10.11.25
Understanding Creative Media Companies
Reflective Journal
Our primary objective during this lesson was to understand the differences between the various types of companies involved in creative media production and how they contribute to the industry.
And to learn the difference between horizontal and vertical integration, as well as what they mean for the creative industry.
Company types;
- Designers/developers
- Indie Developers
- Publishers
Defined as people/companies to fund the development and marketing of a game, they are responsible for handling shipping and manufacturing games to be put on shelves in stores.
Vertical Integration
When a parent company operates and/or owns more than one stage of production in a single industry
For Example, Sony owns developers from various studios such as Mm, Bend Studio, etc, along with Sony Interactive Entertainment (PlayStation), as well as owning the PlayStation Store to distribute what they make.
Horizontal Integration
When a single parent company owns other companies or studios across different industries.
Companies like these benefit a lot as they can use different IPs (intellectual properties) or use different companies to help with certain things in games they make or movies they make.
For Example, Sony owns Sony Pictures, which in turn owns the Marvel character Spider-Man, which allows them to not only make movies of that character but also allows them to make video games based on the character.
17.11.25
HW - Creative Media Companies
Vertical/Horizontal Integration Research Diagram
Experience W/Felix Li
Reflections and Feedback
One of the biggest learning points from Felix's educational journey for me was how he began by studying mechanical engineering before transitioning to a design school.
During this session, in which we played and tested Pool 2, I played both the Demo and the Full game.
However, I do think there are quite a few flaws with the game that keep it from being the best it could be, such as
The controls are clunky and rigid as you use your keyboard to slowly turn the ball before firing (the game heavily recommends a controller because of this).
Additionally, some maps are far better than others, difficult to keep track of your selected ball when multiple people are on screen. No real long-term incentive to play since there's only local multiplayer, a 1-match singleplayer mode and very basic time trial and challenge modes.
And finally, slippery and hard controls make it very frustrating to play, becoming only manageable when you nudge the ball very slightly to get back a sense of control.
After we had tested out the demo and full game of Pool 2, the Dev gave us a Google form to fill out, asking for feedback and comments on what we thought about the game. I believe the reason they decided to do this was for data to steadily improve the game in the future when he continues work/development on it.
Reflection:
I believe, from this session, I have learned more about the indie development scene and the challenges these devs face, such as the limited resources that they have to make what they want without a big publisher, as well as playtesting and bug fixing, funds being the main issue, however.
Taking all of this into retrospect for my future game dev journey, I would definetly like to research more into the indie dev side of game development as well as job applications for indie studios and ways to pitch game ideas to certain studios.
Additionally, I would like to take the platforming aspect and use it in future development for my own game that I will make in the future.
Learning to playtest often as much as possible to figure out issues/find bugs, testing how the design is for players to see if it teaches them what I'm attempting to teach them using invisible tutorials.
For a random example, if I were to have an assignment to make a game in 2 months, I believe I would playtest twice or thrice a week, for anything I had made or created up to that point, when I do it.
Understanding Critical Perspectives
Game Reviews
Our objective for this lesson was to critically evaluate working practices and methods.
Critical perspectives/reviews are important because they are (usually) well-informed reviews of a game covering both strengths and weaknesses of a game on its own merits and in comparison to other games either released at the same time or relating to it.
Case Study - IGN's God Hand review
However, after further investigation was dug through it was revealed they had not even gotten past the first major level of the game, giving up without delving into the game properly because of its difficulty.
A shovelware title by the name of Imagine Party Babyz, receiving a 7.5/10, which is baffling due to the discrepancy and quality in comparing both titles, leading to players and people in general to question game review sites.
Sources:
Roper, C. (2006). God Hand Review - IGN. [online] IGN. Available at: https://www.ign.com/articles/2006/10/10/god-hand-review.
https://www.ign.com/games/imagine-party-babyz
Review structure for writing your own reviews:
When writing reviews for anything media related, may that be books, films or games, there is a review structure, it goes as follows:
- Paragraph 1: Giving the overall impression to the reader.
- Paragraph 2: summary of the plot.
- Paragraph 3: Gameplay.
- Paragraph 4: Presentation/ look of the game.
- Paragraph 5: Themes or messages it provides.
- Paragraph 6: Conclusion with overall opinion and rounding back to the beginning.
BioShock Review analysis:
 |
| Overall Impression |
 |
| Summary of plot |
Here, the writer partly explains the plot of Bioshock, as he remarks about how you awake as a castaway after a plane crash, talking about how you discover a structure, etc.
This gives context to the reader about the overall premise.
 |
| Themes |
 |
| Presentation |
 |
| Gameplay |
They also talk about other various enemies and how fun it is to defeat them with the game's mechanics.cs
This gives the reader the impression of its gameplay and can prepare them for what to expect if they were to play it for themselves.
 |
| Conclusion |
From what I learned it is that reviews are written in first person, talking directly to the reader, can be in any structure, even repeating certain sections for clarity and can use either humorous or witty remarks to elaborate a point.
They also include a 1 to 10 ranking at the end of them for a general score, and for people who just want to know if a game is worth it to them at a quick glance.
18.11.25
Industry Workshop
Develover Digital
The aim of this workshop was to gain insight into what it is like to work in the games industry and explore the various types of roles and functions within the workspace by listening to speaker Anthony James and learning about his background/expertise in the subject.
This connects with our previous work in Unit 3 - Lesson 1, where we discussed indie developers & publishers.
AJ's Background:
He studied Math A-levels well as further economics + History.
Then, going to uni, he studied BSc Finance and Management, before getting a job at Britvic.
From there, he qualified from SNTV as a management accountant and went on to Eurmonitor international - financial modelling & valuation analyst qualification, which then led him to Devolver Digital, which is where he is today.
Devlover Digital Roles:
During his talk, he listed many different roles at the studio he works at, Devolver Digital, these roles include;
- Publishing
- Production
- Marketing
- Engineering/IT
- Human Resources
- Finance + Stratergy
- Legal
- and Operation/QA
He described working at Devolver to be a remote business with people who genuinely care about its workers, including a diverse team and an employee count of over 250.
Something that surprised me the most was the vast number of employees they have, leading me to assume that if I were to ever work at Devolver, I would very quickly get the help I need from many willing and able to offer help in quick succession.
Greenlighting Activity:
In a group of 3, I was assigned to, we decided together that we would greenlight this pitch due to the low price point, profit assessment and looking into the studio's past work, which gave a lot of credibility and confidence in their pitch.
Reflection:
Overall, I think the biggest lesson that I took from this lesson is that working indie, while difficult, is not as daunting as it may seem, as there are many indie publishers out there that you can work with to get a game made.
As long as you have a well thought and out and well-written pitch to give (it would also be a good idea to pitch to several different studios to have the biggest chance of your pitch being picked up).
I will definitely be taking and using this information whenever in the future I decide to pitch a game and have Devolver Studios at the top of my mind when doing so.
Personal game review
Job roles in the games industry
The objectives for this lesson were to better understand job roles available in the games industry and to start planning our potential industry progression. This relates to our previous lessons, such as the one with Anthony James and his work at Develover Studios.
Different job departments you might find at a developer, publisher and distributor:
- Executive Producer
- Director/Creator
- Production design/Producer
- Game Design
- Technical directors
- Programmers/Lead programmers
- Digital artists
- character voices
- etc.
Job Roles Research:
Personal Skills Audit