Online Blog Report
Introduction
I am a newly recruited assistant producer at Tudno Studios and my role is wide ranging. The company would like me to create an online blog to give Tudno Studios an understanding of what the purposes of research and what they may need in order to undertake research. The report must help them to prepare a strategy which will help them develop their new game series to compete against the current market and similar games.
There are two main types of research required to have all the information necessary to start designing and making a game idea. The two main research areas are market research and production research which both play a big role in developing a game idea. The following report will explain in depth on what the two research areas are and how to gather relevant information from them.
Research can be accurately recorded in two ways which are called qualitative and quantitative. They are both very different sets of data where one is statistical in nature and the other is subjective.
Qualitative
Qualitative data requires written answers on what people may think of a game and if they like or dislike the game or just several features in the game. They could think that improvements could be made to some parts of a game or they dislike like the sound effects in a game. Qualitative data can be found from resources such as questionnaires, focus groups, interviews and reviews. The data could include written or spoken views, written notes or written work intended to be put into a magazine or newspaper. Examples of qualitative data can be found on the internet where there would be a number of reviews on games and films describing how good it is. The review website game spot gives the popular game “GTA 4” a good description (below) and says that it is has a “superb character driven story,” which would be qualitative data. The website also has a bad review on a game called “Duke Nukem Forever” it says that it is “fails to be shocking, sexy, or funny,” which is also qualitative data.
Quantitative
Quantitative data is numerical natured recorded as numbers and figures on things like how many people play the game or what percent of users dislike the game. Quantitative data can be found by creating questionnaires, interviews and focus groups and then converting the results into figures. The figures can include percentages, fractions and averages. Examples of quantitative data include game ratings, sales figures, website hits and online player’s figures and can be found in most books, newspapers and magazines directed at gaming. The review website gives popular game “GTA 4” a ten out of ten rating which is an example of qualitative statistics that would be useful to researchers so they can tell the client that it was a success. The website also gives “Duke Nukem Forever” a rating of 3 which means that they dislike the game and they state it in Quantitative format.
Market Research
The main point of carrying out market research is to maximise the developer’s profits in the creation of the game idea. Market research is also important to reduce the risk of the game failing once produced. There are four main outcomes from performing market research market research which are audience data, audience awareness, and product reach and competitor analysis.
Audience data
This is about finding out who would purchase the game once it has been released. For example someone who would buy “The Times” would mostly be business men or woman. So if somebody was to buy my game idea they would properly be young adults because of the brutal violence within the game. Young children and elderly people would dislike this game idea because it is not suited for them; children would prefer a game like “Lego Batman.”
Audience awareness
This is simply whether users know about the release of the game. This would show how well the game has been advertised around in areas such as online, T.V and on game shops windows and walls. For example advertisements for a football game like “Fifa” should be advertised during the break of a big international game where there are millions of sports fans watching.
Product reach
This includes information on how users will play the game like some might just play online and some might complete the campaign. Others users might want to just play the survival mode or some might play all modes. For example people who have a Nintendo DS might use it differently to others. Children would prefer to play exciting games like “Mario” whilst adults would prefer to play mind and thinking games.
Competitor Analysis
This is about researching what other companies are planning to release for example there are other zombie style game in the market so the game idea would have to be better than the current top game in that genre.
Where to get this information
All this information can be collected electronically and written copies. Electronic information would be collected from internet, radio and T.V. The Written copies would be from sources like books, newspapers, journals, magazines and newspapers. These would all be secondary sources where the information is not your own work. The creation of you own sources like surveys and questionnaires would be primary sources collected yourself.
Advantages and Disadvantages
The advantages of market research are that the researchers can improve the developer’s takings from the finished game and reduce the risk of the game not performing well in the market against the other competition.
The disadvantages are that the sources may not be reliable sometimes not providing true information like the information website “Wikipedia,” which can be edited by anyone. If false information is taken from a website like this and then it is given to the client the finished product may not be a success.
Production Research
Production research is essential when planning to develop a new game idea. Production research helps to provide content, research commercial viability and plan the post production process. To perform production research the developer or producer will employ trained researchers to gather the suitable information for the area they are looking for e.g. financial or locations. Production research also includes advertising and where it might be placed to gain the best possible reaction from the audience. It will help to gain information on income and outgoing costs.
Income – The Company can gain income by hosting publicity stunts, sponsorship and merchandise. Celebrities can help to advertise products globally as they are well known in many parts of the world to get the advertising more wide spread.
Outcome – The costs include the price to advertise and the distribution amongst appropriate media.
Advertising
Advertising is a very important part of production research process because by gives producers and developers knowledge of the most effective ways to advertise their new game idea. The different types of advertising include T.V, Radio, Internet and Newspaper and are targeted toward the different audiences. The audiences include children, young adults, couples and pensioners which influences the style of the advertisement towards that product.
When, where and how to advertise?
The styles represent the target audience by using techniques like an advert for a toy would consist of soft cheesy music, light colours and are aired during children’s TV programs. A football game would be shown on a sports website or it would be aired during a huge international football match to get wide coverage of the game. A holiday company would choose to advertise during Sunday night dramas when couples and children would be watching.
Advantages and Disadvantages
The advantages are that a wide audience will see the advertisements and it will increase public knowledge and likeness of the product. The disadvantages include that it is easy to over advertise where people will get bored of them.
Content
Researching the content includes finding out things to do with personnel, finance, suppliers, facilities and locations. The client would hire researchers to find suitable results for all of the above categories.
Personnel
The researchers would increase the client’s chances of finding a potential suitable work force to produce the product. They would look for the workers in many ways but the main places they would look are online on websites, social networking sites and looking for work web sites. Some websites are available for employers to put up adverts that advertise they are looking for personnel to come and work with them. Some people looking for work will put it up on social networking sites like Face book and Twitter. Free lancers would put a profile on a looking for work site like freelancer.co.uk so researchers can find them on there and offer them to do work. The free lancers would post a portfolio of their work and state what their strengths are in.
Finance
Researchers can increase the employer’s chances of creating a profit by finding out how much everything costs and try to decrease the overall cost. This could include the wages of employees, cost of equipment and resources. This could be one of the most important parts of the research process because it will state whether a profit will be made after the production. The income can also include event sponsorships to improve loyalty to potential buyers.
Suppliers
This would include where they would get everything from including resources and equipment. The suppliers could supply resources such as paper, ink and other general supplies. The equipment is more important because they are vital to make the product. It would include equipment such as computers, printers and software.
Facilities and Locations
Researchers would find out what locations and facilities are available and how much they will cost. It could include a clean place of work which would have to be equipped with toilet facilities to keep the process flowing. This could be anything from a house or old office blocks.
Viability
This will involve on researching skills, support and timescale. The researchers would have to make sure that the employees are at the required skill level to perform to the necessary standards. They would get support from companies financially by a sponsor to improve income. They would also help the client/developer to stay within the recommended timescale, for example a good timescale would be to finish in time with Christmas because there would be a lot more buyers.
Copyright
Sometimes this is a problem for developers because they may use a logo, car or a flag in their product and the original company may want paying for use of their merchandise. Also if the correct procedures are not followed than it is against the law and a fine would have to be paid.
Advantages and disadvantages of production research
There advantages include the gain of knowledge of how much everything is going to cost and where to get all the main resources from. It will help to avoid copyright infringement to prevent buyers from being confused.
Disadvantages include unreliable sources like with market research and unreliable people and suppliers which can affect the deadline date.
Conclusion
To conclude, market research and production research is important part of the pre-production process because they both give the producer knowledge of important aspects that need to be thought of whilst the product is in production. The producer will have awareness of how to increase the profits and reduce the risk of the product failing whilst still competing with the other products out there. The producer will know how to correctly categorise the target audience in order to successfully release the product in the most effective time and place. The developer will also have an understanding of the costs and of the income and how to organise to create best possible financial results from release date. The creator will be able to avoid confusion when copyright comes in to it by negotiating with companies to gain their approval to apply them to the finished product. They developers will take on board what was talked about in this report and use it to increase the products chances of being a real hit against the others in the market.
