Brand look and feel. Marketing materials. Online campaigns.
While working as a UI designer on Crimson Alliance and Halo Waypoint, I continually lobbied about the need for a brand re-boot, then a website overhaul, and lastly a sizzle reel. When Halo 4 wrapped, I got the opportunity.
While the results are far from the best work of my career, the work done moved the company light years from what they had been doing. It wasn’t rocket surgery. Create a brand built around the white-hot passion of the game development team, overhaul the website to showcase some the the amazing work that the company had done, and then finally put the brand and work showcase in front of people.
The AAA-game development business has a lot of ebb and flow periods of communication. As a game gets close to release, there is a frenzy of communication about it to engage fans. However, for large blocks of time while a game is in development, all external communication about it is under embargo.
During those long communication draughts, my strategy to keep fans engaged with Certain Affinity was based around industry thought leadership (panels/speaking engagements) and social media interaction. One of the staples of our interaction has been a weekly contest designed to keep fans engaged with the company that is, “Kicking Ass and Making Games.”