Contracts
Three contacts can help with this first is a Partnership Agreement. This contract is a basic list of questions that are the bridges to a partnership because in a venture that consists of more than one person, there must be a written agreement between these people to make a partnership. Some of these questions include:
What can the partners bring to the partnership?
How are the profits and losses apportioned?
What is each partners ongoing contribution to the partnership?
What happens when the partnership dissolves?
There are many more questions depending on the partners field of work but this is a good starting point for any potential partnerships.
Next is the Work-For-Hire Agreement in a situation a partnership hires a contractor to create game assets like, art, music and programming. Without an agreement or an employer-employee relationship, the individual who created the assets could be entitled to be the owner of the copyright to that work. To continue this agreement will help avoid for any potential future claims for royalties from a contractor. Furthermore having the contractor sign the agreement that state the assets as "works-made-for-hire," and list all rights to employer will help you avoid these hazards.
Final we have the Licensing Agreement this is when a developer is working with intellectual property of another like, trademark or copyrighted characters. This very important to get the genuine licensing agreement in place. A verbal or handshake deal might not be enough. In a situation where the product is a big success the license agreement needs to be defined in detail. If this is not met then this could mean some costly lawsuits in the future as the licensor will try and get their cut of the profits. For example:
Since 1993 EA has worked with FIFA to produce the global football game with the same name fifa since then it has become the most popular sports game to date. In May 2013 this licensing agreement was coming to a close this would mean EA couldn't make the fife games anymore as the FIFA company owns these rights. Although at the time it seemed there wouldn't be another fifa video game, a division in EA (EA sports) managed to come to a licensing agreement with FIFA till December 31 2022. This agreement states:
EA Sports maintains exclusive rights to release FIFA-branded action and management video games. In addition, EA Sports also holds exclusive rights to release the official FIFA World Cup video game, as well as retaining its status as a Presenting Partner of the FIFA Interactive World Cup.
These are the common problems in the video game industry but these contracts will help avoid this. Rule #2 contact or employ a game lawyer who knows the ins and outs of the business.
Recce report
This is a report of the locations i used to film. A Recce Report has been taken from a military term now used by media, this report is recording information about the location you wish to film at. It includes access to facilitates or lighting and sound issues. This document is very important as it they could find a location that fits the time setting they want to film in, but next door there is a work site meaning the loud noise could affect the filming and prologue the time of production. They include Pro and Cons this is really helpful as finding the perfect location is hard. This could mean less time filming and more time editing.
Risk assessment
This document is about the risk towards health and safety while filming in location. Risk Assessments are organised documents used to find potential risks while filming in a studio or outside location and prevent them using a action plan to resolve any damages that might happen. I used a Risk Assessment myself when filming my own documentary it included that i have many wires in my room so when recording game play i taped the wires to the ground to prevent trips and falls. It also included that drinks wouldn't be drank to prevent damage to my equipment encase of slips.
CV
CV this stands for curriculum vitae these are Latin words for course of life. This is a document made by yourself that lists your education, skills and experience. It can be used to give to an employer when searching for a job, like a business card a CV has your Email, address, postcode and full name.
In this dream CV i left out my address and email because i want to keep my privacy.
GDD game design document
A Game Design Document or GDD will begin in the pre-production of a video games development. Not before the pitch but after when the project has been approved. This is a ever changing document because of the enterprising environment of the games design industry which is very fluid in direction of starting, changing or aborting a project. This document can be even changed daily which is why it is also given the name of "Living Document". It will start of with the basics of explaining stages of the project development but by the end it will be expanded, this is encase the game is a huge success and the developers want to rediscover the wining formula, or it is not a success helping them understand what went wrong. This document will has the context of text, images, hand drawn diagrams and even concept art. Although this document sounds professional it is not a industry standard it is very useful for most game designers and developers. It would be useful to record story, characters, art, level and environment design, sound and music, game controls and game play. Overall i describe this document as a bible for a video games and is useful in teams to find their advantages and disadvantages.
References:
Michael E. Moore (6 Sep 2011). Game Development Essentials: Game industry career guide. the University of Michigan: Delmar/Cengage Learning, 2010. p5-323.
https://www.easports.com/fifa/news/2013/ea-sports-and-fifa-extend-licensing-agreement-until-2022
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