Lucciano Blair Game Rebranding Final Major Project
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Fmp Proposal Synopsis Of Idea
I will Rebrand the game called parapper the rapper, publisherd by Sony entertainment. Using my drawing and digita skills my aim is to bring this game back into this new age where people can enjoy it on their portable i-phone and i-pad devices. I will develop a range of promoional material sucha as poster, logo and app icon, an animated trailer of whats new to come and web page.
Research I will researdch into other app store games and rebranded material to gain knowledge on what currntly out on the appstore. This will aid me to develop a new style for my game and help me attain a better understanding of what it is im trying to achieve. I will also research into Guerrilla Marketing, this techeneque will promote my game in an unconventional way. This will requite energy
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and imagination, focusing on grasping the attention of the public in a more persomal and memorable level.
Target Audience
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The original game’s target audience
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Apple mobile and tablet gamers
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Hiphop music lovers
Designing for the target audience will guide me to produce, the best possible outcome. My audience will experience something the may have before but in a new enjoyable approach. there has not been many hip-hop influenced games on the app store so it will educate people a little about hip-hop.
Who is Parappa? Parappa The Rapper is a paper-thin rapping dog and the main protagonist of the video games and anime. His adventures usually lead to difficult situations, but he just uses his catchphrase,
believe!”
“I gotta
and then solves the problem. He will always go to great lengths to win her love, no matter what. He has been the star of the PlayStation title “PaRappa The Rapper: The Hip-Hop Hero”. as well as his official sequel, and the Fuji Television anime of the same name.
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Original Playstation game cover
Initial release date: December 6, 1996 Genre: Rhythm game Designer: Masaya Matsuura Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment Developers: Sony Interactive Entertainment, NanaOn-Sha, SIE Japan Studio Platforms: PlayStation, PlayStation Portable
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Screen shots I’ve take from the original game. 5
Rodney Greenblat An American graphic artist, known best in the United States for the visual style of the PlayStation series PaRappa the Rapper. Greenblant was also the character designer for the PaRappa the Rapper anime that was released in Japan. He is currently an abstract painter in New York.
On his web page he illustrates the process of how parappa the rapper the game was developed, and where he gathered his inspiration. he guides his reader through a journey of illustrations and text to push the thoughts and imagination he wants to put across.
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One World Observatory
Cartoon brew.com
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When looking at his work I really enjoy the idea of many things going on, You can spend a long time looking at an image finding new things, understanding what hesreally trying to potray in in his work. Another element that I like is the large array of colour, textures and patternsthey draw the viewer in to see the details and draws them back to see the overall view, I may concider some of these techniques in my own style of work.
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In his One Observatory interview he describes his work to be “coulorful and cartoony” and “tries to capture the crazy kid-like outlook on the world”. These are the feel and characteristics I would like to capture in my re-brand of the game.
parappathedog.tumblr.com 9
Cartoon brew.com
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App Store Games This game has inspired me for using predominatly visuald for my rebrand, it displays a series of strong imagery as well as the simple rhtum gaming aspect to it. Because the imagery is so colourful and stylistic it makes you want to see more aswell as play more, and being a designer leaving your audience wanting to see more is just what I want.
Rockstars of Ooo
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Adventure time rhytum game
I’ve looked at various other games that are on the app store to get an idea of how mine could function. I have chosen these three to look at in more depth, because the functions have similarities to what I am looking to do for my re-brand. Vital things im looking out for are the aesthetics, layout, functions and animations, but above all the simplicity in design. How to bring all of these elements together in one visual representation.
Tap Tap / Tap Tap Revenge Avalable on the App Store
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Audio Ninja
Idol M@ster
Avalable on the App Store
Avalable on the App Store
Clickamajigs by Rodney Greenblat In my research i came across a youtube video showing gameplay of ‘clickamajig’ games that Rodney Greenblat has created. All the games are visual, simplistic and humerous by just the click of a mouse. However after a while it became boring and did not change or develop in excitement to keep my entertained. This made me think about how simple i want my rebrand to be, and what visual elements can make it exciting for people to want moreand not get bored.
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I also Researched on different touch gestures to help me think about the ways the game can be interacted. This will also help generate some ideas for my trailer of the game, such as navigation but my attention to the visuals will be more of a priority in designing for my rebrand.
Mobile Tuxedo Touch gesture icons
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Rebranded This a good example of top company logos being rebranded. When looking at these example its very clear that in design the best possible thing you can do to rebrand something like a logo is simplify it. any thing that is too overly complex or that has too many elements to it can lose the beauty of what is trying to be communicated. I will focus on havin a balance between simplicity and complexity to achieve something that is just right. it may not be the best design possible but it will be able to communicate and in the future will be rebranded better once again.
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The beginning After looking at Rodney Greenblants work and researching into his concepts, My First focus on re branding this game was the style, so only using the main character and experimenting with various visuals was my initial approach. parappathedog.tumblr.com
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Grown Up My first idea was to create an older and more mature looking parappa as if physical time actually passed in the game. Knowing that Parappa The Rapper is also an anime, I thought about using some of the knowledge I know to create this look. •
Taller
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More hair
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Bigger head (compared to the body)
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More detail
Although this was a good idea I thought it would be best to not change the character so drastically. It loses too much of who Parappa The Rapper to the original fans.
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Flat Design
Illustrator After some consideration i started designing with the idea of the illustrator style. Focused on creating changes to the style of the character instead of changing the whole look completely. this is a important decition to make when rebranding a character because you still want it to have the same or a bigger impact on its audience.
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Parappa’s friensd Sunny Funny
Parappa’s main love interest
Sony Creative Products early character designs
PJ (The Dj) Parappa’s best friend
I thought it would be a good idea to keep some characters from the original game, so fans still have a Connection to the original aswell as the new components and characters. Also crafted in Adobe Illustrator.
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Katy Kat
Sunny Funny’s best friend
Easily recognisable with minor changes for a better look.
Rappin’ Rabbz To add another element to the game, I created a rival the parappa sees/battles throught the game. The idea was to create someone quite similer to him in looks and also shares the same goals on becoming the hip hop hero. I had the idea that after completing the game he would be a selectable character in the game to add another dynamic feel. App store games such as Subway Surfer have options to upgrade or change a character, to the person playing that individuality to a game. Charater customisation is becoming a popular thing, because people enjoy the idea of having something they have created .
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Teachers Parappa must make his way through each of the game’s stages by rapping. Each stage constantly alternates between the stage’s teacher and Parappa. As the teacher raps, a bar at the top of the screen will appear, showing symbols that match up to the teacher’s lyrics. The player must then make Parappa rap in response to the teacher by pressing the buttons with the correct timing to match the teacher’s line. I take part in discussion on an anime group online where people can talk about anything related to the topic. I thought it would be a good idea to ask people who are fans of the Parappa the Rapper game, what kind of new characters they would like to see. I got a good response and started creating by selecting a few from the list to illustrate.
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Sketches
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Here are a few sketches that before taking my ideas into Adobe Illustrator. Keeping the overall look of the characters quite simple, to fit in with the others whilst still adding my edge to them. I did not spend much time on them because I had ideas for what was wanted to do in illustrator. Their purpose was more of an aid for designing.
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I enjoyed the process of creating these characters because of all the wacky ides I had to devise. This was mostly because I was interested to see the kind of look each charecter would have.
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Sandwich Sam Master Egghead
Jelly Dresser Fly Guru
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Four Elements To Hip-Hop In my research about hip-hop culture I came across the four important elements.
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Rapping
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DJing
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Graffiti writing
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B-boying
These elements inspred me to create somemore characters. Not only will these teachers teach parappa about hip-hop, my idea is that their raps will educate the players a little about the hip-hop culture.
My Research lead me to one artist in each of the hip-hop elements. I think this idea brings a new light to the game giving it more depth, rather than random characters with not much meaning.
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Clive Campbell Better known by his stage name DJ Kool Herc, is a Jamaican American DJ who is credited for originating hip hop music in the early 1970s in The Bronx, New York City.
Christopher Wallace Better known by his stage names The Notorious B.I.G, Biggie, or Biggie Smalls, was an American rapper. Wallace is consistently ranked as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time.
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George Lee Qui帽ones An American artist and actor of Puerto Rican ancestry. He is one of several artists to gain fame from the New York City Subway graffiti movement.
Richard Col贸n Better known by his stage name Crazy Legs, is an American b-boy from the Bronx New York City, USA.
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Colour Colours that have been represented in the original game, but I have adjusted the tone of them slightly to give them more of a distinctive look. I think these colours work well together and will be a good asset to the branding of the project.
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Chevron pattern with my branding colours, referance to a t-shirt that is seen in the original game. 32
ILLUSTRATOR (Flat)
Logo A simple logo based off of Parappa’s hat and ears, two main distinctive features that can be recognised in black and white or colour.
C4D (3D)
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3D Stage Selection In the original game most of the surroundings have a 3D flat look to it such as buildings. So i used this as a chance to add some cinema 4D elements to my work. In most of the games I’ve played from the app store they have a stage selection, this is where most of the selection in the game are played. Most recent games tend to now show scuomprphic/3D elements in this part of the game.
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Urban Type To start developing a new font, I went looking for some urban type in london. I collected 53 inspirational images to inspire me for ideas.
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Type Development for the main “Parapper The Rapper� title, took me through a series of experements to get to the final result.
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An icon of the main character within the letter “P”.
A good contrast of colour giving the viwer an easy read.
The flick of the “R” gives it character and an element of Graffiti.
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3D Parappa My Previous Visuals for the game were not strong enough and decided to take my ideas and create 3D characters in C4D. I had tried this idea earlyier on in the project but my knowledge on the software was not strong enough. So this time around i dectded to Take on a range of tutorials to help me develop what my intentions are in C4D.
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Animation I was determined to create movement with my character weather that be a simple walk or a little bounce. So I tried rigging my character and adding some movement in C4D but this proved to be quite challenging. Knowing how to add and take away weight on each joint was something I had a hard time getting my head around. So I decided to render my character from the front and animate him in after affects. I used the puppet tool and keyframed movement on my 2D chracter, to give the impretion that he is dancing along with the music.
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Animation in an important element to this project simply because its a rythum based game. I think the animation I have produced brings the character and the project to life, giving the viewers something to be excited about. Although i have created this movement through Adobe AfterEffects, i have also created a prototype of the movement i would intend on using, if i had more time to develop this project further. This prototype movement has been devloped in C4d, and is a working progress towards my character animation.
C4D Binding
C4D Weight tool
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App Icon I used an apple app stencle to create the box shape so all my objects to make the icon can be confined by the shape. This icon was crafted in illustrator to create a flat design look, which the app store’s latest ISO has. Parapper The Rapper
Here are some more icons I have devised using some of the material that I have created for my branding. I tried keeping them as simple as possible, just like other app icons you see in the App Store. To create these icons I used an app called ‘App Icons’, which allows you to customise your own.
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Trophies Parappa the rapper trophies that can be won in each stage of the game. Depending on how well your score is, you will receive a stone, silver or gold trophy. In most mobile and tablet games you earn collectable items, so it was significant to create something that dose just that.
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The idea for the look of the trophies derived from the Nintendo figures called Amiibo. Amiibo are very popular to gamers and people who ejnoy collectiong items.
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I-Phone and I-pad Game images
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Posters
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Guerilla Marketing Here are my parappa speech bubbles that illustrate his signature line “I Gotta Believe�. I ordered these as stickers to be placed over other images in london where people look like their speaking. This is a simple way of marketing my project aswell as just creating posters and a trailer. I experimented with different facial expressions that changed the mood of
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whats being communicated. This part of thte project was not as successful as i wanted it to be but it was still fun and i was able to get a few good images. The stickers did not deliver in good timing for me to explore london and commit to this side of the project.
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Evaluation This project is a re-brand of the 1996 rhythm game on the Playstation One ‘Parappa The Rapper Hip Hop Hero. This new and improved version has been designed for the app store where people can enjoy the new graphic design and hip-hop rhythms. The visual aspect of the game is what’s predominantly being re-branded and not so much the mechanics of the game. This re-brand has been designed to entertain people on the go with its rhythmic tunes and colorful high quality scenes. It also educates players about the hip-hop culture and icons who helped build the hip-hop culture. Its target audience are people who have played the original on the Playstation One. These people will be able to relate and appreciate The new upgrade of the aesthetic and idea. I-Phone and I-pad users would be able to easily download and play on their portable devices anywhere they go, and thats one of the main changes that has been made to this re-brand. It gives the player more choice and accessibility to play now that people are more out going than indoors. It is also aimed at people who enjoy music (hip-hop), educating about the four elements that make up the culture and illustrating icons such as Clive Campbell aka DJ Kool Herc, credited for originating hip hop music in the early 1970s. It is designed for Apple devices and is accessible through the app store amongst other competing games. But there are not many rhtum games on the App Store with a good visual element aswell as music. The App Store game Tap Tap became the most downloaded free game of the App Store in 2008, mostly famous for its wide selection in music. The visual aspect of the game was not a strong point, and over the years they have developed it still keeping its simplistc playing mechanics. 66
Parappa The rapper is a unique character and can be noticed almost everywhere with his distinguishable look. The app icon displays a 3D gold logo of his hat and ears making it a very noticable to anyone who sees it. A simular well know character with these attributes is Micky Mouse. He was created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at the Walt Disney Studios in 1928, and in 2016 his sillouette is recognised by many around the world. Another strong brand aspect about Parappa The Rapper is his motto “I gotta believe”. Its a positive phrase he repeats throught the game just before learning something new to solve a problem. People are attracted to positivity and encouragement to help them throught their life problems. using the motto to market the brand is a stong point because its something that can relate to anyone wether you know about Parappa The Rapper or not. So the gurrilla marketing was was a great unconvetional way of marketing the brand. Althought the execution of the concept was not at its best, it has the potential to be developed. The yellow poster illustrates the character in sillouette and his motto, This posters strength is its simplistic aestetic, leaving the viewer in suspence wanting to see more. It also plays with the Guestalt Theory only using positive and negative space. One is able to see the inspiration from graphic designer and illustrator Noma Bar in this piece, with its bright coulor and simple elements. Each poster has its unique strengts that carry the brand The trailer is one of the most convinsing elements to this project, because its the closest thing to seeing differnt parts of the game in action. It displays a range of promotional material and visuals giving the viewer an exciting display of craft.
Animation Still images Collectables Characters
Althought this project is not primerily aimed at the gaming mechanics, it would make the trailer complete if there were some still of animatoin of the game being played. The development book displays a wide array of work and builds a story of how the final pieces have been constucted. It illustrates Strengths weaknesses and problems solved along the way.
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