Research
research – this is where i will conduct my research into history of gaming and what roles you can get from the gaming industry i will use this research for my final major project which is about the gaming industry.
How the gaming industry started and how it is going in today’s world
How it began
The first example of gaming came in the 1940s when Dr Edward Uhler Condon which was unveiled at the New York world fair in 1940 the game is based off the ancient mathematical game Nim and during the six months it was on display 90% of the games were won by the computer opponent and this is widely believed that this game kicked off the ever popular gaming industry we know and love today.
The first console
Even though the game machine back in 1940 was a success however not many people recognize it as a games console considering it only had just that one game despite this however it took another three decades for the first console to be released that console was called the brown box and it had a variety of games for example ping pong , checkers and four sports games and it was actually the first games console to release as people thought Atari was the first console however the brown box was released four – five months before the Atari making that the first console to of been released.
Atari & Arcade Gaming
back in the early & late 1970s the Atari was taking off games were being released frequently and in a recent statistic the first version sold more than 12 million worldwide before its second version sold double the amount Atari’s first console did at 30 million consoles sold worldwide back then. Another thing that was popular was the arcade machine games such as pac man , space invaders and Tetris these were all very popular with players around the world that they were eventually released on the handheld the Gameboy.
Nintendo , the Gameboy and the present day
In the 1980s along with Atari came a new kid on the block and that company was Nintendo the company wasn’t well known back when it first started it was only playing cards but now its now known for its games consoles and handhelds there first handheld was the game & watch which saw someone control a character catching balls that sold well and inspired sixty more releases over an eleven year period between 1980-1991 before being revived with nintendo’s well known classics. For their first console they released the Nintendo NES in 1983 and it proved really popular releasing games such as super mario bros, ice climber, pinball and duck hunt and released hundreds of games and sold over 23 million units at the time becoming Nintendo’s highest seller at the time but when they released the Nintendo Gameboy everything changed upon its release in 1989 and was far better than nintendo’s first handheld the game & watch and it was the first console of its time to have swappable cartridges and every console released had a copy of Tetris which was an arcade game that I discussed earlier the Gameboy was around from 1989-2003 spanning 14 years with the Gameboy colour & Gameboy advanced following suit of the original and the console sold 120 million units in its history. The Gameboy started a revolution in gaming and inspired Nintendo to make consoles like the super Nintendo , N64 , the gamecube , the highest selling console the wii and its current console the Nintendo Switch Nintendo had dominated the market for many years to come.
the 1990s and other competitors
the 1990s where a big time for gaming as Nintendo was now dominating the gaming market and people were buying their consoles it wasn’t until playstation came around in 1995 and consoles released by Sega that everything changed everybody was buying one of the three consoles available at the time with each all having a unique feature one better than the other competition came really to head in the 1990s with playstation with their first console selling over 90 million units at the time despite this Nintendo where still dominating the 1990s with the release of the N64 which proved to be popular amongst gamers of back in the day towards the end of the 1990s it was a battle was just beginning and then the xbox came around in 2003 proving the battle was truly not over and it was just beginning.
Xbox and the best generation of consoles
In the 2000s people regarded that decade as the best generation of consoles with the playstation 2 , playstation 3 and the Nintendo Wii being released with the playstation 2 breaking records of 155 million units sold gaming in the 2000s revolutionized with the inclusion of online multiplayer where you can play games with other online players which is still growing strong still to this day.
The 2000s then continued a battle which was beginning to know as the console wars and a new competitor known as the xbox when Microsoft became involved and in 2001 the first xbox sold over 24 million consoles however sold more overtime and the xbox was considered a flop however that changed in 2005 with the release of the xbox 360 and its considered widely by some fans as the winner of 2000s consoles selling over 84 million consoles in total however the xbox needed catching up to do as its rivals had sold more consoles as they have been around for much longer.
The 2000s was very significant as it released some of the best consoles of the time and with the addition of Microsoft with their Xbox systems it was sort of like a new kid on the block situation for xbox as it had struggled with selling their gaming units and struggled to compete with the powerhouses of Nintendo & Sony’s PlayStation consoles however the 2010s proved the war wasn’t going to calm down anytime soon.
The 2010s and the present day
Now the 2010s carries on a battle that the 1990s started the 2000s kept going and now it was the 2010s for the first few years it was fairly quiet however it wasn’t until 2013 that the playstation 4 and Xbox one consoles were released that the battle returned however the xbox one system struggled that year with selling an estimated 51-58 million consoles less than their predecessor the xbox 360 which had sold more units back in the day but still lost to playstation which had sold 114 million units worldwide clearly making playstation a clear favourite amongst players back in 2013 the following year Nintendo released the Wii U however unlike its predecessor it failed miserably selling 14 million units only.
Nintendo realized this and needed to come up with saviour fast and a quick replacement for the failed Wii U and that was the Nintendo switch which was a console & a handheld at the same time which had never been done before and was released in 2017 and was proved to be a major success with Nintendo selling a whopping 122 million units overtaking the playstation 4 as the highest sold console of the 2010s and winning the battle of the 2010s by creating something that’s never been achieved before and that how the nintendo had won it long and strong battle with its rivals of sony and xbox the 2010s was clearly won by Nintendo however lets head into the 2020s as it had just begun
The 2020s
Unlike the 2010s the 2020s had released two consoles in the year 2020 alone that was both the playstation 5 and xbox series S with playstation 5 currently winning with 32.5 million units sold with 18-19 million at xbox and its seems the battle is yet over as Nintendo have not yet released another console following the success of the switch however were only in 2023 and the decade has only begun with more to be announced and maybe released.
Now I am gonna look into the gaming industry today and how its doing and give my overall opinions on the highs and lows of the history of gaming.
Overview
Looking back I have to say that there is a lot of stuff I didn’t know about gaming I didn’t know that it started all the way back in the 1940s in America and gaming has come along way from a simple game of nim , the first console that’s the brown box , the Atari , the rise of Nintendo and the start of battle that began in the 1990s with Nintendo & PlayStation and the eventual addition of xbox and gaming in my opinion has continued to evolve and is still growing in popularity and I think gaming will be with us for a lot longer and I feel by conducting this research I was able to learn new things about gaming that I never knew before
all of the work is written by me and some information was taken to write this piece of research and give me accurate statistics as part of my fmp research
techcrunch – history of gaming- used to conduct research in the early days of gaming and some information was taken from the below link.
pocket lint nintendo – used this to write my nintendo section and gather some information on its consoles and some information was taken from the link below
wikipedia – highest selling consoles – this was used to give the numbers of units sold for my research into the history of gaming and taken information from this website for my research.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_game_consoles
so the reason i have done this part of research is beacause I will be discussing earliest gaming memories as my first topic for my podcast and decided to conduct research into the history of gaming to give an idea of what I would discuss for the first topic of my podcast and i have to say the research i conducted is relevant to my final major project.
Roles & Jobs in the gaming industry
Animator
what is the job & responsibility of a games animator?
For a games animator there job is to take the objects created by 2D and 3D artist and they have to make the objects move for the game and they also work from the designer’s storyboard to create the characters and vehicles for the game and bring them to life within the game and there responsible for the whole animation part of the game and making sure that nothing is missed during production & designing stage of the game and that’s the job and responsibility of a games animator.
what equipment would a games animator need?
For the equipment a games animator would need a computer to work on bringing the characters to life and they also need software such as a game engine software , 3d animation software and a programming languages software those are some of the equipment that a games animator would need to design the game.
What is the importance of a games animator within a studio setting?
the reason why this job is important within a studio setting is because they need to work closely with game developers , programmers , designers and the production department to design the animation element of the game and create the graphics for the game that’s why it is important for a games animator to work in a tv studio as they have to work with people to make sure they get the animation element right for the game that there working on.
Gameplay Programmer
what is the job & responsibility of a gameplay programmer?
a gameplay programmers job is that they are responsible for writing the code for the movement & interactions of a game character and they are also responsible for fixing any bugs and glitches of a game to improve the quality and fix any issues that occur with the gameplay of a game.
what equipment would a gameplay programmer need?
Game programmers need software to program games and fix certain issues and will need a computer and some programming software for example (java, unreal, unity and certain adobe software this is the equipment they need to program a game into existence.
What is the importance of a gameplay programmer. within a studio setting?
the reason why the role of gameplay programmer is so important is because they need to work with the writers and lead designers of the game and a they including the programmer needs to figure out what needs to happen with the gameplay and also work with other programmers and artist and QA technicans to improve the game that is why its important to work in a studio as they need to work with other developers to make and develop the game that they work on.
Games Tester
what is the job & responsibility of a games tester?
People think the job of a games designer is to lay back and relax and test games it turns out that they test certain aspects of game and write reports of any bugs that they find and re-test it once the development team has fixed the issues they raise and must work in a tight schedule and record their finds accurately and sometimes must replay a certain game level to re-test them long after it stopped being fun and that is the job & responsibility of games tester.
what equipment would a games tester need?
there isn’t much equipment that a games tester would need to test games sometimes depending on the game they would either need a testing console or a computer to test the game to see if it works and also use a reporting software sent by the company to report any issues with the game that they find.
What is the importance of a games tester within a studio setting?
the reason a game testers role is so important within a studio setting is because they need to work with QA technicians and report any issues to the gameplay programmer and work closely with technical artist and programmers who need certain aspects of a game to be tested that is why there role is important within a game studio setting.
research used – for me to find the jobs of people in the games industry and write up the importance of their roles in the media industry the links ive used are
screenskills – i have used this website for the majority of my research into the roles i looked at and i taken some information from this website for my research however most of the piece was written in my own words
https://www.screenskills.com/job-profiles/browse/games/
cg spectrum – i only used this website to find out what software a games programmer needs and taken some information from this website as part of my own research.
https://www.cgspectrum.com/career-pathways/game-programmer
those are the links ive used to conduct this part of research i took information from both websites and put in my research however most of the writing and information came from my own words as part of my research for my fmp.
for this part of research i think that the research I conducted for jobs in the gaming industry was actually necessary at first glance as I was going to interview someone from the games industry and discuss jobs and roles however as I had to change the project this research is still relevant as its gaming related and some of the jobs are discussed partially within my final project so i think some of the research was useful towards my fmp.
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Why people should get a career in gaming and why it’s important to get a job in the games industry
How important is getting a career in games
It is quite important to get a job in gaming is because the games industry is a rapidly growing continuous market and more and more companies need to hire people that are experienced in games design and graphics as there have a decrease in people taking up jobs in these sectors due to the covid-19 pandemic however after lockdown was lifted companies are struggling to hire people within the sector and that’s why some companies have approached leaving university or college students about a job in gaming and its important to get a job in gaming due to the wide variety of skills that the gaming industry has to offer.
Career Paths in gaming
There are also many different career paths within the gaming industry for a wide variety of people such as marketing , sales , designers , developers and visualizers these are some of the most important jobs games companies need filling in order to release games and help customers with gaming related issues otherwise games wont be released on consoles such as PlayStation and Xbox
Salaries
Jobs in the gaming industry also offer huge salaries the average salary for games programmer is $85,000 a year which is very high compared to other jobs salaries are also high and competitive with games designers earning $75,000 with lead designers earning $95,000 however the wages depend on the type of job within the games industry and is also the highest paid industries in the world compared to working at companies for example apple & tesla for regular employees who earn slightly less in wages that’s another reason people get jobs in the industry due to the amount it pays depending on your role.
The gaming industry is fun and exciting to work in
The gaming industry is really fun to work in considering your either making or developing games to testing them jobs in the gaming industry can be quite fun no matter what the job is and if the person looking for work is passionate about games and like designing their own games then it’s a job for them and people must be prepared to work long hours and can be fast paced and stressful but there are many benefits by working within the games industry for example getting to know people with the same interest as you and being able to test and play games and that’s why the industry is a fun place to work sometimes.
There are many opportunities for advancement within the industry
Within the games industry there is a lot of room to advance within the games industry with the right skills and mindset you can get promoted to bigger and better opportunities within the games industry with new technologies new opportunities arrive for people interested within the industry and with many more jobs within the industry than there was now is the perfect time to get a job in the industry due to the endless opportunities within and around the games industry.
Final words
for my final words there are definitely a lot of jobs out there that need filling and the games industry seems quite fun to work in and that people should getting jobs in the industry due to the high pay and how fun it looks to work within an ever expanding industry and this is why gaming companies are looking for people with the right skills and mindset to work in a large growing industry.
research
mirror review – for the research I only took information from this website as it gave me all the information i needed for this part of the research and used this information to give accurate facts and opinions about the jobs in the industry.
(most of the work is written in my own words with information taken from this third party website)
https://www.mirrorreview.com/career-in-gaming-industry/
for this part of research i think that the research I conducted for jobs in the gaming industry was actually necessary at first glance as I was going to interview someone from the games industry and discuss jobs and roles however as I had to change the project this research is still relevant as its gaming related and some of the jobs are discussed partially within my final project so i think some of the research was useful towards my fmp.
Target Audience
i have decided to search up for retro gaming communties beacause these are the type of people that would be interested in my show i found a reddit dedicated to retro gaming collections and people who have an interest in collecting them. and saw on the reddit people people talking and discussing buying and selling retro games and this would good topic to appeal to my target audience.
So for my podcast my target audience is ideally people who are currently playing video games and the age range I am aiming my project towards is people aged 11-25 and also my podcast is also being aimed towards those of retro gamers who used to play games growing up and that is why i am aiming for people aged 35-50 as they grew up playing games back in the 1980s and 1990s playing on consoles like NES , game and watch and the original playstation.
if we look at this bar chart between 2017-2020 we can see a rise of listeners for gaming podcast most importantly in 2020 as we were in lockdown viewership had risen alot more for age groups 12-34 in terms of gaming podcast this is the ideal audience that I want to aim for my podcast for when it released however my podcast is aimed for anyone who has an interest in gaming.
Pre-Production
this is the pre production part of my FMP project where i will be uploading my script , the graphics , floor and lighting plans for my gaming talk show.
To do list fmp
- Finish research
- Look into other gaming talk shows
- Start scripting
- create a backup plan for talk show (podcast)
- think of a title for tv show
- start working on floor & lighting plans
- book tv studio date
- find guest & backstage crew
- create title concepts
- record the show
- start editing and work through half term
- reflection and evaluation
New to do list for audio podcast due to changing plans
- edit script
- book tv studio
- find guest
- hire a microphone
- rehearsal time
- editing the podcast
- post-production
Script – below is my script for my gaming talk show there are four discussion points i have also timed how long me the presenter and my guest for my talk show that i am working on (this is not the final script as it may change into a podcast)
Update – i have decided to change the final major project and convert it into a podcast so i have changed some part of the script to reflect that it is now a podcast however i have kept the original script and the parts i have changed are in the colour red.
Updated script – for podcast
here is the updated script there are not many changes but the ones highlighted in red means that the words have been changed to reflect the change for tv show & podcast.
Concepts
for my final major project i have to come up with some graphic design concepts for the title sequence these are just concepts and are not the final title sequence for this project.
Concept 1 – arcade machine
for my fist concept i decided to use an arcade machine with the game on logo being displayed on the screen for the text i used a gradient to make the text stand out a bit more however i wont be using this for when it comes to creating the titles for my talk show (now podcast).
Concept 2- game on / super mario titles
for my next concept i used the title screen from the 1985 game super Mario bros and edited it have the title of my show game on removing the games name and changing it into the name of my games show and removing the mario character and replacing the mario character with a pixel version of myself the host.
i wont be using this concept for my show (now podcast) however i will use something similar to create the intro and outro of my final major project
Concept 3 – tv & consoles – for my next concept i went with a 1980s kind of theme with the tv from the 1980s and games consoles from the first generation with the tv saying game on and posters of the talk show & guest (guest name is a mock up and is not actual guest) and will use some of this concept to create my intro for the talk show (now podcast).
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floor and lighting plans
these were originally designed for the talk show however as i have now changed it into a podcast i dont these are neeeded but ive kept them in to reflect the change.
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Recording , Guest and Crew
Recording – for the recording for my final major project game on podcast i will be recording some point around mid-april time i will book the tv studio and request a two and half hour timeslot for the day when it comes to recording the podcast.
Guest
so far for the guest i have asked a few people within the games industry if they are interested in being interviewed for my final major project however i had some had no response , some said they were unavailable and others said that they can do it online only however i need them to come into the college to be interviewed physically otherwise the talk show would be jeopardised if i don’t find a suitable guest in time.
However i am still looking for guest and had a couple of updates however i am awaiting response on their availability for the day of filming the podcast for which the date has not been confirmed yet although recording will be around mid april.
however i have sent an email to a few companies for example JustaddWater , Team17 , LaserDog , Alternative Software and WeaselTron all i am awaiting response to and used the same e-mail template for each company with a few changes these are the emails i have sent.
Email to JustaddWater – (awaiting response)
Email to Team17 (awaiting response)
Email To LaserDog (awaiting response)
Email To Alternative Software (awaiting response)
Email to WeaselTron Entertainment (awaiting response)
messages to mikel cairns (suggested by paul holmes)
Update – after emailing these companies i am yet to receive a response from the companies i have emailed so i will be contacting some more in the hopes of getting a reply so i will be able to interview someone from a games company.
this is the website i used to email all the companies above.
ldmuser (2023). 10 Amazing Video Games Companies in the Leeds City Region. [online] Leeds-List. Available at: https://leeds-list.com/business/10-amazing-video-games-companies-in-the-leeds-city-region/ [Accessed 29 Mar. 2023].
Crew
for the crew i have been able to find some people up for the day of recording however this might not be the final list of crew based on the fact of availability depending if there busy or not however here is the list so far of crew.
Bailey Haggan – Co-director & host
Azan – Floor Manager
Leon Whiting – camera
Finlay Lambert – co-director
Amar – crane operator
Meher – camera
(crew no longer needed due to the change from tv show into a podcast)
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Back-Up Plan
so just in case i cant go ahead with the talk show i have come up with a back up plan just incase i am unable to go ahead with my original idea for my final major project.
for my back-up i will be doing a podcast version of my talk show with the same title and graphics that i would create for my talk show , i also use the same four discussion points just like within the show and also have the guest that i booked for the show to do the podcast with me instead.
unlike the talk show the podcast would be longer as there would not be any limitations rather compared to the tv studio version meaning me and my guest would be able to discuss gaming and the industry longer than in the tv studio.
however this is a back up plan as i want to proceed with my original plan of a talk show when it comes to making it.
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Risk Assessment
here is the risk assessment for my tv show (now podcast) there are a few things which are a concern however i think if me and the crew follow the rules things will be okay.
e game text flash in different colours before it all stops before the start of the podcast.
Change of Plan
i have decided to change the original plan of a gaming talk show and instead change it into a gaming podcast it will still have the same concept , the same discussion points and guest the reason i have now changed the plan is due to unavailabilty of crew and that staff suggested the change in which i did
i have reflected the change by changing the script and , fmp proposal however i decided to keep some elements that was meant for the talk show version to reflect the change from talk show to podcast.
Weekly Evaluation
Student Evaluation Sheet Interview – Bailey Haggan
- What progress have you made on your FMP so far?
- Made title sequence for gaming podcast
- Changed the project from a talk show to a podcast (due to limited resources)
- The reason for podcast is because there easier to record and edit compared to tv show which would take longer to edit and can make a podcast longer than a tv show.
- What are the strengths of the work you have completed so far? (Research, Context, Planning, Practical, Evaluation)
- I conducted enough research and currently made loads of progress on the pre production part of my fmp.
- Finding out about the history of Nintendo & other games
- Use of software (word , powerpoint , photoshop and illustrator) to create the graphics for the podcast
- What are the weaknesses of your project so far? (Research, Context, Planning, Practical, Evaluation)
- Finding guest for podcast I have emailed a few companies however I am yet to hear back from them and I think more companies means more of a chance of a respons.
- Having to change my idea from talk show to podcast with short notice really effected me due to me having to change a load of things round and should of went with a podcast in the first place rather than a talk show.
- What problems have you encountered and how have you solved them?
- I have not been able to have the right equipment for my original idea and decided to scrap my original idea and change it into a podcast instead.
- Hiring a room I have sent emails to the media team to book tv studio but haven’t got a response from them so im planning to improvise by finding a quite room which isn’t used and record my podcast in there instead.
- How do you feel about your project? are there things you would have done differently?
- I really feel good on this project as I am really enjoying making the graphics , researching into games despite the bumps in the road looking back I could of made a few changes however I am happy with how my work has turned out so far.
- Is there anything you can do that will significantly enhance the quality of work? (Research, Context, Planning, Practical, Evaluation)
- I think I could of added a lot more research for example to of conducted research into gaming talk shows and podcast as I think I could of added a lot more ideas and get some more inspiration for my final major project