Creative Response: Initial Plan and Research

Having spoke with Mike again about my idea, I now have a much better understanding of how I am going to structure my animation. I shall start by briefly mentioning what the gamer demographic was like in the 1980s, then move onto looking at statistics for today's demographic which will be the bulk of the animation. I shall end the animation with a brief look of what the future is looking like for gaming, or potentially pose a question to make my audience think of what the future holds.

In order to be able to progress from this point, I needed to carry out further research into gaming demographics. I already had some stats that I had found whilst researching for my essay but I needed to pad out my resources.

Initial Findings

Then:
- 1982 Arcade video game plaers 80% Male 20% Female
- 8 Male players for every 3 Female
- 1989 Variety stated women constituted for 3% of the gaming industry

Now:
- New consoles
- Mobile Gaming
- Esports
- (Tiga) 12% Females in UK in gaming industry
- Genres: Strategy and Casual most popular in 2014 (37.7% 24.8%)
- Uk Game industry worth over £3.9Bn (consumer spend 2014)
- Biggest Consumer market revenue streams in 2014 were digitial console and PC 
- Games sold more than video or music in 2014.

- GameTrack estimate there are 20m people 6-64 playing games in the UK
- Average play time 8.9 hours per week
- Formats: 24% packaged games (11.2m), 22% app games (10.3m)and 21% online (10.2m)

- 57% Male, 43% Female, GameTrack 2015
- 55% Male, 45% Female Ukie 2014
- 71M people watch esports worldwide 2014

Projected:
- Gaming Revenues to reach $91.5 Billion (New Zoo)
- Mobile Gaming expected to grow 51% year over year in NA, 86% Asia

- Esports expected 145 Million enthusiasts by 2017

Resources
BigFishGames
Ukie
ESA
Kotaku

Creative Response: Infographic Research

I started my research by looking at static info graphics so I could focus on the design of the components and how the statistics can be presented differently. I've found that the colours used don't vary too much and are generally quite neutral and aren't harsh on the eyes by being too bright. 

Gaming is Good for You - Frugal Dad (snippets selected)

Gaming Info-graphics 

Infographic of Infographics

My next port of call was to look at how these elements could be animated. 

Travel Infographic - YoCreative

I really liked this info graphic by Yocreative. Though it's not exactly what I was looking for as it doesn't present data, I like the consistency of the animation. I think this is what I'm going to strive for with my own animation; A consistent animation that doesn't go overboard, instead uses simple imagery and movements to get a point across. 

The Infographics Show

The Infographics Show is a channel on YouTube that is dedicated to producing infographics. I chose to look at this one in particular because of how it tackled the data, but I shall be referring to their videos as a reference for how I could potentially animate my own. 

Creative Response: Proposed Idea

For a long time now I've wanted to experiment with making an info graphic, but have not yet had the opportunity to do so. My essay seems to have provided a good opportunity, and I could produce an animation that shows my statistical findings and what the gamer demographic is like today.

I already have a few stats that I have collected - which I have had to cut out of my essay because they're not 100% relevant, and I'm running out of words to talk about the more important parts of my essay - but in order for me to produce a substantial info-graphic I'm going to have to research further into today's demographic and what it looks like in numbers.

I shall also have to do some artist research and look at the different ways that stats can and have been presented, so I can apply some of these methods to my own production. I will also have to do more research on the different things I can do with After Effects to help animate and present different assets in my animation, as I only have a basic understanding of the programme at the moment and would love to learn more about it.