FMP Research

Existing products – Call Of Duty: Modern
Warfare 2
The product above is a video game. It will possibly be one of my main inspirations during the production
phase so I have decided to analyse it so I can see why I like this design so much.

Existing products – Front Cover
The first product that I have chosen to analyse is the game cover for Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. I have chosen to analyse this
specific cover design because I like the imagery and colour scheme. The first thing I notice about this product is the contrast
between the sandy background and the bright green text. If you look at the example of a colour wheel below, you notice that the
shades of yellow are not the direct opposite of the yellowy green that we have for the text. A direct opposite shows that
everything is organized and “normal”. I believe this is a representation of the theme of the game because of its story. The game is
a war game and after a war nothing is normal. The colour scheme is not normal which reflects the tone of the game perfectly. The
colour scheme used for the background consists of multiple shades of yellow and orange. The yellow colours make us think of the
beach and the desert and these themes are also backed up by the soldiers dress code and the sand/dust clouds around him. We
associate the beach and desert as being hot so we get a warm feeling towards the game but not in a good way. For example we
feel unpleasantly warm almost as if we are in the desert because we are surrounded by the warm sand and dust on the cover and
this makes us feel overwhelmed. We cannot see the sun on the cover directly which contradicts our usual associations with
pleasant weather at the beach or desert. Normally when we see pictures of the beach or desert, we see the sun reflecting off the
water which gives us a relaxing “holiday” feeling. However, this cannot be said for this situation so we don’t get a good feeling
towards it. This makes the viewer of the game cover know that the themes and tone of the game are depressing.

My view that the game has a sad theme to it can also b backed up by the imagery in the background. In the back we can see the
United States Capitol crumbling and falling down. To any American, this will “hit home” because it has targeted their patriotism
The proud feeling anyone gets when they see a famous building from their country is unique to everyone but when we see these
famous buildings being destroyed and crumbling to the ground, we feel angry and hatred to the people that did this. The fact that
the Capitol Building is in the background and is fairly opaque shows that the old world and how it worked is now not relevant. The
pose and position of the solider are also extremely effective. For example, the solider has been placed in front of the capitol
Building. This shows that the country has placed war before all its other important features such as the 33 amendments. The pose
of the soldier is also very casual. He is not posed in a way where he is about to fight, he is just walking away from the Capitol. This
shows the importance of the war that features in the game.

The next thing we notice about the cover of the game is the fire and burning ground. The sparks from the fires are bright and have
a better placement on the image than the ground. The sparks are more central and higher up which suggests they are of some
importance or relevance. They are a brighter colour than anything else on the page. As it is not the title or central image, I believe
that these sparks were not designed to attract the audiences attention. We can use sparks to create fire but this raises the
question of why they would need to create fire manually when they have weapons of war. I think this shows how sparse supplies
are because of the war and shows how much impact it has had on the world. The use of these sparks on the cover will also have
the same sized impact on the customer. There will be a “spark” created between the game and the customer.

The font used is very masculine. There are lots of straight edges and each letter is very boxy and in capitals. This shows that the
game is aimed at a male audience. It is aimed at a male audience because in real life, only males can join the special forces. This
gives us the feeling that the game is real life so we become more indulged into the game. The number is much larger than the title
of the game and it is also in a stencil font which is different to the title font.
The image of the solider shows us very little. We can tell that he is male but because of his covered up face, we are unsure of his
ethnicity. We can take an educated guess at his age because to be serving in the army, anyone over 50 (maybe even 45) would
struggle to keep up with the fitness so we can place a guess that he is under 40 and above 20. The covered up face sends a very
clever message and this is that we don’t need to know the soldiers individual identity because they are no longer a person, they
are a soldier. Every soldier is the same. The Call Of Duty brand name is placed above the title of the game and it is in a smaller font
size. I think that people would have recognised the Call Of Duty brand by the time this game came out so they did not need to
make it fill the screen. There is also the placement of the studios that developed and published the game at the bottom of the
cover. This is effective because it makes it look like a movie poster as well as a game. If the game resembles a movie poster, it may
confuse the audience but at the same time, the audience know they are in for good cinematics and a good storyline.

Existing products – Back Cover
The back cover of this game has a lot more images and text than the front cover. The first point to consider about the back cover
is the text at the top of the page. It reads “Revenge is like a ghost. It takes over any man it touches”. This piece of text is effective
because it is the first thing we notice as it has a black outline on a light background and it is all in caps. This shows us that is
significant to this storyline. One of the characters in the story is actually named “Ghost” so this piece of text may be telling us how
untouchable Ghost is as a special operative.
The first image we come across is a picture of some type of fortress exploding. The explosion takes up a lot of this image which
shows us how action packed the game is. Each image that follows is in a different environment to the main image. This could
show us the chain of events in the story very simplistically or it could show us how varied the game is e.g how many environemnts
the game includes so the player doesn’t get bored of just playing in one area. If the player was to play in different areas of the
world, this would mean that there would be different lighting and music to change the mood of the player. For example, a stealth
jungle mission would have slow music whereas a car chase mission would have fast music. The images also show all different
types of camera angle such as first person and third person. None of the images make eye contact with the audience showing
how focused the characters are on their mission. The lack of eye contact makes us feel like we are dropped into the action that
appears on the back cover. The bottom left third person image places the camera behind the character. This makes us feel like we
are part of the action as well but this time we are not in command like we may have been in the other images.

The text in the middle of the cover explains the story and then summarises the main objective of the game. The mode of address
used in this middle section is a third person narrative. It is very formal as well. The text uses words such as “you” to make the
audience feel as if they are the ones that will save the world.
The back cover also has the standard warning signs and legal requirements on it. The “18” sign shows that the game will be
violent and contains strong language and should not be played by anyone under this age. This could suggest that the game
emulates what war is like. The “Activision” logo appears a couple of times more on the back cover along with every other
company that helped with the game. The “Activision” logo looks like a stamp, like we have professional approval of how good the
game is which will attract audiences.

Existing products – Context
The existing product is the video game Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The game’s story explores the events that take place 5
years after the storyline from the first game in the Modern Warfare series, Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare. The end objective is to
stop Vladimir Makarov, the antagonist that uses a series of terrorist attacks in the Western World that threaten global security.
The playable character from the first Modern Warfare game, Soap MacTavish, now leads a new playable character (Roach) to
restore peace in the world by stopping Makarov. There are also 3 other playable characters. 2 of them work for the USMC that go
by the names of Pvt Allen and Pvt Ramirez and the other 2 are only briefly playable for the last few missions. The story includes
some highly controversial missions such as the mission “No Russian”. In this mission, the player plays as a terrorist in a team of 5
terrorists. The team is lead by Makarov who tells the player “No Russian”, at which point the elevator doors open and the team
fires their machine guns at unarmed civilians. This mission carries on for some time. When loading up Modern Warfare 2, the
player has the option of whether or not they want to play this mission.
The people that developed this game are called Infinity Ward. They are one of the main developers of the Call Of Duty series and
even made the first two Call Of Duty games. Modern Warfare 2 was Infinity Wards 4th Call Of Duty game. This tells me that there
will be a bigger player base for this game as people will have begun to recognise and enjoy the brand. Before this game, Infinity
Ward had released 2 WWII games and 1 Modern Warfare game. The continuing story of their previous game will appeal to the
majority of the audience because they will want to know what happens next.
The game was released in early November of 2009 but it is set in 2016. There is nothing much significant about the month it was
released apart from the fact that Call Of Duty is released in November every year. Releasing a game near the end of the year
makes the game feel fresh even in the new year. It also means that people can receive the game for Christmas which will boost
sales.
The target audience for this game is obviously male. We know this because of the masculine colours and fonts used on the cover.
According to statistics from the Council Of Foreign Relations, 80 percent of the US army was made up of white males. It would
make sense for Infinity Ward to reach out to males as they are more likely to be in the army than women. There are obviously
different races and religions within the US Army which is perhaps why the soldiers ethnicity is hidden on the front cover of the
game.

Existing products – Spec Ops The Line
The product above is a video game called “Spec Ops The Line”. This has interesting graphics that I would like to take
inspiration from. The graphics also contain a hidden message which I will also like to take inspiration from.

The front cover has a white background that makes the center image stand out. The colour white can represent purity and
innocence which is very effective because this game tests your moral decisions so you can either be innocent and pure or
malicious and evil. There is a lot of black on the cover of the game a well which represents the evil that you can carry out. The
black and white title also contains these colours which makes it really obvious to the audience what a theme of the game could
be. The image of the main character has a clever effect applied to him. It shows the character dissolving into sand which could be
a representation of the story of the game. For example, when looking at the character head to toe, he starts off normal but as he
progresses, he dissolves. This could be a metaphor for the fact that when you progress in the story, your morals will dissolve as
this game is all about moral decisions. The soldier on the over also makes eye contact with the person looking at the cover. This is
a very significant part of this design because it creates a personal connection between the audience and the character. This makes
us feel part of the game and part of the team that is in the game. The colours used on the image of the soldier are all unsaturated
and colorless. The yellow colour used, personally, makes me feel like everything in the scene is washed out and neglected. When
you play the story, you discover that everything is neglected and disused. The sand also gives us the feeling that there is a theme
of post apocalyptic warfare as there is no sight of natural nature anywhere on the cover apart from sand.
The smoke in the background and the way the soldier is positioned is a metaphor for his unclear past. Smoke cannot be seen
through and it can be lethal. This could also be a metaphor for PTSD. PTSD is unique to everyone that has it and it can drive people
to suicide. The fact that it is behind him shows us that is cannot be altered/changed. His face is also half covered which could
suggest that his mind is open to talk about his PTSD but his mouth is covered so he cannot physically talk about it. The M4 carbine
rifle he is holding could be a representation of his frustration and the way he holds it close is evidence of this because it shows
how personal it is.
Finally, the images in his body show that all his war memories are a part of him. The images are where his “gut” is which could be
suggesting that this character trusts his gut and makes decisions based on his gut feeling.

This back cover contains similar shots and angles to the last existing product such as third person angles. In comparison to the last
existing product, there isn't as much imagery and graphics on the back. To start with, a third of the box is taken up by one image.
On top of the image is a quote from one of the biggest game reviewers “IGN”. The quote reads “Intense and unique war shooter”.
This quote is a good selling point for this product because an audience is always looking for something new, so having the word
“unique” will surely draw attention as players will gain a different gaming experience from this game. All the images are in 3rd
person and so is the mode of address for the piece of text. This shows that the game is extremely focused on the story of this
particular individuals, instead of trying to involve the player in the story. Even though the player controls the main character and
all his decisions, we are placed outside of their bodies (it is a third person shooter). I think that this still develops emotional
attachments to the characters because if one of them died, we would feel helpless as we aren't there in first person so we feel
useless as we don’t have full control. The shots on the back cover are very cinematic as well which makes the product appear to
look like a film poster rather than a game. Once again, it shows the different types of environemnts that the player can
experience. The lighting on the back cover is very apocalyptic. It gives the audience a sense of impending doom as we can
physically feel the sand storm coming to consume us. The fact that there are cars buried under the sand shows us that there is no
escape so we have to fight. If the player has to fight mother nature within this game, it puts into perspective the challenges that
we will run in to. The colours on the back are also very masculine. For example, there are hardly any pinks or pastel colours that
would appeal to a feminine audience.
At the bottom of the back cover is the necessary legal information and the publishers and developers. The game is rated Mature
17+ by ESRB Content Rating. There is also a description of why it is rated this way. One of the reasons is “Blood and Gore”. This is a
very vague statement but this could also appeal to other audiences. For instance, people may like horror game because they are
gory, so they may decide to play this game due to its gore and violence.

This game was made by 2K Games. 2K are an American video game publisher company based in Novato, California. They publish
all genres of games from sports to action. The company was made in early 2005 by 4 founders, Jason Argent, Christoph Hartmann,
David Ismailer and Greg Thomas.
In 2012, 2K Games published the game “Spec Ops The Line” which was developed by the German company “Yager Development”.
This is not the first “Spec Ops” game. There have actually been 8 previous games in the series. None of these were published by
2K however as 2K originated in 2005. It was also Yager Developments first time developing a game in the Spec Ops series. This
tells me that the game will be different in terms of graphics, story and gameplay compared to the previous games.
The game was released in 2012 but development for the game started in 2007. It is not stated when the game is actually set but
we know it has to be in the future as Dubai has not been hit with such a disastrous sandstorm in the past or present. There is
nothing significant about the year it was released.
The game is about a mission the rescue civilians and safely extract them. Along the way, the player faces lots of decisions that test
the players morals. The decisions never turn out positive even if the player keeps his good morals.
IGN’s verdict on the game is as follows: “Spec Ops isn’t about a war, protecting the world, or defeating some evil threat -- it’s
about you, the effects of your actions, and events that are out of your control. The sum of Spec Ops’ unexpected story is an army
shooter that makes killing people mean something. This, along with its thoughtful aesthetic and intelligent enemy encounters,
defies the standard established by low-aiming action games.”

Existing products – Mafia 3
This product is another video game, that goes by the name of “Mafia III”. I find the structure of this design
particularly interesting due to the amount of minute detail it includes and also the amount of graphics that has been
fitted into one space.

The front cover of this game is similar to that of the last one because of the way the images are placed inside of the main
character. The first thing to note about the main character on the front, is that there is no established eye contact. This can be a
highly significant part of a product because it can create a bond between the player and the character as it makes everything
more personal. I think that the lack of eye contact is due to the fact that because he is in the mafia, he cannot trust anyone so he
doesn’t want to get personal with anyone. The way the characters are placed around the cover is a technique that I would like to
use for my project because I like how there are loads of mysterious characters lingering about so we want to play the game to find
out who they are and why they are associated with the mafia. This creates an interest in the story so the audience will be more
likely to play the game. There is also some sort of filter over the whole cover. The filter makes the cover look like the quality of an
old TV which lets the player know when the game was roughly set, without looking at the details on the back.
The main colours used on the cover are red and white. The colour white can represent purity and innocence which is not a
common theme or a connotation of the mafia. This juxtaposition of themes makes the mafia seem untouchable and therefore
makes the player feel invincible. The colour white then fades into the colour red. Red is obviously the colour of blood so I think
this shows how the mafia can turn from innocent, to spilling blood. Most of the colours on the cover are all washed out and there
are no really bright colours. The contrast of the bright headlights on the car and the dark background makes us focus on that
particular scene. The scene shows a man scrambling away from what we presume is a moving car. Due to the angle of the camera
in this scene, we also feel like we are stuck in front of these headlights. We are looking up to the car which shows that they are in
a position of power. The car that we are looking up to is also a black car. Black is often worn in games and films by the antagonists
so we know that we should fear them.
The font of the title is bold and all the letters are joined together at the bottom. This could represent the bond shared between
members of the mafia. They are close but don’t want to show it so that they can keep up their tough demeanor. The font is
masculine and this is because the high majority of the mafia was male.
The final part of the front cover is the age rating and the publisher/developers. The logos for the age rating and
publisher/developers are in their standard places which doesn’t make the game stand out. The game is rated “18” which shows
that it will include a high level of violence and other mature content.

The back cover isn't as heavy in terms of imagery if compared to other products. The back contains 3 images that aren’t very
exciting. The black car from the front cover can be seen again on the back cover. This shows the audience that the car is of some
importance.
The text on the back begins with a bold title that sets the time and place of the game. There is then a summary of what the game
is and what the main objective of the game is. This summary is written in a third person narrative which makes the player feel
detached from the story as words such as “you” are not used. The image of the main character is placed in front of the text that
sets the time and place. This could show that the character is the face of this area and that he owns the town through the mafia.
The lighting on the back cover starts off with a dark background (to help the light text stand out) and then moves onto images
taken in daylight. Both the images taken in daylight look very similar which makes me feel like the game isn't very varied. I will
avoid making the images on my back cover look similar so that it shows the audience how varied the game is.

This game was made by 2K Games. 2K are an American video game publisher company based in Novato, California. They publish
all genres of games from sports to action. The company was made in early 2005 by 4 founders, Jason Argent, Christoph Hartmann,
David Ismailer and Greg Thomas.
Mafia III is the third game in the Mafia series. The first Mafia game, “Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven”, was released in 2002 and
was only meant to be for PC. In 2004 it was released for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Mafia II was released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox
360 and PC at the same time, in August 2010. There was also a mobile version of Mafia II. This was a top-down shooter that had a
different story to the Mafia II game that was released for Xbox, PS and PC. Finally, Mafia III was released in 2016.
Mafia III’s storyline has the player controlling Lincoln Clay, a soldier who has returned from the Vietnam War to New Bordeaux (a
fictional place based on New Orleans). The charter Lincoln, is not actually Mafioso. He is getting revenge by tearing down the
mafia and building his own empire.
IGN have quoted in a Mafia III review that: “Mafia 3 does not shy away from dealing with racism and what America was like in the
fallout of the Vietnam War, but all of it is done smartly with tact and in ways that affect gameplay. For example, if you steal a car in
an affluent neighbourhood, cops will show up quickly and in full force. Steal a car in a poor neighbourhood, and the cops might
not even show up at all.”

Existing products – Battlefield 3
The products above are two products that I am going to compare. One is the limited edition of the game whereas
one is just the standard edition. This will help me to pick out the differences between the standard and non-
standard editions which will help me in the production stages.

Existing products – Battlefield 3
Standard Edition:
The standard edition to me stands out more because of all the extra details in the background. There seems to be a lot more
content on the standard edition. For example, there are tank, buildings and more soldiers. This variety makes the possibilities of
the game seem endless. The title of the game is also more spread out. Each part of the title shares a different line whereas on the
limited edition, it is all on one line. This makes the product seem cramped. The font size is also a lot smaller on the limited edition
and this makes the product seem small. If a product is small, it wont stand out. During the production stage, I will make sure my
title fills a good portion of the screen. The lighting on the standard edition is also a lot more interesting. There isn't just a black
background, there are beams of light that bring the reader towards the product. The colours are very masculine (dark colours and
lots of blues/greys) so we can tell the product is reaching out to a male audience. The image of the soldier on the front is also a
man which makes this product more relatable to a male audience.
Limited Edition:
The limited edition is just a close up of the soldier from the standard edition. This focus on the solider makes the customer feel
more attached to this character as they don’t have to focus on anything else which ultimately makes them feel part of the game
more. The fire effect on the soldier is made more obvious and I really like this effect. I will be influenced by this effect in some way
when I make my products. There is an orange sticker in the top left that advertises what the customer gets with the limited
edition. The orange contrasts well with the black background which makes the extra content stand out. The masculine theme
continues onto the limited edition and this time we can get a better close up of the soldier. We can see that he is holding his gun
in a different position and it is more of an action pose rather than him just holding it by his side. This implies that the limited
edition is more “action packed” that the standard edition.
Summary:
Overall, there aren’t too many differences between the two products. On one hand this is a strong point because it keeps up the
theme of the game so people know they are still buying their favorite game but on the other hand, you are paying extra money for
a product that looks very similar.

The game Battlefield 3, a first person shooter, was developed by DICE and published by EA in 2011, making it the 11th installment
in the franchise. The game was released for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. The game uses a “Frostbite 2” engine which was an upgrade
from the previous years that used Frostbite 1 and 1.5. Battlefield have since used Frostbite 3 in 2013, up to this current day.
The story focuses mainly on the story of a US Marine named Staff Sergeant Henry Blackburn. Most of the missions are actually
flashbacks and aren’t actually chronological. Most of the story takes place in Iran/Iraq but the player also gets to visit other parts
of the world such as New York City, Paris and Azerbaijan. In the story, the player controls tanks, weapon systems and a special
forces soldier.
During development of this game, the developers were going to make the main platform of Battlefield 3 PC, but then switched to
console halfway through. The devs also used a new type of character animation called “ANT” which is more commonly used in
sports games such as FIFA.
Battlefield 3 received a 9/10 from IGN on all platforms. They stated that "Regardless of the narrative missteps or the occasional
glitches, Battlefield 3 offers an unforgettable, world-class multiplayer suite that's sure to excite shooter fans”.
The game was also received well by other game reviewers such as Xbox Magazine who gave the game an 9/10, GameSpot who
gave the game an 8.5/10 and then Joystiq who awarded the game 4.5/5 stars.

Existing products – Merch
I have only ever made merch once before and it did not go as expected. To help me
improve on this product, I thought it would be helpful to look into some existing
merchandise.
Red colour fits
cover of game
Red and white
colours create an
obvious contrast
Simple design
but recognisable
Logo is the same
as it is on the
game case
creating a theme
of recognition.
No other graphic
design on the tee
makes it quite
boring.
No outline on the text
creates a good blend
with the background
but doesn’t help the
brand to stand out.

This is a POP! Figure. They are very common and also extremely popular.
Popular brand name is
made small but is
instantly recognised once
spotted.
Speech bubble
effect helps to
ensure the cartoon
theme of the
product.
Not much colour
on the box.
Focused around
greys and
black/white.
Description of
contents on the
side makes the
product user
friendly.
Clear packaging gives the
consumer a glimpse of the
product so they can decide if
they like it. Best part of the
product is shown through the
packaging (the clear packaging
wouldn’t show the back of the
character).
The angle of this image makes the
product seem action packed.

This piece of merch is a poster for the game Assassins Creed Odyssey.
Brand in top right gives
more room for the
graphics.
Thematical
graphics surround
main character to
give us a feel for
the game.
The typical Assassins
Creed eagle flys above
the whole scene,
suggesting that the feel
of the game will be
similar to the rest of the
games in the franchise.
Costume clearly
conveys the time
period of this
game.
Action pose makes us feel ready
to buy the game and fight with
the character. Makes us curious
as to who he is fighting as well
as we are looking at him. This
makes us feel like the enemy
and also makes us feel
intimidated.
The lighting is extremely bright,
revealing everything on the poster
whilst giving the poster a cinematic
effect.

SUMMARY
My market research has provided me with multiple different angles on what makes a good product. By analysing each product
clearly and extensively, it meant that I could see the strong and weak points of a professional product. By analysing these
products, I can see how a professional designer structures a product through use of colour, imagery and text. I have noticed some
techniques using colour, such as using a colour to represent a specific theme of a game even if the audience do not understand
this straight away. I have also learned that with the right shades and use of blending, you can get two completely different colours
to work in unison. I have always struggled with structuring my images on a product in previous projects but after looking deeper
into these products I can see clearly how to make a product look exciting by using different angles and techniques.
I feel like my research is extensive and also good quality. I have used a range of sources to find out information that has guided me
to a greater understanding of what I once looked at as a simple product. When diving deeper into a product, you realise that the
images and fonts actually have a certain meaning and aren’t just there to look aesthetically pleasing.
When looking into the merch products, it became a continuous theme to have something recognisable on the product. I find this
technique really crafty and clever. Having said this, this technique will probably be less likely to achieve on my products because
my products will be original and the first “game” in the series so it will be hard for people to notice. I can carry it across from the
cover to the special editions and merch, but it may not have the same effect.
I will try to include some of these methods to make sure that my work not only looks good but it also has a deeper meaning that
my audience or any audience can decipher when they consume the product.

Question 1
The first question was a simple question of “What age are you?”. This question helps me to see what age range I should aim my
products at, which also means I can start generating basic colour and font designs. For example, a futuristic font would interest a
younger audience more than an older audience. The majority of the audience are 18-24 and I am happy with this result because I
was going to aim my game at an “18” age rating audience. The second highest majority was the “under 18” audience. According
to the site www.pewresearch.com: “About seven-in-ten men younger than 30 (72%) say they play video games often or
sometimes”. According to the same website, 49% of women in the same group also play video games. This shows that I will have
to aim my game at a young audience to fit in with the majority audience.

Question 2
The second question focused on what gender the audience was. More males took part in this survey than females. This shows
that the answers will be more orientated towards men than women. According to a statistic in the US, in 2018 55% of males
played video games whilst 45% of females played video games. Despite the small 10% difference, I will aim my game towards a
male audience more as 10% more males than females would be likely to buy it. To achieve this goal of aiming my game at a male
audience, I can use masculine colours such as blue and use masculine fonts that are boxy are have sharp edges. These are only
basic ideas which I can develop further during the planning stage of my FMP.

Question 3
The third question asked the audience what they like to see on a video game cover. The most common answer was “a bold title
that sells the brand”. This shows that the audience likes their brands so I will have to create a new brand of equal quality to appeal
to my audience. I need to make the brand big as well as this will make it stand out to my audience.
The second most chosen answer was the interesting graphics. I will include good quality aesthetics anyway but I will increase the
quantity of these graphics as well. I will make the graphics appeal to men more due to the fact that I have majority male audience.
This is not to say that the graphics wont appeal to females but it is better to stick with the majority.
The next highest chosen option was colour. This is an important part to any project. I think that I could have been more specific
with what types of colours, or at least left a box to allow the user to fill in what colour(s) they would like to see. I will make sure
that colour is still a big part of my project because it helps a products quality increase with some simple colour correction.
The final answer for this question was fonts/text. Despite the fact that this answer received less reception than the others, a good
font choice is important because it is usually the first thing a person looks at when they see a game. It can potentially distinguish
the brand of the game (if it is well known) and it can represent the theme of a game (a wild west game would have a wild west
font).

Question 4
This question had two answers and both answers were fairly even. This will help me in production because I know that people will
have certain expectations of what a non-standard edition should look like.

Question 5
The main reason that people bought a non standard edition was due to DLC. I am planning to make some DLC sheets for the
special editions so I hope this will satisfy my audience. Moving down the answers, only 12.5% of this select audience bought it
because the case was different (it had different graphics). The 3rd answer depended on the non-standard edition including merch.
This means that I will have to include some good quality merchandise designs.

Question 6
This question will also help me during production. It shows me what areas I should focus heavily on and what areas need a lot of
attention. The most common answer among this select audience is the photography. This shows me that I will have to work hard
in the studio to take some good pictures that represent the theme of my product well. I will have to look into using the camera
differently to how I have done in the past. The second most common answer is the colours. As I stated before, this is an extremely
important part of a product so I will really have to concentrate on the colour schemes and colours that that I use to make sure I
please my audience. The third most common answer with 11.54% responses shows that my audience likes a poster because of
the game it advertises. This means that I will have to create a new brand that stands out just as well as some of the top brands.
Finally, the font is an important factor to 7.69% of this audience. This is an important factor anyway but I will have to make sure
my fonts that I choose fit themes.

Question 7
This question is similar to the last but it sets in stone what exactly my audience wants to see for a poster. A poster is something
that helps to advertise a product so making a good quality poster can depend on how well received the product is. The answers
for this question are all the same as the last question so it is good to see that my answers are reliable.

Question 8
This question focuses on how my audience likes to see a product advertised. An electronic version of an advertisement seems to
be the most popular option. I will have to put a lot of effort into structuring the poster and animation and making sure they link
and don’t look like they are advertising two different products. The “Other” option does not contain valuable data so it cannot be
analysed.

Question 9
The second to last question is about merchandise and what type of merchandise my audience likes. The hoodies seem to be the
most popular option so I will need to look into what merch producers are best. I will try and select 3 of the options below to put a
design on and make these separate from the merch or products that the audience will receive with the special editions.

Question 10
The final content focuses on what I should try to include on my DLC for the special editions. The most popular answer is extra
story missions. I am already thinking of ways I can use original photography to create the images for the DLC codes.

SUMMARY
Having looked into my survey, it was useful to see a wide range of responses from a wide range of ages. Even though I had already
planned out what my age demographic will be for my audience, it was still useful to see what older and younger audiences
thought because it helped me to generate and also narrow down ideas.
Some of the answers to my questions were not useful at all and some answers have really helped me to get a grasp on what my
audience wants to see. I only had 26 participators in the survey but I think this is enough to get a basic idea on my audiences likes
and dislikes. I am of the age range that I am going to produce a game cover for as well so this is a massive advantage to the
production as well. I will also be able to ask my peers what they think of my work as I progress through the production stage.

Tutorials
The first tutorial that I have gained an interest on is a fire effect for someone's hand. My video game will focus around two
opposing sides so I will also need a tutorial that creates an ice/water effect for someone's hand.
A potential effect that I have found on YouTube is one where the mans hand looks like molten lava. I would only want to transform
the hand and not actually create the fire ball between the two hands. I have chosen this particular design because it is 29 minutes
long. This means that it isn't time lapsed so it will be easy to follow, and it will also go into a lot of detail. The uploader of this
video focuses his channel on Photoshop tutorials so I know that the end result of this tutorial will look good.
The first step towards making this effect is to get
the texture of the lava. This is done through using
a filter. A clipping mask is then used to apply this
filter over the cut out hand.
The next main step is to get the detail of the
cracks of lava on top of the texture. This is
done by either a paint brush (very time
consuming) or getting an image from online.
To avoid any copyright, I may have to buy an
image. After the image has been applied,
colour is needed to make it look like fire.
The final main step is to add the flame effects.
Again, I will need an image to do this however
there may be paintbrushes available to download.

Tutorials
This effect will probably take up a lot of time, but looking at the quality of the other effects on YouTube, I would rather use this
than any other effect. In the past I have followed tutorials that have been 5 minutes long and the quality of the product wasn’t
great.
The plan for one of my covers of my game is to have two hands holding bandanas like the image below, as my game will be about
gangs. The fire and the ice will show the clear difference between the two gangs. I will not have the bandannas tied up as I want
the gangs to be rival gangs. The colours of the bandanas will probably be white and black. The white will be for the ice and the
black will be for the fire. I can then get some black and white clothing to match the colours of the bandanas.

Tutorials
The second tutorial I have found is an ice hand effect. It is by the same person that uploaded the fire hand tutorial.
This tutorial is 10 minutes shorter than the last one but there is no ice ball or ice effect in the middle of the two hands so it
doesn’t affect my anyway.
The first step towards making this effect is to get
the texture of the ice. This is done through using a
filter. The filter is applied over the selected hand.
The next step is to get the smoothness and
solidness of the ice and place it on to the
filter. No images are needed for this effect so
far so I can save some money.
The final main step is to add a glow to the ice so it
comes alive and also looks appealing. I will most
likely add some frost particles around the hand
just like I added the flames. I can do this with a
paintbrush.

Tutorials
This effect is from the same channel as the previous effect. It may take time but if I follow this tutorial correctly, it should look ok.
The ice hand will be the contrasting effect to the fire to show the audience the clear difference between the two parties.
In the past, I have nevr attempted anything like this so I may have to practice this design in the experimental part of the planning
stage. I will have to make sure that I follow each step very carefully because if I was to make a mistake, an 18 minute tutorial
would be extremely time consuming to retry.
These tutorials that I have selected are just a few examples of the amount of detail and quality I am prepared to put into my work.
I will most definitely look into smaller tutorials to make the products look more appealing and improve their aesthetics.

Structure
The structure of my video game cover will be as original as possible. I will try to make it stand out from the rest but I also want to
take inspiration from designs that I find really interesting. I am planning to have the title of the game in the middle and then have
the main characters and objects such as a car surround the title. The main character will be the biggest on the page and then I will
have the extra characters gradually getting smaller depending on how relevant they are to the story. It is important to have
something fill the majority of the page such as a character as it makes the cover look full of content. Using Photoshop also allows
me to edit other images inside of the main images which increases the amount of content. A prime example of this is the Mafia III
cover that I analysed earlier. The front cover of the game will hopefully read left to right and then the back cover will read top to
bottom.
The cover its self wont explicitly reveal to the audience who the bad and good guys are but I will use colours such as black to make
it obvious who the antagonists are. I will also use stereotypical costumes such as balaclavas to distinguish between the bad and
good.
The cover will be mostly made up of characters as getting images of vehicles will be hard to do. I could always give the cover a
cartoon look, draw a vehicle and then scan it in. This would reduce the quality of my work because my drawing skills aren't very
good.
The structure of my DLC will be standard. There will be a card that shows what the content is. The colours of the card will follow
that of the cover so it keeps up the continuation of the themes of the product.
The back cover will have information that summarises the story and objectives of the story. It will probably read to the audience in
a third person narrative so they can indulge themselves in the story. It would be more personal if it was in a first person narrative
but I can create this personal effect using different methods such as the main character on the front cover establishing eye contact
with the camera.
The animation that I plan to make will be central and loud. I want it to be noticeable. To do this I will have to structure it so that
the text is aligned centrally and make sure that the audience only have to focus on the center of the screen. This will make it user
friendly and easy to read.

Pros and Cons
When looking at the ways I can produce my work, I need to consider the pros and cons of each method of production such as
photography and production.
Studio pros and cons
Pros:
• Can customise lighting
• Can use different backgrounds (white, black, green)
• Equipment is safe inside, not exposed to rain or bad weather
• Equipment is easier to assemble inside
Cons:
• Limited space
• Can only get shots in front of a screen so you can only edit backgrounds in which reduces realism
• No natural lighting
• No nature or real life objects

Pros and Cons
Production pros and cons
Pros:
• Endless possibilities
• Tutorials can be followed to increase quality of work
• Access to loads of different software programs
• Access to the internet to solve problems such as bugs or look up tips to increase efficiency such as keyboard shortcuts
Cons:
• Staring at a computer for extended periods of time is unhealthy
• Need to have some sort of experience with the software to make a good product
• Can get distracted when using a computer

Photography settings
I will be doing most of my photography in a studio so I need to know what the best settings are for the camera that I will use. The
camera in use will be a Canon 600 or 700D. I am going to look at some websites and videos to help with my photography.
The first website I have found is a website where I can pick up some basic but useful tips to improve the quality of my images. If I
cannot get the hang of the manual settings, it will not be a problem because I can always use colour correcting on Photoshop. The
website is called “Nature Photography Simplified” so this may not be ideal for studio photography.
The second website I have found is a website called TechRadar. This is a very general website so may not be so specific to studio
photography. Despite this, there is content covered on this website which the other website did not cover. The tips aren’t too
detailed either but if I am struggling in the studio, it will be easier to read through a short tip than a whole article.
The third website I have found concentrates on studio photography. The website gives specific instructions on what settings to use
for a Canon camera. I have found this to be more useful than the other sites due to how specific it is. However these settings may
not be appropriate in the lighting that I use, they may be too specific.
Overall, these three websites that I have looked at provide some useful tips that I can use if I am struggling. I have never really
used manual settings before but because I want my products to be high quality, I will need to make the pictures high quality. A
method of doing this is using the AV setting instead of using the Auto setting. This means the image will be raw instead of a JPEG
which makes it easier to edit in Photoshop.

Props
To make my product as authentic as possible, I need to look in to costume and props. This is so that I can price up how much I am
going to have to spend on necessary items such as prop weapons.
The first piece of costume I am going to need is a few bandanas.
From the site www.wish.com I can purchase a bandana for 1
pound and then I will need to pay shipping fees. I will need 2
bandanas so it will total to around £5.
Secondly, to match with the bandana, I will need to buy a white
t-shirt and a black t-shirt from www.primark.com or I can visit
the local store in person. If I visit in person I will not have to pay
postage. At 4 pounds per t-shirt, this sums up to £8.

Props
I can get a cap with a print design on it for £1.39 (not including
postage). I can possibly put the logo of each rival gang on the
cap for production and then for merch, I can print the game’s
logo on it. At £1.39 per cap, I am looking at buying 4 so it will
total £5.56
When I am buying a prop gun, I will not be able to take it into
the studio room. I will have to take photos elsewhere. This may
slightly hinder my production. I do have other options to
consider such as using a cardboard cut out of a gun or even
Photoshopping a gun in.
The next item I could use for costume is a military style scalf.
This item is free but you still need to pay shipping. Once again,
this item will come from www.wish.com . The only minor issue
with this website is that it ships from China so it can take up to 2
weeks to ship. I have bought items from here before and they
do arrive so it is just a matter of ordering my items at the right
time.

Props
I will also most likely buy a pair of these combat style gloves. At
£3 a pair they aren’t very expensive but as it is from
www.wish.com I will also have to pay shipping.
If I choose to buy all these items, it will cost me roughly £25. I think this is a fair
enough price as all the items are fairly cheap so if I were o buy them from
elsewhere, it could cost a lot more.

SUMMARY
After looking at all the different methods and tasks I will need to carry out for production, I realise that how important my
schedule now is. If I do not follow my schedule then I will fall behind. It was useful however, to plan accordingly or at least
generate some ideas of what I could do for production. I will continue to narrow these ideas down until I have a solid, structured
idea. Researching into production was a new task for me and I haven’t gone in that much depth before. Doing so makes me feel
more confident about the project.

Bibliography
Anon. (.). Demographics of the U.S. Military. Available: https://www.cfr.org/article/demographics-us-military. Last accessed 28th
Jan 2019.
Anon. (.). Spec Ops: The Line. Available: http://specops.wikia.com/wiki/Spec_Ops:_The_Line. Last accessed 31st Jan 2019.
Anon. (.). Mafia Series. Available: https://mafiagame.fandom.com/wiki/Mafia_Series. Last accessed 4th Feb 2019.
Anon. (.). Mafia 3 Review. Available: https://uk.ign.com/articles/2016/10/11/mafia-3-review. Last accessed 4th Feb 2019.
Prathap. (2013). DSLR Basics: 8 Easy Steps to Learn Manual Mode for Canon DSLR Cameras. Available:
http://www.naturephotographysimplified.com/tips-and-tutorials/canon-dslr-basics-for-beginners-8-easy-steps-learn-manual-
mode/. Last accessed 6th Feb 2019.
Phill Hall. (2018). 49 Essential Canon DSLR tips and tricks you need to know. Available: https://www.techradar.com/uk/how-
to/canon-photography-tips. Last accessed 6th Feb 2019.
Darren Rowse. (.). How to Achieve Great Indoor Photography Results. Available: https://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-
achieve-great-indoor-photography-results/. Last accessed 6th Feb 2019.
Anna Brown. (2017). Younger men play video games, but so do a diverse group of other Americans. Available:
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/09/11/younger-men-play-video-games-but-so-do-a-diverse-group-of-other-
americans/. Last accessed 7th Feb 2019.
Anon. (.). Battlefield 3. Available: https://www.battlefield.com/en-gb/games/battlefield-3. Last accessed 9th Feb 2019.
Anon. (2019). .. Available: https://www.wish.com/. Last accessed 10th Feb 2019.

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