Procedure & Documentation

Unit 1- Pre-Production Techniques for the Creative Media Industries

Procedure; as I mentioned previously within my research, personnel will not be needed within the process of making my game as it is a college based project that will count towards my final grade.

Financially Josh has given us an idea of a budget of £1000, below are two tables defining what the budgets would be used for if it wasn’t a college project and then what the budget would be like if we had the £1000 budget to spend.

The budget below is what would be needed if the project wasn’t to be used within the college;

Software	Cost	Usage
GameMaker Studio	$799.99/£500.48	Main platform of which to make the game.
Photoshop Pro	£329.95	Creating aspects to go within the game.
Computer	£300-£700	Everything is computer based, so a computer is vital.
Total:	£1130.43-£1530.43

 

Below this is a table with a budget of £1000, to use within the college;

Software	Cost	Usage
Musician	£100 per day + £25 per hour (Roughly £400)	To create unique music to use within the game.
Artist/Illustrator	£25 per illustration + £75 per day (Roughly £350)	To help design characters or sprites for in game use.
Voice Actors	£125 per character (Roughly £250- 1 main character, 1 Bad guy)	To make individual characters come to life with a unique voice.
Total:	£1000

 

There are many different resources within the college to use, the main one would be the I.T & Media Department which has all of the necessary equipment to make and develop the maze game. Additionally, the library and computers around the college also have the relative equipment installed onto them. As well as this, the Library also has books and journals that may be of use.

Planning how to make your game and when to make it is a good way of staying on track and meeting the deadline, the best way to do this would be to make a schedule.

Health & Safety isn’t a massive factor as it is a college based project, however it is still important. Pat testing equipment ensures that all of the computers and other electrical resources around the college are suitable and safe to use.

Legal Aspects such as insurance aren’t too important within this college based project, however other things such as copyright need to be adhered to at all times.

The main risk to the project is the work not saving correctly. Loosing work can put the project behind schedule and affect the way it is done.

 

Documentation; within the production side of things there are many different documents to cover. A Script for the game is basically a written document which outlines what will happen, who it will happen to, why it’s happening and when. A Storyboard is very similar, it shows a rough sketch of ideas within the game. Made up of around 6-8 boxes it portrays the story with still images and text. A Mood board is a document that has various pictures and words on it to emphasise the mood you’re aiming for within the game.  A production schedule, like I said before, is useful to help plan the production of the game and keep everything running smoothly. It helps to be on a printed out document so that it can easily be referred back to.

Like explained above the budget needs to outline what resources and equipment needs to be purchased and invested in to assure the production can go ahead. It is important to plan the budget to ensure you have all of the necessary funds available that you will need.

Clearances ensure that you have permission for the things you are using, like copyright. For example making sure that your musician signs a document stating that the music they have produced for you is their own and that you have permission to use it.

Plans ensure that everything is kept up to date and on track, much like a schedule.

Health & Safety checks are vital, especially when working with electrical equipment. Making sure that computers are regularly checked to ensure no working faults is key to keeping everyone safe and helping to project continue with no interruptions.

Contingency plan, a plan for if everything goes wrong. It is useful to ensure you have a backup plan to enforce within the production just in case for some reason the development of the game has to be stopped or can no longer continue.