Big Picture

Discussed the production characteristics of TV shows and Movies.

Past

Explain how digital games and applications are developed and their characteristics.

Discuss the characteristics of existing digital games and applications

Present

Future

Careers: Games Developments, Application Development, Software Developer

Games and applications are one of the most recent but popular additions to media. The audience for these products is already huge.

Most games are developed for entertainment purpose to be engaging and fun although apps can be developed for a range of purposes. These products are unique in that they can be developed further post release, through updates, addons and downloadable content.

These products are always consumed through a digital device such as a games console, smartphone or tablet.

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Games & Apps

There are many types of games that can be developed, each game can have a different purpose, audience and reach:

Games

• Portable games are designed for hand held consoles or smartphones, they are not a graphic heavy and have a smaller budget. Temple Run, Pokemon and Candy Crush are examples.

• VR/Interactive Games require an alternative interface rather than a standard joypad, often made to be innovated or experimental and require specialist equipment e.g. Iron Man VR, Just Dance and Beatsabre

There are many types of games that can be developed, each game can have a different purpose, audience and reach:

Games

• AAA Games, are often big budget games and will be a major release. Games will have have huge development teams and be released on the most popular consoles some examples are Call of Duty, Fifa, Last of Us, and Grand Theft Auto.

• Indie games are small games made with a smaller budget and don't have a large audience. Small development teams or an individual works on these games. Rocket League, Dont Starve and Minecraft are all examples of this.

An app is a self contained piece of software to server a specific purpose

Applications

• Entertainment apps, are designed to be engaging and for repetitive use, it can include a range of content and multimedia for example Netflix and Spotify

• Educational apps are designed to give accurate and reliable information to its users, depending on the age of the audience the content can be designed to more engaging, for example ClassCharts and Hegarty Maths.

An app is a self contained piece of software to server a specific purpose

Applications

• Accessibility apps are designed to make a device easier to use for people with difficulties e.g. vision or movement issues. Screen magnifiers, Screen readers and voice control (SIRI)

• Social apps are designed to connect people and share content with each other. Chat features would be included as a minimum but liking, sharing and commenting on posts is also common Facebook, Instagram and TikTok are examples.

Characteristics of Games & App Development

Main Task

Computer Task:

Find examples of a game and a application that are used within different sectors of media and discuss its purpose. You should then discuss the characteristics considering the following:

Complete all the questions on the work sheet.

• Platform (Device power, media, screen resolution)

• Method of Control (Joypad, Touchscreen, Mouse & keyboard, Specialist equipment)

• Style (Cartoon, photorealism)

• Continuity (Addons, updates, downloadable content)