With an anniversary of something, there are ephemera such as invites, stationary, promotional materials, event posters/flyers and even limited prints that could go on sale at the event or on the website in context.
The problem is finding some that:
- Are happening before the end of the year, as to determine if it could be viewed as a live brief or not.
- Suitable to my own interests within the sector of the industry
- Have enough material to support a brief
I think my heart skipped a beat when I not only realised that it may just be The Legend of Zelda's anniversary this year or next (was dependant on US or Japan release date) but when it was confirmed it was this year I regaled at the thought of being able to produce some work for one of the most immersive, fun, challenging and downright classic early adventure RPG games in the Nintendo franchise's history.
It was however on February the 21st of this year, so this would be something I would greatly enjoy doing, but I will have to consider it when confronted with a live brief instead, although it would'nt mean the end of the world.
On a further note, however, most game sites and critics worldwide have dubbed this year as 'The Year of Zelda', as it is the year that 2 major names from the franchise have been/being released, the 3DS' Ocarina Of Time remake and of course the highly anticipated Skyward Sword due for the Wii in November. This gives me some clearance to maybe do a brief on Zelda in general, although I would have to come up with some restrictions in order for a brief like this to work else there would be no context for this, just a few illustrations and design that just does'nt compliment itself which is a trap I would not like to fall into again.
The 25th Anniversary of the GDC (Game Developers Conference) is an annual event held in San Francisco where some of the worlds leading game heads all gather to showcase, discuss, debate and manage some of the game industries sub sectors;
- Audio
- Business and Management
- Game Design
- Production
- Post-production
- Programming
- Visual Arts
I am however already getting increasingly distracted by the corporate tone - although it was expected especially by a group of high profile game company members - and seeing that the extent of the limitations for this increase rapidly. This is because all these members that need to see this would have been contacted externally and dont need some form of invitation or printed ephemera unless its a press pass or pass card of some sort.
It does on the other hand show and expose a great deal of important names in the business that would hold water for my future career like; Blizzard, Square Enix, Bungie, Epic, Warner Bros., InstantAction, Cerny Games and Flixel.
"We pride ourselves on providing best practices for game developers of all genres and GDC 2011 will continue this tradition as the gaming space grows and adapts to the evolving market," Meggan Scavio, director, Game Developers Conference.
It shows promise of new blood, since a majority of the new board are mainly up and comers or young veterans of the industry who are all qualified and recently worked their way to the top, with quite a few names of European origin. This demonstrates the nature of the ever growing games industry, willing to adapt and change just like the fluctuating market that drives the sale of this massive entity.
A much more different approach to design for this conference would be required, such as infographics on the various areas of the conference, clinical yet contemporary design of the stalls and projection slides for the various companies and possibly a brochure of the talks, demonstrations and developers discussions that are on.
25 years of Super Mario! Hoozah! Admittedly not my favourite game(s) from Nintendo, but Mario 64 and SMB2 were the two stand out titles for myself. Obviously there are a variety of print related outcomes for this as a possible start point for a brief as outlined in the Zelda post at the top of the page, so it gives me great pleasure to know that if I could find a 3rd I could try and do a boxset for the games celebrating Nintendo as a company further promoting the ludicrous sales figures for the console.
Now I am not that much of a fan of shooters, but when they are done well, engineered to be fun and not so complicated that the lack of enthusiasm from the developers shows through like a stain on a white shirt. The Medal of Honour series was one of those series, with relatively engaging dialogue from a fantastic backhost of voice acting similar to Saving Private Ryan, as well as offering a challenging yet not headache-inducing standard of gameplay that still rivals that of Call of Duty.
That aside, in 2008 was the 10th anniversary of the game as we know it was a long time ago, I think if i was to be designing for these sort of games it would give my dissertation some context to my practical work.
Considering that the majority of the First Person Shooters capitalize on the Russians being the predominant aggressors in almost every aspect of combat (or any of the Middle East as is the current trend circa 2004) which tends to drag most other series down as a whole. Medal of Honour not only adhered to these stereotypes but managed to also include the different viewpoints of the war through the players eyes (Korean, Ukraine, China and Japan) rather than taking the one sided American ideal of the classic 'Red vs Blue' situation.
It would also give me a fantastic opportunity to flex some propagandic muscle and create some fantastic promotional work that could be applied to future games with similar connotations like Battlefield:3 and whatever CoD pops out next.
Finally, but certainly not least is the quickest hedgehog this side of the known game universe, Sonic. It is Sonic's 20th anniversary this year as well, but I am unsure if I would like to design anything towards this, not just because there is already a multitude of different designs for the European showcasing or because there is indeed already something to commemorate the game, but just because it isnt the same anymore.
Sonic died - for me at least - after the release of Sonic Adventure for the Dreamcast (in case any of you old fuddy duddys out there are not aware of the Dreamcast it was essentially a PS2 but marketed at the wrong time with nowhere near enough games for it) and away goes the simplicity of flying through levels at insane speeds, colliding frustratingly with enemies and collecting loot avec power ups and hello increasingly clunky levels with no gauge at all for t he players speed. This left a lot of the classic gamers baying for blood and losing interest in the franchise, only to be bitterly disappointed by the next release of the dying franchise of SEGA. This is further displayed by the statue of the new and old Sonics, notice how the left one is paler and shorter? Reminding us painfully of the more naive, fun days whereas the new one stands taller, more defined and smug in acknowledging the fact he has abused a whole generation into thinking the new Sonic is superior.
This picture does though, start giving me some great ideas for promotional packaging for games should I be designing any artwork for or contributing to in the future, definitely something to look into more.
