Studio Brief 2 - Music ADD VIDEO CAN POST

Music in games make the whole experience more memorable and interactive. Every single movie trailer incorporate music within it to capture the dramatic effect and appeal to the emotions of the viewers depending on the genera of music. Music is a way to emphasis or make sense of what's happening, giving the user a clear indication of what's happening in the game, it can also be used to strengthen a certain agenda the game subtle embeds. 8 bit music in general is very simple to produce and is very distinctive to the ear as it’s mostly used for games. 8 bit music is well known for it's comical and cartoonish sound effects and this is the kind of style I was looking for when animating the first level of 'Trumpft Whitehouse race', a style that combined with the graphics gives the underlying message more strength and context.

The biggest challenge was to figure out the theme song that runs throughout the whole level. It needed to be a song that insults and mocks Trump opinions and policies but in a way that was subtle to the Trump supporters but was obvious to others. It would be a clever and funny epiphany moment for people against Trump.  Many songs were suggested such as the American anthem, which was on the correct pathway but it needed more of a clever context behind it. In the end the chosen background theme song was the Mexican anthem. Trump has continuously insulted and disrespected Mexico by suggesting that they bring rapist and drugs to the US and has vowed to build a wall around the border. Therefore, the best way to mock these policies was to use the anthem throughout the whole game. The song was converted into a 8 bit style to match the overriding 8 bit theme and the anthem was slightly sped up to avoid making it completely obvious that it's the Mexican anthem and also with it sped up it's ads more of an energetic feel to the game.

All of the other music/sound effects have been used to add a cartoonish feel to the game. This gave the game a fun, engaging and interactive sentiment to the level. It's another way to further disrupted Trumps image of being portrayed in a professional way and further increase the possibility that people will see him as a stupid and comical personality then a serious presidential candidate.

Lastly, music also offers as a promotional material. Music can be heard by all and therefore will spark peoples attention if someone plays the game on the train, bus or wherever they might be. Incorporating fast pace and energetic 8 bit music will catch peoples interest making them want to catch a glimpse of the game the user is playing. 

The music can be heard in the video below:








Comp 1_8 from Jack Solomon on Vimeo.

Module Evaluation

Overall, the module has been challenging but one of the best module since coming to university. From the start it was difficult to get started on this project due to other module needing more attention and focus. The decline for other modules were very close together that stumped my full attention and progress. The main benefit was figuring out the concept and rationale before starting brief 1 and 2. Even though I didn’t start any of the briefs I had a good understanding off what I wanted to do. It was good in terms of preparation as it saved me a considerable amount of time for when I had the time to finally work on it.

The main reason I enjoyed this brief was the flexibility and the openers of the both briefs. The brief didn’t restrict us in any manner as it was left up to us. The amount of openness aloud me to work on certain topics that I’m currently into and find exciting. The Bauhaus movement was an obvious choice as my chosen topic area for brief 1. I had used Bauhaus for inspiration for a number of briefs this year and through that had gained a lot of appreciation for the movement — so to focus curly on the movement for the banknotes filled me with excitement and drive which made the whole brief thoroughly enjoyment. As I was enjoying brief 1 so much I made effective use of research, normally I wouldn’t find research very interesting to do and often saw it as a burden but because the I was interesting in the subject, research become an opportunity to understand the movement further. At some situations I ended up researching the movement personally for my own enjoyment which shows my fascination. 

Brief 2 was such a fun brief. Picking a political subject around Donald trump allowed for me to fully attack and insult Donald Trump for the disgusting man his was. His views, comments and policies are all very dangerous and damaging to the America if Donald trump was to become president in 2017. It was clear from the onset that producing a digital resolution for this brief was obvious. It was the area of graphic that I loved and enjoyment the most. Ux/Ui, two subjects that bring out my passion and drive to make a resolution that excels and demonstrates my commitment to Graphic design. I ended up revisiting existing skills from responsive in which I learnt from working on the User experience and user interface briefs. After effect was the main skill I eating to improve within. After effects, a software that I began to learn in responsive and since then I felt as if  the software opened me up to a lot of opportunities that before has restricted me to take digital design to the next level. It allowed me to produce resolutions that were more interactive and more visual to present. Overall, I feel what I had produced for this module is something I can be proud off, work that I can use as strong portfolio pieces, that demonstrates the passion I have for digital design as well as the current fascination with the Bauhaus.

Studio Brief 2 - Evaluation CAN POST

Brief 2 was a perfect opportunity to apply my existing skills and apply them for a political cause. I knew from the start the kind of approach I wanted to take. I’ve found the area of graphics that I’m most interested in which is the field of UX/UI but digital design in general. In the responsive module I only picked digital briefs that incorporated user experience and interface design. I absolutely loved every minute of it so it was an obvious choice that what ever political issue I chose to base the brief around I wanted to create a digital resolution for.  

The topic area I decided to choose was Donald Trump. Trump’s policies and comments have been extremely controversial. Even though he continues to make outrageous statements that are full of hate he still dominates the poll and is in the perfect position to win the presidential spot. With Trump being constantly in the media there has already been a vast amount of parody mocking Donald Trump for his mindset and apperance. I wanted to create a resolution that exposed Trump through political satire and humour. 

Creating an 8 bit game felt the most appropriate method to create a parody of Trumps views and apperance while taking full advantage of my area of interest. Through creating the game I was able to apply existing skills to the game. After effects, a software that I began to learn in responsive and since then I felt as if  the software opened me up to a lot of opportunities that before has restricted me to take digital design to the next level. It allowed me to produce resolutions that were more interactive and more visual to present. I applied my existing skills to the game and from that managed to create one level that was fully animated. The game gave me a perfect opportunity to play around and experiment with humour and political satire that insulting and ironically turned Trumps policies against him. Through experimenting the game was a perfect platform to see how far I could take things. Implementing key components of Trump such as the Pope, Mexicans and ISIS the game started to become an eye opening platform which subtly mocked and insulted Trump and his loyal thick supporters. Along with the game, the campaign collateral strengthened the message of the game and it was a way to appeal to a bigger viewer ship to get more people excited and to create a sense of hype through social media and the implementation of hashtags.

Overall, I wish I had more time on this brief, I would’ve like to animate a few more levels but because of the time limit I wasn’t able to achieve this. But hopefully over summer I will animate the majority of the game and see where I can take the game. 

Studio Brief 1 - Evaluation CAN POST

Brief 1 was an exciting opportunity to come back to screen print, a skill in which I partially forget and lacked the knowledge within. The most challenging aspect of this brief was the limited amount of time we had to get our banknotes screen printed. We were set a deadline to screen print our money but due the back log of work from context of practice and the deadline rapidly approaching the focus was put on completing that module to a high standard instead of on my banknotes. Therefore, I only had a week to screen print my money before the deadline.

Even though some people didn’t finish their briefs to the original deadline they were still given an extra 2 or 3 weeks to finish their money. I could’ve used extra couple of weeks to work on my money and possibly end up with a better design overall but Its beneficial and productive to work towards a deadline. The tight deadlines are in place to prepare us as young creatives for how the industry will work. If people can’t stick to the deadlines then they will only struggle once they go into full time employment. The screen printing process was difficult at first but eventually I managed to successfully produce a set of three bank notes. Even though the bank notes had to be simplified in order to print them on time, overall, the bank notes still communicated the three disciplines of the Bauhaus movement by using the famous geometric shapes of Bauhaus. 

The development of the bank notes made use of the research process by investigating and understanding the key pioneers of Bauhaus movement throughout the years such as Marcel Breuer, Marianne Brandt and important people who influence the movement such as El Lissitzky with his icon ‘Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge’ . By researching influential figures it took my bank notes down a contextual route, making the concept of the series stronger.  It was also vital to understand money in the first place, through research I understood money as a concept and how it played an important part globally. Understanding traditional money and how the rise of bitcoin and contactless could potentially start to see the disappearance of money as we know it. Who knows if money will survive but because of the risk of hacking money will be still be around purely for the security aspect.

Overall, I felt that I could’ve worked harder on this brief but as I’ve already mentioned It began a challenge to balance work when other deadlines where approaching. I also knew that brief 2 was a bigger brief then brief 1 I also ended up spending more time on brief 2. 

Studio Brief 2 - Initial sketches

As I'm more informed about the type of game I'm hoping to create. Below are a few game ideas for 'Trumps White House Race' that will aim to subtly insult and mock Donald Trump and his supporters.

The first game idea is based around Donald Trump’s hair and the recent news story about a plant that grows on a beach that resembles his hair. The first level will see the user navigating Trump down a beach to collect his bleach blonde wigs that have been growing there. The user must successfully collect the required amount without being killed by immigrants and the incoming tide. Other items the user can collect on the way are hairspray, fake tan, guns and cash. All these components are essentially designed to insult Trump but in a subtle way. The majority of the users playing the game will mostly be Trump supporters so even though they know that they have to collect his wigs they still would want to invest into the game because they want to see Trump succeed and as president so they would glance over the subtle insults as to much of a distraction.

The next game idea is what every Trump supporter would love to play. Essentially, the user would have to fend of the incoming attack from the Mexicans who are trying to kill Trump. This game incorporates Trump's views on Mexicans and his views on gun laws. By having the Mexicans attempting to attack Trump would certainly be seen as an incentive for Trump supporters to play the game to kill the Mexicans as they would share the same hatred as Trump.

This game is a subtle hint as one comment Trump made about his daughter. He expressed that If his daughter wasn't his daughter then he would date her. This statement is clearly weird and incestual. This incestual approach would be embedded within the game’s environment. The narrative of the game would be that Donald has left the key to the white house in Ivanka's bed and he needs to retrieve it without the paparazzi spotting him. Therefore, the user has to navigate Trump through the different floors while hiding in dark places around the house to avoid being seen by the paparazzi. The message behind the game showcases that Trump has slept with his daughter and left the key in the bed but the game doesn't actually confirm this therefore making it not as apparently for everyone so it can still be enjoyed by Trump supporters.

The last game idea is set within a factory environment and the message behind the game is about fascism to create a pure American race. Essentially there will be a conveyer belt in a factory that starts of as crap which then goes through the ‘American machine’ and converts the crap into a Donald Trump supporter. If the supporter is to dark then the user will have to send it to a fiery death but if white enough then the supporter can live. The user will have to decide within a short time limit whether the supporter will live or die in order to complete the game. Hopefully the insult and mockery isn't to noticeable with this game. If the poop turned into Donald Trump's then maybe it will be too obvious but because its supporters instead it may not click straight away and because the machine will continuously speed up the user won't have much time to really focus on what's actually happening.

Studio Brief 2 - Future of Game / Brand CAN POST

The future of the game will only last as long as the presidential election. The game is called 'Trumpft's Whitehouse Race' and is about navigating Trump through many challenged in order to make it to the Whitehouse as president. Its evident to see that the game will only have a life span for as long as the presidential race lasts. The presidential race ends in 2017, therefore the game will only have in till then to engage and build a community of gamer before the game becomes irrelevant and people move on with other contemporary games, only leaving behind the loyal fans of the game.

The end is short but strategies can be embedded to make the success last longer, avoiding a total end. Over the course of Trumps game the company would build a reputation of some sort, if the game is good then people will come back and vice versa. If people like the game and notices that the company has brung out another 8 bit game coming out then they wouldn't hesitate to move onto that game because of the high standards the had with the Trumpft's Whitehouse race.


Brand
If this becomes achieved then the company ends up becoming brand. A brand that can expand and make more games based on subjects such as political humour or games that the community want to see. Through merchandise the brand can build a following and community, selling t-shirts, posters and other merch will increase visibility off the brand. It acts as a form of free promotion while also turning over a substantial income. Another way to build profit would be to charge people for the game, but as a relatively new company, loyalty from the audience is crucial if the brand want to succeed. Another idea would be to make the game free and instead make a profit by advertising on the actual game. It an advantage for both customer and brand. However, if the brand uncaringly place ads all over the game then the user experience, user journey and aesthetics of the game would suffer. The adverts may interfere with the game play, which can cause people to seek out other games that don't implement annoying ads. The last option would be from the selling of merchandise. You can make the game(s) free of charge to download but you can bump up the price of the merch for the brand to make a profit of some kind.

Studio Brief 2 - Primary Research / Would you buy this game? CAN POST

As most of my final resolutions have been complete I was time to actually see if the concept was achieved. In this bit of research I used the final animation of the 'beach level' to based the research off. I asked around 7 people (i think) and asked them "Is this a game that you would buy?" and "Do you understand the concept?".  The best answer were: (I forgot to write the answers down, so I've tried my best to remember the answers)

"I love it! It's so good, well done!"
"Yes absolutely I can absolutely see it on the app store"
"It's meant to be a game that takes the piss out of Donald Trump"
"How did you do that?? "
"You've done really well to insult Trump, the Hitler references are clever"
"Very unique approach ,  I love how you've centered a whole game around Donald Trumps hair"
"It looks really professionally done"


From this feedback its clear that what I've set out to achieve has been successful. Everyone said they would buy the game and some said that they would download it right now if they could. They understood the humour and some people even laughed at the short animation of the 'beach level' -- this was a proud moment for me as I worked extremely hard on the game and to see the concept being understood and appreciated was nice to see.

The goal was to mock Trump for his backwards idea and policies and to use a range of humour from sarcasm, irony and satire to insult Trump. The result clearly demonstrate the success of the concept and game.