P1F - Developmental Software

P1F - Developmental Software

All games that are produced and made today are done so in a different way to one another, some companies use certain techniques whereas other companies use different ones to promote and make their game.


The “Tent Pole” model
The business model is called the ‘Tent Pole’ model which is similar to the business model that a lot of Hollywood studios will use. The basic concept is that the publisher releases a game that is accompanied with a lot of marketing and investment. Then the money that is made from this game supports the development of other potentially more creative games called a ‘riskier’. For example, being the Grand Theft Auto series, this brings in a lot of money for the company, Rockstar. This money allows them to invest in some smaller hits such as Canis Canem and LA Noire and Agent. Another example of the ‘Tent Pole’ business model would be EA’s annual updates of FIFA which they rely on to create money for the further research and development of other games. In 2008 EA spent $372 million on research and development, the reason being is down to the PS3 and Xbox 360. It can cost a game maker up to $100 million to make a game on this platform.



The Hollywood Model
The Hollywood model is the idea to contract out parts of the games design to other companies in order to lower the cost of development. Instead of the development team being formed of around 50+, developer can have a team of 10-20 specialist external teams who will do a section of work each which can then later be pieced together. It may see gaming companies work with many other production areas such as stunt teams, photography directors and even scriptwriters to create and sell is similar to how a Hollywood film would be made.
However, the Tent Pole business model has its problems, these problems come with the company as they are depending on that one game being a hit and bring in the money needed, and sometimes even big games don’t return the money. An example is Spore, sold 1 million copies in its first 17 days, but the development costs were so big that EA only expect to make their money back with 5 years of updates and sequels.



Independent Game Development
The next games development is called the independent game development, creating a game is costly and until recently this has been the case. Usually it required a developer to a have a publishing contract in order to pay for the development and the license fee required to develop for a particular console. However, now there is a growing Indie Game market thanks to open source software, such as Apples App Store and Xbox Live’s Marketplace small teams and even individuals are able to create games, and get them distributed to
make money. Aside from the basic developmental costs of a game and console, developers are required to pay fees to license the Software Development Kits that are required from the console manufacturer. Manufacturers often enforce a strict approval process and take a percentage of the game's net profit in addition to yearly developer fees.



IOS SDK Kit
The iPhone SDK is a software development kit that’s developed by Apple, its targeted at third party developers to develop applications for iPhones OS, it was released in February 2008. The SDK itself is a free download, but in order to release the software, you must enrol in the iPhone Developer Program, a step requiring payment and Apple's approval. As of January 2010, the cost of enrolment in the iPhone Developer Program was $99 per year however this cost varies from country to country. Developers who publish their applications on the App Store will receive 70% of sales revenue, and will not have to pay any distribution costs for the application. An example of iPhone games development would be Doodle Jump, it was released April 2009, and has had nearly 4 million downloads.

P1E - Video Games Regulations

P1 e – video games regulations from Rhys Spence-Robb

P1D - Games On Multi-Platforms

Games On Multi-Platforms


First-party developer
A first party developer makes the game specifically for a console or manufacturer. The manufacturer usually pays a sum of money to the company to produce the game exclusively for the console. A big example of this is development companies inside bigger companies for example Forza for the Xbox or Gran Turismo for the PlayStation. Forza is a racing game that is exclusive to Xbox consoles and does not see any funding to the PS4 due to the game being developed by Microsoft Studios. There will be a set budget given and this means that a lot more capital can be invested into the development and smooth running of the game on the Xbox console.

Second-party developer
Second party developers are companies who take money from the platform holders to have that game better on their console. They are usually partly owned by the platform and they will have certain publishing agreements but whilst maintaining independence. An example of this would be Insomniac games who are currently working on an underwater Metroidvania game called Song of the Deep that is planned to be released on the Oculus Rift Virtual Reality Headset.

Third-party developers
Third party developers publish games on multiple platforms but both the publisher and platform has a say in what is produced. These third party developers are usually the bigger companies within the industry and can put forward a lot bigger investments to their development range as they can gain revenue from multiple sources and multiple consoles. They can market and develop for all different consoles where there is a market for example a few years ago EA Sports were still releasing the FIFA series on the PlayStation 2 as there was still demand for the series on this console.

Independent developers
Independents are software developers which are not owned by a single publisher. Some of these developers self-publish their games, relying on the Internet and word of mouth for publicity. Without the large marketing budgets of mainstream publishers, their products may receive less recognition than those of larger publishers such as Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo.

P1C - Game Types

Action and Adventure – Grand Theft Auto V

Grand Theft Auto V, or GTA5, is an open world game that is developed by Rockstar games. It was released on 17^th September 2013 and was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and featured a later release on the 18^th November of the year later for the next generation of consoles such as Xbox one and PlayStation 4. It is an action-adventure game set in the semi-fictional city of Los Santos and the player jumps between 3 main story characters: Michael, Trevor and Franklin. There is also a vast online community and a very large following of the game with GTA online being a completely separate part of the game with its own special features and DLC

Driving and Racing – Dirt Rally

Dirt Rally is a racing game developed and published by Codemasters. The game originally started out as an early access game on steam and the full version was released on 7th December 2015. The game focuses on the rally part of motorsport which is mainly formed of tuned up production cars tearing up specially marked out stages along country roads around the globe. The game features vehicles all the way from the 60’s to the modern day with the recent world rally cars and travels to many destinations across Europe and the world. These include, Powys in wales, Monte Carlo in Monaco and Pikes Pike in the USA. The gameplay is very realistic and has been praised for delivering a very immersive yet enjoyable experience.

First person shooter – Battlefield 4

Battlefield 4 was released on the 29^th October 2013 by the Swedish company DICE. It is part of the highly popular Battlefield franchise and is the prequel to the 2011 release of Battlefield 3. It was highly sold in countries across the globe but came under immediate criticism from far eastern countries such as China as they saw it was portraying their country in a bad way. The game is played out from the first-person perspective and features many different weapons and is played out in many different locations. It also has a very strong online community and has its own range of DLC

Platform and puzzle – Sonic the Hedgehog

 Sonic the Hedgehog is created and owned by Sega. The game plays out as a platformer where the player is in charge of a 2d character in a 2-dimensional world and the objective is to make it to the finish. It is a very popular platformer if not the most popular behond the Mario series. It involves the main character of Sonic the hedgehog who has a companion called tails. The series goes way back into the nineties and before and has always been very popular due to its simplicity and enjoyment. Sonic was released on many different consoles through the years with most of the sales on the Nintendo consoles.

Role Play and RPG – Arma 3

 Arma 3 is an open world military shooter which is set on Altis and Stratis, two semi-fictional Mediterranean islands. It is set in the year 2035 and the game was released on the 12^th September 2013 with its own DLC branch being released in stages later on. The game is either first or third person depending on the player’s style and features an in-depth campaign as well as a complete mission creator and world editor. The online community is also very strong with many mods and changes being made by the community itself to boost the online multiplayer experience. It is classed as a war simulation due to its realistic gameplay and stunning graphics engine.

 Cities: Skylines

Cities: Skylines is a city-building game which was released on March of 2015. The game is single player based and is all about building and managing a city on a colossal scale. It received unprecedented success for the visuals and the gameplay with many people saying it was the best game they have ever played. It was released originally for PC only then was ported over to consoles in April of 2017. It was competing with SimCity at the time of release but blew it out of the water due to sales and the fact it didn’t have DRM. It also has steam workshop support built into the menus so that people can create modded content easily and quickly for others meaning that the community has kept working and transforming the game in the future.

P1B - Platform Technology

P1 b – platform technology from Rhys Spence-Robb

P1A - Structure

P1 a – structure from Rhys Spence-Robb