Research
Teamfortress.com. 2022. Team Fortress 2. [online] Available at: <https://www.teamfortress.com/> [Accessed 23 February 2022].
Above is the website of my chosen game, while its not the actual games store page I still believe its important for me to look at as most people who view it are most likely already players of the game there will still be some people who are unfamiliar with the game that will look into the game and this may be the first thing they find which can be seen in how there’s a link to its steam page present. The page has a wide variety of information relating to the game present that make it look very professional such as the comics, trailers, update history, pages explaining each of the classes and many other less important elements like the community workshop or market, it is now the easiest page for a new viewer to understand due to the large quantities of information present but the information is all still relevant to the game and I really like how they have the classes line up similar to the games logo at the top of the main page and that by clicking a class it takes you to their page as I find that to be a really unique way of doing it that is visually appealing to me. The site has a clear style that is consistent throughout that reflects that of the game and looks appealing to the viewer.
Store.steampowered.com. 2022. Don’t Starve Together on Steam. [online] Available at: <https://store.steampowered.com/app/322330/Dont_Starve_Together/> [Accessed 23 February 2022].
Above is an example of what I believe to be an example of good presentation, this example is on the steam store which has it own style of presentation with its colour scheme and layout of information. This has everything that most steam pages have which is a list of important information such as reviews, system requirements, banner, screenshots and videos, steam features, recent events, a longer description below, a short description at the top and lastly the games tags. These many things help to show the professionalism of the page as it tells the viewer a lot of information at the top of the page alone and then has other less but still important information lower down for after the viewer has decided that this has peaked their interest. Don’t Starve Together features many gameplay screenshots a lot of different trailers varying with a mix of gameplay and cinematic, within the description the key points of the game are highlighted in white which draws the eyes with a brief description of those points below however the key element is the short gifs featured between the selling point and description which draw the eye since they are moving and also show off those selling points to the viewer which shows the effort put into this page to make it a good reflection of the product. Another key thing is that the page shows bundles that feature the game which helps to show how the developers/publishers are experience meaning its more likely they know what they are doing and that the game will be of good quality.
Store.steampowered.com. 2022. Team Fortress 2 on Steam. [online] Available at: <https://store.steampowered.com/app/440/Team_Fortress_2/> [Accessed 23 February 2022].
Above is the steam page of my chosen game and it features all the same stuff that most steam pages contain as discussed in my previous example however it does contain a link to the games merchandise store which is something not too common on steam pages which helps to show the reliability and professionalism of the developers/publisher which is good. Beyond that the only other unique aspect of this page is that similarly but not to the same extent as Don’t Starve Together the description features a small graphic that draws the viewers attention and helps to break up the text which once again helps to make it look more unique and professional.
Epic Games Store. 2022. Voidtrain | Download and Buy Today – Epic Games Store. [online] Available at: <https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/p/voidtrain> [Accessed 23 February 2022].
Above is an example of what I believe to be an example of good presentation, this example is on the epic games store which has a set layout and look to the overall look like steam does however it contains less information than steam which is both good and bad since on one hand it makes it simpler to understand for the viewer but on the other hand it lacks some information that some viewers may want such as reviews but it still has most of the key information such as genre, system requirements, trailers, screenshots and a description of the game all of which help to make it look professional. This page doesn’t really have any unique elements present however it is also in early access so it would make sense if the page is still lacking some polish but it still works for my research since I looked at this game since it was on the epic game store and I wanted to see how presentation is done there compared to that of steams presentation.
itch.io. 2022. Zelda BOTW DEMAKE 1BIT by Malbroye. [online] Available at: <https://malbroye.itch.io/zelda-botw-1bit> [Accessed 23 February 2022].
Above is an example of what I believe to be an example of really good presentation, its got a consistent style to it that reflects the style of the game plus it is incredibly unique and very memorable to me, the page also has a lovely background which looks really good, before the game opens a small preview image is shown which once again looks good, screenshots are present beneath the game to show the gameplay to visitors, a brief description of the game is also present and it could be better but is still alright and lastly the controls are also listed which is something that it pretty important for an itch page. All of those things I mentioned make this itch page look pretty professional and its certainly a memorable page however there is still some room for improvement such as the use of a video which would make it look even more professional that it already is but beyond that there isn’t too much its missing besides as I mentioned a little bit of a better description.
itch.io. 2022. Maggot In A Frying Pan Demake by Nocturne Games. [online] Available at: <https://nocturne.itch.io/miaf> [Accessed 23 February 2022].
Above is an example of what I believe to be an example of good presentation, while its missing some elements that would make it look even more professional it is still at a level that I would class as professional presentation. Firstly the page has a consistent tone to it that reflects the style of the game which makes it look really good, the page also makes use of a banner that displays the name of the game which once again looks really good, screenshots of the game are present which allows the viewer to see the product before they play it, the page also has a description of the game that explains the games objective and context of what the game is. All of those things make this itch page look pretty professional and its pretty unique however there is still some room for improvement such as the use of a video which would make it look even more professional and the control scheme is not listed but the game is just an incremental (clicker) game it isn’t terrible that its missing and lastly some graphic could have been used in the description perhaps to once again increase the professional look of the page.
itch.io. 2022. Plants vs. Zombies Demake by Mushmallow. [online] Available at: <https://mushmallowgames.itch.io/pvz-demake> [Accessed 23 February 2022].
Above is an example of what I believe to be an example of bad presentation, this page lacks many key things that help to make a be presented in a professional manner. Firstly there is no use of images at any point in the page including backgrounds to make the page stand out to the viewer, graphics in the description to break up text and catch the eyes or screenshots of the game to show gameplay to the viewer, secondly while the game has a very brief description of the game it is still below the minimum required to look good since it lacks any explanation of the games control scheme which is something that always good to have, story or what its about and while it does say that its a plants vs zombies demake for somebody unfamiliar with the original game that would mean nothing to them and they wouldn’t really get any information about the product from the presentation. While its something that isn’t required there is a lack of videos too which tend to elevate the professionalism of a product even further.
Layout Plan
Above is my for my itch page layout plan, with itch you are limited with what you can do however I have made sure to make use of everything I can such as a banner, background, description and screenshots in order to make my page look as professional as possible since in my research I found the importance of these elements of presentation. I have also annotated each element of the page with further detail of what it will be like upon completion such as what I will include in my description, I want to keep my itch pages appearance similar to that of my game for consistency and so that it better appeals to the games target audience since the contents of my itch page will be their first impressions of my game. This plan will help me in creating my itch page since I now have a good idea of what I want to do with it.
Thumbnail
Above is the thumbnail I created for my game, the thumbnail is important since its most likely the first thing somebody will see when looking for my game. I decided to use photoshop for this task since I know how to use it pretty well and it would allow me to create the design I had in mind via using multiple layers, the thumbnail size is 630×500 pixels so I stuck to that since it would give me a better idea of what it would look like rather than if I did it bigger or smaller and it was then upscaled or downscaled .I used a mixture of elements from the original game and the platform I was making it for to appeal to both areas of my audience, I did this by starting official art for Team Fortress 2 and adding in the official Mann vs Machine logo then I added the Game Boy Advanced box cover art over it which created a simple but effective design for my thumbnail. I am very happy with how it turned out as it communicates the core elements of my game to the viewer pretty well and should give good first impressions of my game since it looks professional.
Banner
In order to create my banner I once again used photoshop as I got the official games banner for the mann vs machine game mode and then added in text using the team fortress 2 font underneath it that says demade. Originally it was demake but I changed it to demade since I thought it sounded better, I chose to make the text orange since its a prominent colour used by the original game plus it makes it stand out to the players.
Background
For my background of my itch page I have made use of a screenshot of the ending to the official trailer for Mann vs Machine since it fits the theme of my game and looks good, while I would have liked to have created an original piece I chose not to due to two main reasons which are that I didn’t have as much time as I had wanted to spend on presentation and that due to my lack of skill at art I would be unable to create a professional looking background since before settling on using this for my background I had attempted to create a background myself but struggled to create something that I believed was of good enough quality.
Completed Page
Overall I am happy with how my itch page looks, I could certainly have made it better if I had more time like I had expected however due to the amount of time I had to do presentation I still think that the quality of it is good but in the future I would like to be able to give myself a bit more time on presentation so that I could do something better.I have made use of a thumbnail, banner, background, screenshots and a description which help to make it look professional and unique. I tried to keep the colour scheme similar to that of my game for consistency, I also believe that due to my screenshots I have managed to show what my game is like to the viewer. Since my art skills are not the best I decided that I would try to avoid having to draw anything since it most likely would not look very good. This helps to give good first impressions to the viewer which is important compared to a default itch page that just looks lazy and generic which wouldn’t interest viewers.
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