As with the Goliath operator, I also posted another post to Reddit asking for advice and to carry out a form on google forms as usual. It is fairly similar to the Goliath survey so I don’t feel there is a need to explain the questions but I’ll touch on the feedback I received. I managed to get 26 responses overall which I was really happy with and felt that this was a great amount. This first question was similar to the other one I asked and is a simple graph which the user cold answer. I got some smaller number of people who didn’t like the design built for the most part everyone seemed to go from the 7-10 mark which I am really happy about. Although a very little distance between first and second the majority of people (5) decided that Thor was an 8 out of 10.

Next I asked if the community enjoyed the colours that I used on the operator. This response was great for me and I was very pleased with the result that I received as 85% stated they liked the colour scheme that I used overall. A few people said they didn’t like the colour scheme however.

I then asked whether people would like the idea of his gadget. Most people said they would which was great for me as it meant that he had been taken in well. I think the reception was much better for Thor as a character because his gadget sounds much less overpowered and most likely more reasonable for the game. I think Goliath’s could definitely work but there would have to be a lot of balancing etc.

I wanted to ask what people thought about the background I created for Thor as I wanted to integrate the oil rig into the design. This was fairly important I thought as it meant that I could add some additional detail to my project. I’m glad that people like the background I created and am personally happy with how the rig turned out.

As with the previous survey I asked them an open question to finish everything off overall. I chose a selection of responses and I’m happy with the verdict of the people. there wasn’t to much detail but I wasn’t to bothered as I wasn’t expecting much. However some of the responses were great and the responses are really great for me to read as I feel like the hard work has paid off. Most gaming communities are fairly harsh and I was pleasantly surprised to see how well the feedback went for both characters. I am grateful for the community and their help with the project so far and am really glad they like what I have created.

After finishing my design for Goliath I have created a post on Reddit to encourage people to giver me feedback through a survey on Google forms. I managed to gain 29 responses overall which I am personally very happy to see and I am grateful to see this reception. The post I created as fairly simple:

I then created a survey building up around the character and the details present to him. I think that he looks great personally but it was important people thought the same. The survey I created to ask people about is below. Due to time I asked  mostly closed questions but my final question allowed whoever is answering to add any thoughts from their own mind:

The response towards the Goliath was really good and the first question I mostly received great feedback on. Most people answered with 7, 8, 9 or 10 with some lower responses by others. But overall people like the look of him and what I have created. The average was around 7 or 8 which is brilliant and I am proud of this result.

The next question was what people thought of the colours I decided to use on the character. I chose blue as previously I mentioned that it is a good colour for naval combat. I made it darker as this was to blend in during the night time to make him a little more stealthy in a way. People overall really liked the colours used and the percentage overall was great and I was happy that people enjoyed his look and my colour palette.

I then asked about what people thought about the gadget in general and if they thought it’d work well in the game if it was possible. Although the majority said they would like it as a concept many people stated that they didn’t like the idea. I think to most people the idea of what is effectively a juggernaut suit wouldn’t really work but in a game scenario there are definitely ways to make it work.

The final question I asked which was closed was what people thought about the battle damage on the suit. It is a clear part of the design and is quite significant overall in what I have created and i felt it was a great approach to my final design. Amazingly (and this was great) 100% of people said that they loved the battle damage and thought that it was a good approach.

Finally, I asked what people’s thoughts were on the project and their final thoughts. these were again all fairly positive but I got less responses overall on this one as people didn’t answer it. In the future I will most likely make this a compulsory question so that people are forced to answer to increase my answers collected. Overall I am really happy with the design and think that the community agree with me as well.

 

 

 

For the project I decided to carry out some further research into what people thought of my Thor Operator Icon and how they thought it would fit in the game. Overall the response was great and I was glad to see how much people thought of the design. I am very pleased with the results and the number of people (21) who loved it. These result are all below:

 

Overall I am really pleased with these results and personally feel that this icon has gone really well.

For the project I wanted to consider whether I needed any money for the project and what I could spend it on. I felt that it was necessary to invest some money into the project but I wasn’t sure what. I needed to make sure any purchases were worth it and would work out well for me and I wouldn’t regret buying anything.

The first thing that I wanted to buy was Affinity Designer. However a problem arose as I have no computer at home and no way to access it. Tis was until I realised it is on IPad for a price of £20 which I thought was great for what it can offer in terms of design and function. I bought the app and spent some time using it and learning how it worked along with the layout as it functions slightly differently to a Mac as the screen is much smaller. I still think it works great but I had an issue as trying to draw with your fingers on a touchscreen is a bit of a struggle and when I tested various patterns and drawing it was hard and not to accurate.

To counter this I decided to purchase a stylus for my IPad to help me draw and control what I was doing. At first I was considering buying an Apple pencil but it was much to expensive for me and i wasn’t willing to spend that much money. I did some research on Amazon and found a well reviewed and fairly priced stylus for the IPad which was very useful as it meant that I could work at home if I needed to add any additional details or features.

Amazon.co.uk. (2019). [online] Available at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ciscle-Rechargeable-Digital-Compatible-Touchscreen/dp/B07GLNTGCT/ref=sr_1_4_sspa?adgrpid=53655698299&hvadid=259062521944&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9046583&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=16651629257916284499&hvtargid=kwd-16485393825&keywords=stylus+for+ipad&qid=1556192125&s=gateway&sr=8-4-spons&psc=1&smid=A3CWAXKZCBC2KD [Accessed 25 Apr. 2019].

I am glad I spent a little amount of money on the project and felt that these purchases were useful and effective for me and I’ll be sure to use them in the future.

As part of the project I have to make sure that the project is legal and fair. By looking into different sources I have discovered how to make sure my project is fully legal and protected by law. The first source I found was on legal zoom and was really useful to me, especially with this paragraph below:

Info.legalzoom.com. (2019). Copyright Laws & Video Games. [online] Available at: https://info.legalzoom.com/copyright-laws-video-games-20305.html [Accessed 23 Apr. 2019].

This essentially states that no elements of an existing game can be copied or ripped off however the idea of a game can not be copyrighted or protected. This is good as it means that a game like Siege can not bring up a lawsuit against a police game or shooter game as long as the game is unique and uses it’s own assets, art, music and original ideas. This second post below sums this up quite nicely:

another?, H. and Caplinger, N. (2019). How closely can a game legally resemble another?. [online] Game Development Stack Exchange. Available at: https://gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/1653/how-closely-can-a-game-legally-resemble-another [Accessed 23 Apr. 2019].

In terms of my project this means several things. The most important is that everything I create is my original idea and nothing I create can be taken from the game. Although I am not creating a game and am not part of a big company or business it’s still important that I follow the law as it could bring up issues with the project. I will need to make sure that the font I use is unique and different to what the games is which is good as this is already the case. My font is similar but it is not a direct copy which is important. However the post also says that as long as you draw new art, no matter how identical it may appear you are safe as the art is yours and you have created it yourself with your own tools. You are only in danger if you completely steal parts of a game or other form of media and use it yourself.

In theory this means that I am able to replicate some parts of the game such as the borders used in the loading screen as long as I create them myself and some elements are changed around (such as the size etc.)  My characters however as well as the icons for the operators will be original completely and no elements will be taken from the game. Of course I can use elements for inspiration as this is not breaching copyright, as the post above says the world of video games is mostly just people copying ideas and taking inspiration from other projects and studios. This is also very present in art, songs, TV’s and movies and always will be as a truly original idea is a very hard thing to create as we all naturally take ideas and inspiration from other things we see.

Overall this research has been very important for me and I am glad I have learnt the laws when it comes to copyright and video games as I don’t wan’t want to get targeted for infringing on copyright etc.

 

 

 

Reception theory is a concept discovered by Stuart Hall. It is highly popular in media and is very important for research and analysis of audiences. Reception Theory is the concept of looking into how people react to media and the things they read and watch. The way people react depends on many different factors such as age, wealth, culture, race and morals. It is a very interesting concept and Iv’e enjoyed looking into it and how it could effect my project.

I used the website below to research Reception Theory and how it can help my project:

Revisionworld.com. (2019). Reception Theory – Media Studies – Revision World. [online] Available at: https://revisionworld.com/a2-level-level-revision/media-studies-level-revision/reception-theory [Accessed 23 Apr. 2019].

There are 3 different ways in which people respond to something they watch and all are fairly crucial towards my project. The first of these are the dominant/preferred reading. This essentially means that the audience member reacts to the piece of media in the way that the creator wishes them to. This is because they share similar cultures, morals or of the target audience the director or creator has intended. A good example would be placing a villain into a film and the audience understanding that they are a bad person due to their appearance and actions. If for example we see someone dressed in a hockey mask and jacket roaming around in the woods killing innocent people we understand that they are bad people. This is what a dominant audience member means and it is a very common thing.

The second way a audience member may view a piece of media is in a negotiated way. This means that they will se a form of media in both ways. For example in a film such as John Wick a audience member may feel that he is a violent and harsh killer on one hand whilst on the other understanding that he has done it out revenge for his dead puppy. This is a interesting way to perceive a media piece and I feel that this is also a common approach. The reason this occurs is that people may share some factors the creator intended whilst lacking some of the others. They may be the target audience for example but might have different wealth which means they can understand but disagree at the same time.

The final way an audience can look into a piece of media is in an oppositional way. This is when an audience look at something and disagree or don’t like it. For example some people don’t agree with violent films such as the Saw films and this is due to their beliefs, age and other factors. An older person probably wouldn’t enjoy the Saw films due to their violence and horror aspects so they may disagree with the  idea of it and may oppose it. This often happens online such as twitter disputes and people not believing in certain aspects of the media.

What I need to be aware of is how people will look at my project and target audience is really important for that. For example I doubt that a woman over the age of 50 who has no clue about video games would usually enjoy my project and would most likely feel that it is either inappropriate or boring. However a younger audience who often play games would definitely be much more engaged and would like the project much more. This is due to them being brought up with video games as a much larger demographic of teenagers and young adults are beginning to play and enjoy them so my project would most likely be preferred by them.

Another thing that may effect who likes the project may be culture. Some cultures for example would frown upon the game and may deem it as disrespectful and to realistic whilst others may love the game and it’s concepts and may want to play it immediately! This can really effect the reception of my project as there are so many different groups of people out there in this current generation which effects watch time and focus.

Another factor I have to consider is social class as this can effect people’s thoughts on a project. For example a much more strict family in an upper class area may possibly be upset with the project and it’s fairly violent themes however a person of lower class may believe the project to be much better as they are more lenient with violent themes. Although stereotypical a large part of the reception theory is stereotypes and how people view media in that stereotypical way. As much as they can be looked down upon stereotypes can be very useful for a project as you can condense a group of people down into subcategories.

When looking at my project however I have a slight advantage when it comes to the expectations of my final design. A massive part of any gaming community is fan art and people often enjoy viewing them. Even if they are of slightly poor quality fan art is always appreciated by someone and many people in the Siege Community create fan art regularly to varying levels of quality. However even poor fan art is viewed in a positive and preferred way which is great for me. I haven’t been able to find out just yet how people would respond as I have not done an practical stuff yet but once I have begun creating designs and mock ups then I will be looking into the way people respond to them.

Overall the Reception Theory is a really valuable thing to be aware of and I believe that it is useful to my project. I may at some point create a survey based around the concept as I think that it could help with my primary research in the future.

An important part of my project is looking into the legal side of my project and think about what I am doing and considering. I need to be very careful because I don’t want to infringe on any copyright issues as of course I am designing projects for something which already exists so I need to make sure that everything I’m doing legal. The first thing I need to do is go over each of these 3 categories in the title and explain what they me and and how they work.

A trademark helps to protect a logo, design, symbol or quote. A trademark can be placed on any of these things mentioned which protects them from unauthorised use. This means that people can not use the design in their own work and fully plagiarise their effort and time. These rights are usually in place from 7 – 20 years and can be renewed as much as the creator wishes. However a trademark can be lost if misused or a lack of use. Trademarks are separated into 42 international classes and a trademark can be part of multiple. However the trademark can only be protected in the relevant class it is a part of. A trademark is often distinguished by a TM symbol which helps people distinguish it as a trademarked piece of work. Without permission or consent, this logo or design can not be used and as long as money is paid in regular intervals and specific documents are filed trademarks can essentially last forever.

Copyright is a legal way of fully protecting work. Copyright allows the creator to use this work in any way they wish whilst protecting the work from others, allowing only the creator to utilise it. Without permission from the creator this work can not be used whatsoever by anyone as this breaches copyright, making it highly illegal. Examples of work which can be protected by copyright are films, books, songs, artwork and plays. A good benefit to copyright is that when you post a piece of work/art you automatically (in most countries) gain protection over that piece of work and it fully belongs to you as you have put the time and effort in to make it. To help back this up you can post the well known copyright symbol on your work to help show others it is protected. You should also write a little line which states Copyright Year of creation – Current year to help people easily understand. Furthermore you can also contact an agency to register copyrighted material to help prove ownership in court or disputes. Rainbow Six Siege is of course protected by copyright law which means I can’t rip off or steal any elements from the game in my work which is very important for legal issues.

The form of legal protection is Intellectual property. This is fairly similar to the other forms of legal protection. It allows you to protect something you as an individual physically create. For example a book or film idea can not be protected by intellectual property but the words themselves are protected. Intellectual Property can be bought off previous owners and a trademarked piece of work is also intellectual property. If you’re an artist and you create a piece of commissioned work the intellectual property still belongs to you as you are the original creator.

I need to make sure that I consider these three protection methods when looking into my project and creating things and as mentioned above I need to make sure that I take nothing from the game as part of my project as this could cause issues legally.

I wanted to have a look into what the public thought about the game and what reviews the game was given. As mentioned previously Siege was once seen as a fairly poor game by critics due to bugs, a lack of progression etc. However some reviews were still brilliant at the time which paid off well. My main source of reviews is IMDB as this is a reliable place for critics and reviewing. A selection of reviews from the R6S IMDB site:

IMDb. (2019). Rainbow Six: Siege (Video Game 2015) – IMDb. [online] Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4779020/reviews?ref_=tt_urv [Accessed 5 Apr. 2019].

This review above is very positive and is a very accurate description of the game. It is essential to think and plan out strategies on the fly in Siege and this review really proves that.They have also stated that it is so good they have forgiven the company for previous failures such as Watch Dogs etc. This next review is not as positive however:

This person is upset about the lack of a single player campaign which I agree is a shame. The game would be incredible with a campaign and I feel it’d work really well. They also comment on the toxic behavior which often occurs in the game. This is a really large issue in the game and it effects it’s popularity and reputation across the globe as more and more people feel it is ok to act in an inappropriate and often disgusting way. This review backs this up.

It also complains about the team killing in the game as this is a feature which was implemented to make your decisions more careful and ensure players would watch their fire. However the community have twisted the feature and many use it to troll, torment and terrorize team mates.

This review comments on the lack of content which arrived when the game launched however for the most part this has not been rectified with a large variety of skins, daily and weekly challenges, events and charms to customize your look and characters. Ubisoft are constantly making movements to improve the game and it’s features which I really appreciate.

This short review really helps to make the game sound great and it really helps big up it’s overall experience.

Overall there are a large portion of reviews online for Siege, some bad some good as always but with a total score of 8.1/10 the community along with critics clearly view it as superb and very well constructed which I think is excellent and I couldn’t agree more. Any issues that have been brought up in the past have already been rectified and if not is being looked into as I write this, really showing how much Ubisoft cares for it’s community and people.