Sunday, 12 March 2017

Year 1 - Unit 1 – Pre-production Techniques for the creative Media Industries - Finance - Task 2

Unit 1 – Pre-production Techniques for the creative Media Industries - Finance - Task 2

Basic costs for a game production:

Hardware -

 The hardware that you need to buy for a game creations can be the most expensive part towards it., there are many factors that you'd need to consider before buying anything. These includes what specifications the programs you use need.

Computers - Around £629 for a decent gaming PC to run and create games. This is the tower alone.
Peripherals - £79 (Monitor 21.5" with speakers), £22 (Keyboard and Mouse), £15 (Speakers), £104 (External Hard Drive 3TB), £42 (Headset)
Dev Kits (PS & Xbox)- $2,500 (PS4) and $5,143 (Xbox)

Promotional Website -

When creating a game, audiences generally expect a website on the game created which should include as much information as possible on the game. 

Hosting - $10 per month 
URL - $10 or so a year

Software - 

To create a game of course you will need a way to code and design all parts of the game, these can vary greatly in prices and can be a subscription service.

Unreal Engine - $19 per month
Unity - One time fee of $1,500 or a monthly fee of $75
CRYENGINE - $9.90 per month
Game Maker 1&2 - Free (1) and $99.99 (2)
Construct 2 - $5,000
Maya and 3D Studio Max - £170 per month or £1,370 per year 


Publishing -

Publishing a game is definitely one of the least expensive processes if creating on PC and Mobile Platforms. However, when being published on PSN and Xbox you have to pay for an expensive dev kit but publishing is included in the price.

Steam Greenlight/Direct - $100 (Gain access to Greenlight)
ID@Xbox - Just Dev Kit
PSN - Just Dev Kit
IOS - $99 annually
Android -  $25

IP Property and Copyright Protection -

Copyrighting a game can be the most important part of the process as any work you do could be stolen and used by someone else. This could cause the company to lose profit to other people.

Copyright Law - £49.50 for 5 years or £75 for 10 years. In the UK copyright is automatically free if you originally make it.
Patent Law - $130 (filing), $100 - $125 (small entity and drawings per page) and $2,500 - $3,000 (high quality application for a mechanical or electrical device can be prepared and filed for this).
Trade Mark - $275

Ratings Board - 

Games need to be rated by a board to help the right audience be guided to the game and stop it going to the wrong ones. Things that the ratings boards include are the age that people can play it at and any other traits the game may have.

PEGI - Hundreds if not thousands of dollars

ESRB (US) - $4,000 (if the development cost over $250,000) and $800 (if the development cost under $250,000)

Funding:

 Self Funding:

Self funding a game is where a developer finds the money to develop and fund the game themselves. 

Positives of using Self Funding are:


  • Easy and quick as there is no process of things being approved.
  • Takes away the complications of having more shareholders.
  • Only the aspirations of the developer need to be put into consideration, the work put in can be fitted into their lifestyle without anyone being able questioning it.
  • All of the profits go to the creator without a diluted effect.
  • When the game is finished any negotiations are much easier to sort out.
  • The developer does not have to pay any money to anyone else.



Negatives of using Self Funding are:


  • Limited resources including any labour, work space and technology etc.
  • If the game fails the creator has all the consequences to deal with on their own.
  • The creator may not have all the experience, knowledge or skill to go through with the development completely.
Bank Loans:

A Bank Loan is when a developer borrows money from a bank in which they must pay the money back over a fixed period, they also pay interest over this time.

Positives of using Bank Loans are:


  • Access to a lot of money pretty quickly.
  • Banks take no ownership position or take part in any running of the business.
  • After paying back the loan, the business is no longer obligated to be involved with the bank.
Negatives of using Bank Loans are:

  • Can be hard to obtain depending on track record (especially if it's a small company involved).
  • The interest paid back is often a hefty percentage of the amount.
  • If the game being created was a flop and either didn't make any money or was dropped halfway though the project, the developers would owe a lot of money and wouldn't have an easy way of making it back.
Indie Funding:

Indie Funding is pretty much where a company or person take an interest in a developers game and invest their money into it. The developer repays the investor overtime in short amounts and the investor get a percentage of any revenue earned once it's published.

Examples: Indie Fund, GamesLab Development Fund and Sony Pub Fund.

Positives of using Indie Funding:

  • A lot of money quickly.
  • Rather than having to pay back any interest the developer gives a percentage of profit.
  • An investor is willing to take a risk.
  • The odds of creating a successful game will rise due to the investors experience in the industry and knows how it works.
Negatives of using Indie Funding:

  • The developer will not be in full control of the project, the investor will have put a lot of money into the game and wants to see it succeed in the best way possible.
  • There will be strings attached, they will have to give them a potion of their future earnings just by agreeing to take the investors money.
  • They set the bar pretty high for the game and it's earnings involved.
Crowd Funding:

Crowd Funding is where a developer puts it project out in front of a large amount of everyday individuals in hopes that they will donate a small amount of money. This often gives the people who donate a perk for either the game or a physical item as thanks.

Examples: Kickstarter, IndieGoGo etc.

Positives of using Crowd Funding:

  • A lot harder to become in debt.
  • It is a good way to create a bigger audience and a larger hype for the game to be completed, this would also bring in more income from the game.
  • A quick way to gain money and financial support.
  • A good way to test the audiences reaction to the idea and get feedback.
Negatives of using Crowd Funding:

  • If the idea is a flop the developer will most likely have to give the people who donated anything their money back.
  • Like investors, the people who donate can be very picky in what they back. This is made much harder with the amount of options out there for them to choose from which often means projects get lost in the crowds.
  • Failed projects can risk the reputation of the developers company which won't help with future endeavours. 
Grants:

 Grants are where companies give developers in the early stages of their career money to create games without giving themselves any profit from the game.

Examples: Unreal Dev Grants, UK Games Fund, Queen of Code and Greenshoots.

Positives of using Grants:


  •  A developer can receive generous amounts of money.
  • Once they have obtained one, it is much easier to get another.
  • It is a good way of building a developers credibility as well as how well they are known to the public.
Negatives of using Grants:

  • There is a lot of competition and the success rate of receiving them is very low and hard to achieve.
  • There a strings attached to the money that tell you what you can and cannot do with the money.
Publisher:

Publisher funding is where a publisher will fund the game a developer creates. This is often used with larger developers and requires a good demo, team and presentation in place.

Examples: Activision, EA, Bethesda etc.

Positives of using a Publisher:

  • A lot of money can be obtained.
  • The publisher is willing to take a risk
  • Often improves the reputation of a developer and can make them more well known.
Negatives of using a Publisher:

  • The publisher will most likely own your game as well as possibly part of the developers company in return for the money.
  • It is extremely likely they will also take the majority of profits from the game developed.
  • The developer may also be asked to pay the money back gradually like a bank loan or invested funding. Failure to do so could lead to their company going bust.
Which is the best option for my current games production?

Out of all the options it would probably be self funding if any. The equipment being used is already paid for and any extras I would pay for myself. All of the other options would involve a lot more funding than I would actually need, even Crowd Funding.

Time Constraints:

Deadlines:

When creating a game you should set yourself separate deadlines that have been broken down to achieve tasks in good time. You must leave enough time for the different jobs that need to be done before the deadline. Try sticking to a plan and once you've done a task move on to the next rapidly to avoid getting behind on work and procrastinating on future tasks. Be sure to always plan all your deadlines either before or as soon as you start, do not leave until half way through when you're rushing everything. Break down all the work into small tasks that are easy enough to manage within the time frame you are given, everyone who is working on the project should have their own things to work on.

Availability of Equipment:

The equipment that you use when creating a game could be rented to use. Not only could this cost more the more time you need it for, it could also only be available to rent for a short amount of time meaning you'd have to finish the game before the time its been rented for is over. This is not the only time constraint as the general availability of an item could be a factor as well.


Availability of Personnel:

The availability of people working on the game will mainly affect how quickly the game get finished. Not only can each person only work a certain amount of hours a week, they can also be entitled to some breaks and some time for illness can also be factored in.

Timescales for Clearances:

You need to consider the time it would take for things like legal, age rating and platform approval to be cleared. Under legal there are many sections which could include: copyright, which is automatic; trademarks, time to allow this for clearance is 4 months; and patents, its clearance can take around 5 years for application etc. The time for a game to be cleared with an age rating is that it generally looked over within 7 to 15 working days, but the final date of clearance differs. Platform approval can take a while to clear depending on the platform as not all standards and ways of testing the game are the same.

How could I manage my time when creating my games?

I have created a timeline which presents what tasks I have to do and when I should have done them by. Doing small bits towards it but as often as I can is the best way for me to complete the game as well as having full days of working on it.

PROJECT DETAILS
DATE MILESTONE POSITION
27/02/2017 Project Start 25
06/03/2017 Character Sprites 10
13/03/2017 Ammunition Sprites -10
18/03/2017 Background 15
20/03/2017 Complete Room -15
20/03/2017 Start coding of the first enemy sprite 10
23/03/2017 Code the rest of the enemy sprites -15
27/03/2017 Code the last enemy sprite 15
01/04/2017 Start coding of the main character sprite -20
01/04/2017 Finish coding the main character sprite 20
03/04/2017 Finish the last room coding -15
10/04/2017 Project End 15


Personnel:

Job Roles

Assistant Producer - Work with the game production staff to make sure the game is delivered on time and at the highest quality possible.

Audio Engineer - Create all parts of the soundtrack, music, voices, sound effect, ambient effects and spoken instructions are included in that.

Technical Artist - Problem solvers with creative backgrounds like art, maths, science, engineering and design.

QA Tester - Test, tune debug and suggest any refinements that could ensure its playablity and standard. They must iron out any flaws before the product goes public.

Lead Artist - Responsible for the overall look of the game, they come up with many things including
the games style and they direct the production of all visual materials during it's development. They manage the animation and art team.

Product Manager - Help create and execute campaigns for marketing to help boost sales. They support senior managers of marketing who organise the wider areas of campaigns, they may also work with a Brand Manager.

Game Programmer - Design and write the code that will control and run a game, they should iron out any bugs and create custom code if it's required.

Animator -  Responsible for how the movement within the game is shown, they must make best use of the game engine within its limitations of the platform.

 Game Designer - Devise what a game is made up of and how it plays while defining all the core parts. They then communicate this to the rest of the development team who come up with the art assets and computer code.

 Creative Director - Responsible for the overall look, mood and feel of a game. They oversee any high-level choices that affect how the game may look sound or play. They also ensure the quality and style of the gameplay is high as well as the music, audio assets and artwork.

 Games Artist - Create any visual components of a game including anything from characters and weapons to vehicles and scenery. Also produce concept art and storyboards which assist showing the proposed visual elements during preproduction.

DevOps Engineer - Produce and maintain a games network systems with online parts. Solve issues for design and development teams by using web services.

 Level Editor - Create and illustrate architecture that is interactive for a part of a game. This includes any buildings, objects or landscapes.

Lead Programmer - Lead the programming team which are responsible for making all the computer code. Produce the technical specification of the game and manages all of the overall code process for development.

Narrative Copywriter - Design the narrative structure of the game. They must write the dialogue, story and incidental copy item descriptions and tutorials.

External Producer - Ensure a successful delivery of a game while working from the external game development team. They make sure the publisher has all the key and important information required to make the game as successful as it can be commercially

Project Manager/Producer - Ensure a safe delivery of a game making sure it is within the given budget and time limit. They oversee all aspects of a game’s delivery and development.

Which roles will I be using?

I am only a team of one so I will have to take on every role needed to create the game, this means I will have to have the skills that all the roles have to create a successful game. The roles I will be using are Project Manager/Producer to ensure that my game will be finished and submitted within the time frame I have been given, Narrative Copywriter to create some basic dialogue to the ending of the game, Lead Programmer to control how I program the game, Level Editor as I create the background for the game as well as any objects, Games Artist to create all visual parts of the game, Creative Director as I decide everything to do with the mood and theme of the game, Animator to make all of the sprites actually move, Game Programmer to create any coding needed to make the game work and decide on any mistakes that need fixing, Lead Artist to finally decide on the way it looks, QA Tester so I can make sure the game is of a high enough quality to be submitted and last of all, Audio Engineer as I create the majority of the soundtrack to the game.

Materials:

What sort of materials will I need and where will I get them from?

Internet - I would use the internet I have access to at home and inside of college to use for research and anything else I need.

Audio - I will create the audio myself using a chiptune track creator called famitracker for the soundtrack itself and either Audacity or Audition for any SFX I need. The SFX may also need extra royalty-free sounds in the background that I haven't created in with them, I can use websites like SoundCloud and Freesound to obtain these. These sounds often need you to give the original creator credit for you to be able to use them.

Graphics/Sprites - l'll create the sprites myself using GameMakers sprite creation function and the backgrounds of the game will be from an image that I found online and have edited too match the look of my game.

Contributors: 

When creating a game you not only need a team but you may also choose to get other people involved in the project to contribute to it. Actors, presenters or voice-over artists (known as talent) can be acquired to make the game you are creating look and sound much more impressive and professional. You can also include experts for many other areas of a game.

Specialist Contributor - They are people who specialise in a specific area of contributors and therefore are typically very good at what they do and how they appear to do it.

Known Talent Contributor - They are people that are well known around pop-culture that could make your game reach new audiences as long as been publicised around the media,

Codes of Practice and Regulation:

Intellectual Property Rights and Licences:

A licence is an agreement between the IP right owner and another party which allows them to do something that otherwise would be an infringement of the rights without the license. They can license-out to another company in return for a fee or license-in if they want to use a different company's IP to develop and change their own business and products. The person who allows the licence is often called the licensor and the person on the receiving end of the licence is often called the licensee, there can be more than one of each.

Automatic Protection:


This protects any work created originally from anyone else using it without permission, there is no fee and it doesn't need applying for.

Examples:
  • Original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work. This includes illustration and photography.
  • Original non-literary written work such as, software, web content and databases.
  • SFX and music recordings.
  • Film and TV recordings.
  • Broadcasts.
  • The layout of any published edition works.

Protection that has to be applied for:

Trademarks: https://www.gov.uk/how-to-register-a-trade-mark

Someone can register their trade mark to protect their brand, this could be the name of their service or product for example. The time to allow for application is 4 months.

Examples of things that someone can do after registering their trade mark:

  • Take legal action against anyone who uses their brand without permission. This includes counterfeiters.
  • Put the correct symbol next to their brand to show its theirs and to warn off people who may want to use it.
  • They can sell and license their brand.

Patents: https://www.gov.uk/patent-your-invention

A patent can be used to protect an invention, it gives the person with the patent the right to take legal action against anyone who makes, sells, imports or uses it without permission. The time to allow for application is around 5 years.

Examples of everything an invention must be to be granted a patent:

  • Something that can be used or made.
  • New.
  • Inventive (not just a modification that is simple to something that already exists)

Consumer Protection (Consumer Protection Act 1987):

https://www.gov.uk/consumer-protection-rights

The law protects anyone's consumer rights if they buy any goods or services, if any of the below happen and they are treated unfairly they can get help:

  • Credit and Store Cards
  • Faulty or Counterfeit Goods
  • Poor Service
  • Problems with Contracts or Builders
  • Rouge Traders

Age Ratings and Classification (PEGI):

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-rules-on-video-game-classification


Selling games with a higher age rating than the age of the person buying it is now a criminal offence, it is punishable with a hefty fine or possibly even a prison sentence. Video games are classified by an authority called the Video Standards Council (VSC), under the Pan-European Games Information (PEGI) system.

Marketing and Advertising Laws:

https://www.gov.uk/marketing-advertising-law

For marketing and advertising to be acceptable they must be:


  • An accurate description of the product or service that is being marketed.
  • Legal
  • Decent
  • Truthful
  • Honest
  • Socially Responsible (Not encouraging any unsafe, anti-social or illegal behaviour).

There are advertisement regulations to restrict what advertisers are and aren't allowed to do and use as well as these, there are 2 advertising codes of practice that will need to be followed to advertise legally: https://www.gov.uk/marketing-advertising-law/advertising-codes-of-practice

Data Protection and Privacy:

https://www.gov.uk/data-protection-your-business

If a business uses personal information they must follow rules, this applies to information on staff, account holders and account holders that is kept.

Here are some examples:


  • Recruiting Staff
  • Managing Staff Records
  • Marketing Services or Products
  • Using CCTV

This could include:


  • Keeping customers' addresses on file.
  • Recording staff working hours.
  • Giving delivery information to companies.

When someone collects personal data they must tell who they are collecting it from the following to insure it is kept secure, up to date and accurate:


  • Who the data collector is.
  • How they will use the personal information.
  • They have to see the information and perform corrections if any is wrong.

Gambling Regulation (Gambling Act 2005):

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/gambling-commission

Regualtes arcades, bingo, betting, gaming machine providers, gambling software providers, casinos, lottery operators and external lottery managers and remote gambling by phone and online that uses British-based equipment.

Responsibilities concerning staff and employment practices:

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Health and Safety Policy:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/toolbox/managing/writing.htm

Businesses must have a health and safety policy but if they have fewer than 5 employees nothing has to be written down . Most set out their policy in 3 sections:


  • Statement of general policy on health and safety at work. - This sets out the businesses commitment to managing health and safety effectively and what they want to achieve.
  • Responsibility section. - States who is responsible for certain actions.
  • Arrangements section. - This contains any detail of what the businesses are going to do in practice to achieve the aims stated in their statement of health and safety. This includes information on how they are going to reduce or eliminate the risks of any hazards (something that cause harm to someone. E.g. chemicals, electricity or working at a height) in the workplace. Any additional arrangements that they take to manage health and safety should also be set out in the arrangements section. These may include: staff training, using signs to make risks visible, improved safety equipment, replacing harmful chemicals with alternatives, changes in lighting or changes in flooring.



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