UWE Talk Notes on Rapid Prototyping, #Transmedia and Video Games

This post is lots of links and information for the group of UWE students that I’m working with today. We’re looking at the themes of transmedia, the rapid-prototyping of concepts and how these both fit into the ecology of the games industry.

Click on the heading of each section to find out more!

The Physics of Media Have Changed
“In mid-2007, six hours of video were uploaded to YouTube every minute. Then it grew to eight hours per minute, then 10, then 13. In January of this year, it became 15 hours of video uploaded every minute, the equivalent of Hollywood releasing over 86,000 new full-length movies into theaters each week.”

30 Second Life screenshot (iOS)

Who Plays Games? ISFE 2010

• “On average across the 8 major European nations surveyed, 25.4% of adults have played video games in the last 6 months, a total of 79.2 million gamers. This percentage varies from 38% in France to 17% in Italy and Poland, but is substantial in every country” (It’s 32% in UK)
• “Using this data we estimate there are 95.2 million adult Video Gamers across all 18 countries covered by the Gamer Survey”
• “Gaming is most popular among the young, however almost 30% of 30-49 year olds play video game”

It’s All Networked Now

• Feedback Loops
• Feedforward Loops
• Iteration

Getting Noticed in the Crowd

Question: How many apps are released per day onto iOS? Answer: 300+

When You Hit, You Hit: Modern Warfare 3
 0 to $1 billion in 16 days.

When You Miss, You Miss

The Growth of Games Industry

Innovation in Gameplay I

What is interesting in the above video is the use of 2-screen gaming concepts.  Which is not a million miles from sci-fi ideas in things like the Black Mirror.

Innovation in Gameplay II

Papa Sangre (click for video)

Innovation in Income: Freemium

Top 100 Grossing Games Freemium vs Premium

Innovation in Income: Tiny Towers
– DAUs: 825,000
– Sessions per day: Over 8 million
– Conversion to purchasing IAP: 3.8%

Innovation in Income: Crowd Sourcing $20,000
– $5 Option –Get the in-game music. 61×5=total $305
– $25 option – Get above plus special promo code for extra content and free DLC. 576×25 = total $14,400
– $100 option – Get above plus t-shirt, poster and map. 49 people chose this. 49×100 = total $4900
– $1000 option – Get above plus can be an in-game character. 1 person chose this. Total $1000

The Development Process
– Idea (gameplay, gameplay, gameplay)
– Outline Design
– Development
– Alpha
– Testing starts…
– Beta (Release? Google, Minecraft)
– Release
– (Iteration)

Defining Transmedia I
“A transmedia story unfolds across multiple media platforms with each new text making a distinctive and valuable contribution to the whole.” Jenkins (2006)

Defnining Transmedia II (more here & here)
– Trans: Latin noun or prefix, meaning “across”, “beyond” or “on the opposite side”.
– Media: Aggregated self-referential technological and socially agreed communication pathways constructed from appropriated cultural and technological utterances.

Defnining Transmedia: A Critique
“…lexical kludges, attempting to describe products using the inherent operational characteristics of broadcast media.”
Bennun (2011)

Examples of Transmedia: The Matrix Story Arc

•  The Matrix (Feature film)
• Final Flight of the Osiris (Short film)
• Enter the Matrix (Xbox, PS2 Game)
• Matrix Reloaded (Feature film)

Enter the Matrix Game

Examples of Transmedia: Mission Impossible
– Facebook Game
– Feature Film

LOL Cats – my how they’ve grown…

Thanks!