Game Console Advert
Context
In this project, I have to create an animated sequence of around 20 seconds that advertises the features and design of a new console, controller and peripheral that I will be creating. The pitch must present the assets as an animated sequence that will reveal the console. The console must be in the branding of Amazon, Apple or Google. The advertisement must be accompanied with your own composed background music.
Mood Boards
Consoles
Peripherals
Brainstorms
Essential Controller Features
A controller must have many ways to input controls while being ergonomically suited to the average person. Controllers usually have a minimum of 2 joysticks, 4 front buttons and 2 back buttons to allow for basic universally recognised controls and inputs. The controllers also sometimes have a start/select button on them as well.
Market Expectations
The general market would expect the console to compete with current front-runners and be compatible with current games as well as being able to reach the system requirements of other consoles. One of the expectations of new consoles is backwards compatibility with older games. As well as this bringing a whole new console into the market presents challenges as people normally use a preferred brand
Peripheral Ideas
- Controller
- VR Headset
- Microphone
- Headset
Existing Reveal Trailers
These are existing trailers of console reveals from multiple companies for multiple products. All these trailers have similar themes, standards and formats that I can replicate in my own work. Some of these features including; plain white backgrounds almost like a void, close panning camera shots accompanied by fast, rolling cameras as well as slow panning shots that slow down for text to appear on screen next to the console.
Adobe After Effects Text Tutorials
References:
Drawn Concept Art
These are text effects I found online that I might want to include in my final product, these text effects are all, sci-fi related or could theoretically work in the style of existing trailers. Overall, I think my favourite is the 'Speed Particles' effect followed by 'Text Blur' and other text I already have knowledge in keyframing in Adobe After Effects.
This is my concept art I created on photoshop for my google games console. I decided on a couple key features like the shape of the console, the name Google PGD+ and the LEDs that will be present on the sides. The concept follows the conventions of other google products colour wise with a white base and blue, red, yellow and green colours on top. The concept also has slots in the back which will be expanded upon in my final design.
Researching the Console Market
The Console Landscape and Market Competition
The main 3 current rivals on the market are PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo with PlayStation having the highest share on the market.
The top 3 consoles and high standing platforms sometimes offer extra services to keep customers inside their ecosystems, these include: exclusive games, monthly memberships to access free games and multiplayer services.
Consoles also occasionally release bundles with their console plus a game and sometimes extra merchandise or a console with a designed theme based on the game. Consoles are also expected to come with peripherals like consoles and sometimes headsets to use the console. Having a console release with an exclusive game not only promotes the game but limited edition wares are more sought after and looked higher upon by the public.
StatCounter Global Stats. 2021. Console Operating System Market Share Worldwide | Statcounter Global Stats. [online] Available at: <https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/console/worldwide>
Your Company Brand
Google has never dives into the console market before. However, have made products in the past such as the Google Pixel, Google Home, Google Glass and Stadia, which came close. Products like the Google Glass and Stadia weren't as successful as the company hoped and they would be good peripherals to sell with a console if they added features that unify them to the console. The main brand of google however, comes from the iconic colour pallet of white, red, yellow, blue and green and is a necessity in most google products.
About.google. 2021. How we started and where we are today - Google UK. [online] Available at: <https://about.google/our-story/>
En.wikipedia.org. 2021. List of Google products - Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_products>
Creating Text Transitions in Adobe After Effects
These are a couple of the text effects I created in Adobe After Effects.
The first text effect was easily the most complicated requiring 3 shape layers that is alpha inverted to the 3 text layers for each line. The text would start behind the shape and be keyframed to move upwards to reveal the text.
The second text effect was purely keyframe based, starting at 0% opacity and quite high up on the canvas, It is set to simultaneously, yet slowly, become opaque and move down the screen.
The third text effect was the most simple, only requiring a pre-existing effect to be dragged onto the text layer and timed correctly.
The final text effect was similar to the second, using only text and keyframes except using multiple text layers for the sentence and individually moving them in from the sides while becoming more opaque. This effect also had an exit effect where it would move the opposite way while becoming more transparent again.
Logo Typography Experimentation
Logo Inspiration
These are existing google logos and variants I found online. They all have similar colour pallets (that being the original google colours or a blue variation) as well as the logos just being the word with specific fonts and styles.
This is a good basis for my own logo designs as they should also follow these themes.
Logo Mock Ups In Photoshop
These are my logo designs that I made in photoshop. The top two use the same font as the current logo and the three below are different fonts from 'dafont.com' all with different styles from 'cartoony' to 'sci-fi'
For the second row I tried a line pattern that I could make LEDs or extend into LEDs on the console.
The first logo being the original font is as an example that doesn't rebrand the console.
Logo Feedback and Research
This was the feedback of my survey of the logos above. I surveyed 4 people and asked, out of the designs, which was their favourite, 2nd favourite and 3rd favourite as well as if they preferred it with or without lines.
The general populous preferred lines to no lines with a ratio of 3:1.
The out of the logos, Logo 4 came 1st with Logo 1 in 2nd and Logo 2 in 3rd.
From this research I know that design 4 with lines was generally the preferred design.
The Wii Controller was released by Nintendo on November 19th in 2006.
Over the years it has been iterated upon, being a slim rectangle in shape with motion controls allowed for addons and peripherals to be easily implemented for specific games (e.g. the Wii gun and Wii steering wheel).
The controller has many features first on display in this remote. For example, as mentioned previously, the motion controls on a 3D axis allows for omnidirectional movement to be translated into a game environment. As well as this, the controller had infra-red sensors in the front so you could point the remote at the screen and move a cursor from up to 16ft away. The controller also had lots of peripherals and additions such as the nun chucks and Wii plus that could plug into the controller to add more innovative forms of control. The Wii console also allowed for 4 players to be able to play in person allowing for 4 controllers on one screen.
For its time the controller's design was unique and far different from anything anyone had seen before.. it completely ignored the standard of controllers at the time and ultimately, that was the remotes downfall, people were just used to the norms of controller designs and since it wasn't broken, there was no need to fix it and this drastic of a change wasn't necessary. This sort of change also meant that any games on the Wii almost always had to be designed specifically for the controller.
During an interview with the designers, Ikeda said "Of course, when playing a game, the nearest thing to the player is the controller. The controller should therefore be regarded as an extension of the player rather than as part of the console." When designing this controller, they wanted the remote to work well with the normal movements of a human and regular actions that a game might require with efficiency and comfort
En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Wii Remote - Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_Remote>
Wii Development Team interviews, the Wii Remote. [online] Video Games Blogger. Available at: <https://www.videogamesblogger.com/2007/05/30/wii-development-team-interviews-part-1-the-wii-remote.htm>
Wii Controller Case Study
Creating a Complicated Logo in Adobe After Effects
I then got a blank white square and placed it below everything, then the "PGD+" text and put that starting below the square.
Then, when it was required, I keyframed it to move below the square and bounce slightly by pressing "F9" with my keyframe selected.
This is the first attempt at making the google logo using a tutorial and adobe after effects. I got an existing google logo as a reference and used the pen tool to trace the shape before making the lines thicker to match the logo.
I then got dots and corresponded a pair of dots and logo to each colour.
From there, I delayed each of the colours slightly from each other, put the colours on the right layers to overlap other colours.
I then rotated the dots from their starting positions to the beginning of the G where I trimmed the pen tool to create the G as the dot reached the start, then made each colour do a different amount.
Controller Technologies
The Present and Future of Games Controllers
As we researched previously, the history of controllers is long and complex (see project 4). So its about time to review the present and possible future of games controllers.
The VR Industry has been making strides in the past couple years and some of the more recent emerging technologies are almost revolutionary to the market.
One of these includes the Steam Index (Valve Index 2). The Steam Index is yet to be released but promises to and has demonstrated revitalising hand controls, including singular finger movement, pressure sensors, and straps that allow you to fully let go of the controller for maximum movement and space. This allows movements to be far more precise and detailed and could have lots of possibilities for features in games in the future.
The other honourable mention here is the recent Oculus update that included a new feature of 'hand tracking' which meant you could do hyper-realistic movements without even needing a controller due to censors in the headset and deep learning AI. This method has its upsides and downsides. One of those being, other than hand movements, you do not have controls for anything else such as jumping or force grabbing or teleporting or movement which is vital in VR games. However, the ability to play without controllers feels the most natural and immersive to a user and if games were adapted for this tech some very innovative things could be designed.
Valve Index 2: rumors, predictions and what we want from the VR headset | TechRadar
Oculus Quest's hand-tracking drains just 7 minutes from headset's battery life | VentureBeat
Peripheral Concept and Design
These are my peripheral concepts and designs, drawn in photoshop. Two are made in a front view 2D perspective and two are made in a 3D orthographic perspective.
All of the peripheral designs follow the same colour schemes of normal google devices with a main colour of white and other colours of red, blue, green and yellow.
Two of my designs are different headset designs with one having both ears and no microphone and the other having one ear and a microphone, another design is a VR headset which would be paired with controllers and the last design is a Media Remote that could be used with the device.
Overall, my two favourite choices are the headphones with two ears and the media controller, which would be modelled in more detail than these concept designs if used in the final product.
Final 3Ds Max Models and Textures
When getting feedback on my console, the ports were praised for their detail and general creation as well as the consoles general portability and design. However, the lack of vents and early camera work to demonstrate (later improved) we're the main negatives of the feedback.
These are my final renders of my models, the console, controller and peripheral - media remote.
When making these models I had three main things in my mind; colour scheme, portability and camera angles. I wanted to make products designed more specifically for the advertisement rather than usability in the real world as that will be its use anyway.
The Google colour scheme of white, red, blue, yellow and green are present throughout the texturing as well as the traditional 'Product Sans' font for the logos.
I also made designs easy to pan around and zoom in and out on while allowing for good typography that I will add in After Effects.
If I could improve anything I would add more detail to the bottom of the media remote and more detail (including vents) to the sides of the console.
Using Physical Cameras in 3Ds Max
We used physical cameras to get our moving and panning shots of our 3D models in 3Ds max to then export and use in Adobe After Effects for our advertisement as 2D and 3D are hard to work with at the same time, so we exported them as strings of PNGs that Adobe AE will recognise as a video.
To do this we created physical cameras that we then gave a path constraint to a Bezier line that the camera would follow as it looked at the focus point.
We also had to keyframe certain camera angles to get the timing right on the speed, rotation and other camera elements to get the desired effect.
Audio Production
Animation Rough Written Plan
This was my draft of good camera angles that I could use for my final advertisement. You can see a resemblance between these ideas of camera angles and the actual angles used in my final evaluation including the text that would appear at certain points.
Final Advertisement
(To upload this to my website I had to half the quality to reduce the file size enough, keep this in mind)
Final Product Poster
Jake Leathem
This is my Poster I designed alongside my final advert and product to sell the console. The poster contains the name of the console, the course I'm doing, a description of the device and the specifications (taken from the PS5 and modified). As well as this I have 3 pictures of the console I statically rendered for this image transparent to show multiple angles of the console.
Evaluation
This is my evaluation of my final advertisement. Overall, I like my final design.
This is because, in my opinion, the camera angles look professional and are all synced to the music, which in itself I think sounded good for an advert as well as the background and text are all general themes of Google and their products.
To improve this trailer I could add more common themes in advertisements such as showing gameplay, adding more peripherals or cables, adding more camera shots and different backgrounds, etc.
When developing this from the ground up, most of the development went smoothly, with only a few things causing issues; Adobe After Effects being the easiest and smoothest part of the process as editing videos like this is something I used to do a lot in my spare time.
Creating the music was a relief when finally developing it as that was when I learned that you don't need to create pieces note by note and you could use template sound files to create music. It was also helpful that Lofi is one of the easier genres to create with little musical experience.
An example of some issues were creating the camera shots in 3Ds Max - with this not only being complicated and a quite under developed feature of 3Ds Max but also having to be learnt from scratch and keyframing was full of bugs for most people who attempted this and finally exporting the camera shots took hours per frame on Arnold so we had to switch to the QuickSilver renderer to render it within the time frame.