B y L a u re n E c c l e s

Question oneHow my media product uses, develops or

challenges conventions.

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.

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.

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.

BOX ART RESEARCH

• I looked at various other box art from well known games on the PlayStation 4 platform. I found the 3 covers (on the left) were what I wanted my design to look like. The conventions featured on all three of the game covers are; Game title, PS4 banner, M Rating, producer logo, tag line, screenshots from the game, brief description if the game, technical aspects of the game, copyright, barcode and a health and safety warning. I plan to use all of these conventions on my box art because I believe using these features will make my end design realistic and be recognised as the box art to a game.

CONVENTIONS OF GAME BOX ART

After researching the conventions found on box art I was able to apply these to my own product. I have pointed out all the conventions I have 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

MAGAZINE COVER RESEARCH

After researching Game magazine’s for ancillary task two I decided I wanted my magazine cover to resemble the PCGamer magazine as it has similar conventions which I planned to use when creating my magazine cover. Both magazine covers I looked at (left and right) feature the following conventions; Magazine title at the top, name of the main game being advertised in a large font, barcode, magazine rating and the headings of other articles around the side.

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

Competition Main game article advertisement

Magazine rating

Barcode

Name of the main game being advertised

Logo of the magazine or game console

TWO PAGE MAGAZINE POSTER RESEARCH

I looked at different types of magazine pages and decided to create a two page magazine poster advertisement. This is an advertisement but can also be pulled out by the reader and used as a poster. I decided to create this because I thought it would be very effective. I looked at multiple versions of a poster ad and learnt that the less the better and they don’t feature many conventions. The conventions they do use that I found from my examples (left) are; very large game title, one main image (usually a character from the game) that blends into the background, a release date, sometimes a rating from a magazine or another well known source, rating, copyright, logo’s from companies that participated in the game and can sometimes include screen shots or other images from the game (as shown in the bottom image).

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

MAGAZINE ARTICLE RESEARCH

Most magazine articles look distinctively different so my magazine article isn’t based off a specific look. I wanted my design to slightly resemble the top image on the right which is a typical magazine layout. Both images look different but both have specific features which are found in most magazine articles such as; article heading, sub heading, plain, simple background, images relating to the article and a by line. I will use all of these features in my design which is what will make my article recognisable as an article and will make my article look official and professional.

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 HeadingSubheading

Article in columns

Game Rating

Character relating to the game

Screenshots or images from the game

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.

HOW I DEVELOPED CONVENTIONS

The main convention of a sci-fi game is the main antagonist being an alien or a different futuristic character. I developed into this by using Aliens, Storm troopers and killer gorilla’s to keep the player on their feet and to make my game stand out from other games.Also instead of just using a space ship location, I created a hell dimension room which you are teleported too and a green slime hallway which belongs to green slime aliens. This is developed from the convention of a futuristic location.