Task 1 – Project Analysis
Ryan Seewoolall
Overall Requirements
The project’s requirement includes a combination of pre-production, production, and post-production practises to ultimately result in a digital portfolio that presents an IP that we are expected to design for the company we have been provided. The content of the portfolio can consist of a variety of potential media forms, as we are prompted to pick one of our own choosing, ranging from a full videogame prototype to a soundtrack or even an animation. The extent by which this can go to runs far, since the brief mentions that it can be any form of media/game’s production so long as it follows the general industry avenues. This is outright stated in the brief where it provides an overview of the project.
“You can make anything from a video game, a game soundtrack, animation, or whatever else takes your fancy, so long as you follow and document the industry standard production pipeline in order to achieve your goals”
This essentially enables us to emphasise and test the new skills we have learnt over the duration of our course, allowing us to portray the extent of our development throughout the year too. The requirements can vary vastly, and so we would need to effectively gauge how to divide effort over quantity of content produced, depending on what direction I wish to take my project in. Providing us the ability to choose our own form of work to present really will enable me to play to my skill set to provide the highest calibre work I believe I can produce.
Theming
This project’s overt theming is “Next Generation”, this is effectively leaning towards the concepts of shifting generations and how we can present our opinions on what that may look like. There is a focus on the future generations, with the desire to relate to the age range of creatives they wish to enlist for the brief’s company. Fascinatingly so, this general theme has a myriad of directions it can be taken in, as stated:
“As a part of the next generation of creatives, Small Co, a multimedia company, has set its eyes on propping up your abilities and seeks to produce a new IP based upon the very people they are wanting to employ. For their Next Gen initiative, they want young creatives to produce outstanding work seeking to greenlight successful and innovative projects”
Overall, this theme is relatively hypothetical as it touches upon the future, and as such, means that there is a lot of creative freedom for the project overall. The next generation could be hopeful or melancholic, their future may be desolate or vibrant and an improvement of the times we have now. The fact that there is so much potential here, really enables to project to thrive with a strong sense of creative direction. Thematically it can lean towards a more dystopian future, as it would enable one to tackle the growing fears and issues with current society about the state of the generations that will follow us. The theming additionally will work towards somewhat defining our genres, but with the right perspective, “Next Generation” could fit into any of them and so I believe that this overarching theme will really enable me to stress my creative thinking and allow me to develop my conceptualization skills.
Audience
The brief states that audiences may vary dependent upon your project’s theming and potential subcultures, this outright follows the line of thinking that audiences will respond to varying aspects of your game, and genre will have a larger part in that. The information provided by the brief also emphasises specifically defining your audience in relation to the niches that it may have been inspired by, this is vital to the project as it would partially affect your creative decisions in different ways so that you can maximize your appeal to the demographics you want.
“While the age of your audience will depend upon you finding an appropriate target audience for your project, focus on niche subcultures to find more well-defined audiences that will engage with the media you produce”
As a result, I can consider the fact that my potential project will follow inspiration from a myriad of media sources, and as such, this means I need to make sure I curate my target audience in a way that allows me to create a product that adheres to what appealed to audiences within those works. My audiences would inherently consist of those who are interested in dystopian stories, and there will be points drawn from sci-fi likely due to the “Next Generation” theme alone. Within my work, I can ensure that I wish to appeal to a teenage/young adult audience for my project as they are the age groups that are likely the most inquisitive about the state of generations and how those who will come next may differ from themselves
Competition and Inspiration
Competition and inspiration will drastically affect the piece of media I will be creating, as inspiration will be a driving factor in my creative vision. I wish to consider works across all different mediums, not only videogames as my final produced piece may not be an entire game, but rather a part of one, like it’s 3d models or visual style. On the contrary, competition will push me to ensure that work is unique and harbours its own selling point that allows it to stand out amidst potential works that will conflict or risk the hypothetical success of my work within my audience. The brief justly defines that it is important to consider inspirations that exist outside of the potential media form I may be creating, so I have compiled a few inspirations and a potential competitor with a priority on their themes, as opposed to any other factors like medium.
“Make sure to explore a wide range of media beyond that which you are creating”
One of my initial inspirations as per the theme of “Next Gen” was the game “Hi-Fi Rush”. Primarily a rhythm game, it has a thematic focus on a world set in the future where technological advancement has aligned itself with humanity, sentient robots co-exist with humans and are essentially synonymous with blue-collar workers. It’s light-hearted and is an effective take on a story set in the future, but without bleak or dystopian themes. The reason this inspired me was because it’s a potential avenue I can take my work, having a more positive outlook on the future of society amidst the future generations and how they may become more cohesive with technology as it advances so far to the point that they can exist as sentient separate beings. Following themes like this could potentially provide me a unique selling point, portraying the next generations with hope, which leans towards optimism.
Source: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hi-Fi_Rush]
As an antithesis to Hi-fi Rush, one of my secondary inspirations was the “Scythe” series of books. This book series falls under dystopian fiction and is an effective portrayal of merging the concept of a dystopia, among a pre-conceived utopia, essentially blurring the lines between both themes. The general plot follows a society in which humanity has superseded death due to technological advancement, and to combat growing populations, certain people are chosen to carry out the role of death itself. This plot isn’t entirely farfetched due to the rapid advancements we are currently seeing in healthcare and science, so, considering how humanity would persevere without the fear of death is a fascinating concept that could be a unique avenue to take my work in, future generations will live futures that don’t deal with the struggles and strife we currently do. However, that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t have their own varying degrees of struggles that relate to their time.
Source: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythe_(novel)]
On the contrary to my inspirations, competition is equally as valuable to consider for it can be a large factor in ensuring my project remains unique as to not fall behind similar works of media. One example I wanted to consider was “NieR: Autonoma”. This game holds a lot of thematic similarities to my initial concepts surrounding machinery and digital intelligence superseding humanity’s own and evidently leans more into to darker concept of humanity being outlived by their own creations. This game’s plot follows creations of humanity that were built to defend them from external offenses, unbeknownst to them however, their creators have long since died and they continue to function as initially created to with no purpose anymore. Personally, I would like to stay true to my initial plans but indirectly ensure that I don’t fall into this IP’s shadow by incidentally leaning to close to it thematically. I intend to strive for telling this story and imparting this concept to audiences with my own perspective.
Source: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nier:_Automata]
Marketplace
I’ve also considered where my marketplace may potentially be. I don’t intend to create a full game prototype, but instead leaning toward 3D work, my marketplace wouldn’t be on a particular game platform, but more so somewhere I would be able aptly present my work for wider audiences. This may be presented on art forums, as my work would evidently be digital too, so my marketplace would ultimately be on online platforms that allow me to present my creative work.
However, I do recognise the work I create would hypothetically be a fully-fledged game in the future, since the brief implores me to consider this, and for that I’d opt for platforms like PC gaming for a wider audience. This would also to allow it to be received by a wider demographic of fans for different game types, as console players tend to expect a certain calibre and thematic presentation for their games, so PC ensure that there would be a wider range prospective fans of the genre.
Ideas
Overall, my ideas currently consist of considering the future as a dystopia that leads to humanity being symbiotic with Artificial intelligence and technology to the point where societal struggles grow at exceeding rates due to their attempts to mask them, not all too far from our current society. With this as a backdrop, my direct scenarios would consist of slightly macabre themes of Artificial Intelligences that continue to function even after the extinction of humanity with no knowledge that their creators no longer exist. This general idea is an extreme presentation of my own thoughts and feelings of how the future may be, I do personally hold fear for how humanity will exist along with technology such as Artificial Intelligence, and I do often consider that these next generations will grow up alongside it, unlike my own generation who were the last to exist without it. What will these future generations be like, who will they be, and what will be never be the same here onwards?