Research

The game we are making will be based on an escape room and is a horror themed game. As the marketing lead I decided it would be worth attempting to find other similar games to see what it is that made them popular and how they approached the marketing side of the game.

I also wish to look for ideas to pass onto my team to aid in development.

Images I have taken from just a trailer for the game and from the images I have provided we can see just why the game is considered scary and we can take a moment to really look into those elements that make a scary scene.

The assets seem to tell a story with all of them coming together to paint a picture before the player even needs to move. The assets are all damaged and falling apart, this matches everything other than the doors themselves, which they seem to be scratched and damaged but still fully in tact. This is probably to help with not letting the player know what is coming next and so it works for this.

Some of the more unusual assets would be the hanging baby dolls along a wooden bridge that seems unstable itself, the use of pet carriers also added another element of scary, the fact it implies serious animal cruelty and that the people in the house would harm animals in such a manner and think of them as nothing more than perhaps food or sport. Even if the game has no other hints towards animals being in the game the assets still paint a picture that the carriers are thrown around, one used to hold a candle and that the carriers are just in the way more than anything.

The lighting is very effective in the scene, most notably with one of the enemies that is chasing the player down, the way it is used is to have the enemy carrying the light which is so bright the player is unable to directly see the enemy therefore not giving the player a good look at the character chasing them leaving it to their imagination to how horrific they may really be.

One element they used was the main camera, it appears that they used a video recorder as their camera and that has allowed them to change the vision slightly to blur some of the background and occasionally have slight errors. Showing such errors would make people feel uneasy as they are in an unfamiliar situation with the story being told just by the assets, they know things are not right and now they cannot even see clearly.

With the popularity of Resident Evil 7 Bio-hazard the game was also released on VR which is another reason I thought it would be a great game to look into and research as the screenshots I have taken could easily be from the VR game. It means that the style of game we wish to make is a good fit for the VR side of gaming.

Marketing

When it come to marketing Capcom went in hard, with 6 different ways to collect the game, a US, Japan and European exclusive collectors edition and many other items that could be purchased separately. This is on top of all the advertising they done. I have some examples below.

Starting with the advertising, Capcom were able to get vans with their game logo and a poster which can drive around advertising the game. This is similar to when busses will have advertisements on them however this may be a cheaper alternative as it only requires one and they can use the trailer to store their equipment when attending events.

A poster in a strategic location, this is important as it appears like London underground, it may be somewhere else but let's assume its London. This is a great place to advertise as lots of people use the underground on a daily basis and people will often stand there looking outward to the wall while waiting for their train. Therefore targeting a strategic location where lots of people will see the poster is always something to consider.

An early poster for Resident Evil where the concept is not very clear is something that would actually drive interest in the game and will force people who are interested to do some more research themselves where they are likely to find out more about the game which some adverts may try to force but to less effective results.

Onto the marketing, different editions of the game, there is some editions of the game which had changeable covers which means players can choose which edition of the game they like the look of more, in some cases this has proven very popular. Games like Doom (2016) where attacked for their lack of originality during the reveal for its cover art, however adding in another art cover which players can choose which they like easily calmed these complaints down.

Different editions of the game for different regions mean that some people can have special merchandise which makes them feel special for the region they are in. Some items shown are a music box replica of the house which the game takes place in, an art book, a severed finger USB, special pictures and even a soundtrack. This was all a part of one special edition.

The steelbook edition contained a special rations pack which is something from the game itself which players will use for healing. It is a good edition to have as it is like having a prop from the game or a movie as a part of the collection.

Next is shirts and hats and even mugs, shirts are pretty standard and the ones from Resident Evil are ones that seem like they are famous from the franchise. Phrases like "don't open that door!" is a famous phrase from the first game. However the shirts exclusive to Resident Evil 7 seem like they are a little more minimalist with just a logo or a design from the series or even that specific game. The mugs offered by the game appear to be the metal survivalist style mugs which is different from other games which may have just a standard mug with a printed pattern on, it feels more personalised like the player can be a part of the game and be more immersed with the merchandise.

finally is the finger pen and a candle, the finger pen is another edition to go along with the finger merchandise which is something that people may use as it is creepy and at the same time amusing. It goes along with the style of the game and fits in with the merchandise produced. The candle is something many games have been trying recently and it is hard to tell why this was supposed to be a good idea. The candle is supposed to be lit with the idea of being able to smell the house in the game to fully immerse the player into the game, however when the game takes place in a rather nasty looking place it seems like a bad idea... many people online are even joking about being able to smell the antagonists.

With all this I can get a much better idea on how to advertise a horror game and use merchandise to my advantage rather than it being a detriment of the project.