The document provides an overview of existing products in different media that are relevant to the author's concept project. It summarizes several posters, magazines, pixel designs, and animations, noting elements like art style, use of color, positioning, and text-to-image ratios that could inform the author's work. Survey results are also presented, giving insights into the target audience's preferences around settings, narrative choices, and other aspects. Secondary research on the video game industry and best-selling titles provides context on market trends and successes.

1. Research

2. Market Research: Existing Products

3. Posters
Colour is a crucial component to an effective poster, best shown in the first two posters below. The use of a
lighter to darker red is great at showing depth/distance in a minimalistic piece, especially with its connotations.
The red really gives off a sense of danger and risk, if you have played the tomb raider games you'll know this to
be a core focus. If I was take anything through to production I think it would be the use of space/positioning,
especially from the second poster. Using the sun and positioning Lara in a way that draws the focus onto her is so
effective. The first two posters have a very modern style to them, as they are what I would call minimalistic. The
third one has a definite retro style to it, this could be creating in the present day, maybe with the intent to insight
some nostalgia in certain parts of the audience. The use of simple language is effective and works well with the
minimalistic asthenic, “Every Legend Has A Beginning”. Its vague yet has depth and simple yet detailed.

4. Posters
I chose these posters as they capture the simple pixelated style that I wanted to somewhat replicate in both the
experiments and the production. This style is both minimalistic and nostalgic, as it uses the same style of many
older video games. The use of this positioning is quite unique amongst the grand scene of posters, as minimalistic
posters are mostly the only kind to adopt this. The positioning is done to create a greater sense of minimalism
and to therefore draw more attention towards the subject. Positioning/spacing is another thing I'm taking into the
production, especially the magazine and poster/s, I think this will help me to achieve the aesthetic that I'm going
for. I quite like the font that is used, I would probably use a font closer t that of the one I used for the previous
FMP.

5. Magazines
This magazine is a great example of a decent text to image ratio. Some text can look overwhelming in its
format/positioning, this one isn’t as the column and lighter font makes it easy on the eyes. The use of colour,
green, is effective at giving the magazine and series of magazine a aesthetic identity. I liked the use of allocated
numbers on the images, as not all of the readers will know what they are from, this helps to include more readers,
it is pretty effective in my opinion. If I was going to point out something that I feel this magazine is lacking in, it’s
the use of pull quotes. They can an effective way to draw in readers to the piece. For example if a new game
review used a pull quote like ‘We truly hold our game close to our hearts’ I would probably read into that piece.
From this magazine I will try to take the use of colour, spacing/positioning, and pull quotes into production.

6. Pixel Design Imagery
Pixel design imagery should cover the maps and insignia which I think shows off the image side of my concept in
an effective way. First of all is the insignia, as this won’t just be the in-game insignia, I plan for this to be the
center of the poster/s. I have already somewhat planed out the insignia I want, but the design is in question. As
I'm not sure i am able to create it. I plan to use existing insignia like the ones below as inspiration for the
production experiments, this should give me a chance to test my ability. I really liked the simple and minimal style
to the first one, as the bright red and solid black work well in a pixel format. The first one gives me a sense of
roman influence, much like many modern flags use the same format as the French, their influence was also fairly
long-lasting. I think that insignia is so important because it is how something is portrayed besides it’s actions. I
aim to create some kind of map for the concept, hopefully 1 larger one and one that hones in on the chosen
region. The 1st map is quite close to the style I would go for, but on a more pixelated style and I'd properly go for
a darker colour pallet.

7. Animation
I chose this animation because it covers many different styles of pixel animation, I aim to create a short intro
animation. This animation was hosted on YouTube, however recently it was blocked due to copyright, so it isn’t
really an existing product anymore. I think that was because the song wasn’t that different from the original, and
the YouTube copyright system is messed up. I did still manage to find some images via google of the animation.
The 1st and 3rd images below are a great style, but a bit too detailed for what I am going for. I am aiming for a
more simplified aesthetic, this is mainly due to my ability, in that I don’t think I could pull something so detailed
off. I do still really like all of the colour themes/pallets used, as they work well at providing depth and personality
to the animation. These different styles are telling of the many different creators that came together to
collaborate on this piece. My favourite frame is the 2nd one, more specifically the floating island, I really like the
style and pixel density. I like how most of all the detail and vibrant colours are on it, it works well to pull in and
catch your attention.

8. Bibliography
• Anon (2019). Xbox: The Official Magazine . Bath: Future PLC. 0, 4-5, 10-11. Found at:
https://issuu.com/futurepublishing/docs/oxt173.issuu
• Vimeo. (2019). Feel Good Inc. (Pixel Art Collaboration). [online] [Accessed 31 Jan. 2019]. Found at:
https://vimeo.com/308869087
• Pinterest. (2019). Video Game Posters | Video game advertising | Pinterest | Tomb raider 2018, Tomb raider lara
croft and Tomb raider full movie. [online] [Accessed 31 Jan. 2019]. Found at:
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/307933693244287831/
• .

9. Audience Research

10. Survey Results
Q1 From this quantitative question I got a good range of ages. From what I can tell most
were around 17-20, I think a few people were in the late 30’s, this is most likely what
screwed the average to be higher. From this average age I can guess that someone of
that age would have a probably played more retro looking games than people who
are younger.

11. Survey Results
Q4
From this qualitative question I was able to get a more 3-d sense of what the audience would be looking for.
However, this is somewhat a bias, as I have 11 responses and therefore not a large enough number to be accurate at
what I wanted. Although it was still useful to see people’s opinions from the question.

12. Survey Results
Q5
From this qualitative question I was able to see how much of
my potential audience would respond positively towards a
setting somewhat based in real-world history. Overall I got a
sense that they thought it could give a setting some substance,
but it should also have other elements to it as well. This is what
I was hoping for, as my concept is of this. I have based it in a
real-world time period with the normal events and what not,
but I take it down a more fictional path. I did this as I felt I
would have more freedom. I am glad I did this.

13. Survey Results
Q6
This qualitative question was an important one, as my concept
somewhat revolves around player choices. From this question I
was able to understand that it is circumstantial, as it works for
some games and not for others. Sometimes player choice can
create a poorer narrative than if it was scripted. Some players
prefer games to be more like interactive movies. An example of
this is the Tomb Raider and Uncharted games. My audience is
seemingly mixed on this, which is good, if all players preferred
the same games then gaming would never evolve. I'm glad some
like the idea of player choice, as it is a core theme to my concept.

14. Survey Results: Summary
To summarize the survey and its findings…
I have focused on the qualitative questions as they gave me a more 3-D sense of my audience and their preferences.
Their responses wouldn’t have changed my project much at all, but it was defiantly good to see their thoughts on a
few relative matters. The general sense of the responses will certainly be on my mind from now until the end of this
project. It was interesting to get their take on the topics covered in the questions, especially the responses that gave
for and against answers.

15. Secondary Research

16. Secondary Research
• The video games industry worth…
Sources:
• https://techjury.net/stats-about/gaming-industry-
worth/
• https://www.statista.com/statistics/292056/video-
game-market-value-worldwide/
The growth in earnings from a cross the industry is a good
indication of possible future earnings for a real, if my project was
going to actually end up wit one. It won’t
However, increased earnings from games doesn't directly mean
that more people are buying them. The predatory monetization of
games is a large part of the growth in earnings.
Most mobile games are free, so they are the main sector of the
industry to use this. So, when the growth of mobile game’s
revenue is increasing it means they are just earning more from
their predatory practices.
If my game concept was real, I would definitely prioritise not
incorporating such advantage-taking methods of revenue, bar the
initial cost of the game.

17. Secondary Research
• The most sold games as of 2019…
Sources:
• https://uk.ign.com/articles/2019/04/19/top-10-best-selling-video-games-of-all-time
• https://venturebeat.com/2019/03/19/february-2019-npd-anthem-and-jump-force-tops-software-sales/
• The most sold games of 2019 so far…
This shows that there isnt one kind of game that controls the
top spots, as they are all different kinds. Different situations
can give birth to a popular game, a great example is
Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds or PUBG.
This game is a very popular game in Asia. This mainly came
from the fact that videogames were banned by the Chinese
Government for many years. Upon the retraction of the ban,
many games had a surge of players as a whole new market was
opened up. PUBG was one of these. I don’t completely count
these games in with the rest as they didn't quite have the same
challenge as the others. Minecraft for example, had to compete
with other creative based games when it came out.
From this it seems that history centered games aren't as
popular as the kinds in the top 10, this wont change my project
all that much, my concept is still the same as it was before this
research.

18. Secondary Research: Survey
The image below is from a survey through YouGov. This survey looked at which video games consoles were played
extensively across men and women in addition to different age groups. The results were interesting, as I got a sense
of which age group might be the best to be the target audience.
From looking at this survey, I am in two minds as to
which age group is a more beneficial target
audience between 18-24 and 25-34. With 18-24
they mostly went with newer consoles, meaning
they are most likely follow the new releases more
closely.
On the other hand, 25-34 went with older consoles
much more than the 18-24 group. Meaning, they
are more likely to be into the style that my game
will likely use. Most modern games don’t go for a
pixel art style, so I think the 25-34 group are more
beneficial target audience.

19. Overall Research Summary
Overall the research helped me in many ways. I knew when I started the research, that parts of it were not going to
alter the project anywhere as much as others. The existing product research helped me to grasp the concept more, to
better visualize what I was setting out to create. The insignia and maps research was especially useful at this, so was
the animation research. The survey helped me to understand my potential audience a little better than before. I had a
vague idea of my potential audience, this helped to make that more clear and actualized. There was some research I
had wanted to conduct, as I think it would have sided me in the upcoming production. I wanted to research the
setting better. This would have been centered around the chosen region, with its legends, folk tales, peoples and
traditions, etc. I did not conduct it in the end as it felt out of place to the rest of the research, as it didn’t fit in the
defined categories like the other parts did. I still might conduct it in my own time, as I want to give my all for this
project.
The secondary research was a good chance to take a look at the industry in which my concept would be theoretically
a part of. I looked at the industry’s earnings and the most sold games, this let me think about where my concept
would sit in that industry as it is now. This research isn't going to affect my project too much, as I am focusing on
creating something that I actually want to.