How is crowd funding
affecting the relationship between institutions and audiences at the
publishing, design, marketing and distribution level? Answer with specific
reference to Assassin’s Creed and Double Fine Adventure Double Fine Adventures is
different from Assassin’s Creed 3 in the publishing of the game, their design,
how they are marketed and how they are distributed and these differences have
been influenced by crowd funding. Double Fine Adventures has been financed by
Kickstarter giving more freedom to the game developers, while Assassin’s Creed
3 has had the backing of Ubisoft that will have influenced the game against the
developers wishes. The two games differ greatly and they’re advantages and disadvantages
to crowd funding. Publishing is different for
Assassin’s Creed 3 (AC3) compared with Double Fine Adventure (DFA). AC3 is a
multi-genre game, that covers adventure, sci-fi, fantasy, sandbox and more,
which means it appeals to a wide target audience which it has to do to make as
much money as possible because the game cost much more to make than to DFA
which is able to have a specific genre – point and click – that is becoming
less popular of late because the cost to create the game is far less, so it
doesn’t need a wide audience. Although the target audience of DFA is limited,
it has managed to gain large support – over $3.5 million was donated by 87,000
people. The target amount of $400,000 was raised in 8 hours which shows how
popular the genre is. Ubisoft have funded AC3 because it is part of a
successful franchise that is growing with this new game while DFA was funded
through kickstarter and donations from fans of the game genre in return for
rewards and a copy of the game. This makes DFA different form AC3 because
Ubisoft will have controlled some of the decisions and the direction the game
took compared to DFA, which has been able to design the game how they want
along with feedback from the people that donated to improve the game. AC3’s
audience have no input to how the game is made and are therefore passive and
only receive the final product. Crowd funding also affects
how the game is designed and developed. AC3 uses anvil next as its game engine.
It is a modern game engine that is incredibly advanced and as well as producing
better graphics, it can handle up to 2000 characters on screen, cycle weather
patterns and cope with complex physics to make the game as realistic as
possible. DFA uses Moai as its game engine and compared to anvil next it is far
less advanced. It is 2D and has been chosen so the game developers can
concentrate more on the actual game story and other aspects rather than complex
programming. It is also far easier, meaning a smaller team can work on the
game. Tech director Nathan Martz
said, “We wanted to experiment with some 2D games, some mobile games, and as we
looked around for solutions Moai jumped out at us as a really simple,
lightweight, quick-to-get-into technology.” Crowd funding also has benefits
when designing the game because there are less restrictions on the developers.
AC3 would have been altered so that its characters, environments and story line
are how Ubisoft want them to be. Crowd funding gives individual developers no
restrictions and freedom to design the game how they want it to be. Another
advantage of crowd funding is that the gamers that have pledged money towards
the game have the opportunity to play the game and offer feedback. The consumer
has an active role in how the game is made rather than being passive. Crowd funding affects how the
game is marketed. Without the backing of a large company such as Ubisoft DFA
can’t afford a large marketing campaign. AC3, backed by Ubisoft, does have the
financial capabilities for a large marketing campaign. They announced they
would spend £4 million on which is the largest amount spent by a developer to
market a game. It has to reach out to the widest audience possible to cover the
huge costs of the production of the game. This money goes towards
advertisements on the TV, magazine, radio and billboards. YouTube videos have
also been uploaded that contain exclusive content and gain great interest.
Crowd funding has enabled DFA to gain customers before the game was built by
encouraging gamers, that are interested
in the point and click genre, to pledge money in return for the game. Another
way that DFA has been marketed is by using YouTube and Tim Schafer as the face
of the game. Tim himself has attracted interest because of his personality and
successful previous games.Other incentives
to buy into DFA are exclusive game art etc. Distribution is different for crowd funded games. AC3 has been
distributed across many different platforms including Xbox-360, Playstation 3
and the all new PS Vita. This has enabled the game to be distributed on a much
wider scale which allows customers to get hold of the game very easily.
Examples of stores where AC3 can be purchased are Game, HMV and most
supermarkets such as Asda or Sainsbury’s. The game can also be bought from
online companies such as Amazon. AC3 is widely distributed to make as much
money as possible to cover all the costs and to sell to the wide target
audience. It is also a franchise that is becoming more popular so more stores
are willing to stock the game if they have already done the same with previous
games in the franchise. It could also be pre-ordered for extra content and be
the first in the country to play the game. DFA on the other hand has a narrower
distribution. It can be bought as a digital download available on Android, Linux, iOS, Mac OS X
and Microsoft Windows. Because it isn’t available on the mainstream consoles it
isn’t widely available for audiences. The relationship between the
institutions and audiences is greatly affected by crowd funding. In the
publishing stage crowd funding can allow target audiences to be more specific
and the genre less popular. The game design can actually be influenced by
feedback from customers but often the funds mean that there is less money to
create complex graphics. Marketing is less varied and costs far less. The
distribution is much narrower. In conclusion crowd funding changes the way
audiences receive, play and now have a say in designing games.
The franchise first attracted a younger audience with the first Assassin's Creed hence the rating was 15+ while Assassins Creed 3 is an 18+. The franchise has grown up along with the audience to maintain its faithful fans. This new game has been marketed as the perfect time to buy into the Assassins Creed franchise and has tried to widen its audience. You would expect the main audience to be teenage boys but the game is also popular with middle aged men that were the first generation to grow up with the gaming industry and experience all the changes from tetris all the way to this new Assassin's Creed.
The PSP version has the main character as a female. The target audience for this version is aimed more at females as they would be able to relate with this female. As a female it goes against the normal stereotype and instead the character is fighting and killing men. All the stereotypes are subverted unlike the other versions that follow the stereotypes. The game includes lots of different genresand because of this appeals to a wide audience. The new character is bigger, stronger and better at fighting which appeals to boys that are "obsessed" with war. Assassins Creed has captured the imagination of many people as the picture on the right shows.
The game will has been released along side other popular franchises such as Call of Duty, Halo and Forza Horizon all competing over the same target audience so by widening this audience with the PSP, online gameplay and multi-genre. These aspects make it competitive in the market against other games.
The story starts with Connor. After Charles Lee informs a young Connor that he wishes to speak to the elders of his village, he returns to find the village burning, causing the death of his mother. Later, a teenage Connor is told by a village elder that the reason no one is allowed to leave the valley is because they are there to protect the Temple. After showing the wise woman the symbol of the Assassins, she tells him to leave the valley, finding Achilles Davenport, an Assassin, and convinces the elder embittered fighter to train him.
After collecting supplies to rebuild the decaying homestead, Achilles presents Connor with the Aquila, a ship Connor can use to patrol the Eastern seaboard. Connor soon is taken to Boston, where he is finally dubbed Connor Kenway, after Achilles' son.
As Connor learns the art of being an assassin he is brought into the cities of Boston and New York as well as a large open area called The Frontier. After being made a full-fledged member of the Brotherhood by Achilles, Connor sets out to eliminate the Colonial Templars. William Johnson is first assassinated after he attempts to purchase the land in which Connor's people reside on. Connor next targets John Pitcairn, who leads the British forces at Bunker and Breed's Hills. After he is dealt with Connor next targets Thomas Hickey whom Connor discovers is plotting to assassinate George Washington.
Upon travelling to the Caribbean and pursuing a boat, Haytham and Connor find Church and kill him. The two then travel to meet Washington. Here, Haytham discovers a letter revealing that Washington has ordered the removal of all the Indigenous tribes from the land as a number of which have supported the British. One of the lands to be removed is Connor's own despite the tribe being completely neutral. Connor severs his ties with Haytham and Washington and takes off to protect his tribe's village. Connor finds the village safe, but the wise woman has dispatched several tribesmen to turn back the Colonials sent to purge the village. Connor neutralises them to avoid conflict, however he is forced to sacrifice a good friend mentally blinded by Lee.
Connor becomes torn in his mission to eliminate the Templars with the thought that he could possibly turn his father for good. Connor sets off to pursue Lee who has been disgraced by Washington and taken refuge in Fort George. Connor infiltrates the fort only to find Haytham. Haytham reveals Lee has escaped (with the medallion) again and he and Connor engage in battle. Now accepting that his father will not turn, Connor kills Haytham, who refuses to repent in the end.
As Desmond plays these events out in the Animus he is occasionally taken out in order to find power cells crucial in the process of exploring the temple. The efforts take Desmond to locations including Manhattan and Brazil. During these trips, he encounters Daniel Cross, an Assassin-turned Templar who was responsible for nearly wiping out the Assassins in 2000 by killing their Mentor. While exploring the temple Juno tells Desmond the events leading up to the first cataclysm. It is during one of these lectures that Desmond reveals that him killing Lucy was no accident and that he chose to after the Apple revealed to him that Lucy was a double-agent and intended to take the Apple to Abstergo.
Connor now pursues Lee again. After pursuing Lee into a burning ship the two come to a stalemate after falling through a section of the ship. Connor is impaled in his side by a piece of the ship. Lee asks him why he continues to persist even though the Templars only rise again and again. Connor replies, "Because no one else will", and shoots Lee in the chest. A mortally wounded Lee escapes in a ferry across the lake with a badly injured Connor in pursuit. Connor finds Lee in a pub taking one last drink and finishes the job by stabbing Lee in the chest.
Connor takes down the portraits of the Templar members in the secret basement and burns them, signifying the end of his journey. In addition, his return to his home village (shown before) is detailed further- upon arrival he spoke to a hunter that had been camping there, who revealed that the new U.S. Government had sold the land his village rested upon to settlers in order to settle war debts.
He also travels to the pier in New York, seeing the last of the British Redcoats leave America for good. However, at this same encounter, Connor sees the beginnings of the slave trade present in the newly formed nation- right next to the pier of citizens cheering at the departure of the British there is a stand where a slave trader is peddling three of his "wares".
Genre
Assassin's Creed 3 is very much a multi-genre game. Fantasy, adventure, strategy, beat em up, sandbox, sci-fi, puzzle, stealth and racing. This makes the game very immersive and allows the gamer to explore and spend many hours completing the missions, collecting or just enjoying this virtual world which in this new assassin's Creed is much larger than previous games. One minute you can be tearing apart some guards the next collecting collectibles. This makes the game incredibly varied and diverse. The game is mostly third person which means that the camera is behind the character.
My stupid joke
Not many games have this multi-genre so Assassin's Creed 3 doesn't have many competitors and is different from other popular franchises such as Call of Duty, Halo and Need for Speed. The multiplayer in the assassins creed has been included since Brotherhood and has been mostly successful. It is a different concept from the usual team deathmatch on most first person shooters and includes players hunting each other. The genre of the multiplayer is very much stealth and is popular for its inventiveness.
Game engine - Anvil next; Can do weather cycling (random weather), Create crowds of at most 2000 , the world changes over time to do things like growing plants or making damage to buildings permanent. The characters in the game have artificial intelligence. In the crowds each person has their own personality, wind and water simulation is so accurate you use the actual naval techniques to aim at the enemy, when the character walks through snow his footprints are remembered for the duration of the mission. This shows continuing sales figures because the player wants to see how the game improves via the small details like weather and crowds. An example of this is when people pass by the shop windows.
Game design Characters - The characters have stayed quite similar. The protagonist in each is a healthy thin attractive man who kills men via some fluent fighting style. Also the women in each game are thin, big breasted and appealing to men. However the way in which the protagonist moves is more fluent and smooth compared to previous games, like in Assassins Creed where Altair would only run left after stopping running forward. World – How one interacts with the surroundings and in the case of Assassin’s Creed 3 how the free running system works. This is evident when one runs free as Connor. Instead of the dilapidated buildings we start free running through trees and up cliffs. This makes the long time player want to continue playing as it shows the evolution of skills from the easy blocky buildings to the intricate branches. It also makes the player feel like they are achieving something as they have been playing through the evolution so they feel they have got better at controlling it.
Game Software
This is how the hardware is used. The software is the content of the game in its basics. This involves the graphics and how they improve. In Assassin’s Creed the graphics are ahead of its time but we focused more on the buildings and looks. Now in Assassins’ Creed 3 we focus more on the character and the background. An example of this is the first protagonist Haytham when he boards a boat. His face is uncovered unlike the previous games and we see how the better graphics affect his face. Also in the background there’s new motion (a sea moving or people passing windows). The long time players will wish to play the new game to see how the graphics have advanced.
On 28th September 2012, Ubisoft announced that they were to spend £4million on marketing in anticipation of the release of Assassin's Creed 3. This is the largest spend on the promotion of a product by the developer, in a big push to up intake compared to the losses of the previous game, despite its 9 million sales. This helps sales figures in an obvious way, the more people who see it across the TV, radio, advertising boards etc, the more people are aware of it, and then they look into it, find a large network of exciting "exclusive reveal" videos on the internet and get excited for the game, and want it when it comes out.
On Youtube, you can find a wide range of videos showing interviews and new features of the game. These helped build up anticipation for the game from fans, without revealing too much. This is a good way of promoting something as it comes at absolutely no cost whatsoever, but is a great way of building up excitement and draw in more people who preorder because they are watching the videos and want the game as a result. The videos have over 1 million hits each. As well as those, there are numerous trailers for different parts of the game, such as the new storyline, the new character "Connor", the new weapons and various others.
In total, across 4 consoles, there are 7 different editions of Assassin's Creed 3. The Standard Edition is available on Xbox 360, PS3, PS Vita and PC. The Limited Edition, which includes various extras which come with the game disc, including a belt buckle and a large embroidered colonial flag, and is available on Xbox 360 and PS3. The Digital Deluxe Edition is available just on PC, but comes with various add-ons from past versions of the game, like favourite missions and a "Best Of" soundtrack. Available on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC- the main 3 consoles the game is available on- are the Special Edition, the Join Or Die Edition, the Freedom Edition and the UbiWorkshop Edition. These each come with their own arrangements of extras, including exclusive lithographs, an encyclopedia and rare prints, among others. This helps the franchise develop sales figures as collectors and "hardcore gamers" will buy a number of, or at least the most expensive edition. This helps bring in much more money to the frenchise, at little extra cost to them. It also helps the franchise establish itself as it shows the commitment from the developers and designers.
Assassins Creed III has been distributd across many different platforms including Xbox-360, Playstation 3 and the all new PS Vita. This has enabled the game to be distributed on a much wider scale which allows customers to get hold of the game very easily. The marketing for the game shows an advertisement of the game and also advertises the fact that it is sold at the Game store.
The Game store itself has both a physical store and an online store. On the online store customers can order and even pre-order the game for bonus features. The physical store allows the exact same capabilities in both pre-ordering and buying the game directly.
With Assassins Creed III being a sequel in the popular Assassins Creed franchise, most local game stores and even some supermarkets now sell the game. Aswell as been sold widely throughout stores, The most common distribution for the game is online, not only can big retailers that have physical stores sell the game online, but companies like Amazon and Play.com are distributing the game widely because of their trusted customer base. This allows the game to be distributed on a huge scale for customers and shows how the game is getting to the audience.
When the game is ordered online the customer can either pick the game up from the store that they purchased it from or they can choose to have the game delivered directly to their home which allows the game to be sold to more and more people that can't get out to a physical store
It is a multi genre game. This means that it combines several genres and puts them into one game.he genres assassins creed brotherhood has are; sci-fi, platform, beat em up, stealth,strategy, RPG (role playing game) and adventure.
The games is a continuation of Assassins Creed II. The storyline continues where the previous games ended with the same protagonists (Ezio and Desmond). Brotherhood has not been numbered unlike Assassin's Creed II because players, and even developers themselves would have expected a new setting and a new ancestor while this is only the continuation of Ezio's story. The game uses the same engine as ACII (anvil) but the main difference is that the game now has a multiplayer game mode with on line capabilities. The game play in multiplayer mode is similar to the core game play of the series, as players are required to use their assassination and stealth skills. The players must hunt down targets while being hunted themselves.
It is a very immerse game as you follow the story that takes off from ACII. The player has to solve problems, complete missions or just do what they want. The multi genre has a lot of positives and a wide audience.
Assassin's Creed II is a historical action-adventure open world stealth video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. The game was released for video game consoles in November 2009, and for Windows in March 2010. It uses the anvil engine that was created by Ubisoft.
Sales Figures
It sold more than 1.6 million copies in its first week, beating expectations set by the company and industry analysts. Sales of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game were up by almost a third compared with sales of the original title, released in 2007, over the same time frame. Both games have received critical acclaim for their immersiveness, backed by graphical and audio artistry. Analysts expected sales to be lower because of the tough economic climate and because Assassin's Creed 2 is targeted at the same audience as Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which was also in the same month. Overall about nine million units have been sold. Despite the success Assassins Creed 2 actually lost money - $54.02 Million
Game Play
Assassin's Creed II takes place in an open world with nonlinear gameplay, allowing the player to roam freely within several regions throughout late fifteenth-century Italy such as Venice, Florence, Forlì, San Gimignano, and the Tuscan countryside. The Animus 2.0, a new version of the machine of the same name present in Assassin's Creed, provides in-game context for changes and additions to several game elements. A database is also available, providing extra historical information about key landmarks, characters and services that the player encounters. Ezio's headquartersand the surrounding property can be upgraded, drawing income for the player's use. The missions in the game now have an expanded variety, with different structuring. For example, a mission may have the objective to escort someone, but may change to a chase and assassination. Investigation is less explicit, and instead missions may follow people and/or a narrative
Genre- It is a mixed genre game. This means that it combines several genres and puts them into one game. For this game these involve; sci-fi, fantasy, platform, beat em up, stealth, multiplayer, puzzle, strategy, shooting game, slightly RPG and adventure
Development from previous games- Probably the most important development is that for the first time the player can play online multiplayer. This takes the form of various missions where one tries to kill other players without being killed themselves. The hard part though is that you have a certain target and if you kill an innocent then you lose points. Also in the one player game mode the player can actually order other assassins about from the brotherhood. For this they have to find people in trouble, save them and then recruit them into the order. From here you level them up to the rank of assassin via sending them on missions all over Italy. You can also own buildings and claim money from them.
The way the player interacts- Instead of controls for actions the player is given the four buttons that represent parts of the body. This means whenever you want an action to do with that body part you press that button. There are three ways a player can play the game; kill the target silently through stealth then sneak away. Kill the target through stealth then fight your way out. Or my personal favorite walk in and out whilst killing everything that moves. This adds a personal touch to each person you kill, an almost modus operandi.
