Week 9: Revised Ideas + Process Book Layout
Updated: Dec 3, 2020
New Ideas (No Sketches to Show)
National Video Games Day
I discovered that there is a day in the United States (September 12) that is dedicated to video games and how they bring people together to have fun. The day is dedicated to playing any video game either alone or with friends and family and embracing the gaming culture. I could not find a point of origin as to when this holiday was formed but it's a day where gamers appreciate the history and community of gaming.
I thought it would be an interesting idea to create designs for next year's National Video Games Day that dedicated the day to the retro gaming community. They are the people who helped build the modern day gaming industry by playing arcade games and consoles in the 1970s-1990s. I feel they all deserve to be appreciated by younger gamers for their support in the development of games and their current state of preserving the nostalgia of retro gaming.
Below are a couple ideas (continuing from my previous post) that could help dedicate the day to the retro gaming community.
Idea 3: YouTuber's Logos + Merch
The Project: YouTubers greatly influence modern gamers which would be a great area to focus on to attract the attention of modern gamers. My idea is to create new design concepts for the logos of a few top popular gaming YouTubers (such as PewDiePie, Markiplier, VanossGaming, etc.) and make their logos relate to who retro gamers are and what they talk about. I would also create merchandise such as T-shirts, Bags, Posters, Stickers, Cups, and Book Covers for these YouTubers that reflect the terms and language used in the retro gaming community to help spread appreciation to these gamers.
The Production: I would create these designs in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator and I would have the original logos placed next to their redesigned versions and display them as the intro in the YouTubers' videos. If possible I would like to animate them too. Their merchandise would be redesigns of their current merchandise that fit the retro gaming community's personality or new merch that will be added to their collection.
The Content: The type of language I would be using are terms found specifically in retro gaming conversations such as; cartridges, game genie, 1UP, CIB, CRT, etc. All the little terms that are not commonly said in modern gaming conversations with the design elements from retro gaming consoles and games.
Idea 4: Red Dead Retro
Further developing the idea of taking a modern day video game and "retrofying" it. A recent game called Red Dead Redemption 2 by Rockstar Games is, what I think, a great contender for my project. Rockstar Games has been around since 1998 and are well known for developing games for Xbox, PlayStation, and online users such as; the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption games. I feel the open world concept and real time interaction of Red Dead Redemption 2 is a good representation of the modern day video game industry. Infinite opportunities can be found in this Wild West themed game and the content matches my original idea of transforming a modern day shooter game into a retro version of itself.
The goal of this new idea is to create a DLC ("Downloadable Content) version of the game for Rockstar Games that views this Wild West world through the eyes of a modern day retro gamer. The content that can be downloaded will feature a pair of glasses that the player's character can wear which will transform speech boxes whenever the characters in the game communicate with each other and will also slightly change the context to fit a retro gamer's conversation. The map, menus, and specific items in the game will also be transformed into a retro version of itself. The pair of glasses can be taken off or put on whenever the player wants. It is a subtle way to disrupt the modern gaming industry's designs and transform it to fit the retro gaming community that helped spark the modern industry.
The production: I would love for the production of this idea to be creating a promotional video that is meant to be featured on Rockstar Games' Red Dead Redemption 2 website. What would be great is to create the promotional video by taking clips of the game and replacing elements with a retro version through video editing but I feel that would be too difficult for me to achieve in such a short amount of weeks.
A more logical idea for production would be to take images of the game and transform them into the retro version mentioned above with tutorial comments built in. This would be placed on their "website" where the gamers can download the DLC for their version of the game. If possible, the RDR2 webpage for the DLC would also be slightly redesigned to match not only the theme of Red Dead Redemption 2, but transform it into a retro version of itself to help celebrate the retro gaming community.
PROCESS BOOK LAYOUT
For my process book I felt it would be fitting to design it based off of gaming magazines, specifically retro gaming magazines. I've noticed retro gamers like to talk about how they used to read these and it sparked my interest. I will be doing research on these magazine layouts to create an effective design to fit my project. For now, here is the organizational layout of what will be recorded in my book. There is no content inserted yet or a well structured format but the chapters and organizational idea is in place.