This document discusses conventions in games and how the author's media product uses conventions. It begins by looking at common conventions in games like protagonists, antagonists, and damsels in distress. It then examines conventions specifically for sci-fi and first-person shooter games, such as alien villains, futuristic weapons and settings like spaceships. The author decided to include narrative conventions of playing a hero rescuing hostages from aliens on a spaceship. While including violence, it left out gore to target a younger audience. The document also analyzes conventions for game box art, magazine covers, posters and articles, and how using these conventions will appeal to the target audience of teenage males and sci-fi fans.

1. B y L a u r e n E c c l e s
Question one
How my media product uses, develops or
challenges conventions.

2. CONVENTIONS OF GAMES
• Before I started to create my game I did a lot of research into what actually
makes a game. I looked a different aspects of games to see what was
commonly found in most games. I found that the type of characters in games
usually consisted of a protagonist, an antagonist, either a hostage, victim or
damsel in distress. These types of characters give the game a narrative which
also has a consistent theme in games. I found that the majority of games I
looked into ended up with a character needing help, or needing to be
rescued for a villain/bad guy and the protagonist (hero) would save them,
completing missions or goals as they go alone. These conventions are not in all
games however, such as in Grand Theft Auto or the Sims, these have their own
conventions such as a character designed and created by you and
controlled by you. These conventions are found mainly in Role Play games,
but can also be found in First Person Shooter (FPS) games but most of the time
in FPS Games the character is not seen, just controlled by the player.

3. GAME GENRE CONVENTIONS
• The game I created is a sci-fi/first-person shooter (FPS) game so I did more in
depth research into the conventions found in these genre’s. In sci-fi games I
found that the villain, most of the time, was either an alien or futuristic looking
character(e.g. storm trooper). Popular locations and settings that Sci-fi games
use are spaceships, planets/space, deserted area, the future, and in some
games abandoned buildings which have been repossessed by aliens. Also in
sci-fi games the weapons are usually guns or high-tech such as lightsabers.
The aliens in sci-fi games usually tend to be green/grey colour or sometimes
resemble robots in black armour.
• I then looked at conventions of FPS and found that the character you play is
most of the time a hero and the game play is good vs. evil. I also found that
they a usually have collectables throughout the game that you can collect
along the way to advance further in the game. The narrative also seems to be
linear in most FPS games they this gives the player a goal/mission so they don’t
get bored of the game too quickly.

4. CONVENTIONS WE USED
• After looking at all the conventions that fit the genre of my game I decided
which ones I was going to include in my game. I couldn’t include them all
because I thought it would make my game look “too full” and ineffective and
some of the conventions would have clashed.
• I decided to stick the narrative convention of having our main player be the
hero who has to save hostages from aliens. Due to our lack of player options
on the software we used our hero cannot be seen, this is a popular
convention in shooter games and makes it a First Person Shooter game. I also
wanted to stick with the conventions of location and made my game based
in a spaceship which fits with the antagonists being aliens as it would be weird
to find aliens in the wild west.
• I decided not to add gore to my game even though it is a shooter game
because I wanted my game to target a specific audience and adding blood
and gore would have targeted an older audience. There is however violence,
due to it being a shooting game but the bad guys simply disappear once
they have been killed.

5. CONVENTIONS OF GAME BOX ART
The features pointed out below are found on 99% of box art for games. I decided to show the
conventions on my own box art so I could show which ones I used.
Game console banner
Character/Image
from game.
(Sometimes game
logo)
Game Title
Game developer
Tag Line
Technical features
Screenshots
Barcode
Copyright
Information
Game rating
Brief game
description
Health & Safety
warning

6. CONVENTIONS OF A MAGAZINE
COVER
The features pointed out below are found the majority of magazine covers. I decided to show the
conventions on my own magazine cover so I could show which ones I used.
Name of the
Magazine
Characters
from the main
game being
advertised
Reviews
Other games
featured in the
magazine
CompetitionMain game article
advertisement
Magazine rating
Barcode
Name of the main
game being
advertised
Logo of the
magazine or game
console

7. CONVENTIONS OF A MAGAZINE
POSTER
The features pointed out below are found most magazine poster advertisements. I decided to show
the conventions on my own advertisement so I could show which ones I used.
A character to
represent the
game
(Sometimes is a
logo)
Game rating or
quote from a
well known
source
Copyright
information
Name of the
game
Attractive
background to
fit the genre of
the game
Release date
of the game
List of consoles
the game is
available on
Game Rating

8. CONVENTIONS OF A MAGAZINE
ARTICLE
The features pointed out below are found in most magazine article. I decided to show the conventions
on my own magazine article so I could show which ones I used.
Banner
Article Heading
Subheading
Article in
columns
Game Rating
Character
relating to the
game
Screenshots or
images from
the game

9. HOW THE USE OF CONVENTIONS WILL
APPEAL TO THE AUDIENCE.
• For my game I used most of the typical conventions in sci-fi games to help
attract my target audience. With my target audience being teenage
males/young adults and fans of sci-fi games. The conventions I used will help
attract me target audience because teenage males and young adults like
violence and shooting games which are included in my game and sci-fi fans
like aliens and spaceships and all the sci-fi conventions I have included in my
game.
• I used all the standard conventions on my Box art and magazine pages
because they are what make them recognisable and stand out to an
audience. The conventions used on my ancillary tasks are all needed to
provide the audience with the information needed to encourage them to buy
the game/magazine. For example, my box art must have the console banner
to tell the audience what the game can be played on, it must have the name
of the game on it to tell the audience the name of the game and also so they
can pick it out if browsing for it amongst other games on a shelf. My magazine
cover must have the name of the magazine so the audience know what
magazine it is, it must also have headings of things which are inside the
magazine so the audience will know if they are interested by what’s in the
magazine.