Unit 3: Research

What is research?
Looking into certain subjects in depth. This can be done by looking in books or on the internet or by asking others.
DATA 

1. We begin with Secondary Research: Look in books, scientific papers/ essays, websites, Questionnaires or podcasts

There will be 3 areas we will cover:

The 1000 word Report

Powerpoint Presentation

Create an interview

Research on development of smash bros:

(Sources: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myhBphil-Uw
DualShockers: https://www.dualshockers.com/the-history-of-super-smash-bros/ )

 Creator wanted a fighting game for the casual market as most casual players did not want to play fighting games due to the competitive nature of the genre. They played many different fighting games to come to this conclusion, games such as street fighter 2. It was made for players at home to enjoy and master with simple controls, Masohiro Sakurai worked on the game on the weekends in his spare time. He wanted to take advantage of the Nintendo 64's 4 player capabilities and allow 4 players to play at once, most fighting games at the time and even now still only let 2 players play at once.

The prototype was made and called " four player battle royale" and just used stock character models and backgrounds. He was happy with the foundations of the game but was not happy with the atmosphere, fighting games in arcades were flashy and had memorable characters Nintendo needed something like this to keep players hooked, They had the idea of putting Nintendo characters into the game, so Sakurai and the his friend Satoro Iwata who programmed the prototype put models of some Nintendo characters in without Nintendo's permission, they however really loved the idea.

They did market research in japan and came to the conclusion that Japanese gamers did not enjoy the idea of iconic characters fighting however the game still sold better then expected in both eastern and western markets.

due to them using the Nintendo characters and IPs the developers had access to the music from all the franchises owned by Nintendo, franchises like Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Earthbound, F-zero, Star fox. Pokemon, Kirby and Metroid.

Secondary Research 

Researching something through sources of information such as Books, Essays, scientific papers, etc. This research is helpful for when you want to find out facts or answers on a certain topic. An example of Secondary Research is researching on the history of development of a game. 

Primary Research 

Primary Research involves asking people for the information and compiling it. This Method can be done through Questionnaires, surveys or Interviews. This method of Research is better for when you wish to get the thoughts of others on a certain Topic. An example is their thoughts and feelings on a certain game, Game franchise or company. 

Qualitative Data 

A question that talks about someone and their emotions, behaviour and attributes. This is usually an open question. 

A Qualitative Question could be ‘How do you feel about this job?’ 

Quantitative Data 

Questions that talk about Numeral’s and Statistics. These questions are usually closed. 

An example of a Quantitative Question is ‘How much Money do you usually earn?’ 

Reliable Data  

Answers which can be repeated multiple times. An example is asking the same question such as ‘do you have a dog?’ and getting yes each time. That makes the data reliable. 

Valid Data 

An Answer to a question that is believable. An example of finding a Valid Answer is by asking different questions on the same topic, such as ‘Do you have a dog?’ then ‘What do you feed them?’, ‘What kind of dog are they?’, etc. If it is believable, it’s valid. 

Audience Research 

This involves researching into a game genre that your game will be using by reading reviews from people who played it and using that to find aspects of a game that people liked and didn’t like and using that to decide what to include in the game.  

Consumer Only 

Market Research 

Market Research focuses on looking at the market for a genre, looking at the size of the market (If its over-saturated or under saturated) and the competition in the market. 

Existing Markets 

Super Smash Bros has sold over 3 million copies in 11 days, based on Nintendo’s own numbers. 

Source: https://www.polygon.com/2018/12/18/18146266/super-smash-bros-ultimate-sales-nintendo-switch  

3x Examples of Similar Games. Do Secondary and Primary Research.

Create 10 questions (Primary Research)

Open/Closed?

Qual/Quant?

Valid & Reliable?

With a view to using these in the T.V Studio on 6/3/19

1.  What are your Thoughts on the Fighting Game Genre?

Predicted Answer: I feel the Genre is great for old players but terrible for people new to the genre

New Question: When it comes to the state of Fighting games, what are your personal thoughts on the series and its audience?

2. Why do you feel this way about the genre?

Predicted Answer: I have/ haven't played the genre enough to be really good/ not really  be that great at fighting games yet.

New Question: How do you feel you have gotten to feel this way about fighting games?

3. Why do you think only 6% of Video Game sales are Fighting games?

https://www.statista.com/statistics/189592/breakdown-of-us-video-game-sales-2009-by-genre/ 

New Question: Looking at graphs of video game sales, fighting games only have 6% of total sales in the market. Why do you think this is?

4. When was your first exposure to fighting games and how have they impacted you?

http://shoryuken.com/2018/09/18/shoryuken-interview-doomsnake507-discusses-vega-his-humble-fighting-game-beginnings-the-cpt-in-latin-america-and-traveling-for-majors/ 

Predicted Answers: Street fighter series or Smash Bros

New Question: How did you get into the Fighting Game Genre and how did it change your perspective on the Genre

5. Why do you think most people, especially the casual market, are put off by fighting games?

https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/KennethNussbaum/20140321/213684/Reinventing_the_fighting_game_genre_and_appealing_to_a_new_audience.php

Predicted answers: The controls can be jarring and difficult to understand

Its difficult to be good at the genre

New Question: How do you think a fighting game could be changed to appeal to a more casual market and is that a good idea?

6. What would you say is the best fighting game out there?

https://www.axs.com/the-11-best-fighting-games-135676

Predicted Answer: Street fighter 2

Smash bros Melee or Ultimate

Mortal Kombat X

New Question: If you had to name a specific fighting game. What would you say would be the best?

7. Why do you think this is the best Fighting game?

Predicted Answer: Nostalgia
Most polished fighting game
Simple and easy to get into

8. If you had to name one thing you don't like about the fighting game genre, what would it be?

Predicted answer: How difficult some fighting games can be to get into 

9. What would you say is your favourite thing about the genre?

Predicted Answer: The controls
The satisfaction of pulling off combos

10.  Would you recommend to your friends to try out fighting games? 

Predicted answer: Yes

New Question: Would you recommend people play fighting games. If so, what would you recommend?