Task 3

Artistic styles used in computer games

Photorealism
Photorealism is a genre and style of art which is very unique and gives a very realistic
appearance. This genre of art was first introduced in 1969 / early 1970s and the technique
of this art style is for the artist to view and study a Photograph which has been taken and
then reproduce the Photoshop graph, digitally or by hand painting. When it comes to
Photorealism and the use of it in video games it is slightly different, it is the same thing but
people refer to it as rendering. Rendering is a term used widely across many graphic design
and video games. In terms of Photorealism for Video games, rendering is the generation of
2D and 3D models and a method called POV-Ray which is a Ray tracing program which can
generate images from real life objects. The use of Photorealism in games as of todays date is
very successful and I think it will definitely be the future of video games graphics in oppose
of the classic animation techniques which a lot of the older video games were created with.
Images below are games which used Photorealism.

Cell-
shading
Cell

shading, also known as Toon shading is a type of

rendering process which is not photorealistic that results in the creation of 3D computer
graphics to 2D very flat looking models. Shading, shadows and other shading gradients are
added to give the toon / character model a lot more depth, this technique is also very
popular in cartoons and comic books. Cell shading / Toon Shading started becoming more
popular in around the year 2000 with games such as Jet Set Radio, others games which had
good use of Cell / Toon shading in them early on are games such as Cel Damage and Grand
Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.

Abstraction
The abstract art style is basically the complete opposite of photorealism in fact that the
models and graphics they produce and render are made to not look realistic. The Abstract
art style in video games and just in general are very heavily relied on a lot of lines, lined
patterns and geometric shapes that dont really represent any real life object. The Abstract
art style in video games were heavily used when video game was starting to be introduced,
especially in arcade where Abstract video games such as Tetris blew up which is now one of
the most successful video games of all time which has kept its old classic abstract style and
still selling over 125,000,000 copies and still selling over 5,000,000 copies on average every
year.

Exaggeration anime and manga

Anime and Manga are both types of Japanese film animation which are mainly aimed
towards an adult audience but also some of the anime / manga series are aimed at children.
This type of animation is very unique and very easily recognisable but when it comes to
Exaggeration in regards to anime and manga there is a lot to talk about. First of all, just the
appearances of the characters in these series, the female characters are all extremely skinny
and thin with big bright eyes, big breasts and quite overly sexualised for something which is
mainly to be aimed towards children. All Male characters are also having a very thin built
and all seem to have that same, very defined face and long hair style. Now, when talking
about the actual storylines of some of the Anime / Manga series they are all quite dramatic,
I believe this is where most of the Exaggeration is with all of these series, many episodes
end on huge Cliff-hangers making the majority of the audience feel like they cannot miss
the next one on release but most Anime / Manga series are fully released so most the
people who start getting in to a series often end up binge watching these huge series that
last a very long time!

Computer game graphics

Pixel Art (2D sprites, 3D isometric sprites)
Pixel art is a technique of digital art which are produced and creation through Raster
graphics design softwares such as Paint.net, Pro Motion and Graphics Gale as a few
examples. Most videos games, for consoles, PC and also app games for mobile devices such
as Mobile phones and Tablets are created using Pixel Art but I believe with the introduction
to Photorealism render becoming used more in video games these days maybe the use of
Pixel art for video games, especially on PC and consoles such as the Xbox and PlayStation is
become less popular.
2D sprites in regards for Video games are Two-dimensional bitmap images which are then
incorporated into a larger screen so a video games for example. In Video games usually
Sprites are referred to the smaller assets such as objects in the game and other things which
are added in to something like the game environment background. Sprites are often things
in games which are easily altered, repositioned, reskinned and editing to suit the game
better or if they wish to recolour the sprite object to incorporate in another part of the game
for example. 2D sprites were first introduced with the first video games on consoles and
especially when arcades became very popular, the first game to make example of this is the
Players on one of the early Taitos Basketball games.
3D Sprites are pretty much the same as 2D sprites, they are created and produced through
the same kind of software its not like you need to where 3D glasses to see it when you make
a 3D sprite or asset for your video game because they are still essentially 2D but they are just
created on unorthodox angles to give the three dimensional illusion. If you are making a
Video game in a program such as Unity, the program its self-allowed you to manipulate 3D
models to create 3D models in your world of the game you are creating live and you also still
have the choice to export and save that 1 object/ sprite / asset by its self if you are wanting
to incorporate it in something else. One thing which is different when producing a 3D sprite
and a 2D sprite is that when you export and save a 2D sprite you can just save it as a regular
bitmap regular image file but before you export your 3D sprite you need to make sure that
you render it out as a 3D model so the computer actually knows that its meant to be a 3D
image, not a misshaped 2D sprite.

Concept Art
Concept art for video games is the use of illustrations to develop idea for any asset / graphic
before going to create the final product. Concept started becoming very popular in the
1930s when Disney would create lots of concept arts of characters of their cartoons and
other objects used within their animations. The very first Concept arts were created on
either on canvases and sketch paper with pencils, oil paints, markers or acrylic paints but
now that art has embraced the use of technology also of concept art is done digitally now.
Using raster graphic editors and also using digital painting techniques, this could also include
the use of digital graphic drawing tablets. There are many stages of developing a solid piece
of art when creating a graphic via Concept art. First of all, the artist would make multiple
sketches of their general ideas with slight differences between each drawing, they would
then shade and refine each piece of the sketches and once all are complete the artist would
then have to choose their favourite one or the best one to fit for what they are looking to
use it for, after this the artist would then take it digitally first creating a 3D model of drawing
and then later on refining this chosen 3D model to finalise everything.

Characters
Characters in a video game are any people or things that has relevance to the storyline. In
most games the character is the person or thing that you play, the main character.
Characters in game should have something to do with the plot of the video games storyline
and should be a character that you either play or interact with during you are playing the
through the game. Every character in a game must have some background story and lore
and must also have a voice actor to it for it to make any sound at all. The top 3 iconic video
game characters from classic video games are characters such as Mario from the Super
Mario games series, Link from the legends of Zelda and Pacman.

Weapons
The use and range of weapons is extremely different throughout many games. In most
games the weapons that are obtainable have some relevance or are the same model
weapons as real life weapons such as gun models and types of swords, axes etc. The use of
weapons in most games are to defeat or kill enemies to progress through and stay alive in
the game. Other games have completed new and unique weapons which are completely
fiction and have a unique way of use in the video game. For example, a grappling hook which
can be used to grapple your way around obstacles and other things around the world but
still is also eligible to defeat enemies in the game. The development and create of video
games weapons are exactly the same as how you would create any other asset for a video
game. Starting off with concept art of the weapon you wish to later create digitally, once
youve sketched the weapon exactly how you intend it looking in your game it will then be
created as a 3D model and then later refined and coloured to be added as an asset in to your
video game.

Vehicle
Like weapons, Vehicles are used in many different ways in other games. Some games you
only get access to vehicles as a form of transport, other games such as grand theft auto you
can steal vehicles to then drive but that car is not actually yours so you will get a police
chase from stealing it. Other games such as Need for Speed where the use of different
vehicles is the whole point of the game. In these games you can choose what car you wish to
drive and make money from driving them in races to afford upgrades such as new rims,
engines etc.

Environment; Texture Art

Environments I think are one of the most important thing when it comes to the visualization
of a game, If the graphics are great people will automatically have been drawn towards the
game. Game environments are created through textured images which are manipulated
round the shape of the environmental objects which it will be used for. A texture artist
mainly creates textures for videos games, but also some TV shows too, most textures are
also made as a 2D image, rarely 3D. Some video games can option and have different game
servers with something called Mods which is when someone makes modifications to the
textures of the environments giving them a completely different appearance. There is no
mechanics changed in the games apart from the appearance. Depending on the company
and areas that you work as a Texture Artist at, yearly salary varies from 21,000 - 47,000!

Graphics Research

Pixel
Picture Element
Pixels (picture elements) is a point in a raster image and is also what makes up an image. A
Picture element is a tiny square on an image. Images are made up of thousands of picture
elements (pixels) and the amount of pixels in a picture determines the quality of the image.
In a colour image the pixels are typically made up of colours, Blue, Green or Red or
sometimes even Black, Cyan, Yellow or Magenta.

Image Resolution
Image Resolution is all about how much detail is in the image. The higher the resolution, the
higher the quality/detail. For example, an image that has a resolution of 1920x1080 has a
total of 2,073,600 individual pixels in it, compared to an image which has a resolution of
1024x768 it has a total of 786,432 individual pixels thats 1,287,168 more pixels just on that
1 picture so the detail will be a lot finer.
The resolution of the images you choose to use is similar to the bit depth. If you want to use
an image with a higher resolution will be high in image quality but also a higher image size
and would take longer to load when its published on your website. If you choose to use a
lower resolution image for your website, then the quality will obviously be lower but so will
the file size and time to take it to load once its been published on your website. So it is the
same as Bit depth, you are sacrificing image quality for loading speed of your website.

Intensity
Image intensity is the brightness of the pixels on an image, how bright/dark they are. For
example, an RBG image has 3 channels of intensities, Red channel, Blue channel and a Green
channel. RGB, (Red, Green and Blue) is how colours are used to be displayed on a computer
monitor. Red, Green and Blue can be combined in different proportions and shades to then
retrieve any other colour in the human visible spectrum. Each colour has an intensity range
from 0-255 as there is 256 levels for each colour (Red, Green and Blue). The total available
colours is 256 x 256 x 256 which equals to 16,777,216 possible colours the amount of
colours shown in a True Colour image (24-Bit image).

A High Colour image is a 16-Bit image which means there can be 65,536 colours shades of
colours in that 1 image. 16-Bit images mainly used for editing Images but they are a lot
bigger in file size. Because they already have such a big file size for being a 16-Bit image they
lose the options of adding effects to the image for example, Texture and Distorting effects.

Types of Digital Graphics

Raster Images & Vector Images

Raster Images file and Vector Image files are both used for saving images but there are some
differences between the two. A Raster image is resolution dependant image which means it
is made up of lots of single square pixels, all of a different colour which are arranged
correctly to create your image, if you zoom in to a Raster image you will get pixilation this is
where the pixels stretch and the image loses a lot of quality. However, A Vector image is
different, instead of using thousands of square pixels to create an image they are made up of
Paths, each Path has a Vector which tells the Paths the size, patterns and colours of the
image.

Zoomed in Raster Image Zoomed in Vector Image

Types of Raster Images;

.JPEG, (Joint Photographic
Experts Group) is one of the most
common types of image files you will come across, they normally achieve a 10:1
compression which is low Loss compression, meaning that when compressed the image will
lose little quality. .JPEG image files are the most common image file used for digital cameras
and other devices which can also capture images also .JPEG images are
normally the type of image file you will find on websites and across the
World Wide Web.

.GIF, (Graphics Interchange Format) is a short animation type of image files where you chain
a number of Bitmap/Raster images together to form a short animation. .GIF animation files
allows you to use a palette of up to 256 different colours from the 24-bit RBG (Red, Blue, and
Green) colour space, this is good for more simple images such as a company logo for
example. .GIF image files are compressed using Lossless compression (LZW), which reduces
the size of the .GIF file without losing any visual quality at all! This compression technique
was created in 1985, 2 years before the .GIF file was created in 1975.
.TIFF, (Tagged Image File Format) is a Computer file format which is widely used by
publishers and Photographers to store Raster images and when these companies are
publishing with image manipulation applications and also other things such as Word
processing, Scanning and Faxing. The .TIFF file format was created by Aldus Corporations for
the use of desktop publishing in 1986! The latest/newest version of the .TIFF file was the
.TIFF 6.0 which was released 3 June 1992, over 24 years ago. The .TIFF file was created as an
attempt to get desktop scanner vendors of the mid-1980s to agree on the same image file
format to scan at, in the beginning, TIFF was only a binary image format (only two possible
values for each pixel), because that was all that desktop scanners could handle. The .TIFF file
format does not use any kinds of compression when exported.

.BMP, also known as Bitmap image file is a raster image file format used to store Raster
images which has very popular usage across Microsoft Windows operating systems. The
BMP file mainly store 2D (two dimensional) images. When you save a BMP file it is many tiny
dots called pixels, depending on the resolution of the image the amount of pixels in an
image can be massive! For the example the lowest high definition image is 1280x720 which
is 921,600 pixels in total for just that 1 image. BMP files are normally uncompressed but for
images such as photographs and high size images, Lossy compression is usually used but this
can slightly reduce the quality of the image.

Types of Vector Images;

.FLA, (Macromedia Flash) is a file format used in Adobe Flash and a .FLA file is a raw editable
file in flash to store movies or animation. A .FLA file are mostly converted or saved into a
.SWF file to then be uploading on to the internet. Adobe bought Macromedia Flash in 2005
to then become Adobe Flash in 2005 to add to the Adobe Creative Cloud.
.AI, (Adobe Illustrator Artwork) is file format made by Adobe for representing single page
Vector drawings in an .EPS or .PDF file. An .AI file extension is use in Adobe Illustrator.
Programs that can view an .AI file are Programs such as Adobe Reader, Adobe Photoshop
and Preview as long as the .AI file has been saved as a .PDF compatibility option.

.PSD, (Photoshop Document) is a type of image file which uses layers to edit or add effects to
the image, a .PSD is the default method of Photoshop to save data. When youve completed
your image you can then flatten all the layer in Photoshop and convert it in to a .JPEG, .GIF
or .TIFF image file, once you have converted and flattened all the layers into 1 image you
cannot reverse the action.

.WMF, (Windows Metafile) is an image formats file which was created by Microsoft windows
in 1990, 26 years ago. The aims of the creation of this file was to be able to transfer Vector
images and Bitmap images/files between many applications, also of people class the .WMF
file to be somewhat identical to the SVG file. Over the years there have been a many
updates to this file, either just keeping it up to date with the new operating systems or
changing the files Bit rate its self, Firstly the 16-Bit version of the .WMF file was introduced
with Windows 3.0, There is also a 32-Bit version of the .WMF file now and the latest version
of the .WMF file being released on 30 June 2015 (17 months ago), This is the twelfth version
of this File format.

File Extensions

BMP
.BMP, also known as Bitmap image file is a raster image file format used to store Raster
images which has very popular usage across Microsoft Windows operating systems. The
BMP file mainly store 2D (two dimensional) images. When you save a BMP file it is many tiny
dots called pixels, depending on the resolution of the image the amount of pixels in an
image can be massive! For the example the lowest high definition image is 1280x720 which
is 921,600 pixels in total for just that 1 image. BMP files are normally uncompressed but for
images such as photographs and high size images, Lossy compression is
usually used but this can slightly reduce the quality of the image.

PNG
.PNG, (Portable Network Graphics) is an image format file which is one of the most effective
and used image file format throughout the whole media. .PNG image files are used so much
with digital graphic productions because most media graphic work as huge documents and
an image which many VFX (visual effects) and many layers of different effects, images, text
etc. So when you export a graphic as a .PNG all these layers are compressed together making
the file size greatly smaller in size and also .PNG graphics are immune to pixilation so this is
great for companies who want to advertise the same graphic on the back of a bottle to a
billboard in the city.

GIF
.GIF, (Graphics Interchange Format) is a short animation type of image files where you chain
a number of Bitmap/Raster images together to form a short animation. .GIF animation files
allows you to use a palette of up to 256 different colours from the 24-bit RBG (Red, Blue, and
Green) colour space, this is good for more simple images such as a company logo for
example. .GIF image files are compressed using Lossless compression (LZW), which reduces
the size of the .GIF file without losing any visual quality at all! This compression technique
was created in 1985, 2 years before the .GIF file was created in 1975.

TIFF
.TIFF, (Tagged Image File Format) is a Computer file format which is widely used by
publishers and Photographers to store Raster images and when these companies are
publishing with image manipulation applications and also other things such as Word
processing, Scanning and Faxing. The .TIFF file format was created by Aldus Corporations for
the use of desktop publishing in 1986! The latest/newest version of the .TIFF file was the
.TIFF 6.0 which was released 3 June 1992, over 24 years ago. The .TIFF file was created as an
attempt to get desktop scanner vendors of the mid-1980s to agree on the same image file
format to scan at, in the beginning, TIFF was only a binary image format (only two possible
values for each pixel), because that was all that desktop scanners could handle. The .TIFF file
format does not use any kinds of compression when exported.

JPG
.JPEG, (Joint Photographic Experts Group) is one of the most common types of image files
you will come across, they normally achieve a 10:1 compression which is low Loss
compression, meaning that when compressed the image will lose little quality. .JPEG image
files are the most common image file used for digital cameras and other devices which can
also capture images also .JPEG images are normally the type of image file you will find on
websites and across the World Wide Web.

PSD
. PSD, (Photoshop Document) is a type of image file which uses layers to edit or add effects
to the image, a .PSD is the default method of Photoshop to save data. When youve
completed your image you can then flatten all the layer in Photoshop and convert it in to a
.JPEG, .GIF or .TIFF image file, once you have converted and flattened all the layers into 1
image you cannot reverse the action.

Compression
Lossy
Files that use the Lossy compression technique that reduces the quality of the image once
exported to be a smaller file size. People may export images in Lossy compression file
formats so that the final image is very small in file size but for this they have to pay the price
of losing the quality of their image. An example of a file format which uses the Lossy
compression technique is the .JPG file format. The .JPG file format is mostly used for digital
camera images because it has a fairly small file size for the quality that the camera produce.
JPEG is a Lossy compression file format and is one of if not the most common image file format
there is.

Lossless
Lossless compression means that as the file size is compressed, the picture quality remains
the same, it does not get worse. Also, the file can be decompressed to its original quality. An
example of an image file format which uses the Lossless compression method is the .PNG file
format. The .PNG file format is a lossless compression type and is mostly used where the
graphic might be changed by another person or where the image contains layers of graphics that
need to be kept separate from each other but then is all compressed once you export it to reduce
the file size.

Image Capture
Scanner
Image Scanners is a machine that optically scans handwriting, text, images or an object into
a digital image. Different scanners have different dualities and characteristics, usually Image
scanners produce an image of 24-Bits but some high quality scanners can produce 36-48-Bit
images. Modern image scanners today normally use Charge-Couple Device (CCD) or a
Contact Image Sensor (CIS) as the way to sensor the image being scanned. The most modern
scanners might use these new methods of scanning but Drum scanners are still known to
produce the highest image quality compared to other scanners and they were developed a
lot earlier. All these types of image scanners two-dimencional images that are normally flat.

Digital Camera
There are 3 main types of Digital cameras, Compact, SLR and Bridge cameras.

Compact Cameras
Compacts camera or also known as shoot cameras vary in price and styles, most people buy
them because they are a lot smaller than most other types of cameras as most Compact
cameras are pocket sized. Compact cameras are also good if you are a casual photographer
because Compact cameras usually have x3 zoom and are at least 12 megapixels of image
capture quality.

SLR Cameras
SLR cameras are more advanced than Compact cameras however they are a lot larger and
are not pocket sized. Digital SLR camera have a lot of options when coming to taking photos,
you can take photos in manual mode or Shutter priority, Aperture priority or other program
modes. When taking photos with an SLR camera you need to remember that you have so
many different options with the settings to get your perfect photo.
The best thing about SLR cameras is that the lens are changeable so for example you could
use a 28mm lens for wide images, other lens for more zoom for example and also you can
get lens to add photo effects like fishbowl effects.

Bridge Cameras
Bridge Cameras / super zoom cameras are known as the next level compact cameras. The
main difference between a normal compact cameras and a Bridge compact camera is that
bridge cameras also have a lot more option for photo settings like the SLR cameras. (Shutter,
aperture and program modes). Bridge cameras lens are known be very good for zooming,
some bridge camera lens can zoom up to x40! Bridge camera lens need be versatile of the
settings / options since you cannot switch the lens on bridge cameras like you can with SLR
cameras because Bridge cameras have Fixed lens.
Bridge cameras are great for photographers who want more options with the settings and
exposure to the photos they are taking and also because of the great amount of zoom on
the lenses.

Tablet
 Optimising
Target Image Output
When deciding the type file output to change your image to when saving you need to make
sure it is the correct format for a website, for example if you choose the wrong format then
it could take a long time for that image to load on your website, here is the comparison of
the same image being saved in different image file formats and the difference in file size
between them.

Image Bit Depth

BPP, (Bits per Pixel) is the number of Bits of information stored in everything pixel of an
image. The more Bits in each image means that more shades of the colours can be shown
into more detail but this will greatly increase the size of an image greatly, for example a
16Bit version of an image can be twice the size of an 8Bit version of the same image.
Bit depth is the volume of colour in each pixel. For your image the higher the bit depth
means it will take loaded to load on your website and the file size will be larger but the
quality should be a lot better than a low bit depth image which will load quicker on your
website and have a lower file size however the quality of the image will be less. So basically
you are sacrificing image quality for loading speed of your website.

Image Resolution
The resolution of the images you choose to use is similar to the bit depth. If you want to use
an image with a higher resolution will be high in image quality but also a higher image size
and would take longer to load when its published on your website. If you choose to use a
lower resolution image for your website, then the quality will obviously be lower but so will
the file size and time to take it to load once its been published on your website. So it is the
same as Bit depth, you are sacrificing image quality for loading speed of your website.
 Image Dimensions
Image dimensions are the length and width of a digital image. It is usually measured
in pixels, but some graphics programs allow you to view and work with your image in the
equivalent inches or centimetres. Depending on what you plan to use your image for you
may want to change the image size. You can do this in photo editing program such as
Photoshop once creating a new canvas on the sizing you can change the setting from Pixels
to centimetres, millimetres and many other measurement options. An example of my self-
using this was when creating graphics for an A3 sized page posts and when creating a DVD
cover, for this I had to change the settings to centimetres and putting in the length and width
of an A3 page and DVD cover.

Compression
Lossy
Files that use the Lossy compression technique that reduces the quality of the image once
exported to be a smaller file size. People may export images in Lossy compression file
formats so that the final image is very small in file size but for this they have to pay the price
of losing the quality of their image. An example of a file format which uses the Lossy
compression technique is the .JPG file format. The .JPG file format is mostly used for digital
camera images because it has a fairly small file size for the quality that the camera produce.
JPEG is a Lossy compression file format and is one of if not the most common image file format
there is.

Lossless
Lossless compression means that as the file size is compressed, the picture quality remains
the same, it does not get worse. Also, the file can be decompressed to its original quality. An
example of an image file format which uses the Lossless compression method is the .PNG file
format. The .PNG file format is a lossless compression type and is mostly used where the
graphic might be changed by another person or where the image contains layers of graphics that
need to be kept separate from each other but then is all compressed once you export it to reduce
the file size.
 Storage of Image Assets
File Size
When it comes to the file size of all my images I will be creating all my graphics in Photoshop
so eventually there will be a .PSD file and then an image graphic file of my final graphic for
each thing I am designing. I will be exporting all my final graphics out as a .PNG file because I
know when designing all my images there will be many layers within the image therefore
compressing them as a .PNG file would be a smart idea to save storage space for other
documents. Also having all my graphics saved as a .PNG file means that if I ever choose to
resize or manipulate these graphics they will not be effected by pixilation. I believe that all
my final graphic images will have an average final file size of around 2MB (.PNG) and around
12MB (.PSD).

File-naming conventions
Its very important that when saving all your document that you save it with a very relevant
name because if you dont then you can easily lose that document that could be very
important and needed again in the future. When naming all my graphics I will first give the
.PSD file for the graphic quite a general name since there will only be 1 .PSD graphic per
image. So something like DVD cover or Game A3 poster but then when it comes to saving
the final images you may be tweaking things and republishing it and before you know it you
have 4 .PNG file of all the same image but each with minor tweaks from when you are trying
to perfect this. I believe this problems can be easily avoided either by saving the image and
putting what tweak It has to it or even just adding a number to the original file name, using
A3 poster 5 as an example.
Asset Management
Like naming all your files correctly and efficiently I also strongly believe that saving all your
files in a correct and easy order to go back and file is key in any work that you do, I have
personally been a victim of losing previous document because I just saved it in a random
location and I payed the price since I could not find it. For this assignment I will have a
separate folder within the Unit 78 folder name Graphics or something very similar, this
folder will contain all my graphics from this assignment that is all. I have decided to do this
so my graphics file dont get mixed up with any of my other files from previous Units.

TASK 4

Background graphics
Walls
Walls are used for many things in games, to stop you from running out of the map, for
you to destroy, built, climb over, spray paint on which ever game it is it definitely stops
you from continuing to travel that direction. Like all the other Super Mario platform
games there are no actual walls in the game for you to try and jump over or crawl
underneath or even any kind of walls that stops you running out of the levels. However,
 there are other obstacles in all the super Mario platforms games that stop you from
running in that direction and then you are forced to either jump or crawl to get around
it. These obstacles are things such as bushes, mud slopes and the green pipes which are
within all the levels of the game. Even though they may not look like a wall visually they
still do the same job.

Forests
In the game that I am producing there are no actual forests that you as the player can go
and venture into. However in the background of the game levels that is forest greenery
such as Bushes, Trees, Branches and other greenery plants which are just a part of the
background of the game levels to make the game look more visually impressive and it
also makes the game look a lot less empty having the forest greenery in the background
of the levels.

Clouds
Like the forest greenery in the background of my new Super Mario brothers platform
game, higher up on the map/levels there are clouds in the sky which like the forest
greenery is just purely there for visual purposes because sometime in some levels of the
game you jump up on top of obstacles and platforms to avoid enemy NPCs and traps to
progress through the level, it is at these stage of the levels where you will definitely
noticed the clouds within the game more because youll be right up there as high as
them!

In-game interface
The in game interface in my game will be extremely simple and easy to navigate and operate
since the Super Mario brothers platform games are very simple games within themselves so
there are not really any extremely advanced options/settings that you as the player can
change. Some of the settings in the in-game interface is just standard setting changes such
as, Sound effects on/off, music on/off, Quit game, Return to world map and save and Quit
game. These are all the option that will be in my new Super Mario brothers platform game
in-game interface.
Head up display
The head up display in my Super Mario brother platform game is very important and will tell
the player a lot of information that they need to know while progressing through the
storyline/levels of the game. This is a short list of the features which the Head up display will
show the player, Player total score, Coins collected, Lives remaining, number of world,
number of level and in game levels timer of how long you have been playing that specific
level for. I believe that all these things are very important for the players to keep track off,
especially features such as total coins collected, there are 100 coins to collect in each level
so if you get to the very end of a level with only 90 coins you know that you have not collect
all and you can then return back to find and collect the final 10. Also the in game time
feature, people like to play platform games and set records for completing levels in the
fastest time, I think this is why the in game timer is very important because people
attempting these speed runs can keep track to see if they are set for a new record etc.

TASK 5

Print media art

Game packaging (console cover/box)
Since my new Super Mario brothers platform game will be released on PC, Nintendo devices,
Xbox and PlayStation all the game packaging needs to be the same for each console so the
game can be widely visually recognisable. The box will be exactly the same size as all
DVD/game console games game boxes. On the front of the game bosses at the top in bold
text there will be the games title SUPER MARIO COUSINS and below that will be a complete
graphic of the main game character, Galip. On the pack of the game box packaging, towards
the bottom will be the barcode, age restriction, operational use and information about the
producers and where the company producing the game is based etc. In the top half of the
back of the games box cover will have an image showing one of the brand new in game
levels being released with the game and which will also have bold text above saying
something along the lines of NEW LEVELS. That is a rundown of how I plan the game
packaging looking for my new super Mario brother platform game.

Box cover (DVD container)

On the front of the game bosses at the top in bold text there will be the games title SUPER
MARIO COUSINS and below that will be a complete graphic of the main game character. The
background that will be used for the front cover for the DVD box cover will be the same
background that is in the in game worlds/levels. Since some of the levels are day time and
night time the backgrounds of some in game world levels look different, at the moment I
have decided to go with the night time in game background to go on the front cover because
I believe that this background helps the main character image on the front cover stand out a
lot which is the main selling point of the whole game, the super Mario cousin.

Manual
The game manual which will be inside the game DVD container box for my new super Mario
brothers platform game will extremely brief and basic! Firstly the manual will show all the
key binds for whatever console you are playing the game on for example which button is to
jump and duck etc. Then further on through the manual there will be short tips telling you
how to kill certain enemies within the game levels and how to go underground by sliding
down the green pipes in some levels of the game. I believe these are great features to add
into the games manual for my new series to the super Mario brothers platform games
because the ages group for this game is 6+ so I definitely know without a doubt that these
topics in the games manual will extremely help some of that younger target audience.
Label
Like I said on one of the previous headings, The game packaging heading, on the back of the
DVD container box in the bottom left corner all the games labels for the age restriction and
features within the games nature that may offend some viewers or may stop some parent
buying this game for their children since the age restriction for my new super Mario brothers
platform game is 6+, children in infant/juniors primary school are old enough to play this
game but because of some of the mild violence as an example, may stop some parents
from buying this game for their children.

A3 Poster
For the creation of the A3 poster to advertise my new Super Mario brothers platform game I
will be creating a new canvas in Photoshop with the exact sizing specifications for an A3
piece of paper so then when I go to print the final poster it can just be straight printed on to
an A3 piece of paper. My plan for the A3 poster is for the Poster to be very similar as the
DVD container box front cover, So the main selling point, the Mario cousins at the bottom
centre of the poster with the same night-time in game world/level background to make
Galip (the main character) stand out even more. For the rest of the post I will use bold text
that will be wrote down the whole of the post saying something along the lines of THE
COUSIN RETURNSCOMING IN2017. I want this kind of text and language on my A3 games
advertisement poster because I want it to be more of a teaser poster and a bit of a mystery
to get people wanting to know more about what the game is about and when it is being
released and when they can pre order the game etc. The bold text which will be going over
the whole poster, each line will be in a different colour, ranging in around 3-5 colours
maximum and I will also make sure that each one of these colours stand out from the
colours of the post background so it is easily readable from afar. The final section my post
will be a bar at the very top of the poster with all the names and logos of every single games
console, computer, gaming device that this game will be released on so the audience of the
poster can see straight away that this new super Mario brother platform game will be
available on the games device, computer/console very soon, making them even more
intrigued about this product.