how Mad Max, the game that featured desert theme environment, become so successful and the review of the game.
Cost - I have to research about how the cost of video game has changes over the years and why is it change.
On the last part, I have to find out the benefits of physical copy and digital copy of the game. I also trying to make a comparison between them.
Then I have to combine all of gathered data and put it into the PowerPoint presentation which I have been schedule to be presented on 20th of April.
Viral promotions will affect the game contents
Can impact on distribution method and increased competition
Triple A titles will dominate over indie titles on marking
Exaggeration of game market
Lesson 2 (24 Feb 16)
Subjects of discussion:
Today we discussed about "what other ways can you divide audiences", in which we came up with 6 different ways of the ways to divide audiences. This was only a general discussion and there has not been a proper research carried out. The topic also excludes general ways of audiences division such as demographic; age gender, religious, ethical group, and geographic; specific countries, income.Here are the 6 ways to divide audiences:
Favorite game genre - some people only played game on a specific game genre and some will avoid to play a certain genre.
Platforms - most people only play games on a specific platform and there are quite often that the developer release game exclusively for that certain platform.
Amount of time spend playing games -
Hardcore Fans - these people could be collectors and will buy any games and collect any extra contents on the series that they are interested, this also including merchandises.
Personality trades - some people only played games because of certain aspects of the gameplay such as story, graphics and/or emotions of the game that has convey to the player.
Laws - some countries banned games because of its contents, especially sexual and violence.
Also, we had discussed about the implications of marketing, which was what we did last week and I will be taken a role of distribution methods.
Lesson 3 (02 Mar 16)
Today, I was given a task to choose one out of four game themes and research about them. They are, Sci-Fi, Urban, Jungle and Desert. I have choose Desert because it is the most seem environment in games and I have used the examples as well as referencing from Mad Max video game and Fallout.First, I have talk about why desert environment are most used in games and how does it different from other environments, things like overall visual and feeling has also been mentioned. next I have talk about which game genre is suited with desert them and the reason why. I begin my research by looking into popular game genre which platformer game is the most popular and then I explain as well as using examples of platfromer games that has desert theme. Lastly, I am talk about how Mad Max, the game that featured desert theme environment, become so successful and the review of the game.
Lesson 4 (09 Mar 16)
After I had a group discussion with my teammates from previous weeks, I am now begin to reaserch on the topics that I was given. The topics are:
A concept of you get what you buy - in this part I am researching about the game in the past and pricing as well as making a note and compare games in the past and modern games
Expansion Packs of the game - in this part, I am trying to find would the benefits of expansion packs that the developer has introduced through the market which it now has turned into DLCs.
Shorter gameplay and more DLCs - Here I am finding game series that has been shorten on the gameplay time and numbers of DLCs of that game as well as trying to find out what it does.
A concept of you get what you buy - in this part I am researching about the game in the past and pricing as well as making a note and compare games in the past and modern games
Expansion Packs of the game - in this part, I am trying to find would the benefits of expansion packs that the developer has introduced through the market which it now has turned into DLCs.
Shorter gameplay and more DLCs - Here I am finding game series that has been shorten on the gameplay time and numbers of DLCs of that game as well as trying to find out what it does.
Lesson 5 (16 Mar 16)
Continue from previous week,Cost - I have to research about how the cost of video game has changes over the years and why is it change.
On the last part, I have to find out the benefits of physical copy and digital copy of the game. I also trying to make a comparison between them.
Then I have to combine all of gathered data and put it into the PowerPoint presentation which I have been schedule to be presented on 20th of April.
Lesson 8 (20 Apr 16)
Today, I have to presented my research though a presentation with my teammates, everything seems to be good but we went over 10 minutes times that we are suppose to have.Lesson 9 (27 Apr 16)
Today, there is another presentation from another group.Lesson 10 (04 May 16)
Today, I am started to developing the content required for the essay. I have separated the essay into 2 parts, the first part is to write about the game industry which most of the content will be focus toward indie developers as how they manage to sell their games and how they marketed their games. The second part is to write about how would all of the mentioned topics would applied to my game. This will be shown through examples of indie games and the business models that they have used. Here is the plan for the essay:
The game industry (2000 words)
Marketing methods
Here, I will be comparing the marketing method over the past
years and how it has changed as well as to analysing how each method might
affect the outcome of selling games.
Distribution of games
In this section, I will be looking for games in the past
years and comparing with today’s games. These are the subjects that I will be
looking for:
Changes of distribution methods – how the game are distributed has
changes over the years as many publishers tend to find the new way to sell
their game. I will also try to make a comparison between physical form and
digital form of the game to how the game publisher using various method to
approach their audience.
Pricing – I will be looking for the reasons why are games are
getting more expensive as well as comparing to the quality of the game itself.
Changes of game contents (Quality and Quantity) – in this I will be
looking for how the quality of the game has changes over the year and why do
the publisher allow unfinished game or unbegged games to be release to the
market. Also, I will be trying to find
the answer of why is it better to lessen the gameplay length and increase on
online session.
New platforms and technologies – new technologies, such as VR, are
still in its infancy and I wanted to see how it will be in the next few years
as well as how the platform owner would change their distribution method toward
the platform. And also how did the developer deal with older or obsolete platforms
as well as the platform owner.
Business models
Freemium games
Premium games
In-app purchases
Ads
support
Hybrid
Popular game genres
and how it has changed over the year.
How are games
controlled by publishers?
Available
budget – sometimes, the developer are restricted over their budget to make a
game.
Production
length
Expectation
of sales
Using
certain method to marketing
Restrictions
and availability
Branding
Challenges and risks
for indie developers
In this section, I will be looking for the risks of being
indie developers as most of today’s games are developed by Independent company.
Also, I will be comparing the advantages and disadvantage between indie
developer and in-house developer.
How indie developers
engaging their audience
Legal constraints for
indie developers
Successful indie
games
The
room from fireproof games
Minecraft
from Mojang
Does
Not Commute from Mediocre AB
Sale figures of indie
games and big studio games
Here, I will be comparing the sale figures of successful Indies
games against their development budget
Review of my game (1000 words)
What is my game?
Who are my target
audience?
Where are my target
demographic?
How long will it take
for my game to be finished?
Cost & budget
How will I market my
game?
Afterward, i went to researching every aspects of the topics that I drafted to write about in the eaasy. i have noted the links and put it into a proper document.
