Since the last generation of consoles were released, much has changed in the Industry that indirectly affects ‘AAA’ gaming.  It’s now hard to believe a time when Facebook, smart Phones and tablets weren’t so prevalent and yet they didn’t even exist prior to the current generation of games consoles. Their dominance has now unarguably changed the landscape of gaming forever. So much so, that the level of expectation amongst consumers as to the visual fidelity and gaming experience will be higher than ever before. Console games still lead the pack in heading towards gaming’s Holy Grail – Hollywood visuals married with engaging and emotive interactive experiences.  With internal development headcounts predicted to remain the same in the next gen, studios will increasingly need to partner with Vendors that are trusted to a level of creativity to the production in order to ease the burden of producing high fidelity content that next gen gaming will demand.

Vendors able to make the leap from slavishly acting under instruction to a group viewed as creative partners which acts as an extension to the development team will fare best.  The vendors who ‘get it’, who share the developer’s passion for making the game and are able to make a major contribution at every stage of a game’s production will be the ones who benefit most.  Such premium quality vendors operate in a completely different market to low cost off shored suppliers and are able to make a contribution to a game’s development and creativity at every level.

As one of several suppliers for ‘Kinect Disneyland Adventures’ and both ‘Kinectimals’ titles, Frontier Developments were delighted at the level of creativity RealtimeUK were able to bring to the project.  As well as setting the required benchmark for the animation, we contributed to the direction of the cut-scenes themselves, becoming an extension to the main team and freeing them up to concentrate on other aspects of the game.  Similarly on projects like Split Second and Motorstorm, our team’s creative input was instrumental from an early stage of development and its contribution at the pre-production stage of the latter is still evident in the ongoing success of the IP.

Despite often tight budgets, the clients we speak to understand the trade off that exists between cost and quality. Go too cheap and there is a risk that yourinternal resource will quickly become tied up in having to micro manage each individual asset before it finally (if ever!) hits the required quality benchmark. Conversely, exclusively using premium quality suppliers can be hard to justify if the budget is tight. Clearly, there is a balance to be struck.  Fortunately, the better studios understand that Art Resource is not a commodity and there is a role to play for both premium quality studios and low-cost offshore suppliers.

Judging by the number of clients approaching us at an early stage of production for us to help them set the visual benchmark for their games, many developers are realising the value that premium suppliers can bring to the genesis of a new game or IP where the stakes are higher than ever. Vendors able to offer a more consultative led approach can offer a development team a fresh perspective to creative problems.  Such services are now particularly attractive to developers more than ever as we sail into the uncharted waters of yet another generation of consoles.

By Dave Cullinane, Account Director at RealtimeUK

The animation presents a short story of a series of characters leading monotonous, colourless lives, until a spark of inspiration allows them to transcend into a world of creative imagination.

Release Your Imagination has already had nearly 19 thousand views on Vimeo in just one week and has just been picked up by numerous blogs and trade magazines such as The Drum who have published this great article on their website.

Check out our case study here;

Release Your Imagination Case Study

Our Managing Director, Tony Prosser was interviewed by Blackpool Gazette on how RealtimeUK has progressed from a back bedroom in Lytham to a purpose built studio here in Westby.

The interview has been published in Fylde Business Magazine, here is a link to a snippet of the interview online- Tony’ interview

We are proud to say that one of our recent marketing images has been used by Aston Martin as their home page image highlighting their brand message POWER, BEAUTY, SOUL.

View our Aston Martin case study here

We were tasked by Warburtons to deliver a truly immersive and engaging experience for users when visiting their site, check it out here- http://www.warburtons.co.uk

The team have all worked especially hard on this project throughout the last year so we couldn’t be happier to add the gratifying trophy to our collection.

It now sits proudly on our reception- along with it’s three other siblings!

 http://www.rosesdesignawards.com/nominations

RealtimeUK have also been nominated for 2 separate awards for our recent Warburtons Consumer Website; Best FMCG marketing strategy or campaign and Best food or drink marketing strategy or campaign.

 http://bit.ly/pWLnCj

Chris will be attending the ceremony in November along with our Managing Director Tony Prosser and Senior Account Manager Steve Beckett.

 Fingers crossed!

Best Food or Drink Marketing Strategy or Campaign

Best FMCG Marketing Strategy or Campaign

…as well as a Roses Design Award!

Best Use of Visual Design

The new consumer website is an integral part of Warburtons’ broader initiative to refresh its brand identity and communications to maintain competitive advantage with customers and consumers.

Commenting on the appointment and RealtimeUK’s work, Warburtons’ Marketing Director, Richard Hayes, said “RealtimeUK are at the forefront of emerging technology and on-line experiences. We asked RealtimeUK to inject the technical expertise and creativity more usually associated with the worlds of gaming and entertainment into our refreshed company web site. We are delighted with the result which is already driving increased dwell time and traffic and stands out from the crowd.”

Check out our Warburtons’s project here- http://www.realtimeuk.com/projects/view/warburtons-consumer-website

Combined with the wonderfully emotional recording of “Wherever You Will Go” by Charlene Soraia, Twinings has really captured human emotions and made perhaps every viewer crave a cuppa!

Watch it here- Twinings Gets You Back To You