Double Fine revision

Publishing

· Double Fine adventure's genre is point and click. A genre that in recent years has declined and as a result developers haven't created a game of this genre in past years. This is why Tim Schafer has turned to Kickstarter to crowd fund his game.

· Its target audience is middle aged males. The genre limits its target audience. People that have experienced the point and click genre before are likely to buy into the game and because the genre hasn't been done in the past few years, younger people are unlikely to buy the game.

Development

· Double Fine lacked the resources to self-fund a game,the company elected to crowd-fund the project on Kickstarter, a method Schafer had seen successfully used to raise much smaller amounts for independent game developers

· The game engine is Moai. and it uses 2D computer graphics instead of 3D to keep to the "old school" nature of adventure games. It also is far less complicated and allows the developers to focus far more on the game.

· Double Fine set the goal for the project at $400,000, with $100,000 allocated to the film production and $300,000 for the game. This amount was easily achieved.

· Crowd funding also has benefits when designing the game because there are less restrictions on the developers.

· Double Fine also accept feedback from those that pledged money so they can improve the game for the target audience

Marketing

· 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.

· By using YouTube to create hype and advertise Double Fine, it has been hugely successful

· Tim Schafer has been the face of the company. Tim himself has attracted interest because of his personality and successful previous games.

· Other incentives to buy into DFA are exclusive game art, access to private community areas to discuss the game, prints and invitations to meet with the Double Fine staff.

Distribution

· It can be bought as a digital download available on Android, Linux, iOS, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. Because of the genre and restricted funding (even though more money was raised than expected)

Textual analysis terminology

Shots

Extreme close up - a very close shot of a person or object. It can be used to create shock and to focus on a symbolic or important object

Close up - A lose shot of a person or object. It is used to show facial expressions and focus on an important object.

Medium shot - shot that shows half of a person. Used to show people talking.

Two shot - shows two people in the same shot. Used to show two people on equal terms.

Over the shoulder shot - a shot that show another character from over the shoulder of the character in the foreground. Used to show people talking. High and low shots can be used.

High shot - the camera position is higher than eye level. Used to show a person is inferior.

Low shot - the camera position is below eye level. Used to show a person is superior.

Long shot - shows all of the person. Used to show people moving and reveal things about their environment.

Extreme long/establishing shot - show the entire surrounding from a distance. Used to establish the environment the scene is taking place.

Movement

Pan - camera rotates from side to side.

Tilt/pitch - camera rotates up or down.

Zoom - increases or decreases the cameras field of view to magnify a portion of the scene.

Dolly/track - the camera's position changes. Dolly in moves the camera closer to a subject while dolly out backs it away

JOKE WARNING

The other day on strictly come dancing one of the judges was replaced by a camera. It was Lens Goodman.

 

 

Editing is very important when creating a film and many different techniques can be used to create effects.

Continuity - continuous action show in a sequence

Montage - a series of seemingly unrelated shots that the audience must work to connect

Cross-cutting/parallel-editing - simultaneous occurrences. In other words two different shots that appear to be happening at the same time

Transitions - refers to what happens between shots. How an editor transitions to the next shot

Cut - indicates the end of a shot

Dissolve - a type of transition. One shot blends into the next one. Indicates a large passage of time between shots.

Fade - a type of transition. One shot blends into a single colour, usually black or white.

Wipe - a type of transition. One shot moves off screen to be replaced by another. Different wipes signify different things. Eg: a wipe up or down can connote a hierarchy.

Digital effects - most editing software offers a variety of effects to be used for transitions. Pixilating, animation and focus drops can be used.

Juxtaposition - two shots that contrast each other. This type of editing can be used to show differences.

JOKE WARNING

The other day I was at football training and my coach said to me "when this cross comes I want you to head it in" Then I said "but I don't have any editing equipment"

 

 

Music, sound effects and voices all create an atmosphere and connote different things.

Diegetic sound - sound that comes from a source that is visible on screen. Eg: voices, animals, objects

Non-diegetic sound - sound that doesn't come from a source on screen. Eg: music, narration, sound effects.

Major key - connotes happiness and joy

Minor key - connotes sadness

Crescendo - gets louder and builds up

Diminuendo - gets quieter

Staccato - short sharp notes

Legato - long notes

Leitmotif - a tune associated with a character

Dynamics - levels of volume

Atmospheric sounds - low ominous rumbles

Hypersensitive sounds - exaggerated noises

Another good way to describe sounds and music is to use adjectives and to describe what emotions the sound connotes.

JOKE WARNING

I like to use building blocks to play long notes. The technical term is legoto.