Proposal for Games Credits

So how do I go about this? Ah yes, the task ahead. From the beginning then. There are 13 students in a class. And there we were supposed to be split in teams. I decided to be the lone wolf and work solo. Now the reason for this is simple. I have an ongoing game with a readymade team to support my back in this as I have roughly mentioned in my previous post. So I think a bit more details about my game is in order.

I am the lead designer and leader of a team of 4 named ApplePie which consist of another two artists and a programmer. We are currently in the progress of making a 3D iOs room escape type game. The theme would be horror. It is set in the present modern settings. And to cut the long story short, it will be about a man named Damien who finds himself trapped in a house with 3 dead bodies in it. 

Now, having made the game and my team slightly clearer, I will continue to explain what I have to do for this week's task. I have to create the credits for this game of mine. But first, let's take a step back and ask ourselves. What is credits? What is it for?

Firstly, the meaning of credits:

cred·it

noun

public acknowledgment or praise, typically that given or received when a person's responsibility for an action or idea becomes or is made apparent.

or

an acknowledgment of a contributor's services to a movie or a television program, typically one of a list that is scrolled down the screen at the beginning or end of a movie or program.

or

verb

3rd person present: credits

publicly acknowledge someone as a participant in the production of (something published or broadcast).

And here we answer our second question as well. To put it in the nut shell, credits are mainly a wall of names to acknowledge and give thanks to those who has worked on the production of the broadcasted media. In short, to give credit. However, it is a common practice for most of us to skip the credits after the main show is done. So now the most crucial question: How to make the credits attractive enough for the viewers to stay?

I guess I'll start with what just plain DOES NOT work and I will not do is the classic yet dated wall of static text. This looks something like this:

The close relation to this is the wall of static text on top of a moving background. This example comes from American McGee's "Alice Madness Returns": 

I, personally, have seen quite a few good credits from both games and movies that deserve special mention - especially since they are probably going to be my inspiration for whatever I do. Starting off with movies, I'll be looking at Marvel's "The Avengers", "Rush Hour." For games, I'll be looking at an old classic: StarCraft to start. Deus Ex Human Revolution was one of those sneaky ones which  I'll elaborate on that later and also reference "The Avengers" again. I'll be taking a look at Left 4 Dead as it has an interesting feature I might implement. Fatal Frame has a nice touch at the start of its credits which I might use too.

For "The Avengers" what I particularly liked was the close ups on various pieces of equipment that were iconic to the different Avenger characters, specifically: Thor's Hammer Mjolinor, Captain America's Vibranium Shield, Black Widow's costume, Hawkeye's costume and longbow and finally Iron Man's Mark 7 Armor  as can be seen here: 

Unfortunately, this does become a wall of text, so I stopped paying attention at this point. On that note... having watched it several times, did they FORGET to include the Hulk?  

Another good movie credits I like was the type of credits that showed some sort of movement accompanying the rolling wall of text. One good example would be Rush Hour and again in Rush Hour 3. During the credits, I actually got to see selected behind the scene footages albeit just the bloopers, mistakes and general lighthearted moments. I personally witnessed the audience clap and cheer and the stuns and bloopers that was shown on screen, which kept them in the cinema throughout the credits which you can see here: 

As for good game credits, I liked the ones that showed concept art or even finished art alongside the credits. These kinds of credits do keep me watching, which is a good thing, but then with my art background these kinds of credits do have a special sort of appeal to me. You can see what I mean from the credits of Blizzard's original 1998 Starcraft here: 

The Avenger's comes back in at this point due to their very short sneak peek as to what comes next with this teaser, which only appears after all the credits have rolled:

Deus Ex Human Revolution uses the Easter Egg/sneak peek in a non-traditional fashion in that they only give you audio without video which you can find here at the 10:00 minute mark: 

 It hints at things to come but doesn't do more than hint, leaving you wondering what happens next especially since they are messing with a nasty virus that will probably play merry hell with cybernetic augmentations.

Fatal Frame makes use of a very simple fade effect to vary the background of its credits page as you can see here.

It's a very simple effect but a very good one that keeps your attention and focus for as long as it lasts at any rate.

So in my opinion, the best way to attract the viewers to stay and watch the credits is simple. Keep it short and keep it moving. Let me explain on that a bit more. In bigger productions that have hundreds of names, sponsors and much more to give credit to, it's simply not possible to keep it short. But for me with only a four man team, it is doable for my team to keep it short. To keep it moving means to make sure there's something alongside the credits to keep it fresh and entertaining. Just a wall of text moving upwards is enough to make anyone yawn and move away unless you are searching for your own name in the credits. To put maybe a simple animation and change the style of the credit rolling might just spark an interest in viewers and make them stay and watch till the end.

And now I finally come to the main point: What do I propose to do for the game credits of my game?

Similar to this. But the difference is that the picture will be the picture of our group (This is based on our story line) in a shattered/broken photo frame in the top left. The bottom right of the picture towards the bottom right of the screen will be covered in blood. As in the picture above, the credits will fade in and out in a smoky feel (ala Fatal Frame) on the top right of the screen, beside the space of the picture. The pictures will also shift between the production team (following Fatal Frame style effects) but done more in the layout and style of Deus Ex.

As the credits fade in and out, the picture's edges will slowly burn towards the center. Just as the credits finish, the picture would have finish burning as well. The scene will then transition to a blank screen with the word "END?", there might a short audio teaser here before a return to the game title screen.

Just a reminder again, I am flying solo here. So what I can and I am going to do is nearly everything except for maybe some art work which I will pass to my artists (Jennifer Lee and Janice Chong). For audio I will probably work with my programmer (Wan Azuhri) to determine which audio is suitable. I will do the composition, lighting, effects and the general typing. As for the audio teaser, I might just recruit someone to say a few lines for me and insert it at the end of the credits.