Playing games - writing a feature article

Brief - Create a single page preview in In-Design for a video game magazine about Assassin's Creed: Unity

David Hesmondhalgh argues that the videogame industry, like all media industries, is a specialised industry. The video game industry relies on the highly specialised relationship between it's production, distribution, promotion and marketing. In order to effectively minimise risk and to maximise profit, specialist videogame publications, both online and print based, will be provided with previews of games currently in development, in order to construct a sense of anticipation for the target audience. This relationship is symbiotic: the developer benefits from increased (and hopefully favourable) publicity, while the publication can provide it's audience with the information their target audience desires.

Create a single page preview future for a video game magazine featuring Assassin's Creed: Unity. You will be using Adobe InDesign to do this, however your may use a template to help you if you need it.

Your aim is to write and arrange a preview– similar to a review, but introducing the audience to the game, it’s concepts and why they should get excited

• Production values: draw distance, graphical fidelity, 
• Basic narrative overview
• Repetition and difference – what’s new about this one?
• What platforms it is available on?
• What the game is like to play – how it may appeal to audiences, what stands out about the game experience? Why should they be excited?

It should be approx. 150 words of text with accompanying images, pull quotes, appropriate straplines and headlines

What are you actually doing this session?

• Play the game
• Make notes, on narrative
• Get to know InDesign and its templates (find a magazine psread template should you need it).
• Start laying out images and straplines
• Start drafting your magazine text and structure researching the background to the game
• In this context Assassins Creed Unity is the latest installment ..

Examples of  preview features - additional print examples will be provided

Writing a preview feature

What are the conventions of a preview feature?

Conventions - the aspects that make up a genre or a medium. Magazines, like all media, can be conventional or unconventional 

Large main image - grabs the attention of the audience, to...

Copy (the writing...) explains to the audience what the game is going to be about...

Information: publisher, developer, format, origin, and the release date, to...

Standfirst - explains and summarises thew article, to...

Plain, conventional, and packed with information, particularly about the developers...

Allv these features and conventions encourage the audience to get excited about the upcoming game, ensuring the audience continues to buy the magazine, and contiues to be engaged with the videogame industry. This relationship between the videogame industry and the magazine industry is symbiotic. They both get advantages. 

This blog post was adapted from material made from Sian. Thank you Sian!