Copyright Law

Unit 78 Digital Graphics for Computer Games

Copyright Law

This law prevents anyone from copying any gaming material from other people. The definition of this is that any material that is owned by someone else and cannot be used without the creator's permission. In some game companies, the artist owns the graphics so you would need his permission as well.

PEGI

Age ratings are systems used to ensure that entertainment content, such as films, videos, DVD's, and computer games, are clearly labelled by age according to the content they contain. 

PEGI is used and recognised throughout Europe and has the support of the European Commission.

Racism, Religion, Equality + Diversity

When marketing the game, Gender and the words above have to be taken into consideration. Game Developers have to abide by the Equality and Diversity Law in all their games. For example, the Tomb Raider games have changed in regards to Lara Croft.

Her clothing has changed over the years. Where she used to wear less clothing, she now wears more.

In 2010 a law called Equality Act was passed. It legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and wider society.

It replaced previous anti-discrimination laws with a single act, making the law easier to understand and strengthening protection in some situations.

BBFC

The BBFC (British Board of Film Censors) are an independent company set up in order to classify films. However, since the act was set up, this has also applied to computer games. All computer games have to be classified under the BBFC.

ASA Codes

The ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) is a self-regulatory organisation of the advertising industry in the United Kingdom. The ASA are an independent company and they have to report to OFCOM. The ASA have a set of conducts which need to be followed. Any adverts or Game trailers have to pass the ASA Code of Conduct. It checks that is fair, not filled with prejudice and also protects people under 18+.

Libel 

A published false statement that damages a game's or person's reputation. An example of this would be someone from Marvel Comics saying something false to someone from DC Comics.

Exercise 5

Computer Game Graphics

• Print media graphics, such as game poster, game packaging

They are design products such as gaming posters, game packaging, and gaming design covers. Print media is used to help promote and market the game to the relevant target audience. The packaging and manuals should have the relevant information.

• In-game graphics (head-up display graphics, sprite graphics, background graphics, image textures)

There are health bars and statistics of the player character. It shows how much health/mana the play has etc. It also shows your scoring levels. The Texture art is the look of how something feels. This can be done by designing the object and using colour shading to give an effect on a object. This can be done using computer software.

• Concept Art graphics

Concept art is used to generate ideas like, characters, buildings, backgrounds, weapons, environments and more. This is the initial starting point for creating a game idea, as it will help you to build your ideas. The types of concept art you can do to help brainstorm ideas are hand drawn design sketches and thumbnail sketches.

Graphic Specification

• Client Needs

Graphics Designers will have a design brief which will explain all the client needs which they would want in the graphics. The design brief will also help change some of the ideas which they can talk to their clients about and look at different ways to design the best graphics..

• Audience

Graphics Designers have to design according to the target audience. They will need to ensure that they have a good idea of their audience and ensure the graphics meets the marketing purpose.

• Thumbnail Sketching

These are really small sketches used to brainstorm ideas for the game.

• Visual Style, eg colour, style. photo realistic, cell-shaded, anime

Please see this link for artistic styles: http://nabeelhajat.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/exercise-1.html

• Composition

Graphic Designers have to ensure that every element is laid out appropriately within a scene.

• Typography

This is a font that should compliment the game. The style of it depends on the genre and themes of the game. An example of this is the Hulk ripping his shirt off and the bold text.

• Technical considerations, eg file format, file size, optimisation, file naming conventions, asset management , intended output

Please see this link for Technical Considerations: http://nabeelhajat.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/exercise-4.html