D1 - Justification in relation to current trends

D1 – Justifying my ideas in relation to current trends in the UK computer game market

A current trend within the video game industry is that games often blur the lines between games and social media, with games such as Destiny and The Crew, which have emphasised the sense of socialising, sharing and connectivity. Players are currently enjoying the ability to share screenshots and videos of their gameplay with others through social media. With a total social media population of 7.2 billion users, a key way to attract people new users to a game is to incorporate aspects of socialising; this also attracts a new group of people to the game, who may not have played the game before. In 2015, Social network gaming earned a total revenue of $544 million, which suggest the audience are still highly interested in games of this nature. ‘Get Trollied’ fits in with this current trend as the app gives the users the ability to share their high score with those in the UK and the world, as well as being able to add users to a group in which they can try to beat each other’s high score. In addition, during key parts in the game, such as when Bert crashes into a stack of shelves, a screenshot will be taken automatically; this will then be presented to the gamer at the end of their game, giving them the opportunity to share the images on social media with others.

DLC’s are another popular trend within the current gaming industry. Gamers are currently interested in investing within a game they enjoy to unlock new content and features. Many games, including Grand Theft Auto, Halo and Red Dead Redemption have had DLCs (Downloadable Content) released to add to the gameplay and introduce new narratives, characters and often new features. DLC’s benefit the gaming industry, by generating them more money, for example in 2015 digital games and DLC’s earned a total revenue of $2.22 billion, as well as gamers, by giving them extra content for a game which they enjoy, and therefore are becoming a bigger part of the industry. Digital full games and DLC combined grew 33.9 per cent for the year of 2015, with subscriptions gaining 12.9 per cent and mobile games growing 10.4 per cent, this suggests that the popularity of DLC’s and mobile games will continue to grow, as the audiences interest continues to increase. ‘Get Trollied’ will include its own DLC that will become available on the 2-month anniversary of the games release, it will include the chance to purchase a different level, and will cost £5. The DLC will give the user the opportunity to explore two other stores to destroy and collect points, in order to beat their high score.

Mobile games are increasingly becoming popular, over the past 3 years; the amount of global mobile users had overtaken the amount of global desktop users, which is shown within the graph on the left. This shows that people are more interested in using a portable device, than a desktop computer, which is often only accessible in one place. As well as this, it suggests that releasing a game on a PC would mean less people would be encouraged to buy the game, as many now own a mobile rather than a desktop, therefore by releasing the game on a mobile phone, the game will be accessible for more users to download and play.

Within the top 10 highest grossing games of 2016, 7 out of the 10 games were animated and including options of interactivity. For example, with Clash Royale at the top of the chart, with total revenue of $1,969,094 the game offers the opportunity for users to collect items in order to expand their collection, as well as duel with other players in real time. This justifies the idea that games, which include aspects of socialising, are becoming increasingly popular, something which ‘Get Trollied’ also offers to gamers. The second highest grossing game of 2016 is Pokémon Go, which incorporates real life and animation to create a different world for the user to enjoy and interact with, this combination proved very popular as the game become the most played game of the summer during 2016. Seven out of Ten of the highest grossing games of 2016 feature some form of action, violence, etc. For example, the top five games, which include Clash Royale, Pokémon Go, Game of War – Fire Age, Mobile Strike and Candy Crush Saga, all contain some form of destruction in order to receive an achievement. In this sense, ‘Get Trollied’ will fit in with this trend, as the aim is to destroy as much as you can in order to receive points to beat your high score. This may suggest that games, in which the aim is to destroy objects, are often therapeutic for some users to interact with, ultimately increasing the attractiveness of the game.

P5(E) - Legal and Ethical Issues

P5(E) – Legal and Ethical Issues:

When creating the game, I will have to be aware of ensuring that I do not copy other games that are already on the market, this could result in copyright in which other companies may take legal action against me and my game. On the other hand I will also receive copyright on my own game as 'Copyright law gives the owner the right to prevent others from copying, creating derivative works, or using their works'. I will also have ‘Get Trollied’ rated by PEGI, to ensure that it receives a formal age rating. Since the game includes some strong language and violent behaviour, the game may be rated PEGI 12 which states a game includes ‘violence of a slightly more graphic nature towards fantasy character and/or non-graphic violence towards human-looking characters or recognisable animals, as well as videogames that show nudity of a slightly more graphic nature would fall in this age category. Any bad language in this category must be mild and fall short of sexual expletives.’. Because ‘Get Trollied’ is independently produced all of the royalties from the game will go straight to me, the creator, as all of the ideas that were brought together in order to create the game were my own, not the licensed work of someone else.

Ethical issues including drinking alcohol may arise when the audience play the final game as they may feel the game is encouraging the audience to consume dangerous amounts of alcohol, therefore to avoid this I may include a disclaimer at the start of the game to remind the audience to drink responsibly. A disclaimer discouraging the audience to get involved in violent interactions may also be shown, those who are of a younger age who play the game may be influenced more than those who are older and will see the humour more in the game, therefore a notice discouraging them of violent altercations may be required in order to ensure the game does not impact the behaviour of the audience. Micro-transactions may also become an ethical issue that may concern some of the audience, since the game includes in-app purchases, however as the target audience of my game is those aged 17 and over, the ethical problems of containing micro-transactions within a child’s game may not be related to ‘Get Trollied’ as the audience are old enough to make their own decisions, as well as most having their own income in order to spend on what they want, rather than children having to use their parents money.

P5(D) - Target Audience

P5(D) – Target Audience:

The audience for ‘Get Trollied’ will be those within an older age range, preferably around 17+, this is because it will contain moderately strong language, as well as contains references to alcohol. The gender target audience is not specific, as the game is accessible by anyone, with the genre being ‘racing’, but being combined with cartoon characters and products, the simple gameplay can be entertaining for both males and females. The game will be aimed at casual gamers as the game can be played on and off without the need of lengthy gameplay, this will appeal to those who don’t play games frequently but instead will play them from time to time, causally. Since they are more likely to play video games less frequently than, for example hard-core gamers, they may prefer to have the game easily accessible to them, such as on their mobile phone, rather than having to set up a games console or move to a play where there is one for them to play the game.

Casual gamers may often use games for different reasons, as displayed in the Uses and Gratifications Theory, which explains that people use media materials to satisfy needs. For example, those who play ‘Get Trollied’ may be playing it as a form of escape from their daily life, or a way to expand their personal relationships, through interacting with others to try and beat their high score. As well as this, casual gamers tend to be those who are less experienced when it comes to playing video games, therefore a game which contains simple gameplay will be more appealing to them as it takes little time to learn how to play. ‘Get Trollied’ has very simple gameplay, using controls which are frequently used on other racing games, therefore it will be easy for the target audience to grasp the concept of the game, as well as the controls that are needed to play the game. 

P5(C) - M2 - D2

P5(C) - M2- D2 from emma1fraser

Sample App Logo:

P5(B) - Production Process Chart

P5(A) - Production Process Chart from emma1fraser

Budget:

Since ‘Get Trollied’ is an independently made game, the funding will be done through Kickstarter, this will allow the audience to fund the production of the game, and can be beneficial as it ensures the game has a audience that will immediately be involved and interested in the game, generating some hyper around the release on social media, as well as helping it climb the mobile games app chart upon its release. Independently designing a game means that it will have a smaller team working on the production, therefore some of the jobs that are required may be distributed between a number of team members with some members having two jobs, etc., for example the jobs of the concept artist and level designer may be completed by the same person, reducing the costs that are generated by the salaries for the workers. After researching budgets from past, successful, indie games, they have ranged between £30,000 and £135,000, the average budget for an iPhone game has proved to be around the £30,000 mark, however, Angry Bird was produced as a result of £135,000, and created a revenue of around £65 million. Therefore the overall budget total for my game will be around £100,000, this budget will be spread out across the many different tasks (that were stated within the chart, such as marketing, distribution, development, etc.) in order to create and complete the game. This will allow enough money in order to create quality graphics and designs for characters and levels which will attract a large audience, as well as produce coding which allows for a smooth running game.

P5(A) - Proposal

Format	Video Game
Platform	The platform for my video game will be a mobile phone; the game will be available through the app stores that are accessible on a smart phone, such as Apple’s App Store and Google Play Store. I have chosen the platform of a mobile phone, as mobile apps are very popular because of their portability; it allows people to play games no matter where they are. This is the case for ‘Get Trollied’ as it does not require internet in order to play the game, therefore making it accessible to everyone. As well as this, introducing a free game onto the app-store gives it a more approachable feel and will encourage more people to download it, especially with it being free to download. For example if I were to release ‘Get Trollied’ on a specific console for £19.99, far less people will be encouraged to/be able to purchase it, either because they don’t have the console or because they can’t afford to spend £19.99 on a game which they have no past experience with, and especially since it isn’t an established franchise, such as Grand Theft Auto, which most people will buy no matter what.
Synopsis	Bert the Trolley has had a rough day; he’s been left in the middle of a rainy car park as well as having a child kicking him in the back repeatedly for an hour and a half. He’s had enough and needs to relax. When the store closes, Bert wriggles out of the chains, which hold all of the shopping carts together, immediately going on a rampage throughout the store eating and drinking everything in his sight. Help Bert collect as many products as possible for him to consume and try to beat high scores within your area!
Characters	The main character within my video game is Bert, Bert is a shopping cart however, in this cartoon world, he comes to life at night-time and can talk, move around and cause havoc all on his own. He is a very outspoken and angry shopping cart and by the end of the day needs to let lose a little bit. I feel as though the audience of my video game will like Bert and some may even relate to him as well, as an over-exaggerated version of themselves. For example, just like any human, Bert has to go to work in the day time, only Bert’s job is to be a trolley and hold customer’s items before they pay, therefore by the end of the day he’s tired and sometimes a little angry by what has happened during his day at work, much like many of the older people within the audience that will be downloading the ‘Get Trollied’ video game. Other characters within the game are not as expressionate and interactive as Bert is as they are products on the shelves, which Bert crashes into in order to collect, therefore although they are present they do not have a main part within the video game.
Title	The title for my video game is ‘Get Trollied’, this relates to what goes on within the game, as well as being catchy, quite humorous and suitably hinting that the game is not for younger children as ‘trollied’ is a term often used to describe someone who is intoxicated.
Genre	The genre of my game will be ‘racing’; this is because the activity within the game is to race through supermarket whilst collecting and crashing into items. This will appeal to casual gamers who will play the game on their lunch break, during leisure or when commuting to work, school, etc. Therefore, linking to the uses and gratifications of media, which include escapism and entertainment as the game is fun and can provide a distraction for the user no matter where they are.
Content	The user plays as the cartoon trolley, Bert, the aim of the game is to crash into and collect as many things you can within a limited amount of time, each item equates to 1 point, but if you can catch items in the trolley, you get a bonus of 5 points. However, the more items you crash into and collect, the more ‘trollied’ you become, making the screen blurry and disorientated as well as the controls switching from time to time, for example left will become right and right will become left. The gameplay will be simple, yet effective, with the gamer having to tilt their device in order to direct the trolley, whilst being given an accelerator and break button on the screen. When racing through the shopping aisles the gamer must collect bottles of water to enable Bert to sober up to be able to collect more points, the user will be given 1 minute 30 seconds to begin with in order to collect as much as they can, despite this when they collect the water bottles this doesn’t only sober them up but adds 10 seconds onto the timer to allow them to collect more items and beat their high score.
Style/Approach	The game will be cartoon animated, therefore the trolley will be alive, expressionate and be able to speak, with voiceovers placed throughout the game, such as when items are collected or their high score is beaten. ‘Get Trollied’ will be bright and interactive, with the user being given the opportunity to control Bert the Trolley in order to collect points within the allotted time provided. The game will be for those of an older age, this is because the game contains some moderate swearing, but only were appropriate in order for comic timing. The product colours within the game will be bright versions of ordinary colours, in order to enhance the innocence of the store, until Bert enters and rips the store apart.
Audience	The audience for ‘Get Trollied’ will be those within an older age range, preferably around 17+, this is because it will contain moderately strong language, as well as contains references to alcohol. The gender target audience is not specific, as the game is accessible by anyone, with the genre being ‘racing’, but being combined with cartoon characters and products, the simple gameplay can be entertaining for both males and females.
Levels	The game only has one level, which can be replayed multiple times, this is because the aim of the game is to try to beat your previous high score, this adds a level of competitiveness to the game to encourage the user to try to beat their previous score. There will also be an opportunity for users to beat others within the area they live in, through connecting to the internet in order to enter the scoring chart.
Extra	‘Get Trollied’ will be a free game to download, however purchases can be made within the game. For example, the user can buy upgrades for Bert the Trolley, such as power boosts, which can be activated for him to crash into shelves more forcefully to knock more things off and get more points. Other upgrades include the opportunity to add an extra 30 seconds on to every game they play. These upgrades will cost between £0.50 and 1.99, for example, a pack of three power boosts will be £0.50, with a larger pack costing between £1.00 and £1.99 or added time onto each round costing around £0.69. A DLC, that will become available on the 2-month anniversary of the games release, includes the chance to purchase a different level, the DLC will cost £5, and will give the user the opportunity to explore two other stores to destroy and collect points, in order to beat their high score.