IP Justification
My IP Opportunity is the theme of ‘Time’ combined with the ‘Bones’
My ip will consist of several themes picked up on during my research which I deem interesting and so do others.
The game choice I have decided on is one about none other than voodoo priest dinosaurs resurrecting their friends through bones and fossils.
This seems like a rather random game choice but from what I have gathered it seems even if people do not believe in the whole dinosaurs and prehistoric age through beliefs or just because they do not see the link to our world and theirs, they will still be interested in the game, even if they have no interest in buying the game they will allow people to take a deeper look at it.
Voodoo dinosaur resurrecting the dead dinosaurs to fight for him?
This would add controversy, add in the added factor of Zombies, which people love, and often obsessed with (I love zombies) lends itself perfectly to a DLC type game that can be played on and off, which is currently what a lot of gamers use.
The game itself I see as a bright and colourful plat former, many people still enjoy plat formers, and they seem to be making a return, as many DLC games and even full title games are back as plat formers, and doing pretty well for themselves!
A game which I have recently just purchased myself is the new Rayman Origins.
A picture to the left shows a screen grab of the game, a bright and colourful game which doesn’t take itself too seriously, and if I was going to create a game about voodoo and dinosaurs I think I would be going the same way that Rayman has, it is a very controversial topic and I have to handle my subject matter accordingly. (The screenshot is little strange but it highlights the fun you have in game)
“Rayman Origins is special, rare and precious. Somewhere in the last few years, the classic notion of games being benign and whimsical escapist fantasies was lost in favor of battered, war torn landscapes and desolate dystopian apocalypse”.
A review on Rayman, which shows how gamers react when faced with such a beautiful and fun game, which you barely ever get to play when your game collection is crammed full of 1st person shooters, every so often it’s nice to just play a fun and whimsical game such as Rayman.
There is much other game which takes on the side scroll action, Castle crashers, although released several years ago still offers fun for a lot of people and it also shows the DLC side of things.
An award winner now, Limbo, the dark side scrolling which is packed full of interesting puzzles and captivating scenes in which you explore.
“Limbo is horrifically beautiful. A monochrome purgatory painted in jet-black ink and scratches of charcoal. The screen’s peripheries glow and flicker, as if we’re peering into this world through a grainy, fish-eye lens”
A Limbo Review, showing that a 2d environment, treated well is one of the most well met gaming scenarios out there, it’s one of the lost arts I feel to gaming and something that should be revived even for just a game or two.
The platform itself is one that people are interested in, but how about my chosen art style?
I was thinking of an art style that is reminiscing again to Rayman, a bright and beautiful backdrop with fun and simple controls up front.
Two big name which do this, one is Mario, the other is Sonic the Hedgehog.
The art style of this game must be loved, I mean, there are so many of their games that if you stacked them all up you could probably get to the moon.
Even though there are so many games in the collection, people still come back time and time again to play the newest games, and get enthralled by the wonders of the Sonic and Mario universe.
Two quotes from an IGN review.
“You will have fun and the fun will last for a good while, plain and simple”.
“2D views showcase stylized and colourful backdrops befitting of a classic Mario game”.
A Super paper Mario review, I chose this review due to the fact it’s a 2d game that involves Mario, with a very special backdrop and environment which people get to know and love.
There are still Mario fanatics all over the world, and his 2D style never gets old, and it’s this classic style which never ages that I am aiming for.
Another game that really shows off how beautiful a game can be is Kirbys Epic Yarn.
A game release in 2010 which shows off how people still love pretty 2d adventure games.
Of course the Wii is the console that was chosen due to its hugely interactive controls and main target audience to families, which would be a nice aim for a game of my standards too.
Now onto the topics the game will be tackling.
The first of course is the dinosaur aspect, the revival of the dinosaurs through bones and fossils which can be found through exploration.
Dinosaurs have been a very big thing, children all of the world love them, tiny plastic dinosaurs taking up most of their rooms, to the adults, whose films collection will most certainly contain Jurassic park, and don’t worry if it doesn’t, it was recently re-released, which shows just how much people actually like the dino based genre.
“You can view a trailer for the re-release below. Steven Spielberg's monster hit will be presented, “fully restored in glorious digital cinematic quality”.
The film itself in reviews and by most people is regarded as:
“Steven Spielberg's phenomenally successful sci-fi adventure thriller”
It’s one of those films where if the film is even mentioned, the theme tune is heard throughout the day haunted peoples thoughts, which is a good thing when you’re trying to create a game based on dinosaurs!
A thing that needs to be addressed is the controversy of my next topic, the zombie dinosaurs, and the dinosaurs that can be resurrected during the game.
People may tip toe around the subject of raising the dead, but there is a cult following for zombie, I’m sure everybody knows at least one person who loves zombie films and zombie based games
.
When you’re talking about zombie games, you’re drawn in the huge franchise of Resident evil. With an arsenal of games under its belt I’m confident in saying peoples love for zombie games is not dying out.
Games such as Dead Island, which involves a resort over run by zombies and you have to fight your way out, the amazing duo Dead rising and Dead rising 2, in which you are let loose in a mall and a shopping centre/ casino based area allowing you to do what you like in a zombie filled environment, even games such as Call of Duty gets in on the action having their infamous Zombie mode, where you fight hordes of zombies until you can’t fight any longer.
A dead rising screenshot, showing the lead Frank West and a mall full of zombies.
Even comic book fanatics get in on the zombie action in the comic book series Marvel Zombies (Earth-2149) the many characters that we know and love come back to life in a horrific manor.
The description to the series was “Big Bang, though in a way the Hunger created it”
The link to the Marvel site information was obtained from:
Now for the voodoo sides of my game.
I know people don’t really know a lot about the voodoo sides of religion, and what the voodoo topic is actually all about, but if you add stereotypical recognisable features people will instantly link one idea to the next, and perhaps through the game I can show voodoo in a different light, adding dancing zombies perhaps to add a little humour, healing magic and talismans all showing the real side of voodoo.
And since I have found sites related to voodoo in present day, where priests still sell their voodoo priest abilities to help people I think that there will be a market for voodoo based game play.
Above is a picture of a voodoo troll priest.
A game that voodoo plays a big part of is the game World of Warcraft.
In this game a whole tribe is based around the Voodoo arts, the Trolls.
They are based on the black nation that invented the topic, having sacred dances, shamans which study the art of totems and even the worship of the dead, having many of their quests involving the ancient art of voodoo and the healing and spirit side portrayed through the game. With the game itself having over 10 million players, and they fully accept the trolls and their racial habits, which even draw in a crowd of role players who are fascinated by the tribal reality of the strange art of voodoo, I’m sure that a voodoo based game would be well accepted especially on the DLC side of the market.
Here is a picture of a DLC package from Rockstar for their hit game Red Dead Redemption.
It shows off the greatness of DLC and the impact of Zombies in games as well, showcasing 2 of my justification points in 1 simple picture.
Finally I will look at the DLC side of the market, seeing how many people are actually interested in the whole DLC market, and how the game will be received if placed on the DLC area of say Xbox, or on PSN.
Recently DLC has seen a huge rise in purchases, and sheer amount of content.
There are thousands of items which can be downloaded and bought via downloading. From music via itunes, to moves via Zune, to games on PSN and Xbox live, there is always a market for people to buy online without leaving their homes.
The huge upside for DLC is that smaller games can be published and then updated easily. This is a brilliant way to sell a game, and many big titles have even jumped on the DLC bandwagon, many games having DLC that make a game larger and gives it more content than before.
Just to show how much DLC is accepted and purchased I have found a question asked on a Rockstar forum:
“Will the L.A. Noire Pre-Order DLC be available?”
People are actually pre ordering DLC, and with many games coming with DLC pre order game passes which allow people to purchase DLC before they even know what it is!
This just shows that DLC is a brilliant way for a smaller game like mine to be show cased.
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