I recently had the opportunity to speak at a conference with Dr. Aaron Delwiche and Dr. Jennifer Henderson discussing gaming. Remember a couple weeks back we did a blog about the research the two professors from Trinity University did with over 34,000 Wizard101 players? There were other professors and professionals on the panel and in the audience. The overall tenor of the panel was very positive and I thoroughly enjoyed the conversations that took place both during the panel as well as after. That being said there was one topic that came up that really bothered me. It seems that very little work/research is being done on potential benefits of gaming. From the conversations I had it seemed that a great amount of academic research and funding was going to studies trying to tie video gaming to real world violence or to uncover the downsides to video gaming.
The reason I found this concerning is because over the last 5 years we have been flooded by communications from our players on the benefits they experienced in Wizard101 (and now Pirate101). I explained in the panel that we have had thousands of submissions of fan art and fan fiction over the years in an era where creative writing and art programs are being cut from our schools. I also talked about hundreds of messages from parents of autistic children gushing about how significantly their children have progressed interacting socially in Wizard101. I brought up the stories of children struggling to read that went up multiple reading levels over a summer while playing because they were so intent on reading the story. There are also stories of people that were housebound or separated from family members that once again have great involvement with community, friends and family through our games. I told the professors these cases in hopes of a better understanding as to why more research on positive impacts weren’t being pursued. The answer I got back about why no one is researching the benefits of gaming: government funding isn’t there for this and the press doesn’t seem to think positive findings drive traffic and sales.
I’m not suggesting parents have a lack of caution or oversight on the levels of violence our children are exposed to or that we shouldn’t have research try to understand the impact. I have always believed that all activities (physical, educational, entertainment) should be in moderation and balanced. But I really wish that the academic world and even press coverage of POSITIVE things that come from gaming could get more traction. As a side note, I was encouraged by President Obama’s positive comments on the potential career opportunities for children that could be exposed to game design at an early age.
I would love to hear if you agree with me and if you have had or seen positive experiences from your gaming. Thank you!
Fred Howard
Vice President of Marketing
You know that we have tons of talented people creating Wizard101 and Pirate101, but did you know they enjoy playing the games too? Today David Beau Paul tells about what it’s like to both work and play your favorite game!
You might think that because I help write the story of Pirate101 and that I always know what’s going to happen next would make playing Pirate a bit of a bore to me. Well, you couldn’t be more wrong. I LOVE playing Pirate! In fact, I may have played more Pirate101 than just about anyone! (It helps that I get to play at work. 🙂 )
When I first started here at KingsIsle Entertainment, a good deal of the Pirate101 story was already written. One of the first tasks I was given was to familiarize myself with the main quests and side quests and to play through them while checking to make sure that all the lines were being spoken and spelled correctly and that the characters and environments looked the way they were supposed to look.
It didn’t take me long to get hooked on the game! To say this was my favorite job ever wouldn’t be too much of a stretch. Before I knew it I became the very first member of our team to play Pirate straight all the way through from Avery’s office in Skull Island all the way to Marazume Castle in Subata.
My favorite part of the game is getting a new power for myself or a companion and figuring out how best to use it to give myself an edge. Sometimes it can take me a little while to figure out what works best for my character, but it’s always a rush when I figure out the perfect way to employ a new tactic.
Because I love powers so much I gravitated to the Witchdoctor class first. Witchdoctor spells are really visually spectacular and I love that! Over time though, I’ve grown to love certain things about every class, whether it’s the trick shots of a Musketeer, the brute strength of a Buccaneer, the awesome acrobatics of a Swashbuckler or the defensive ploys of a Privateer. I like ‘em all! Not only am I the first person to play through all of Pirate’s available content, I’m the first to do it with every character class as well!
Every time I play it helps me really get a feel on this incredible world that I’ve helped create (and makes me appreciate just how amazing our “crew” of designers, artists and programmers here at KingsIsle really is!). Playing through not only ensures that the visions of our design team are correct, it also inspires me to help make our new content even more spectacular. So being a Pirate 101 player not only makes me really happy, it also makes me better at my job!
I hope you guys like playing Pirate101 as much as I like playing it (and writing it)!
David Beau Paul
Associate Creative Designer II
You know we spend a lot of time in the office working on your favorite games, but what about outside of work! This holiday weekend, we asked KingsIsle employees to share a little of their Labor Day weekend adventures with us. Here’s what some of us got up to this past weekend:
During my holiday weekend I will be working on building my Proton Pack for the local Ghostbusters group I’m a part of, Ghostbusters ATX. We dress up in full Ghostbusters gear and attend conventions but our main goal is to work with charities and help our community. Currently we are working with the American Cancer Society raising money for the Relay for Life which will be held at the Dell Diamond this year on Sept. 21st. Aside from doing that I am going to see George Takei aka Mr. Sulu at Dragons Lair on Sept. 2nd, can’t think of a better way to spend my holiday weekend. If anyone wants more info on our Ghostbusters group feel free to check us out on on Facebook or our website.
James Kane
QA Tester
Arrgh Fellow Pirates!
The summer be a season fer relaxing and getting some things done too. I spent my spare time planting a garden and painting up my little house near Flotsam. Lastly although all Pirates love the skyways for traveling, sometimes we also yearn for old fashioned water. So to round out my vacation I went to a pool party to end the summer with a big Splash.
Hope yers was as good as mine,
Old Ned
Over the Labor Day weekend my wife and I packed up our car and three boys and drove the 3 ½ hours down to the Texas coast. They’re not exactly the white sandy beaches of Florida but we had a great family trip. Boys loved digging in the sand and the water was warm and calm to swim in.
Fred Howard
Vice President of Marketing
I played daddy day care with my 1 week old new born son at home. I gave him a sponge bath and he made funny noises. I padded him on the back for a job well done drinking all that milk, and he gave me the longest burps. I made fun of how little he was and he made weird faces at me. At the end of the day we were both very exhausted and slept for a long time.
Tiger Ouyang
Lead Engineer
This Labor Day weekend, I went to College Station to visit my sister! The trip was a great opportunity to catch up with family – and for our dogs to have fun goofing off together! I got to enjoy a lazy drive through some of the small towns East of Austin – and some fantastic venison shish-ka-bobs. My puppy and I wrapped up the weekend with a trip to Red Bud Isle here in Austin with the dog – a great swimming hole for our four-legged friends! With summer coming to a close, every weekend counts!
Brendan McLeod
Senior Game Designer I
My Mom went iFlying over the weekend – or — researching what it’d be like if she walked the plank on a Pirate ship inside a skyway vortex?
Evan C
Principal Artist
I went to Florida and spent the weekend with an old friend on the beach! Was the most rejuvenating break I have had in a long time….Here was the highlight of my weekend….clear blue waters and dodging jelly fish!
Christy Lane
Producer
I spent most of the weekend hunting in South Texas, followed by a dip in the Colorado river. We went on a kayak trip down the Colorado river where we swam, swung on ropes swings from trees, climbed cliffs and let my dog run free. As you can see she likes to hang out on the tip of my kayak keeping a lookout for icebergs and squirrels.
Russell Hughes
Principal Cinematics/FX
My name is Bobby Menkedick and I am a Sound Designer at KingIsle. My wife and I flew to Denver, CO to see two concerts of our favorite band, Phish. We also hiked in Rocky Mountain National Park and took a train ride through the mountains. I always bring my microphone on trips and made sure to record the steam locomotive. The sounds might even make it into one of our games!
Bobby Menkedick
Sound Designer
I took the family down to San Antonio for the weekend. While I was at Worldcon, watching the Hugos and schmoozing with fantastic writers and amazing fans, the family explored the Riverwalk. It was a great weekend to refuel creatively, share fun stories, take a river boat ride with the kids, and explore the Alamo!
Jesse “King Artorius” Scoble
Senior Writer, Wizard101
I headed back to the east coast to my home state, North Carolina, for some beach time! We hung out with my family, took the boat out on the Intracoastal Waterway, and enjoyed the salt air sitting on the beach.
Lauren Mauldin
Marketing Website Producer
Joel “Mr. Trelawny” White and Leah “Professor Falmea” Ruben spent Labor Day swimming, biking, and running in the hot sun at Tri Rock Austin. This triathlon was a 1500m swim in Ladybird Lake, a 25 mile bike ride around beautiful downtown Austin, and a 10k run surrounding Auditorium Shores. We both survived the heat, and lived to claim our medals and our victory tacos upon crossing the finish line!
Mr. Trelawny and Professor Falmea
Aiden’s 6th birthday party was a blast! All of the children enjoyed the special cake made by his mother, which was hand-decorated with all of the emblems of the various Schools of Magic wizards can join in Wizard101. When he saw the poster signed by all of the friendly staff at KingsIsle Entertainment, he was overjoyed. He and the other children even pointed out all of the main characters featured on the poster.
Mike Stone
Associate Producer
I spent my Labor Day weekend isolated in the beautiful forests that surround the prestigious Shoal Creek Golf Course near Birmingham, AL. Although I am not a golfer, I managed to play a few rounds without losing any golf balls! It was the perfect escape for quiet and relaxation.
Natalie Akilian
Assoc. Product Marketing Manager
My buddies and I checked out the Leander Car Show. Every first Sunday of the month in downtown Leander, they rope off a city block and folks show off their sports cars and classic hotrods. The range of cars varies, including Camaros, Corvettes, Torinos, Minis, Porsches, Chargers, Challengers and even Ferraris. They even a have a truck with a dynometer so people can test how much horsepower their cars have.
Jeff Wand
Artist
It was a very hot and crowded day at Lake Pflugerville (A man-made lake in the outskirts of Austin Texas) over Labor Day Weekend, so we didn’t stay too long, but it was nice to get our feet wet, enjoy the water and splash around with the family a bit. The rest of the long weekend was spent mostly playing video games in a much cooler, indoor environment and just enjoying our family time together.
One-Eyed Jack
Community Manager
Well, we obviously had a great time over our vacation weekend! Now it’s time to get back to hard work in the studio. Hope you got up to fun adventures of your own last weekend 🙂
Sponsoring giveaways, answering questions, and keeping players up to date on the latest game news are just a few of the many tasks our wonderful community managers are faced with on a daily basis! Today we ask Wizard101’s Professor Greyrose and Pirate101’s One-Eyed Jack a few questions about what it’s like to be a community manager at KingsIsle.
What does it mean to be a good gaming citizen in the community?
Professor Greyrose: Wizard101 has very a special community that already knows how to be good citizens in the game, and how to deal with those that are being inappropriate or abusive. Those who are not good citizens in games find themselves placed on people’s ignore list, reported and in some cases, banned from the game.
To some of our players, being a good gaming citizen means:
- “It means to be kind, considerate, helpful, and sportsmanlike.” – Critical Death
- “To be a good gaming citizen for me is to always try to assist people in need.” – The Balance Master
- “Being a good gaming citizen can also coincide with good sportsmanship. Being a more experienced player, I try to help others learn about the game, spells, pips, pets, gear, gardening, etc. I try to be courteous to players and treat them with respect. – BrynnerofReign
- “They ask before helping somebody and is available to fight. They say thank you and your welcome. They don’t get angry when you join a battle with them. They don’t attract other enemies in battle and flee. They don’t teleport to you unless you tell them to. They aren’t negative about your fighting. They invite you to do other things with them.” –Molly the Balance Wiz
- “Be Respectful” – Logan Deathwisper
- “Asking to join, saying thank you and your welcome is nice. Helping people when you can.” –Kjkazinski
One-Eyed Jack: Good citizens in Pirate101 are much like good citizens in real life. They play the game well with others, look for ways to better themselves and others, have charity, and abide by the “laws of the land.” Much as in the real world where “my rights end where yours begin,” good citizens respect other players, don’t seek out ways to cheat or swindle others, and both offer help (and take help) when it’s needed.
If you find what you think is an exploit in the game, good citizens are those that speak up and stay far away from breaking our terms of service agreement. In real life, if a situation looks sketchy, you report it to the police. In game, you do the same . . . only the police in this instance would be Customer Support. In real life if you see a person struggling with a flat tire, you might offer assistance! Our “flat tires” in game are when another player is struggling with some difficult content. If the situation arises, you might even offer them some friendly advice. Teaching can be a great way of showing charity to others.
In the end, good citizens are this world’s everyday heroes, and when you’re playing a game like Pirate101, you are definitely playing as the hero—so be one! Make your game’s community a better place.
. . . and here’s another tip, we don’t sent bad-seed Pirates to jail in Pirate101 like you would in the real world, instead we block them from playing our game and levy account sanctions as needed. Review our FAQ page about reportable offenses, and if the occasion rises, use your report and ignore buttons through the friends list as needed.
So players, what do you think it means to be a good citizen in the gaming community?
We have a treat for you today! Fred Howard, Vice President of Marketing, is a huge part of bringing the Wizard101 and Pirate101 TV commercials to life. He’s taken some time to share a behind the scenes look at making a commercial in today’s part I of a two-part blog series.
Have you ever wondered how we create our Wizard101 and Pirate101 commercials? I’m going to do a two-part blog series on the making of our commercials in what I hope is an entertaining look behind the scenes. In this first post, I will talk about the making of one of our all CGI (Computer-Generated Imagery) commercials. For the second post, I’ll go behind the sets for the live action shoot we had for our recent Wizard101 tournaments commercial. We also worked to put together a video that walks through the process. Enjoy 🙂
Similar to when we create new content for our games, our commercials first start with a story. Basically, “What are we trying to convey or message with the TV spot?” It is more challenging than it may seem as there are only 30 seconds to tell the story. It’s really more like 25 seconds when we account for the opening and closing logo sequence. This is a very iterative process. We go from a high concept of the message to a detailed script written out with descriptions of the scenes, character voice lines, AVO (Announcer Voice Over – voice acting for things like the ESRB rating, our website, etc.) and other necessary details needed to execute making the commercial.
Once this is done, we work with our concept artists to create story boards. These are still image drawings that show detail for each step in the commercial. As with the script, this process goes through a lot of iterations to ensure we have the right look and feel in the commercial. With the completion of the story boards, we move into the actual production.
The first thing we have to do is build out all of the characters, props (like boats, equipment, etc.) and locations in very high resolution. This process starts with a bunch of concept art and the in-game characters to drive the development. Our goal is to stay close to the actual game play look but to take it to the next level given we have the output opportunity of High Definition TVs.
The first piece of the characters being created is called a Brush Model. These are grey scale characters built out with all the details they will have in the final commercial. Once these are done, the characters are moved to texturing and shading. This is where all of the color and depth is added — things like making a leather vest look “leather”.
As the characters and props are getting built out, we actually are creating the “set” in the CGI world by placing all of the cameras, characters and assets. Once the set is built out far enough we start to capture footage with the cameras (even though the characters and assets are not done yet). This is called an Animatic. Many times an animatic is done with just storyboards, but we feel it is a much better process to actually use camera moves in 3D. We have to make sure that what was envisioned in the script and storyboards actually looks good when it is in 3D with the camera motion. This process also goes through much iteration as we make tweaks to the camera moves, the camera cuts, and fine tune all of the placements.
The scene is then fully animated with all of the characters and movements. It sounds simple, but this is a lengthy process and difficult to really convey the emotions we are working to get across. Once this is all done, we move to adding all of the effects. This really brings the commercial “alive”.
It sounds like we should be done… but there are a few critical pieces that come toward the end of the commercial’s creation. The first is the soundtrack. We have all of the music for our commercials scored specifically for that spot. Usually we have an idea of the mood/sound that we want for the spot early on in the process, but until we lock in timing of movements and camera angles it is not possible to get a finished piece. We also have our sound team put down the soundtrack – meaning all of the sound effects you hear in the commercial from cannons to wind to characters grunting (side note, I actually helped make some of the “grunt” sounds that are in the Pirate101 commercial :)). The sound portion also consists of recording the voice over and announcer voice over. You might be surprised that each line gets read sometimes 50 or 60 times (or more) until we get the one that we think really captures what we want.
Once all this is put together, it gets finalized and shipped off to the various TV channels for your viewing pleasure. 🙂 One of the things I think is really interesting is how much detail goes into a CGI commercial like this. Stuff gets built that you barely see (and sometimes don’t see at all in the finished product) but that we have to get the little details right to ensure a high quality commercial. I think the video here showcases a little of that. Enjoy.
Fred Howard
Vice President of Marketing
KingsIsle Blog 