Studio 2| Exploring games and identifying games concepts 2

Gears of War

Definition of games concepts

Gears of War, a game that blends tactical action with survival horror. The gameplay is focused on a fire team co-op so advanced that your A.I. teammates are indiscernible from human players. Voice recognition and real-time lip synching heighten the absorbing experience. The Unreal Engine 3 technology brings out the smallest details in the largest of battles. With Gears Of War you're sure to experience a rich, dynamic world where characters spring to life.

How different parts of the game are impacted by the concept

Audio

Sound effects (gun shots, explosions, chainsaw, vehicles) Weapons and explosions in Gears of war need to be big, loud and raw which contrasts quite nicely to the squishing of bullets piercing flesh or a chainsaw cutting through a torso.

Voiceovers (player character dialogue, Locust Horde dialogue and narrative) Gears of war has player characters and whole army of COG soldiers and Locust Horde soldiers, so actors voices will be needed for the cinematic cut scenes and intense combat.

Music (background music, Music indication of events, like Locust attacks music) Gears of War will need intense orchestral score.

Audio Programmer, who will be in charge of voiceovers, sound effects and music and will be audio programmers job to implement these sounds into the game.

Art

Texture, skins (world buildings, characters, models, animation/motion capture)

The action in gears of war will take place in ruined cities, underground locust strong holds and even on a moving train. These environments need to be modelled, so a Concepts Artist will design the environments and vehicles for the modeller to look at and create them into 3d. Then a 3D modeller will create environments, buildings and backdrops for the game.

Gears of war feature character models for the locust and cog which give an impression of how tough the cog soldiers are with the scars on their faces and there bulky armour and huge muscles. The locust models are no different they show how terrifying the locust are and in some cases show you the remains of what they have done. Concepts Artist will be need, to design characters and a later on a character modeller. Depending on creature (locust soldier, cog soldier, a boss creature, vehicles) a Animation/motion will be needed. Motion capture will also be need for the more complex movements and cinematic.

What Makes Games Development Hard?

• Some games are not very profitable. There could be a number of reasons for this, such as publishers taking a large slice of profits, as well as wages and ever royalties. The games company needs to sell a certain amount of units (break-even) before it can start making its money back.
  

• Games companies could waste their time on projects that have no real likelihood of making a profit.

• Games could take around 1-3 years from planning to finish although it can take more or less time than this, which costs the development company more as the game takes longer to produce. The games company could also go way over there budget, such as Daikatana and Messiah did.

• Games can be very complex and detailed; therefore will need additional QA, to ensure the success of the game. If very little QA is done the media and consumers will pick up on all the bugs within the game and if not fixed quickly, may affect sales.

• Games developers and producers must make a striking impression, with there game, on the executives or publisher, for the project to go into production or their games ideas will be cancelled.

• Making a successful game, comes with a huge fan base, who would demand, bigger, faster and cooler features. Releasing a game is not the end of the game development, there must be a relationship and getting feedback from fans, in post –release as well.