Designing Downloadable Content
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Portfolio Project 6 Designing Downloadable Content About DLC and UGC Introduction During the start of the 20th century, video games especially triple-A titles have been at the centre of the creative and entertainment industry mostly due to the that fact that games technologies have become more powerful and accessible than ever before. As these new technologies emerged, video game became even better, larger and astonishing than ever before. In addition, the benefits of the internet has made it even easier to attain them as they are now vastly publicized and digitally shipped on a massive scale throughout the world. Playing video games has never been this good. The industry today is generating large numbers because todays games are well managed and developed with the best graphics, sounds, mechanics and narratives that amazingly overwhelms our gaming experience. There’s just too much greatness to consume out of video games, which is why many developers that aspire to get people to play their games have taken this incentive of providing more to the players by adding or increasing their game contents via Downloadable Contents (DLC) and User Generated Contents (UGC). These are two example of why the games industry has flourish throughout the years because it allows consumers to get more out of the games provided by developers. These two are understood to have a huge impact in today’s video games market that developers use t maximise their income by providing a lot more to consumers 1 Portfolio Project 6 Downloadable Content (DLC) DLC is certainly the most common method used by developers to provide more to their consumers. They are highly popular and frequently published for video games especially triple-A titles. They are built as extension or add-on to games, mainly comprised with new missions, maps, weapons, characters, themes, avatars, soundtracks and many different features used to accompany the already released games. They are not released as a retail expansion pack but distributed through the internet and consoles networks like Steam, Xbox Live and PlayStation network (PSN). Destiny Exclusive Playstation 4 DLC 2 Call Of Duty Advanced Warfare: Havoc DLC Portfolio Project 6 The contents of every DLC always depend on the type and nature of each game. For example, The Crew : Extreme Car Pack DLC The Crew: Extreme Car Pack gives you access to 3 cars: Whereas the first Call of Duty Advanced Warfare DLC called “Havoc” came with four multiplayer maps, an Exo Zombies co-op map and a bonus weapon. - A Fiat Abarth 500 - Four new Multiplayer Maps, called Sideshow, Core, Drift and Urban - An Aston Martin V12 Zagato - An Exo Zombies mode called CEL-3 Cauterizer - An SRT Viper GTS - One Exo Zombies co-op Map called Outbreak 3 - One bonus multiplayer weapon called AE4 Portfolio Project 6 As shown above, the contents of every DLC differ because of the type of game or genre. These Downloadable Contents are generally used to support games and designed specifically for a game, whereby an additional story or mission may come in the form of DLC in Assassins creed Unity because it’s an adventure game that allows you to play campaign missions. However, a “Song Pack” which includes new songs or albums can come in form of downloadable content in SingStar because the game is simply based on music and rhythm. One of main reasons why downloadable contents have flourish throughout the years is because they can be downloaded easily and acquired for free. Furthermore they are considered a huge part in the marketing aspect of games because publishers are selling them in different ways, from season passes, to expansion packs or pre order packs and others bundle, some at discount prices as well. These DLC like season passes are constructed to allow players to access all the downloadable contents of a particular game, but on occasions, some of these DLC are not immediately available upon a games release and some are often unavailable to download after being promoted and offered for sale. Assassins Creed Unity Season Pass 4 Portfolio Project 6 Assassin’s creed Unity Season pass is a great example of how downloadable contents are provided as a bundle, the DLCs for Assassins Creed Unity was available since the November release of the game. It’s comprised with three new additional single player missions, one new single player campaign called Dead Kings, one extra downloadable game called Assassins Creed Chronicles China and many equipment’s, weapons, gears and customisation items. This is a good example of a premium season pass bundle, which is very common among big triple-A developers, which in this case is Ubisoft. They have the ability add so much to an already released game to keep you playing for very long. Let alone providing it cheaper rather than buying all of these contents separately. To have a better understanding, downloadable contents are comprised with multiple features of a game that would enhance your gaming experience and get you to enjoy the game even further. These contents allow you to play and utilise extra elements that was otherwise left off or missing from the already released game. They are mainly provided to add elements in single player modes, multiplayer modes or co-op modes and they vary from maps, locations, characters, missions, side quests, weapons, gears and other features that will get you more accustomed to a game. These in-turn makes a game more durable and enjoyable while increasing the life time value of the game. Evolve: Moster Exterminator Pack Pre Order DLC Evolve: Moster Expansion Pack Pre Order DLC 5 Portfolio Project 6 The important things to remember about Downloadable contents are: XBOX Live icon - They are additional or extra contents for a particular game, - The content of every DLC vary and differ depending on the type of game or genre - They are often free but otherwise paid for, - They are relatively cheaper than the original game, - They are made by developers of the game and published by publishers of the game. For example, Turtle Rock Studios made Evolve and created a DLC called “Evolve behemoth Monster”, one of their publishers like Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) or Microsoft publishes it on their network like PlayStation Network (PSN) or Xbox Live for it to be downloaded. - They can be downloaded from internet but generally through publishers online services like PlayStation Network Store (PSN) or Xbox Live - They can also be bought or acquired using online redeem codes given by publishers - They are often exclusive to publishers. For example Destiny released exclusive Downloadable contents for PlayStation users upon the game release, these included maps, gears, weapons and ships, which were only available on PlayStation. PlayStation Network Store Icon - The contents of downloadable content can be sold individually or as a bundle usually in Season Pass, extended packs and so on. - They are becoming more and more used as pre-order incentives. For example “Pre order Evolve and receive the Monster Expansion Pack”. 6 Portfolio Project 6 - They are mainly provided in various formats: Ø Additional levels or maps are downloadable contents that mainly come in form of “Map Packs” that range from new maps, locations, levels or puzzles. A good example to this is Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Havoc DLC made by Sledgehammer Games, for years the Call of Duty franchise has been releasing multiplayer map packs every so often for their games. Their latest installing Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare has the Havoc DLC that has 4 new multiplayer maps and other extra contents. Ø Additional story or missions are downloadable contents that are mainly entitled with the name of the new mission or story for a particular game. These are mainly released for single player campaigns only that allow players to go further into the story of the game. They are mainly released for action and adventure games like Infamous Second Son, which had a new story campaign downloadable content called “Infamous first Light”. Another good example is Outlast which had a downloadable content called “Outlast: Whistleblower”. This was also an extra campaign mission that was prequel the original story played in Outlast. Ø Additional game modes are downloadable contents that are mainly entitled with the name of the new mode. These downloadable contents bring a new taste to a game whereby players have to get accustomed to new rules and settings of the game. A great example of this is Alien: Isolation Last Survivor DLC which had a new single player mode called “Last Survivor” that allowed you play as Ellen Ripley. Another good example is Dying Light Be The Zombie mode, which is a multiplayer DLC that lets you play as a zombie and hunt other human survivors. Ø Additional songs are downloadable contents that mainly come in form of Song Packs that includes extra songs for a particular game. These types of downloadable contents only gives you extra songs like in SingStar DLC were you’re given new songs for the game. The Rock Band and Guitar Hero series also had tons of downloadable music contents. 7 Portfolio Project 6 Ø Additional equipment, Weapons, gears or outfits are downloadable contents that mainly comes in form of “Customisation Packs” or “Weapons Packs” usually entitled with the name of the type of equipment’s, outfits or weapons. These contents add extra utilities to the player arsenal while giving a better look or theme to the characters in the game. These are mostly released for fighting games, action adventure games and role-playing games where you get to customise or built up your own character. The best examples of these downloadable contents are in games The Last Of Us Remastered, which has over 100 downloadable contents mixed with outfits, gears and weapons.