As an artist, a designer, and a teacher the role of producer for a small game project, Knick-Knax, is both familiar and foreign. This is a weekly journal of some of the things I've learned, experienced, and witnessed along the way.
Landing Page
In an attempt to take advantage of my artistic and professional background I decided to start focusing on the webpage for the game. The webpage is currently a template and needs a lot of work. We are rapidly approaching the targeted release date for the game so this definitely high on the priority list regradless.
In a class I am taking towards my Masters in Game Management and Production, I learned about landing pages. I have dabbled in web design in the page but it was mostly low level stuff. Obviously, I had heard of splash pages and homepages but a landing page was a completely new concept for me. Usually landing pages are completely separate entities from the game’s/companies main website. The reason for this independence is related to its core design and function. Typically webpages are about flow and navigation. They are designed to make it easy for the user to move around and must allow the user quick access to all of the most important information they may be seeking. A landing page, however, is often meant to be a final destination as opposed to being a hub for other content. The user is “called to action” as the landing page only allows them to navigate away if they either purchase something (in this case, the game) or if they enter in their contact information such as an email that can be used in a mailing a list. Of course the user can still shut off the web browser completely but typically it is the assumption that the user has some level of interest in the product to have been brought there in the first place so its design is aimed at getting them to commit to something, be it a purchase or a Facebook like.
In my research I found a few wonderful examples of this in action.
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Logo Design
The webpage and landing page research really got me thinking about branding for the game. In order to truly capture and commit users into becoming customers it’s important to brand yourself. A logo is extremely important in this regard. The logo is what they will see first. Often it will also be used as the icon displayed upon installing the game onto a mobile device. Being that Knick Knax will be initially released for both iOS and Android it is imperative we have a strong logo design right from the get-go.
When it comes to kids games, having strong, fun, and cute characters worked both into the game and into its advertising campaign will help maximize sales. We can obviously see this when it comes to games like Angry Birds and Cut the Rope. While Pixar is a movie house as opposed to a game studio it is still a perfect example of crediting characters that an audience can relate to.
The main characters in Knick Knax are sock monkeys. My grandma made me a sock monkey when I was a young child and that thought alone really takes me back. When coming up with a logo I knew I needed to capture this feeling.
The process of creating a logo takes time. Professionally I have never finished a logo in under 30 hours. I can’t compare this to how or what it should be typically, but the point is more on the lines of it being a huge commitment than to set some arbitrary time frame in which it should be completed in. I have started the process and I like where it’s going but it’s still needs some work. I’ll post the design when I feel confident I have created something that matched the requirements I have set for myself.
Until next time.
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Official Website: http://rolalas90.wix.com/knickknax
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KnickKnaxGame
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KnickKnaxGame
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