Week 6: First Ideas

This week we continued to brainstorm ideas about the game we're creating. There are some aspects that we are pretty set on such as the game is going to be for PC. We figured that out of the most popular consoles out there like Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo Wii, mobile, PC would be the most reasonable.

I think the reason behind this is that with other consoles we would need to get specific licensing in order to sell for those consoles. We also veered away from mobile since we felt that it mobile just isn't worth it. Most of the games that I have played for mobile, I don't have a long lifespan. What I mean is that I'll play a mobile game but then after a few days maybe weeks I'm bored of the game and remove it from my phone. In addition, we think with a PC game we can have a wider audience.

 We were also set on the idea on using Steam as our way to purchase and download the game.

In terms of actual game ideas we want a game that has rpg elements and we are thinking of school setting. I think that next week we'll be able to think of more details.

Week 5: Who's Buying?

A big aspect in creating a game is the target audience. This week I learned that there is a whole model to look at when it comes to finding a target audience. I learned that the company will want to be specific when trying to find our costumer. There are multiple factors to consider in this process. What type of game do we want to make? What age will our costumers be around? Will our game be free to play or pay for the game? Even that question has a few sub options. Since I'm part of the finance portion of the company, the main aspect that I look at is the free to play or paying. One option to consider is micro-transactions.

For instance, one game that I play is League of Legends which is free to play but has micro-transactions. One thing I've noticed is that I've probably spent more money or just about as much I have than my subscription that I pay to play World of Warcraft. Even WoW I've paid for additional things in game. I'd consider myself a whale.

No not that type of whale! But a gamer that pays a lot of money within a game. The things I pay for are usually aesthetics. For instance

By the way, yes, I do have all of those skins.These are the thing we as a company will have to consider. The game decides the costumer and the costumer decides the game.

Week 4: Pricey

Like other businesses, Formation Gaming has separate divisions that handle certain tasks. For me, I'm part of the finance division. This week, our division went over possible costs of creating and running the company. I learned that as a start up, it's gonna take a good chunk of cash to get things going. For example, for programmers and animators, the cost of building PCs is nothing to laugh at. Furthermore, since the company would make high quality games, we need high quality PCs. My wallet is hurting already.

Other things in the budget included salary, marketing, and software just to name a few. The scary thing to think about is that a lot of start ups will fail so our company could pour all this money into creating a game but there is a real chance that money goes down the drain.

Week 3: Down to Business

We've all seen this before. Whether we're downloading a game or a program, we've all had to see this type of message pop up. So what it it exactly? It's a End User License Agreement or EULA for short. It's a type of document that most if not all users will have to accept in order to use a company's product. Also, I'm going to take a wild guess and say about 90% (myself included) of users most likely skip reading these and just click accept and move on. However in this week's class, one of the tasks was to read a EULA specifically for the program Unity. At first I was like:

Then, after reading the first paragraph about 10 times in row, I managed to read through the entire thing. My first impression? First of all it's very, emphasis on very, repetitive. Basically if I can sum this up, it states that, talking about the free version, if you make over 100k from using the free version then the company can revoke your use of unity and that you should remove the program. The EULA also stated that if you do "X" and it breaks a rule then you can't use the program anymore. So next time you see this type of document pop, try reading it and find out what exactly you can and can't do.

Week 2: What Do I Enjoy in Video Games

This week we did not have class, however that does not mean that I didn't learn anything. As the semester goes on and our company figures out what games to make, one aspect of creating our games will be why should people play our games. I started to think about the games that I play(ed) and what it is exactly that makes me play them? What qualities do these games have that maybe some other games do not have? I don't actually play a lot of games; I play at most 3-4 games regularly. Some people may believe that is a lot, but I don't think so.

Now I'm pretty biased in the games I play. I play mostly Blizzard games: WoW, Diablo 3, Hearthstone, and just recently I started playing a little bit of Starcraft 2. I also play a lot of League of Legends by Riot Games. I learned that the main reason I play these games are the for the interactions they bring to the user. For instance, being able to do quests and/or fight against other people in the game is something I enjoy doing. I've met a surprisingly amount of people over the years just through WoW for example. Knowing that there's a large community within the game and outside the game makes the game more enjoyable. (Yes, I do realize the picture below is of old content, but I think it gets the point across of the ability to bring in a lot of people and the sense of community a game can have.)

Another reason I like games is the storyline. If a game has a good storyline, chances are I will continue to play it or go back and play it even if the game may be out of date. Another WoW example is about the older content. When I level up a character, there are certain quests that'll I intentionally repeat because I enjoy the story behind it. Diablo is another example, I enjoy the story and how I am able to immerse myself into the game. For instance, one aspect of League of Legends I like is their lore even though it may not be at the level of WoW or Diablo. Reading a champion's lore and knowing why they like/dislike other champions really helps me get into the game and enjoy it even more.

So why do I like the games I play? I like them because of the community and the interactions I can have within it. I also enjoy games for their stories and I think, personally, that is what I look for in a game.