LO3 - Showing conventions of the Genre

Front Cover -

Comparison images are from The IndieGameMagazine (left) and My own magazine (right) -
The conventions that I have used from this genre of magazine are used for a specific purpose, these allow me to display a lot of information in a clear and well-presented manner so that potential readers will easilly be able to see what the magazine contains without the front cover being cluttered. I have also used specific sizes for each of the elements on the front cover so that the important things are larger and because of this, more eyecatching.

Contents and Editorial -

Comparison images are from The IndieGameMagazine (left) and My own magazine (right) -  
 The magazine that I compared with here did not have an editorial in their magazine probably because this was not their first edition for this magazine. I used a lot of images on these pages as they are quite text heavy and this breaks up the monotony of the page. I also featured the convention of a large segment of the page to preview the featured article on the page, this makes sure that the reader will know about this more than other segments. I also have the brand colour-scheme and title going across the top of all pages so that the brand is reinforced.

Double Page Spread -

The double-page spread is a very text heavy layout as it has a lot of content, it is important to have a lot of colour on the page to encourage people to read and for it to be eye-catching. I have done this with the convention of images throughout the text, I have wrapped the images around the text so that it gives more shape to the article. The large feature image that I have is immediately noticable on the article so that people will notice is easilly.

LO3 - Magazine Article - Editorial

What do you want to tell your readers?
In my first edition of the magazine I will give a brief description of what the magazine includes and also the general style of the magazine.
What is the strongest article in your magazine?
 The strongest article in the magazine will be the indie game review, this is because of how detailed I looked into the game that I reviewed and it will offer the readers an insight into how indie games are produced in an educational style.
What experiences brought you to develop this magazine?
The experiences that have brought me to develop this magazine are that I have grown up playing these types of games and have a passion for them, this has made me have great attention to detail when reviewing these games.


This is the first edition of The Greenlight magazine, so I thought I'd tell you a bit about our magazine.
The Greenlight magazine was first created with a specific goal in mind, this was to deliver top quality insight into up and coming PC games to the reader. While this sounds like a perfectly simple goal it actually took a lot of work to get this magazine together (Who would of thought!). This amazing first edition of our magazine includes a lot of information on games that have recently been released to the public, with exclusive interviews from game developers!  

I'd like to draw your attention to the article on page six, I have been looking at that game from the start of its release and watched it grow into what it is now it has had its official release I thought it would be perfect to be feature in our official release too. I have grown up playing obscure, small games that not many people know about and I truly believe that you can find some amazing experiences when playing indie games, it is because of this that I have decided to share the games that I find with readers. So, if you want to find some gems of games and have a sense of adventure and a willingness to try something new, then please read on.

Our magazine also features something unique to us, we ask for fanart from fans of the games we are writing our articles on and we add this to our magazines giving credit to the people who read our magazines. We do this because we believe that the fans are what make the games, and in the same respect they our the ones that will help drive our magazine to success.

LO3 - Magazine Article - Smite

SMITE is a game that has rapidly grown and made a name for itself, two years ago it had a playerbase 50,000 people…Now it has over a million players and hosts worldwide tournaments with the second highest prize-pool in the history of E-sports. In this article we will speak with the Owner of the company and the tournaments that they host.

SMITE is a MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) and has the typical elements of this genre of game, however as well as appealing to this audience the game has two other key factors that owes its massive success to. As a spin on the classic MOBA game, the camera is brought down behind the head of the character played much like an FPS game, this small change actually changes the game and how it is played greatly, it makes the action and style of gameplay a lot more fast paced and require a lot more focus to be aware of the environment. The characters that the player uses and the maps that are played on are all based off of Ancient mythology’s and pantheons, the characters are designed as lore-friendly as possible and it works greatly in HiRez Studios favour as they wont run out of source material for their character designs anytime soon!

The competitive scene of this game has been non-stop growth since the introduction of a ranking system for their most popular game modes. In 2014 they had their first live tournament that took place in Atlanta, they had teams from both North America and Europe brought to the stadium to play after a series of qualification matches online, this on top of the massive turnout of fans to the actual event and the people that watched online showed this to be a massive success and milestone for HiRez.

So what do they owe their rapid growth and success to? The answer is actually really simple, Twitch. Twitch is a livestreaming service that allows people to stream their gameplay to anybody else watching around the world

LO3 - Magazine Article - Insomnia Gaming Festival

Gaming festivals and conventions started out as very small events that few people would know about, let alone attend. Since then they have spread to every continent on the globe like some sort of disease. The Insomnia series of gaming festivals is the UK's number one gaming festival and it is appropriately named, during the festival attendees will walk around going from booth to booth in hopes of getting free merchandise and exclusive previews of up and coming games that are being showed off for sometimes, the first time the other main day-time event that goes on at the Insomnia festival is the glorified stage events, At these celebrities within the gaming world will play games up on stage and do news panels to the crowd and also the live-streamed audience. The most popular and 'hyped' games by the audience will also recieve stage time in which they will do full length presentations and pitches on the upcomming projects of their company.

That is all the stuff that occours in the day, the night time part of the festival is a whole other atmosphere, at night attendees are able to take part in LAN events in which they are able to bring in their own computers and play games against other people that are at the event, competitions are hosted and winners will be selected by the Insomnia Staff. The festival also holds a nightly event that helps it live up to the festival part of its name, concerts from famous musicians are hosted in which attendees have access to and have the ability to go to.

LO3 - Magazine Article - Game developer interview

Answers by Todd Harris, Hi-Rez Studios COO

1.       How have your company raised money for tournament prize pools?

We have utilized crowd-sourcing and the sale of in-game virtual items to raise money for tournament prize pools.  So for a set of limited edition virtual game items we allocate a portion of the sale to E-sports prize pools.  Specifically, for the launch of SMITE in March 2014 our company put in $100,000 for a Launch Tournament prize pool.  And additional $100,000 was raised by the community buying in-game items.  For the Season One World Championship our company put in $600,000 for the prize pool.  The player community raised another $2,000,000!   

2.       How have you setup these tournaments and all organisation?

We have a dedicated staff of about 10 people who run the administration and production/broadcast of the tournaments.  E-sports tournaments require the same type of staff you would find for a traditional sporting event - people to draft & enforce/officiate the rules, commentators and analysts, people to produce and broadcast a show for online viewers, people to handle players and teams, and people to give great service to the fans who attend the live event.

3.       Why do you think E-sports and MOBA tournaments are so popular?

MOBA games are now the most popular game genre in the world in terms of player population.  So there are a large number of people who understand the game rules and this large population can appreciate when the game is being played at a very high skill level.  The top eSports events now draw viewership compatible or higher than traditional sporting events.

4.       How have your company become so well known in comparison to other MOBAS?

The gameplay within SMITE is different from other MOBAs because it is more action-based.  The player is directly controlling their character rather than clicking on the game map and aiming and dodging are more important. Beyond the gameplay, SMITE became well known because our first World Championship is already the 3rd largest eSport event in history based upon prize pool. Also SMITE will be the first major MOBA to come to a console when it releases on Xbox One in 2015.

5.       How have E-sports changed in the past few years?​

The biggest positive impact to E-Sports in the past few years is the emergence of live-streaming technology such as Twitch.TV.  This technology allows events to be broadcast over the internet to a worldwide audience with much lower production cost and zero distribution cost.  Twitch.TV now has 50 million unique users watching videogame content

LO3 - Magazine Article - PC Building

Let's face it, no one really builds their own desktop PC anymore, right?
Wrong, actually. DIY may not be all it used to be, but it's still a thriving sector of the PC industry, and one that any serious computer user—we mean the type of person who cares more about what a computer can do than how small an envelope it can slide into—should be aware of. Because, if you want the strongest, most adaptable, most upgradeable, and most personal computer you can possibly get, there's no way around it: You need to build it yourself.
By researching each individual component's capabilities and limitations, you can tailor your purchases to your exact needs now and in the future. And if your requirements or your mood change tomorrow, next week, next month, or next year, you can easily pull out and replace as few as one of the pieces, and your computer is perfect for you yet again. Nothing else gives you this much control or satisfaction. Yes, you'll have to sacrifice some—maybe a lot—of portability, but the result will be something you can totally and deeply call your own as you never will be able to with an unchangeable system designed and manufactured entirely by someone else.
Building your own PC is not necessarily an inexpensive or quick proposition. But if you're willing to devote the time and resources to the project, you will end up with the best possible computer on Earth for you—and that will make everything else worthwhile.