This assignment involved playing an online interactive trans-media game entitled Collapsus. This game highlighted peak oil use and the problems bound to occur with its usage. Below is a link to my audio reflection of the game & trans-media work in general, enjoy.
Collapsus Reflection
Friday, March 11, 2011
Reflection on gaming Presentation
Hello friends & readers of Rush Delivery. In today’s blog I’ll be discussing my video game design presentation & some strengths/weaknesses that I found after the presentation.
One tough concept to explain was the game mechanics. Even though I could be as detailed as possible, someone unfamiliar with video or computer games may not fully comprehend certain aspects of the game mechanics. For example when I say the mouse controls the character I do not mean it moves him from place to place, it allows you to select interactive elements of the game. The arrow keys are what actually make your character walk and move around. This could have been better explained with a short demo if I had the knowledge and ability to make one.
Another area of confusion could have been the goals of the game. Seemingly the easiest part of the game to understand, it was not as easy as I thought. Because our game was a virtual reality game, reminiscent of the Sims, the goals are very broad. The main goal is to upgrade your house, or cave for our purposes, and your character. This again could be a hard concept to grasp if one isn’t familiar with the Sims or other virtual reality games.
I think of all the qualities a game must have the easiest to understand are the objectives of the game. Although a game’s objectives can range depending on the type of game you’re playing its simple if all you need to figure out is the overall objective. For example, even if you’ve never played Mario before, if someone tells you the objective is to finish the level you would know what they meant. Or if you were watching a game of Call of Duty and you ask what’s the objective, I could say it’s to accumulate the most kills and reach the determine kill count first & you could understand.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Hero & Villain
We were assigned a project to design our own hro and villain duo. They had to complement each other in look, skill, and shape. Here is our designs.
Mr. MoneyBag$ (Hero)
The Tax Man (villain)
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
The Freak Factor
Hello again friends! & welcome back to Rush Delivery. In today’s blog I have been asked to read an article titled Freak Factor: Discovering Uniqueness by Flaunting Weakness by David Rendall. This article can be found hereà Freak Factor by David Rendall
Rendall begins his article by making you identify your own personal weaknesses. By knowing what your weaknesses are you can begin to correct them, or as Rendall says in point number two use them to configure your strengths. He lays it out in three well said points.
§ Weaknesses give important clues to your strengths.
§ You find success when you find the right fit.
§ Your weaknesses make you unique.
All three points are excellent explanations about finding your right place that I would never have thought of. These are also a perfect segway into Rendall’s third point. For each weakness we have an equal strength that applies, they are linked. A few examples Rendall uses in his manifesto would be having the strength of patience also gives you the weakness of indecision, or the strength of positivity gives you the weakness of being unrealistic.
Rendall then gives some examples of such weaknesses earning great success for some. Such as Virgin founder Richard Branson having dyslexia yet becoming the president of a record/cellphone/airline company. He now owns his own island and is free to invest in such ventures as a jet that takes civilians into the atmosphere for short trips, although it’s still in the works. Rendall also explains how disorganization isn’t always negative as we’re told. Alexander Fleming found penicillin while searching through his messy desk after vacation. If he wasn’t unorganized millions of people today would suffer due to the lack of penicillin.
Rendall’s fourth and fifth points are about fixing your weaknesses. His advice; forget them. We waste our time and energy trying to fix what’s wrong with us when we should be focusing on boosting our strengths. Trying to fix a weakness just makes you frustrated and even if you are able to fix it doesn’t become a usable strength. Working on improving our strengths is easy and enjoyable, they’re our natural gifts and our best route to success as Rendall points out.
His sixth point applies the same principal; don’t try to do both. It’s much easier to improve upon what we already know and like and vice versa it’s tiresome and painful to work on something we hate. Also trying to do both is too consuming in a world where everything is hustle bustle. His seventh point advises us to pick our battles. If you know you’re not great at math don’t become an architect, try being a producer instead. Finding the right fit as Rendall puts it will help you improve your strengths and gain confidence.
Rendall’s eighth point is about the power of uniqueness. Being a freak isn’t something to be ashamed of; it means you possess something no one else does. Rendall uses the example of the leaning tower of Pisa on how its imperfections over the years and numerous attempts at being fixed ultimately lead to it becoming a huge tourist attraction. His final point is titled putting your quirks to work and he lays it out in four excellent points.
§ Pick situations that maximize your strengths.
§ Instead of procrastinating on things you hate just don’t do them all together.
§ Partner up with someone that is strong where you are weak.
§ Look for the freak in others.
Rendall’s first point of discovering your weaknesses is a perfect starting place. I find this to be a key part of any plan. If you know your weaknesses before you begin it will be easier to tackle the task at hand if the right positions are assigned to the right people, which is a perfect example of how to use it in a group project you may have in school. His third point is also helpful. If you are stuck on your weaknesses and just can’t get around it find what strength corresponds to it. That’s a perfect way to realize what you should go after if you are unsure of yourself. This would be a great tool for a student unsure about selecting their classes for next quarter. Finally I feel Rendall’s fourth point of forget about your weaknesses to be the most helpful. This is something people struggle with all the time when the answer is easy; forget about them. A weakness can be easily concealed when your strength overpowers it.
In the creative world I have found my strengths to be useful. I’m good at sparking initial ideas, as well as adding on to others ideas. I’m also good at researching past ideas and using it to exemplify a current idea. My weaknesses are I am easily frustrated when my ideas are shot down, although I do not take offense.
Super Power
For this week's assignment we were told to listen to an epsiode of This American Life pertaining to superheroes then select a superhero/power ourselves and provide a short audio response as to why we would want said power, what we would do with it, & whether or not we can relate to said superhero.
The Flash
Video Joke Reflection
Hello again friends and welcome back to Rush Delivery. This is a reflection of the joke videos which you can find below.
Joke #1
Joke #2
Our first video was a Star Wars themed take on the joke assigned to us. To give ourselves a good contrast we used a 1930s black and white themed video, with the saloon style piano and speed up shots to give it that old time feels.
When looking at the movement found in both joke interpretations we see a few differences. In the first clip movement is used in the establishing shot to make it seem as though Mike Skywalker, the protagonist, is appearing out of nowhere via the alley. It’s also used to show the cars zooming towards each other right before the crash, which helps builds tension. The second clip also uses this shot, with the bikes coming directly at the screen, again giving you the illusion both characters are moving fast and it opposite directions. We also had our main character moving right to left throughout the clip, while the female character moves left to right. This also makes you feel like the two our veering inevitably towards one another.
We also used line when deciding on where we should film and how we wanted to guide the audience. In the first clip line is used in the second scene, outside of the store. The handrails direct your eyes to the left showing where our hero plans to continue onward. It is also evident in the second clip in the scenes depicting our two characters traveling. As one moves from right to left and the other from left to right, virtual lines signify that they are moving opposite of each other and will eventually collide.
Contrast and affinity played a large role in our joke renditions. Both clips contrasted each other because of the cinematic style we chose to follow. Since the first clip is based on Star Wars we used the scrolling text at the intro, appropriately themed music throughout, and our character had mind powers because he was a Jedi. The second clip had saloon piano and numerous sped up/slowed down shots to give it that old time feel. The affinity plays into storyline because both clips were based off the same joke. There had to be a crash, there had to be a male and female character, and there had to be a bottle of alcohol involved.
Tension and release was used in both joke versions. In the first joke we build tension via the music that gains volume and intensity as the scene develops, ending with a more relaxed version of the same tune when Mike puts the girl back in her car. In the second clip tension is built as both characters bike aimlessly on the streets, yet because of the shots used you feel like they may collide at some point.
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