Thursday, 21 January 2016
Task 4 – Contracts, Legal and Ethical Obligations
Legal:
Copyright:
Copyright allows exclusive rights that grants the creator of an original piece of work rights for it's use and distribution, so if someone was to use there product for things such as advertising, then the creator of the product can do many things; sue them, get there ad, video took down off the internet. Copyright is a law that was put in place to stop people stealing your work or using it without permission.
Trademark:
Trademark is a word that represents a company that is chosen by that manufacturer/company and this is how people will know there company by, and doing this mans that, that word is registered with that company so if nobody else can use that trademark to represent there manufacturer.
Patent:
A patent is a government license that gives the holder exclusive rights to a process, new invention or design for a certain amount of time. Most of the time applications for patents are usually handled by a government agency. Basically what this means is, it is the official right to make or sell an invention for a number of years, if you do not patent your invention or whatever it is your making then other people can make profit off of it, maybe even all the profit.
Registered designs:
Registered designs basically protects the look and appearance of a product such as things like shape, lines, curves, colors, texture of the product, and etc. This is kind of similar to copyright, in other words it stops people from stealing your design, well at least the look of it.
Ethical:
Violence:
Video games have a huge affects on a gamers life, for e.g. it can completely change someones mood for the entire day. Some video games are known to make some people violent, not all people, well maybe not even half of the popularity of people that play video games, maybe 15% of people that play video games are violent, and there can be a number of reasons for this such as, people getting frustrated at a game because they can not complete a level or game, or maybe they have interacted with others whilst playing multiplayer on the game and someone has said something to offend them maybe a lot or just a little but because of this happening it can cause gamers to become violent.
Rating:
Copyright:
Copyright allows exclusive rights that grants the creator of an original piece of work rights for it's use and distribution, so if someone was to use there product for things such as advertising, then the creator of the product can do many things; sue them, get there ad, video took down off the internet. Copyright is a law that was put in place to stop people stealing your work or using it without permission.
Trademark:
Trademark is a word that represents a company that is chosen by that manufacturer/company and this is how people will know there company by, and doing this mans that, that word is registered with that company so if nobody else can use that trademark to represent there manufacturer.
Patent:
A patent is a government license that gives the holder exclusive rights to a process, new invention or design for a certain amount of time. Most of the time applications for patents are usually handled by a government agency. Basically what this means is, it is the official right to make or sell an invention for a number of years, if you do not patent your invention or whatever it is your making then other people can make profit off of it, maybe even all the profit.
Registered designs:
Registered designs basically protects the look and appearance of a product such as things like shape, lines, curves, colors, texture of the product, and etc. This is kind of similar to copyright, in other words it stops people from stealing your design, well at least the look of it.
Ethical:
Violence:
Video games have a huge affects on a gamers life, for e.g. it can completely change someones mood for the entire day. Some video games are known to make some people violent, not all people, well maybe not even half of the popularity of people that play video games, maybe 15% of people that play video games are violent, and there can be a number of reasons for this such as, people getting frustrated at a game because they can not complete a level or game, or maybe they have interacted with others whilst playing multiplayer on the game and someone has said something to offend them maybe a lot or just a little but because of this happening it can cause gamers to become violent.
Rating:
Task 3 – Financial, Industry and Market trends
It is important to have a financial plan, creating a financial plan means you can see the bigger picture and what your future income could be, and help you set life term goals weather there short time or long term. Having a financial plan allows you to see what your dealing with and makes it easier to make financial decisions. having a financial plan basically provides you with all the information you need to make decisions easily instead of having to keep the information stored in your head which can get you very confused and lead to incorrect decisions. Having a financial plan makes life 10x easier for you and will make it easier for you to stay on track and hopefully meet your goals.
There also seems to be problems facing the game design industry, such as: difficult to make money and hard to innovate, lack of originality, lack of creativity, and some say the business itself. There are loads and loads of financial issues in the games design industry for example some businesses can not finish a project because they do not have the money to start it even know they thought they had, which means they have to find the funding from another company and if they can not then they close the project.
Market trends:
Parents as gaming advocates - a recent survey showed that 75% of parents play computer games with their kids. Toys to life is a genre of video game that is also trending now, and is one of the most popular video game genre in the games design industry.
There are many licensed Franchised IP's in the gaming industry but they also need authorization to used the licensed material which is given by the licensor to licencee.
Here are some examples of some licensed franchisers in the gaming industry:
Pokemon:
There also seems to be problems facing the game design industry, such as: difficult to make money and hard to innovate, lack of originality, lack of creativity, and some say the business itself. There are loads and loads of financial issues in the games design industry for example some businesses can not finish a project because they do not have the money to start it even know they thought they had, which means they have to find the funding from another company and if they can not then they close the project.
Market trends:
Parents as gaming advocates - a recent survey showed that 75% of parents play computer games with their kids. Toys to life is a genre of video game that is also trending now, and is one of the most popular video game genre in the games design industry.
There are many licensed Franchised IP's in the gaming industry but they also need authorization to used the licensed material which is given by the licensor to licencee.
Here are some examples of some licensed franchisers in the gaming industry:
Pokemon:
Uncharted 4:
Fifa 16:
These are all very very popular games trending in the gaming industry.
Task 2 – Job Roles
CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT
Game designer:
Game designers are extremely important in the game design industry and this is mainly because they are the people that let the lead artists know what the game they are creating consists of for e.g. what the game includes, what the game is about, what theme it is, and pretty telling them what the game is, what is about, and how it plays, and the reason they tell the lead artists this is so they know what they and the other artists have to/can create so that they can go and tell the other artists and start creating designs that will be used in the game. Game designers have to think about several things before they tell the artists this information though such as: the games setting, the rules, the structure, the characters, the props and most importantly the story line because the story line is what helps you to think of pretty much every other aspect of the game.
Level Editor:
Level Editors are the people that make all the interactive designs for levels such as the buildings, the map, the campaign and etc. Level editors also put together the levels after the level designer has created the designs for the level.
Lead Artist:
A lead artist is really important because they care the ones that get the information off the game designers and then feed that back to the other artists, and basically tells them what they have to do and what type of art to create for the game. if one of the artists needs to look up pictures of a certain object because they are unsure of how to create it, the lead artist is the one who does the research and then provides them with images to help them create the art, and they do this so that they artists do not have to waste time researching when they could be creating something else whilst waiting. A lead artists manages the design and animation team, so if something goes wrong in the process of both teams the lead artists is responsible for it.
Technical Artist:
A technical artists is stuck in between the middle of the artists and programmers because the technical artist has to make sure that the art assets can be put into a game without eliminating the artistic vision or exceeding the platforms technical limits. Technical artists also have to find new techniques and help the team by training them. this role is becoming a lot more important in the game industry now that consoles and pc hardware are becoming more complex and difficult to work with.
Artist:
An artist has to create the visual elements of the game and for those who do not know what this means is the qualities which make the properties of a piece of art or design together. Artists also have to create concept art and storyboards and this is mainly to help communicate the visual elements of the game during the pre-production. All artists must have many techniques and things to help them become an artist in the first place, such as: a portfolio, drawing from life, be able to work and communicate with a team, be creative and imaginative so stand out from the crowd, have good observation and there own style of drawing which should include complex detail. You need all these things and many more to become an artists.
Animator:
Animators are extremely important in the game design industry and there are several reasons for this: Animators are the ones who are responsible for the portrayal of movement and behavior in a game, meaning they have to make the best use out of the game engines technology , also this must be done within the platforms limitations. The reason animators do this, is to bring more of a realistic culture to the game, such as the characters and the creatures animators bring life to mostly. characters and creatures are not the only thing animators have to animate though, sometimes an animator has to apply animations to things such as objects, scenery and environmental effects.
Audio Engineer:
Audio engineering is a really important job and helps a lot in the area of sound in a game, an audio engineer works on the recording, manipulation, reinforcement, mixing and the reproduction of sound. in audio engineering there will be certain roles certain people play for e.g. the people that are studio engineers will work on studio recording, the assistant engineers will help the studio engineers in the studio. The monitor engineers will work on helping live sound engineers by helping the live performers at a live event to hear themselves. The System engineers will manage live sound engineers and monitor engineers. Audio post engineers works on mixing and editing audio for television and movies. Mastering engineers work on smoothing the results of a mix engineer by making the final product into a whole. Mix engineers work on mixing different tracks to mesh and create a new track. An recording engineer focuses just on the aspect on recording sound, literally. Game and audio designers work with the sound engineering on video games as well as adding sound to the game. All of these engineers are apart of audio engineering and are needed in audio engineering.
TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT
Game Programmer:
Game programmers are the reason that the game works, this is because game programmers deign/write the computer code for the game, without this the game wouldn't work/would be broke. game programmers have to write different codes depending on the situation for e.g. if there is a bug with the game they have to write a code and incorporate it into the game so that the bug is fixed. Every code is different. All consoles have different programming requirements and game programmers have to deal with this, and make sure they fulfill the requirements so that there are now major bugs on that console.
Lead Game Programmer
Lead game programmers are responsible for all codes created for the game even if its a game programmer fault not the leads. Lead Game Programmers are responsible for the technical side of the game, and because of this they manage the software engineering of the start of a game to the end and this is basically so that they can make sure there's no technical difficulties and to check that game completes and turns out well and as expected.
PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION
Project Manager/Producer:
Project managers are fully responsible for the plan of a project. If there are any problems or issues i any areas of department then the leads of each role for e.g. Lead designer would tell the project manager and then they would discuss it and deal with it. Project managers are extremely important as they sort out all the issues the departments have and make sure they understand what they have to do it instead and the reason the project managers have to do this is because if they don't, then the issue can escalate into a huge problem. Project managers basically do everything possible to try and make sure that the overall project does not fail. Project managers must be clear and be good at communicating because they have to tell the groups working on different aspects of the game there objectives.
Assistant Producer:
Assistant producers works with the games production staff ensuring that the game is finished on time to the best quality standard. Most assistant producers work on areas of the development process which could be dealing with communications between the publisher and developer, or co-coordinating some of the work of the projects key processes. Assistant producers are also really important because without them the game would take so much longer to make, and the game would not finish no where near on time.
External Producer:
An External Producer is also responsible for ensuring that the game is finished on time to the best quality possible, but not only this, they work with externally from the development team at the same time.
Creative Director:
A creative director is responsible for how a game turns out and the look and feel of the game, so they must ensure that this does not fail by making sure the quality of the gameplay and all the other aspects of a game such as the artwork, music and audio assets is to the best standard and tat it would appeal to the audience. They can decide weather to change any of the gameplay or story mode of high levels, or how it looks or sounds. Creative Directors are not essential to make a game or extremely important, with them it would help a lot but companies do not NEED them as some companies do not hire them.
Quality Assurance
QA Tester:
QA Testers are essential for a computer game, because without QA Testers the game is guaranteed to fail because you wouldn't be able to test the levels, search for bugs so they can fix it, and try and find anything wrong with the game before it gets published/released. Without QA Testers the company would be taking a huge risk publishing the game without having QA Testers to test it because 99% of the time there's a lot of bugs and issues with the in-game gameplay. QA Testers are kind of responsible for how the game turns out when published because if they miss a bug and it is major the press/public will pick u on this almost immediately. There are responsible for any bugs in the game and are expected to find all of them and fix them.
Business Development
Public Relations Manager:
These are responsible for any press/publicity about the game, especially a major issues that becomes a huge topic and then that big that the company of the game are confronted about it. Public relation Managers are responsible for advertising and gaining exposure for the game.
Public Relation Managers are really important for a company that are making a game/made a game.
Product Manager:
Product Managers are responsible for maximizing the sales of the game as much as they can and basically earning the company as much money as possible from this. They are expected to do this by doing marketing campaigns and helping create them. Product Managers must also manage the marketing budget of the game.
Marketing Executive:
Marketing Executives are responsible for promoting the game and are expected to gain the game a lot more publicity and sales by doing so. They can promote the game in many ways such as advertising such as TV Ads, Newspapers etc etc. They are also expected to plan and develop marketing communication campaigns for the marketing department of the game. They must also represent the company and game in conferences/exhibitions and answering any questions thrown at them. The Marketing executive is responsible for the marketing of a game.
Marketing Manager:
Marketing Managers must find and plan the best ways to promote the company's game. in the marketing manager is in charge of the game.
Game designer:
Game designers are extremely important in the game design industry and this is mainly because they are the people that let the lead artists know what the game they are creating consists of for e.g. what the game includes, what the game is about, what theme it is, and pretty telling them what the game is, what is about, and how it plays, and the reason they tell the lead artists this is so they know what they and the other artists have to/can create so that they can go and tell the other artists and start creating designs that will be used in the game. Game designers have to think about several things before they tell the artists this information though such as: the games setting, the rules, the structure, the characters, the props and most importantly the story line because the story line is what helps you to think of pretty much every other aspect of the game.
Level Editor:
Level Editors are the people that make all the interactive designs for levels such as the buildings, the map, the campaign and etc. Level editors also put together the levels after the level designer has created the designs for the level.
Lead Artist:
A lead artist is really important because they care the ones that get the information off the game designers and then feed that back to the other artists, and basically tells them what they have to do and what type of art to create for the game. if one of the artists needs to look up pictures of a certain object because they are unsure of how to create it, the lead artist is the one who does the research and then provides them with images to help them create the art, and they do this so that they artists do not have to waste time researching when they could be creating something else whilst waiting. A lead artists manages the design and animation team, so if something goes wrong in the process of both teams the lead artists is responsible for it.
Technical Artist:
A technical artists is stuck in between the middle of the artists and programmers because the technical artist has to make sure that the art assets can be put into a game without eliminating the artistic vision or exceeding the platforms technical limits. Technical artists also have to find new techniques and help the team by training them. this role is becoming a lot more important in the game industry now that consoles and pc hardware are becoming more complex and difficult to work with.
Artist:
An artist has to create the visual elements of the game and for those who do not know what this means is the qualities which make the properties of a piece of art or design together. Artists also have to create concept art and storyboards and this is mainly to help communicate the visual elements of the game during the pre-production. All artists must have many techniques and things to help them become an artist in the first place, such as: a portfolio, drawing from life, be able to work and communicate with a team, be creative and imaginative so stand out from the crowd, have good observation and there own style of drawing which should include complex detail. You need all these things and many more to become an artists.
Animator:
Animators are extremely important in the game design industry and there are several reasons for this: Animators are the ones who are responsible for the portrayal of movement and behavior in a game, meaning they have to make the best use out of the game engines technology , also this must be done within the platforms limitations. The reason animators do this, is to bring more of a realistic culture to the game, such as the characters and the creatures animators bring life to mostly. characters and creatures are not the only thing animators have to animate though, sometimes an animator has to apply animations to things such as objects, scenery and environmental effects.
Audio Engineer:
Audio engineering is a really important job and helps a lot in the area of sound in a game, an audio engineer works on the recording, manipulation, reinforcement, mixing and the reproduction of sound. in audio engineering there will be certain roles certain people play for e.g. the people that are studio engineers will work on studio recording, the assistant engineers will help the studio engineers in the studio. The monitor engineers will work on helping live sound engineers by helping the live performers at a live event to hear themselves. The System engineers will manage live sound engineers and monitor engineers. Audio post engineers works on mixing and editing audio for television and movies. Mastering engineers work on smoothing the results of a mix engineer by making the final product into a whole. Mix engineers work on mixing different tracks to mesh and create a new track. An recording engineer focuses just on the aspect on recording sound, literally. Game and audio designers work with the sound engineering on video games as well as adding sound to the game. All of these engineers are apart of audio engineering and are needed in audio engineering.
TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT
Game Programmer:
Game programmers are the reason that the game works, this is because game programmers deign/write the computer code for the game, without this the game wouldn't work/would be broke. game programmers have to write different codes depending on the situation for e.g. if there is a bug with the game they have to write a code and incorporate it into the game so that the bug is fixed. Every code is different. All consoles have different programming requirements and game programmers have to deal with this, and make sure they fulfill the requirements so that there are now major bugs on that console.
Lead Game Programmer
Lead game programmers are responsible for all codes created for the game even if its a game programmer fault not the leads. Lead Game Programmers are responsible for the technical side of the game, and because of this they manage the software engineering of the start of a game to the end and this is basically so that they can make sure there's no technical difficulties and to check that game completes and turns out well and as expected.
PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION
Project Manager/Producer:
Project managers are fully responsible for the plan of a project. If there are any problems or issues i any areas of department then the leads of each role for e.g. Lead designer would tell the project manager and then they would discuss it and deal with it. Project managers are extremely important as they sort out all the issues the departments have and make sure they understand what they have to do it instead and the reason the project managers have to do this is because if they don't, then the issue can escalate into a huge problem. Project managers basically do everything possible to try and make sure that the overall project does not fail. Project managers must be clear and be good at communicating because they have to tell the groups working on different aspects of the game there objectives.
Assistant Producer:
Assistant producers works with the games production staff ensuring that the game is finished on time to the best quality standard. Most assistant producers work on areas of the development process which could be dealing with communications between the publisher and developer, or co-coordinating some of the work of the projects key processes. Assistant producers are also really important because without them the game would take so much longer to make, and the game would not finish no where near on time.
External Producer:
An External Producer is also responsible for ensuring that the game is finished on time to the best quality possible, but not only this, they work with externally from the development team at the same time.
Creative Director:
A creative director is responsible for how a game turns out and the look and feel of the game, so they must ensure that this does not fail by making sure the quality of the gameplay and all the other aspects of a game such as the artwork, music and audio assets is to the best standard and tat it would appeal to the audience. They can decide weather to change any of the gameplay or story mode of high levels, or how it looks or sounds. Creative Directors are not essential to make a game or extremely important, with them it would help a lot but companies do not NEED them as some companies do not hire them.
Quality Assurance
QA Tester:
QA Testers are essential for a computer game, because without QA Testers the game is guaranteed to fail because you wouldn't be able to test the levels, search for bugs so they can fix it, and try and find anything wrong with the game before it gets published/released. Without QA Testers the company would be taking a huge risk publishing the game without having QA Testers to test it because 99% of the time there's a lot of bugs and issues with the in-game gameplay. QA Testers are kind of responsible for how the game turns out when published because if they miss a bug and it is major the press/public will pick u on this almost immediately. There are responsible for any bugs in the game and are expected to find all of them and fix them.
Business Development
Public Relations Manager:
These are responsible for any press/publicity about the game, especially a major issues that becomes a huge topic and then that big that the company of the game are confronted about it. Public relation Managers are responsible for advertising and gaining exposure for the game.
Public Relation Managers are really important for a company that are making a game/made a game.
Product Manager:
Product Managers are responsible for maximizing the sales of the game as much as they can and basically earning the company as much money as possible from this. They are expected to do this by doing marketing campaigns and helping create them. Product Managers must also manage the marketing budget of the game.
Marketing Executive:
Marketing Executives are responsible for promoting the game and are expected to gain the game a lot more publicity and sales by doing so. They can promote the game in many ways such as advertising such as TV Ads, Newspapers etc etc. They are also expected to plan and develop marketing communication campaigns for the marketing department of the game. They must also represent the company and game in conferences/exhibitions and answering any questions thrown at them. The Marketing executive is responsible for the marketing of a game.
Marketing Manager:
Marketing Managers must find and plan the best ways to promote the company's game. in the marketing manager is in charge of the game.
Task 1 - Structure – The Value Chain
Developers
Developers are very important in the game industry just as any of the other areas that help the game such as Publishers, Console Manufacturers/First party Publishers, distribution and retail, outsourcing companies and press and media. In my opinion and im sure many others Developers are the main area of a video game and the most important, because without the developers there is no game, so you could say the developers are the most important area of the game haha.
Developers are split into many different areas such as Artists, Audio creators, Producers, Programmers, Level editors and Marketing/product manager, animator and Assistant producer.
Most of these roles have leads and some assistant lead.
Developers are literally the creators of a game, so everyone who is a developer for the company helped to make that game and no one else.
Developers are by far the most important area of the game industry because without them as iv'e said there'd be no game but also, there would be no reviews, no costumers, no publishers, no press or media. There has to be a game for all of these and that is why Developers are so important and you could say the most of the weight is on there shoulders because the company is expecting them to have the game developed and finished by a certain date, and if it isn't done by then, then they can not publish the game because there is no game to be published.
Most people don't realize how many roles there are as developers, for e.g. someone may just think there's the Artists, Level editors, Audio creators and the people that make sure you are doing them 3 roles, but it is not, there are way more roles in the development of a game which i have already stated earlier in this report.
Here are a view examples of a game developer working:
This is what it may look like when some of the areas of development are working
This is what it may look like when an artist is working, creating things such as characters, background images, weapons, and anything that may be included in a game
This is what it may look like when an Audio creator is working in one area of development
This is what it may look like when someone is level editing in one area of development
Publishers:
Publishers have a very important role in the games industry and this is because publishers are the people who actual publish a game, know if you dont know what that means, then basically it is where a publisher bring out a game or a version of a game that has never been released, so that people can buy the game weather that's at the store or in the market place of whatever console you are on. publishers are responsible for their products marketing and manufacturing, including researches like market research and etc, so if the video game, when published if customers are unsatisfied by the quality of how the game cover is made, or how it is marketed, ad this actually becomes a big issue complained about viral, it is the publishers who get all the hate and blame for it, and if this was to happen they would have a lot of weight on there shoulders, and will be stressful for them to deal with, whilst their job could be on the line. this isn't all publishers have to do, most publishers have to sort out the payment on any licenses used by the actual game, paying for things such as the layout, the printing, the localization, and sometimes but not always the writing of the user manual, this usually depends on other companies and how strict they are about this.
Console Manufacturers/First party publishers:
A lot of people are unaware of Console Manufacturers and first party publishers are and what they do, especially people that dont work in the games design industry or are new to it. Basically they are the people that make the hardware for example games consoles that video games are played on such as Xbox (One/360), PS3/PS4, Nintendo's, PSP's and etc. They are also the people that decide whether or not a game goes into development or not for any console, for e.g. if a company sends off there game ideas to them, they are the people who decide whether or not they allow this game to go into development or not, and even if it does they still may not end up publishing the game. so you could say that Console Manufacturers and First party publishers have a lot of power over games and what gets released in the games design industry, and even what titles get marketed or not. First party publishers support the developers and publishers on their platforms and their ideas for example if a developer or a group of developers are unsure of an idea because they do not know whether the publishers would approve, this is where first party publishers help them by giving them there opinion and influencing them on there decision. They support the publishers kind of in the same way because if the publishers are really unsure whether they should publish a game or not they try and influence them to publish it by telling them all the pros about the game and what would happen if they did publish it. not all the time first party publishers influence them to publish the game, because sometimes if they feel the game is not right, or just wouldn't approve to the audience then they will try influence them not to publish it. This is just one example of how first party publishers support developers and publishers.
Distribution and Retail :
For the people that dont know distribution is the process of making a product or service that is open for customers or a business user for use such as video games. distributors sell there video games to the retailer and then deliver them from their warehouse of there working environment to the location of the retailer. then when the retailer receives the game they can put the game in stock, which means the retailers customers can then buy the game. Retailers are only allowed to allow shelf space for titles if the publisher or distributor allows them to which they would of talked about already in there negotiation, most publishers allow this, and is very rare that they do not. they would also have to organise point of sale promotions, for those who dont know what this is, it is where a retailer puts up a separate box/shelf which includes special offers or new products, and this is there to draw the customers attention because they want the customers to buy whatever is on there more than anything in the retailer. Games are being distributed in many ways now, such as via the internet through games consoles, and gaming sites such as steam which is the most popular worldwide. the reason they do this is because it helps them in several ways which are: it cuts out several costs which are: packaging, duplication, transport and retail space and a few others that you may be aware of. More companies are becoming important in how games are being distributed because of how mobile phones and other electronical devices are emerging and this allows game consoles to have updates and add more content to there games. so as you can see Distribution and retail is a huge part in the games design industry even if it only seems like many little things, without them gaming would be a whole lot less fun for gamers.
Outsourcing Companies:
Outsourcing Companies is where companies reduce costs by transferring different parts of work to suppliers outside rather than actually completing it internally, so in other words it is where a company provides another company with services such as animation, art, rendering, graphics, audio and sound design, and many others. This is becoming more popular than ever now worldwide.
Companies use Outsourcing to save money and cut costs
Press and Media:
Press and Media is kind of like another industry which provides things such as reviews, analysis for trade and consumer and journalist output and this is so that people can get there opinions across, and his helps companies because they can review these comments and reviews to help improve there game because most of the time it is people that suggest what could be improved about there game or what they should add or remove. Press and Media is extremely important in the games design industry because without it you wouldn't know what to add to your game which would appeal to the audience most and improve there reputation.
Developers are very important in the game industry just as any of the other areas that help the game such as Publishers, Console Manufacturers/First party Publishers, distribution and retail, outsourcing companies and press and media. In my opinion and im sure many others Developers are the main area of a video game and the most important, because without the developers there is no game, so you could say the developers are the most important area of the game haha.
Developers are split into many different areas such as Artists, Audio creators, Producers, Programmers, Level editors and Marketing/product manager, animator and Assistant producer.
Most of these roles have leads and some assistant lead.
Developers are literally the creators of a game, so everyone who is a developer for the company helped to make that game and no one else.
Developers are by far the most important area of the game industry because without them as iv'e said there'd be no game but also, there would be no reviews, no costumers, no publishers, no press or media. There has to be a game for all of these and that is why Developers are so important and you could say the most of the weight is on there shoulders because the company is expecting them to have the game developed and finished by a certain date, and if it isn't done by then, then they can not publish the game because there is no game to be published.
Most people don't realize how many roles there are as developers, for e.g. someone may just think there's the Artists, Level editors, Audio creators and the people that make sure you are doing them 3 roles, but it is not, there are way more roles in the development of a game which i have already stated earlier in this report.
Here are a view examples of a game developer working:
This is what it may look like when some of the areas of development are working
This is what it may look like when an artist is working, creating things such as characters, background images, weapons, and anything that may be included in a game
This is what it may look like when an Audio creator is working in one area of development
This is what it may look like when someone is level editing in one area of development
Publishers:
Publishers have a very important role in the games industry and this is because publishers are the people who actual publish a game, know if you dont know what that means, then basically it is where a publisher bring out a game or a version of a game that has never been released, so that people can buy the game weather that's at the store or in the market place of whatever console you are on. publishers are responsible for their products marketing and manufacturing, including researches like market research and etc, so if the video game, when published if customers are unsatisfied by the quality of how the game cover is made, or how it is marketed, ad this actually becomes a big issue complained about viral, it is the publishers who get all the hate and blame for it, and if this was to happen they would have a lot of weight on there shoulders, and will be stressful for them to deal with, whilst their job could be on the line. this isn't all publishers have to do, most publishers have to sort out the payment on any licenses used by the actual game, paying for things such as the layout, the printing, the localization, and sometimes but not always the writing of the user manual, this usually depends on other companies and how strict they are about this.
Console Manufacturers/First party publishers:
A lot of people are unaware of Console Manufacturers and first party publishers are and what they do, especially people that dont work in the games design industry or are new to it. Basically they are the people that make the hardware for example games consoles that video games are played on such as Xbox (One/360), PS3/PS4, Nintendo's, PSP's and etc. They are also the people that decide whether or not a game goes into development or not for any console, for e.g. if a company sends off there game ideas to them, they are the people who decide whether or not they allow this game to go into development or not, and even if it does they still may not end up publishing the game. so you could say that Console Manufacturers and First party publishers have a lot of power over games and what gets released in the games design industry, and even what titles get marketed or not. First party publishers support the developers and publishers on their platforms and their ideas for example if a developer or a group of developers are unsure of an idea because they do not know whether the publishers would approve, this is where first party publishers help them by giving them there opinion and influencing them on there decision. They support the publishers kind of in the same way because if the publishers are really unsure whether they should publish a game or not they try and influence them to publish it by telling them all the pros about the game and what would happen if they did publish it. not all the time first party publishers influence them to publish the game, because sometimes if they feel the game is not right, or just wouldn't approve to the audience then they will try influence them not to publish it. This is just one example of how first party publishers support developers and publishers.
Distribution and Retail :
For the people that dont know distribution is the process of making a product or service that is open for customers or a business user for use such as video games. distributors sell there video games to the retailer and then deliver them from their warehouse of there working environment to the location of the retailer. then when the retailer receives the game they can put the game in stock, which means the retailers customers can then buy the game. Retailers are only allowed to allow shelf space for titles if the publisher or distributor allows them to which they would of talked about already in there negotiation, most publishers allow this, and is very rare that they do not. they would also have to organise point of sale promotions, for those who dont know what this is, it is where a retailer puts up a separate box/shelf which includes special offers or new products, and this is there to draw the customers attention because they want the customers to buy whatever is on there more than anything in the retailer. Games are being distributed in many ways now, such as via the internet through games consoles, and gaming sites such as steam which is the most popular worldwide. the reason they do this is because it helps them in several ways which are: it cuts out several costs which are: packaging, duplication, transport and retail space and a few others that you may be aware of. More companies are becoming important in how games are being distributed because of how mobile phones and other electronical devices are emerging and this allows game consoles to have updates and add more content to there games. so as you can see Distribution and retail is a huge part in the games design industry even if it only seems like many little things, without them gaming would be a whole lot less fun for gamers.
Outsourcing Companies:
Outsourcing Companies is where companies reduce costs by transferring different parts of work to suppliers outside rather than actually completing it internally, so in other words it is where a company provides another company with services such as animation, art, rendering, graphics, audio and sound design, and many others. This is becoming more popular than ever now worldwide.
Companies use Outsourcing to save money and cut costs
Press and Media:
Press and Media is kind of like another industry which provides things such as reviews, analysis for trade and consumer and journalist output and this is so that people can get there opinions across, and his helps companies because they can review these comments and reviews to help improve there game because most of the time it is people that suggest what could be improved about there game or what they should add or remove. Press and Media is extremely important in the games design industry because without it you wouldn't know what to add to your game which would appeal to the audience most and improve there reputation.
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