Available Programs for my Production

I researched different programs available for each stage of my production progress, finding a small list for each of these as shown below, I will be researching the Pro's and Cons of each software, before deciding on one from each section to work with on my final piece.

Spriting Programs –

Graphics Gale - http://www.humanbalance.net/gale/us/

Cosmigo - http://www.cosmigo.com/promotion/index.php

Drawing and Editing Programs –

Easy Paint Tool Sai - http://sai.detstwo.com/sai/

Gimp - http://www.gimp.org/

Paint.NET - http://www.getpaint.net/

Animating Software -

Synfig Studio - http://www.synfig.org/cms/

Adobe Flash - http://www.adobe.com/products/flash.html

Pencil - http://www.pencil-animation.org/

Toon Boom - http://beta.toonboom.com/

TV Paint - http://www.tvpaint.com/v2/content/article/home/

Game Making Software –

Adventure Game Studio - http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/

Game Maker - http://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker/windows

RPG maker XP/VX - http://www.rpgmakerweb.com/product/rpg-maker-xp
Stencyl - http://www.stencyl.com/

Video Editing programs –

Windows Movie Maker -http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=34

Sony Vegas - http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/download/trials/vegaspro

Final Cut - http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/top-features/

After Effects - http://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects.html

iMovie - http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/

Software Research Proposal

The Software I use during my production will be an important factor of creating my final products, so finding the right software to make these in will be something I will have to research.

As far as my final production goes, I will be making the box (packaging) for a new game (For PC, as decided by my survey monkey) along with two trailers (One showing game play and reactions, the other showing an animation and a small amount of game play, much like the Okami-den trailer) and a magazine advertisement for this game.

To do this I will need to use various programs, to get the most professional looking final product possible. When creating these pieces, I will need to find a game making software (To show footage, during one of my TV advertisements, sticking to conventions), a Video editing program will be needed to piece together both of my TV Advertisements and a type of image editing program, such as photoshop for the editing together of these pieces. I will also need a spriting program, to create sprited characters for my game.

Over the next few weeks, I will be researching various Game Making, Animation and Spriting programs, to determine which I think is most suitable for my final piece. Photoshop and Final Cut Pro will be used for the creation of my packaging and advertisement as I have used these programs previously  in AS and have experience with both of them.  

Useful Articles - Piracy in the video game industry

Illegal video game downloads 'Up nearly 20%'

PCGA 'PC game piracy is in decline'

Illegally downloading games is up 20% in five years

I found three more articles relevant to the industry I will be producing for, these, showing conflicting views on the market in terms of piracy.

The first article, found on DigitalSpy, compares the two below articles which argue whether PC game piracy is in decline or on the rise.

The BBC, reporting on the rise of piracy and the PCGA reporting that game piracy is infact in decline. The issue of PC game piracy is a big one in the industry, but I believe that with Digital Distribution and the ability to download 'demo's' of games, dominating the market at current, it will definitely fall in the future.

I think with the current economical climate, and with the 'at home', games and dvd's market doing so well, keeping an eye on the gaming industry and the introduction of new articles like this would be very useful thing for me to do and would greatly help both my understanding of the industry and may help influence my production.

Useful Article - New Technology

Download Distribution opening new doors for independent game developers

Whilst researching for my pre production, I stumbled across this article on Statesman.com, confirming my beliefs that Digital Distribution and handheld apps in the gaming industry are helping open doors for Independent game developers. 

The thing I found particularly interesting about this article is the statistics included in it, such as "11.2 million digital downloads of PC games were purchased online, according to technology research firm NPD Group. That's compared with 8.2 million "physical units purchased at retail" and this quote on the abundance of physical games "I think (packaged products) will always exist, until every last person is connected to the Internet," 

I think this article enforces my idea of having my game as a packaged, indie game, as well as advertising it to be offered through digital distribution.