On starting research. I contacted Michael Brooks's producer at frontier games through the frontier forums.
Michael Brookes producer was very helpful in my research to gain knowledge of the gaming sector and gaming industries role and practices. I prepared a list of 10 questions which I put to Michael Brooks question one.
I asked when a concept idea is given life what research would be carried out within the company in its various strands of idea is to production?
Michael Brookes producer. This varies depending on the project; if key new technologies or game play mechanisms are needed then these tend to be Prototyped before full production is started.
Mechanisms, within a project? A mechanism this is considered mechanical items assembly and designed for a specific purpose to achieve within games, machine-learning methods can also potentially be used to extract relevant preference information from Games to help machines understand the Webs exceedingly complex mechanism. Understanding the behavior of adaptive networked environments more over understanding the dynamics, there may clearly be a number of infinite mechanisms available, but the notes and links are concentrating on the specific ones within the game machine itself.
In conclusion, on this point it may be one of the hardest things to breakdown for new learning.
In addition, new learning methods in a lifetime of research are in itself exceedingly complex.
Prototyping why? Prototyping an idea of a design or product, (Being the Game) by creating a sit down real version to see which aspects within the game are worthwhile and which parts need to be changed, or discarded.
In the process, within the game. It may be possible to find bug that, on paper, were not noticeable.
Moreover, creating a prototype will allow the design team a clear visible path to the game idea by testing the product before going into full production.
Before tens of thousands of the games are made, then only to discover a giant mistake, this is why it is important for games companies to prototype before beginning production.
In my second question, I asked Michael Brookes producer.
What forms of marketing would be carried out?
Michael Brookes producer. Competitive and general market analysis, although this tends to be done by the publisher as much as the developer. This can vary between games and what their route to market is.
Competitive market analysis? Competitive analysis of the gaming market should include key influences and factors that affect the way in which games meets the competing market for two reasons. Firstly, you must know what the customers want and what sort of game are in circulation and the sort of game you are selling and have the resources to meet the demands, it may be that the customers has a particular game in mind and the game you are marketing does not meet the criteria. Market environment means not pursuing particular parts of the market for a whole range of strategic reasons, such as a price war in the gaming market, game conflict, or legal or ethical considerations' many path and rules to follow. Secondly, you need to know what games your competitors are selling and if they are doing things better than you, or more affectively, whether they are looking to change their competition in the market, by moving to new game product or technology.
Publisher and developer? Simplified, the best kind of video game developer is the developer that sometimes comes up with an original concept, character, or story for a game; other times they work with licensed comic books, toys, or characters from movies, Game development working on multiple game titles. Some video game developers have full-time staff of programmers, designers, and artists. Others choose to outsource Small portions of the project, however this maybe more the case on small-scale projects.
Customers rarely know the names of a games developer and are more likely to know who created it, or the name of a game's publisher.
A video game publisher is responsible for the manufacturing, distribution and marketing of a game title. The publishers will often provider the cost of developing the game for a large stake in the profits of the game. In most cases, the publisher contracts with a development team to create a specific Game.
Some publishers purchase games that are not yet finished, and agree to publish them. In addition, will sometimes out-source this portion of the video game publishing role to third party distributors.
Console hardware manufacturers (PlayStation, PlayStation 3), Microsoft Windows, (Xbox & Xbox 360). Will often publish video games, to ensure there is a large amount of high quality games or software for their platforms.
My third question I put to Michael Brookes producer.
Would any forms of research be outsourced to smaller companies or would all research be done within the company?
Michael Brookes producer. It tends to be in-house in conjunction with partners some specialist information may be purchased.
On my third question. Most companies are reluctant to give out company secrets to do with specialist information that is purchased within a game. This would be a breach of the contract so I can only surmise what specialist information is within a game. Hopefully I will get an answer to this question in my second source of primary research, but again this may be hard to ascertain. This question he could not elaborate any further on as it would be a breach in his work ethics and company policies to release this kind of information to the general public.
For my fourth question, I put to Michael Brookes producer.
Would there be cooperation and integration between other media industries and how would this work?
Michael Brookes producer. This tends to be done at the publisher level although it would be something we would consider although usually part of a franchise plan rather than a specific game development.
Franchise plan? Franchise plan this is a very big growing business of game sequels upon sequels in some cases over 200 games in a single franchise.
Selling 240 million games worldwide so this would actually come into the realm of specialist games.
Many top-selling games back in the 80s were 2-D plat-formers like Tetris, Mario, going forward into the 90s Pokémon, a lot of leading specialist games from EA sports , these games are some of the leading franchises.
Game development? Games programmers are the key element in all games production and development they create the masses of code that form the foundation in all games that work in all of its various components.
From environments, to vehicles, and complex characters, it's called interactive entertainment product code, and is used within the games industry, to create the many thousands of top games each year. This is a complete system, of mathematics and perhaps written by actual game developers
It is a computer science.
We can also go back to the second question, Publisher, and developer.
Question five I put to Michael Brookes producer. Before a game goes into production, would a possible future or sequel of games be considered and would this be researched first?
Michael Brookes producer. Any sequels or franchise plans would be considered with any publisher partner, although it is worth remembering you need a good
Game in the first instance to stand a real chance of extending it into a series or sequel.
Question six I put to Michael Brookes producer. How would the game be thoroughly tested in-house or beta tester on consumer. In addition, how long after a game has been produced would testing go on or is this an ongoing thing?
Michael Brookes producer. We have our own QA team who work alongside the development team; they also work with the publisher QA teams. Beta tests are used for certain types of projects and would usually be organised by the publisher. We do provide after sales assistance via our forums, so some testing also accrues after a game's release. Again, publishers do a similar thing.
QA Team? Testing games is a very skilled job? In fact a highly responsible, and disciplined role.
Testers are responsible for game quality in the final product.
Finding all the flaws and bugs in a game before it goes public.
Spelling mistakes, localisation problems audio glitches and graphic errors.
Not all issues within a game can be addressed before a game goes public, or into the market.
Testers must know what the most important aspects within the game are.
They have a working deadline, and must understand skills of production and marketing schedules.
They have to know software and quality management system to document findings.
Testers work together as a team in multi-player game rooms, and a team might have a stake in a game or own part of one.
Testing and playing a game repeatedly, testing all the different levels in a game.
Many versions of a game may sometime have various features missing.
The work can be tedious, but Testers have to test for a long time after the fun of playing has worn off.
They must communicate their finding with other team members.
They also need to be a wear off the many different ways the game will be played, by the public or consumer and test accordingly.
They will also have communications with the customer support teams, once a game go public.
QA Team Leader will work close with the QA Manager, which will involve managing a team of testers, sticking to plans and schedules.
Development team?
Developers may be a small groups making casual games, to hundreds of employees and producing large title games.
Companies will divide secession of game for the different departments.
Individual jobs may variety outside the company; however, roles are the same within all games industries.
A development team may be made up of several members, some members may handle more than one role within the team, and more than one task may be handled by a single team member.
Teams can vary from as little as 20 to more than 100 team members, depending on the game class from small to large titles.
This will start from artists, programmers, to designers, and audio specialist more the one producers or management on a game at one time
These are full-time positions; smaller parts at the start may be employed only part-time these may be testers. We can also go back to the second question and Question six, Publisher, and developer.
QA Team.
In conclusion, on this point, some beater testing for some game may be required not in all cases.
After sales may consist of free downloads for bug fixing for games.
Humans are infallible and prone to making mistakes; this is why extensive testing is preformed.
Therefore, when a game hits the market it has the least amount of bug within the game.
Question seven I put to Michael Brookes producer. How many people are used within the company to create one game?
Michael Brookes producer. This varies between games; a smaller more focused game like Lost Winds is 10-20 people. Large console release can be teams of well over 100 people.
LostWinds Game first released 2008.?
LostWinds a wonderful and delightful 2D platform game created by Frontier developers bursting with new adventure and gameplay ideas for its time.
What makes LostWinds an exception to the rule? The game itself. After researching the game. I found it was made totally developed and created in-house by a dedicated team of Frontier developers. Nothing was outsourced all voices and music within the game was created by its own staff a small team of up to 20 people, they had created a mini masterpiece at their first attempt with the most charming gameplay environments. This game was outstanding the most brilliantly realised combat and puzzling game superbly presented in a magical land.
The games powerful and playful control mechanisms takes you through a wonderful land and give you the power of the gods to control wind and the environment around you. One of them rare breed of games that steel you away from reality into fancy with stunning foregrounds and backdrops it use depth field and blurred reflections and transparencies detailed features and stunning lighting effects is what made this game exception to the rule in the roles and practices of the gaming industry.
Question eight I put to Michael Brookes producer. What sort of feedback of your game. Would you be looking for and what sources would you use?
Michael Brookes producer. There's a variety of sources for feedback, we have our own forums as well as general gaming sites. Reviews always make
Interesting reading :-) There's also various data mining and targeted feedback, but this tends to be done by the publisher.
Reviews and Feedback?
To an industry or game manufacturer feedback or review, are consider a relevant source of information, to the success or downfall of games. I guess the same would be said about films, but does everyone use reviews and feedback for a certain point of interest. I guess the document I am doing now would be considered as a review or of feedback channel into the roles and practices of a game industry.
However, once a game is released by a publisher would they then use all channels of relevant information, and use them to their own advantage, and sometimes disadvantage as some may be damning to the game release focusing more on what's with it in a game rather than how the game plays.
An extreme amount of work by artists developers game engineers publishes QA teams, game testers,
this could all help to make or break a game in its first days of life. This is why this question was relevant to the roles and practices of the game industry as Michael Brooks producer said "they always make interesting reading not just to the company who makes the game or the publisher that releases the game, but to the actual gaming community as most game enthusiasts like to see game clip releases and previews of games before they actually buy".
To see what the reaction is from other gaming communities. I myself will only buy a game after a review or feedback has been released. This helps me make up my mind about the game but at the end of the day it's down to the individual or what they are into.
The 2-D platform or 3-D high end game, I would say anybody who makes a game would like to read a review of their handiwork to see how it was received by the audience and game participants to game players. We can also go back to the second question and Question six, Publisher, and developer.
Data mining and targeted feedback.?
A brief description . There are literally dozens of books on the subject and how they are utilised within the gaming industry by publishers.
The publisher capacity to mining date within games. This would be useful in browser activity, allowing the publisher to finally hone, his demographic profiling skills. Then these profits can then be sold to third parties, this then would become part of consumer data. This would allow more physical targeted marketing. This profiling information can then be used by the publisher to understand and manage social mapping identifying players relationships to each other and identifying community leaders and can be a greater source of feedback or targeted strategy.
We can also go back to the second question and Question six, Publisher, and developer.
Question nine I put to Michael Brookes producer. What music companies would you use within the game to create the music and would the voices in your game be
outsourced to actors or would you use your own in-house staff?
Michael Brookes producer. Again in depends on the scope of the project, we have in-house music talent, but we also contract external sources as well.
Paid actors typically do voice acting, although LostWinds was an exception to this.
In-house music talent.?
In the late 80s games companies began development games and music with in-house EA games with the leader in this endeavour I began to understand the games were more profitable.
Most gaming companies have their own music talent and voice-over actors within the company on major productions and top high end games triple AAA, they would have to outsource to outside music talent and high paid actors for accurate depictions of characters within games.
We can also go back to Question seven, LostWinds Game first released 2008.?
Question ten I put to Michael Brookes producer. When a game is finished how then would you address the increasingly blurred demarcations between
Product and consumer independent and mainstream audience and participants, and what would be the
Interplay between these areas?
Michael Brookes producer. The games industry has always had mechanisms for hobbyist developers, on the home computers back in the eighties, on to PC's and mobile phones in modern times.
The rise of consoles did seem to impact this, but there's always been an open platform somewhere that people can create on.
It may seem that there are more opportunities than there used to be, but I think that's really because the games industry is broader than it used to be, from a platform perspective it's probably become more restrictive.
As games become more mass market, (sports games probably spearheaded this to a great degree) and some games became blockbusters in a similar way to film and other media it became inevitable that big business would get involved.
Some would argue that this has been detrimental to the games industry in that it stifles original IP, personally I'm not sure this is the case.
I also think that blockbuster games have helped drive quality of experience as well as bring games to new audiences.
Hobbyist Game developers?
Many areas of game development and hobby game development have different technologies within platform games knowledge can be ascertained from this process and you have no one looking over your shoulder being critical of your work, you can do this in private until you are ready to impact your game on the gaming community, which you have developed.
Many games within the gaming industry today would not possible. Had it not been for hobbyist game developers?
Games are more in a way to improve your skills not just in the gaming area but in other areas, such as JavaScript.
There is still plenty of good information you can find on game making it is quite an endeavour.
Free gamer is an online chat community for hobbyist game developers. It consists of blogs published and freely edited.
For example there is a list of open source 3D game engines, which everyone can use for their own games creations. Mechanisms? We can also go back to Question 1. Mechanisms, within a project?
Bibliography
Andrei Luca (2010) Starting point for beginner and hobbyist game developers
[online] . Availble at: http://www.yourgamedesign.com/hobby-gamedev-manifesto
[Accessed 19 February 2011] .
A. C. M. Fong, S. C. Hui, G. Jha (1998-2002) Data Mining for Risk Analysis and Targeted Marketing
[online] . Availble at: http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=646965.712581&coll=DL&dl=GUIDE&CFID=
10558436&CFTOKEN=71083258 [Accessed 19 February 2011]
Ann MacDonald (2006-2011) Video Game Developers and Publishers
[online] . Availble at: http://videogames.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Video_Game_Developers_and_Publishers
Destiny Inc (2005-2011) Competitive Market Analysis and Market Research
[online] . Availble at: http://www.teamandadream.com/CompetitiveMarketAnalysis
[Accessed 19 February 2011] .
elder game (2009) What’s a QA team without a spec?
[online] . Availble at: http://www.eldergame.com/2009/02/whats-a-qa-team-without-a-spec/
[Accessed 19 February 2011] .
Frontier Developments Ltd (2006-2010) Frontier Forums
[online] . Availble at: http://forums.frontier.co.uk
[Accessed 8 February 2011]
Frontier Developments Ltd (2008-2011) LostWinds
[online] . Availble at: http://uk.wii.ign.com/objects/142/14236589.html
[Accessed 19 February 2011]
Patrick Soules (2010) Why is Prototyping Important?
[online] . Availble at: C:\Users\Terry\Desktop\College Work\research docs\Why is Prototyping Important.mht [Accessed 19 February 2011]
skelebone (2006) linked list of mechanisms
[online] . Availble at: http://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/mechanism
[Accessed 19 February 2011]
Wikipedia (2011) Video game developer & game publisher
[online] . Availble at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_developer
[Accessed 19 February 2011] .
Wikipedia (2011) List of best-selling video game franchises
[online] . Availble at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_game_franchises
[Accessed 19 February 2011] .
Between Fasahat Salim and You
Terry Rowles 10 February at 11:22 1) When a concept idea is given life, what research would then be carried out within the company in the various strands of idea to production?
2) What forms of research into marketing would be carried out?
3) Would any forms of research be outsourced to smaller companies or would all research be carried out within the company?
4) Would there be cooperation, and interaction between other media industries and how would this work?
5) Before game is put into production, would a possible future or sequel to the game be considered and would this be researched first?
6) How would the game be thoroughly tested in-house or beta tester on consumer. In addition, how long after a game has been produced would testing go on or is this an ongoing thing?
7) How many people are used within the company to create one game?
8) What sort of feedback of your game. Would you be looking for and what sources would you use?
9) What music companies would you use within the game to create the music and would the voices in your game be outsourced to actors or would you use your own in-house staff?
10) When a game is finished how then would you address the increasingly blurred demarcations between product and consumer independent and mainstream audience and participants, and what would be the interplay between these areas?
Thank you for your kind attention. I have tried to keep my question as narrow and to the point as possible. It would be a great help to me in understanding the role, practices and interaction between all companies involved in making games.
Thank you very much for your assistance on this matter and look forward to hearing from you, my email is warpod @live.com
New messageHi, im Chris Dyble mate List of Questions:..Back to MessagesSelect allSelect noneMark as ReadMark as unreadReport spamDeleteUnsubscribe.Select: All, Read, NoneShow:AllUnread.
Fasahat Salim24 February at 10:25 Hi, im Chris Dyble mate List of Questions:Thank you so much. You are an absolute star. This is a great source of prim...
Between Fasahat Salim and You
Terry Rowles 10 February at 11:22 1) When a concept idea is given life, what research would then be carried out within the company in the various strands of idea to production?
2) What forms of research into marketing would be carried out?
3) Would any forms of research be outsourced to smaller companies or would all research be carried out within the company?
4) Would there be cooperation, and interaction between other media industries and how would this work?
5) Before game is put into production, would a possible future or sequel to the game be considered and would this be researched first?
6) How would the game be thoroughly tested in-house or beta tester on consumer. In addition, how long after a game has been produced would testing go on or is this an ongoing thing?
7) How many people are used within the company to create one game?
8) What sort of feedback of your game. Would you be looking for and what sources would you use?
9) What music companies would you use within the game to create the music and would the voices in your game be outsourced to actors or would you use your own in-house staff?
10) When a game is finished how then would you address the increasingly blurred demarcations between product and consumer independent and mainstream audience and participants, and what would be the interplay between these areas?
Thank you for your kind attention. I have tried to keep my question as narrow and to the point as possible. It would be a great help to me in understanding the role, practices and interaction between all companies involved in making games.
Thank you very much for your assistance on this matter and look forward to hearing from you, my email is warpod @live.com
Sorry to take up your time this must be old hat to you, basic stuff but I believe you need to understand industries practices, before you can understand the game.
Thanks again for the info I have a lot of respected for the art of games and those who make them. Terry. .
Fasahat Salim 14 February at 10:49 Report
Hi Terry
Thanks for sending these over. I will look to answer these and send them to you by the end of the week if that is alright.
Fasahat Salim 24 February at 10:23 Report
1) When a concept idea is given life, what research would then be carried out within the company in the various strands of idea to production?
During the early stages of the project, especially once a concept has been chosen to develop, a variety of research is conducted depending on the type of concept. All aspects of the concept will be broken down into smaller chunks with research being carried out for all.
For instance, the design team would start of by answering questions such as; is the game set in the real world or is it entirely fictional (sci fi, fantasy), is it a single player game or multi? Etc. Based on the answers to such questions they can further research into the setting for the game, its time period, weapons, characters and most importantly blending the game mechanics into these.
Also, artists would conduct their own research based on the concept brief they have received. They will investigate what the game will look like and how they will achieve the vision for the aesthetics of characters, environments, weapons etc. At the same time, programmers will begin to build the structure of the various code and tools (game engine, network etc) that they would require to bring these ideas to life.
It is worth noting that new concepts are usually researched and prototyped by a small team whilst the majority of the studio is still working on another game. This is done to ensure that time is not wasted and the team can move seamlessly from one project to the next.
2) What forms of research into marketing would be carried out?
Marketing for big budget titles is conducted by publishers rather than the developer themselves. Ofcourse all promotional content is approved by the developer.
Marketing research would be carried out in the form of sales figures for previous titles within the same genre, what sort of promotional content they used, the length of their marketing cycle along with the budget. Also what sorts of game conventions are in the pipeline and where they are actually located.
The standard marketing on tv, radio, billboards does not begin until a month or so before the game is expected to release. Therefore, it is essential to promote the title through other means before then. Alot of game marketing has to do with building hype and generating buzz, this is achieved by showcasing material throughout development at various showcase events, magazines and online. The community for a game (especially if it is an established franchise) is the first point of focus. If they like what they see, the word of mouth helps generate even more buzz. A new trend these days is the use of viral marketing, in the form of videos on youtube or small mini games that are humorous yet striking.
3) Would any forms of research be outsourced to smaller companies or would all research be carried out within the company?
All research for a new project would be carried out by the team during pre-production. However, research could possibly involve bringing in specialists in certain areas (weapons specialist, ex military, historians, sports man) to act as consultants. This is done to try and ensure that there is an authentic feel to whatever is being developed and trying to keep things as accurate as possible.
Most outsourcing within the industry is done primarily in the production of art and animation assets, story development, narrative and sound.
4) Would there be cooperation, and interaction between other media industries and how would this work?
Yes there is quite a deep dependency on other media industries. For instance, a lot of sound design and music is put together by professional musicians and sound specialists. Motion capture studios are required by the animation team to capture a variety of different character animation sequences. Though, alot of studios now have their own internal mocap rooms, as this allows for alot more flexibility for the animators to experiment and change things.
We also regularly use professional media studios, who specialise in film and trailers. They prepare all trailers and video related to the game and its marketing cycle. Also, the publishers of the game usually use marketing agencies to create all graphical content for the game, such as posters, tshirts, cd covers etc.
5) Before game is put into production, would a possible future or sequel to the game be considered and would this be researched first?
This is definitely considered but only a rough direction may actually be decided for a sequel. However, in order for this to come to fruition the original title must sell a significant amount of units to warrant a sequel. With game budgets these days it is becoming increasingly common to see sequels for games that only achieve relatively average sales. I'm sure you may have come across many games that leave the ending in their stories 'open', just so they have the option to bring the franchise back to life, however, no significant research is invested into a sequel until it is definitely confirmed for production.
6) How would the game be thoroughly tested in-house or beta tester on consumer. In addition, how long after a game has been produced would testing go on or is this an ongoing thing?
Quality assurance is probably the most important department during development. The game is usually tested by a small team of in-house testers, who are supported by external or embedded testers. External testers are usually provided by dedicated testing labs, who specialise in outsourced testing. Embedded testers are made available by the publisher and are employed on temporary contracts to work on-site with the dev team. For instance, on the project we are currently working on, we have 4 testers employed by the studio and we have 12 embedded teseters working on-site who have been provided by the publisher.
Testing is an ongoing process and continues throughout development on a daily basis. Every day the QA team run through a series of checks to highlight any potential issues with the latest build of the game. These issues are then rectified by the dev team and more tests are carried out. After release, testing also continues on things such as downloadable content (map packs, additional missions) or patches to rectify small bugs for the actual game.
7) How many people are used within the company to create one game?
This is directly dependent on the scale of the game, budget and platform. On a fairly large scale project, such as the one we are currently working on, you are looking at between 300-500 people. The multiplayer for our game is built by a dedicated team of 90 people all together, while the single player is being worked on by about 300 people. Ofcourse, these are big budget titles so such large teams are expected. I have also been part of much smaller setups with only 5-8 people involved, working from home and making a fun platformer for the iPhone. It all depends on the scale of the company and the type of games they want to make.
8) What sort of feedback of your game. Would you be looking for and what sources would you use?
Feedback is usually looked at in public domains, such as gaming forums, magazines and online reviews. We try to look at both positive and negative feedback, but only if it is constructive. It is very common in this industry for people to just dish out criticism but not be very constructive with it, this applies especially to online forums. We also frequently invite players from the general public to come and have a game session at our studios, just to give us an outsider's perspective. It is all too easy to get used to the game, because as developers we see it every day, so having such game sessions is extremely useful in helping us point out issues that we would have otherwise missed.
What we tend to do is collate all the different issues/suggestions that people are talking about and look into rectifying/improving those that are mentioned the most. This helps us polish the game after gathering feedback from demo's etc. Also once the game is released, we can make changes through downloadable patches that can help improve the user experience in general.
9) What music companies would you use within the game to create the music and would the voices in your game be outsourced to actors or would you use your own in-house staff?
Most sound/audio is outsourced within the games industry. However, at our studio we have a small audio team that deals with all the sound design for the game. Amongst them are composers who put together the scores for the soundtrack. It is not uncommon to see big budget games hire professional musicians who are established within the entertainment industry. A lot of the voiceovers are also done off site through the use of hired actors, however, most studios have a small recording room for their audio team to capture any additional voices they may need. This adds more flexibility in case things need to be changed/added.
10) When a game is finished how then would you address the increasingly blurred demarcations between product and consumer independent and mainstream audience and participants, and what would be the interplay between these areas?
I'm not too sure of exactly what you are looking for in this question?
This was a direct quote from my second set of primary evidence there is some excellent information within this document unfortunately, this came to late for me to research a secondary evidence to back up this primary but. It was still great source of primary evidence within the gaming industry.
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