Skyrim: Shouting Brand Building From The Rooftops

Question: How can a video game that is criticized as "technically disastrous" also be lauded as one of the greatest games of all time, "blurring the lines between virtual and actual existence,"and shattering Steam distribution records? The answer could be that there are a great many discrepancies among gamer opinions that constitute what is or is not technically broken. It appears as though some of the complaints of glitches and bugs are anathema to many of the millions of gamers who have logged over 100 (and some over 300) hours in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim since its November, 2011 release, so there is at least one Venture Beat journalist who might want to rethink his definition of "disastrous." But even die hard fans of this most highly engaged video game franchise will tell you that The Elder Scrolls have never been polished to perfection from the date of release, so there must be something more going on here than just an excellent game.

Answer: Great product management. Ever since Bethesda released the first title of the epic Elder Scrolls franchise, Arena, the games have been steadily building momentum with each subsequent installment, culminating in the current blockbuster release that has so many fans immersed in their PCs and gaming consoles. Because this is a franchise that has made its way from obscure to renown over a considerably lengthy time, I believe it's a good game to exemplify some of the good, bad, and ugly approaches to product management.

What ever happened to Billboards?

We can begin by taking a close look at what Bethesda has done correctly. One important thing to consider is how, when, and where you will reveal your product to the market. When Executive Producer Todd Howard unveiled Skyrim at Spike's annual Video Game Awards, he was keeping these questions at the front of his mind. If you're a developer looking to increase publicity for your upcoming game, then you should also make sure it makes an appearance at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June of that same year, as this presents some of the best media coverage you can hope to get. As an added bonus, why not do like Bethesda VP of Marketing Pete Hines did and have an image of the staple character or element of your upcoming game painted on the face of the Figueroa Hotel in Los Angeles, California - right down the road from E3. That will snag the public's attention, I assure you. Granted, this massive "Nord" is only representative of the world of Skyrim, which is heavily influenced by Scandinavian geography and culture. 

Nice new feature: Dual-Wielding

Which, of course, brings me around to some things that Bethesda could have done better. These are just some ideas for branching out and diversifying your product management and marketing strategies, because, the truth is, Bethesda did a great job managing this product. Still, many people who are unfamiliar with The Elder Scrolls franchise may be surprised to find that you can assume the role of one of a variety of imagined races, which is actually pretty neat when one considers that each race is fundamentally different in status, attributes, and abilities, creating a variety of options for gamers with different play style preferences. Skyrim offers players an unprecedented amount of freedom in terms of gameplay and story progression. There are numerous ways to incorporate this concept into a marketing campaign, rather than sticking with the same face and same scenario for every snippet of digital media that was advertised. Maybe Bethesda thought of that and rejected the idea for consistency. Considering there are many fans of the game who will not even play the main quest until after they have cooked up a mean herb and salmon stew and tanned a few leather hides, it's safe to say that there is more to this game than a barbarian out to severely punish some naughty dragons. When that's something that you know fans love the most about a game, you should work to include that in your advertising.

Of course, there is always the ugly side of product management to consider. I'm not sure what I would have done were I in Howard's shoes, but maybe keeping an 11-11-11 release date despite the many (albeit harmless) bugs and glitches that still plague the game wasn't the best idea in the world. However, no game developer will ever go home and crack open a bottle of champagne to celebrate a release date postponement. There is also the fact that consumer feedback will help you catch numerous bugs that the rest of your team might otherwise never have found, which presents the opportunity for some fresh and effective quality control. At this point, we must recognize the difference between an established brand with a large following (The Elder Scrolls), and a new brand that no one has heard of or played before. If you're working on the first installment of a franchise, I would recommend pushing that release date back to ensure the quality is up to par, rather than releasing with the obvious intention of patching - something you are evidently allowed to do when you have demonstrated a track record for success.

The Art of MoCap

As the entertainment software industry continues to grow in popularity, so too does the technology that streamlines the process of making video games. Such technology ranges from simple to use animation software like Zbrush that produces amazing results to enhanced speech recording software that syncs the audio to animations for unprecedented “lip-syncing” quality (check out Speech Graphics for more info on this juicy piece of technology). There’s also motion capture (or MoCap) technology that, as one might guess, uses various methods to capture a wide range of movements for translation to animations that creates a much more realistic and versatile character in the end. For those of you who do not yet know about motion capture technology, I have one declaration that may put your mind at ease: that rock your living under should completely erode away any day now, and you’ll have no choice but to greet the modern world.

So how does motion capture work? There are various methods, but the most common motion capture methods (up until recently) consisted of suiting up an actor and pinning “markers” to them that would be picked up by a camera or computer software. These markers are typically reflective for camera use, or LED operated for software detection. There is now technology that allows movement to be captured without the use of markers, such as Xsens. The goal is obviously to capture as many different movements of an actor as possible in a short amount of time and process that information for animating purposes. For those of you who are wondering how character animations in today’s video games (particularly with fighting and sports games) are so realistic, the answer is here.

Of course, when you have software that can capture the movements of people and create a stellar video game character from said movements, you need stellar athletes, dancers, martial artists, and gymnasts to get the best quality motion. So, for those of you who consider yourselves exceptional at any of the aforementioned physical activities, perhaps you should be considering a career in video games after all. There have even been motion capture artists who have launched formal careers in acting with motion capture roles. Have you ever heard the name Joseph Gatt? If that’s not familiar, then maybe you remember the name Kratos, the protagonist from Sony’s God of War series. Gatt is the actor that brought Kratos to life, and has since snagged roles in major motion pictures like Thor and the upcoming Star Trek II.

The advent of motion capture has brought about a new wave of management services, as well. If you’re looking for help in launching a career in motion capture acting, perhaps you should check out an agency like A-Max that specializes in managing MoCap actors. As I mentioned in my most previous blog post, it never hurts to have representation when dealing with entertainment contracts and negotiations, and you will have your fair share of both in this industry.

For a better understanding of motion capture and all its greatness, check out this video of iPi Desktop Motion Capture video (below) using Kinect Sensors featuring the "Scout" and the "Heavy" from Valve's Team Fortress II. Markerless MoCap is the new craze, after all.