Sitting in class on Thursday I am pretty sure that I was one of the only people who had actually heard of every one of those indie games. It just so happens that I once came across a video on youtube some video game nerds posted counting down their top 10 indie. Amongst the list was both Braid and Super Meat Boy. I had also heard about Fez from a friend of mine from High School. Anyways, the number ten spot in this video I was telling you about was a point computer game called Machinarium.
I fell in love with it the minute I saw it. Machinarium was a point-and-click adventure by Indie studio Amanita design in the Czech Republic. The story tells a story of a little robot as he tries to prevent the Black Cap Brotherhood from terrorizing the city he lives in. The game is a lot like those old computer games from the 90s where you have scroll through the setting while pointing and clicking on various items to solve puzzles and move forward.
The game is beautiful. It has wonderfully painted backgrounds and atmospheric music to transport you into this rusty, grungy, yet whimsical environment.
Almost my whole life I have always liked most of the movies that come out in theaters. I always thought that these films were the best out there. Before I came here, I decided I wanted to watch an old time classic so I watched Psycho. Now for some people, this movie is a basic for beginners to latch on to and assume its great just cause its well known, but in my opinion, I think it is and always will be a work of art. Hitchcock worked his butt off for this and might I say that he did an excellent job. Now Psycho is not the only masterpiece he has created. North by Northwest, Stage Fright, The Birds, etc. All are amazing and nothing in theaters nowadays will ever be compared to the brilliant artistry of Alfred Hitchcock.
I don’t play video games anymore, but when I did they
consumed my life. Seriously. I wouldn’t go outside to play with my friends
because I was so wrapped up in Spyro or the Sims. I mean, I tried to take turns
and play with other people but they always did it wrong and it was frustrating.
I didn’t realize how much pressure some people
have to make great games, especially when you’re working alone. These guys were
ready to kill themselves if they didn’t make great games which leads me to think
our world sometimes puts a little too much pressure on people to have their
entertainment needs met. We should care more about the people who make the
games rather than the actual games themselves. Ironically if the game makers
die, then the people won’t have any more games to play.
Something I duly appreciated about
the small groups of people we watched in the video was that the artistic style
in their games was not clean cut and precise looking. It had that old-school
feel to it. It makes sense because they’re working on a budget and time
schedule, but I liked it. It just proves that people can still have fun with
games that aren't necessarily up to the latest mainstream technological standards.
Let me tell you youngins a story. I know some people in the class aren't freshmen and may already know this stuff, but Imma splain it all anyhoo.
So, I don't know about you but sometimes when I work on things, I just work on them. And keep going. And going. Until I'm done with it or too tired to continue. This can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending.
Once, after sophomore year I was so exhausted but I pushed myself to do things and then I puked. It was gross, and I'm still haunted by the memory. My goal since then has primarily been to just not get to the point of puking again
On Friday, I was in a bad place. the past two nights I had gotten barely any sleep, I sometimes forgot to eat BUT I got a lot of stuff done. And then at 6 Friday morning, as I was trying to finish stuff up, and it just wasn't safe to be still up. Like, I was potentially going to use a saw. and I could barely stand.
SO I left and slept for a day. Moral of the story, know your limits. Maybe don't keep going if you desperately need to recharge or whatever
It's kind of crap weather to go out and do classic Halloween and fall things (trick or treating, carving pumpkins, bon fires, etc...) so here's a couple of things that you can do if you want to get your spook on. And not do homework... which I'm doing right now...
First of all, have a movie marathon! Horror movies, thrillers, silly halloween specials, alone, by yourself, anything goes! I recommend things like Alien, Prisoners, or The Silence of the Lambs if you want to freak yourself out. For those that are more a fan of the silly films, there's always Hocus Pocus. Like animation? Watch Paranorman, Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, or Coraline! Like musicals? Little Shop of Horrors or Ricky Horror Picture show! There are tons of movies that fit everyone's liking.
The next thing to do on a freaking cold Halloween is to tuck in and play a scary video game (by the way, these are always more fun with multiple people there to freak out and comment on the game). You could download P.T. if you have a PS4. Or you could go with the classic Silent Hill Series. Only have a PC? Either of the Slender games will do. Not a fan of Slendy? How about Outlast or Five Nights at Freddy's?
Don't have money? How about an RPG maker game? Those tend to be free, and many of them have compelling story lines that pull you into the game. I personally recommend Ib or The Witch's House.
Don't want to play a game but want to watch others play? Browse Twitch and see if anyone is streaming a scary game. Many players will have a face cam so you can see their reactions to the jump scares. Many gaming channels on youtube will have some of the big name titles like Slender and P.T.
Not in the mood to watch something? You could always put on a mini dance party in your dorm room. Browse 8tracks to find some of the Halloween playlists that people have made. Some are compiled of more sinister songs, but others are dance remixes of classic Halloween songs.
Of course, you could just wait until tomorrow when all the Halloween candy goes on sale so you can binge. I won't judge.
If you haven't seen bravest warriors you need to get your head out of you ass and watch that shit because it is amazing. It's done by cartoon hangover and frederator studios, part of which work on Adventure Time, and it's just as good. Plus, you know, catbug. WATCH ITTTT
This Afternoon, thanks to the DMA Media library, I watched the film Memento. This is a film that was written and directed by Christopher Nolan. It is a trip to watch. I recommend it to everyone in this class.
The whole movie is played out of order the back half of the movie is played backwards in color and the beginning half is played forward in black and white. Since the movie is narrated by the main character everything that happens is what he thinks happened and it turns out he sways the truth most of the movie. A surprise twist ending!!! leaves you feeling satisfied.
The creators of this film did a great job filming the beginning so that the audience knows the film has elements of going forward and reverse. The first scene is meticulously designed to let you know the colored movie is going in reverse. Nolan has engaged me in every movie he has made. Due to the time element the audience is left confused but at the same time perplexed.
Well, one of my favorite readings that we did this section was the one on Keith Lango, well his blogs. He talked about going through the big studios and his time there, but more so he talked about the purpose that young animators should have. I love that he said to make films for us and not for others because that is so inspirational in a period of time where it feels like our every action is for someone else.
I will relate this reading back to the short films we watched on Pixar. Now, for a company that seemingly came out of nowhere the have done amazing things. After all, they needed a grant from Steve Jobs to get off the ground. So, I think that yes, now they are a major company and they make films for Hollywood or money or whatever it may be. However, I don't think that was the intention all along.
Lasseter took the storyline for Toy Story back to the board numerous times, even when he only had a small number of employees to help with these changes. I honestly have no idea how they kept their heads above water, but they did, and in doing so they made something wonderful. They didn't make it for the money, or fame, they made it for the children that have intimate connections with their toys and so that Pixar could have something they could be proud with. Even still, their short films might not make much, but they show so much of the animators in them that it is unique.
So, yes, I honestly do believe that although Pixar is huge now, they did something similar to what Keith Lango talked about. They made films for them, because they wanted to, and this is something that I feel like they did excellent with.
Video games are predominant in our culture today, and there
is a debate going on as to whether or not this is a good thing. While the
process of making video games is a form of art, like films, paintings, etc. It
should be taken in moderation. Video games are fun, there is no question about
that, but if play in excessive amounts of time; it can be a major waste. I can
reminder times during the summer where I would play close to 12 hours a day.
Yeah I know crazy right. I really regret wasting all this time on something
that has no real life value.Now let’s
be clear, I’m not calling saying that all people who play video games are
wasting their time, just the people play for hours and hours on end. Video
games are a form art, and it’s hard to truly appreciate art when you are constantly
being overloaded with it. The same is true of films and other pieces of art. If
you truly see video games as art, you will take it in moderation.
Thanks to my awesome dad, growing up I loved to play video games. I never really was an computer gamer so I always stuck to mainstream platforms, Dreamcast, Nintendo, Gamecube Xbox and Playstation. But my father and uncles would play sports games like Madden and NBA2k. I, however, loved to play the fighting and action and adventurous games, Call of Duty, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter the Bat-Man Arkham series and my favorite the Assassin's Creed trilogy. When I was younger I would spend countless hours on video games during the nice summer days.
My parents never forced me to get off the sticks and go out and play with the others so surprisingly I remained healthy. I was known as a "game head" according to my cousins and friends but now I don't play as much as I used to.
I don't know why but I guess video games don't interest me any more. Then I would play for hours, now I would only go for an hour or less. The longest time I played a video game was for 13 hours straight and that game was Grand Theft Auto V (GTAV). Haha I felt terrible. I haven't played a good game like that in years. Now I have a PS3 and rarely play it. I only play COD and everyone's favorite violent fighting game Mortal Kombat. Next I'm saving up for a PS4 bundle pack so I can buy the long awaited video game (drumroll please).... STAR-WARS BATTLEFRON. And Mortal Kombat X along with Batman the Arkham Knight and the last two Assassin's Creed video games because they're only for the next gen consoles and Sony isn't making any new PS3 games. ): But honestly I feel like it;s really a waste of money because I'll only play those four games.
This topic of video games is very controversial in the aspect of people playing to much and effecting their social life. For you that dont know who i am i am the kid that walks in and looks like a jock most of the time and i sit on the left side of the room and have no clue what we have talked about until now. i may not look like it but video games have been apart of my life sense i was really young. until college i played video games everyday. whether it was on my PC or Xbox. I've played all sorts.my favorite games are booger-man for the Sega and of course the old school Mario. But above all those CALL OF DUTY. i know ill probably get a bunch of crap for that.
To get to the topic of social life. i used to play in high school 6+ hours of COD a day and still was one of the most popular kids in my school. i was a 3 sport athlete in high school and was very good in all 3 and still had plenty of time to be obsessed with COD. For you who think im blowing smoke if you know how Black Ops 2 ranked players it was by exp points so you had to play alot. i got the game a month after it came out and For the first month i played it i was in the top 10,000 in the world and had over 15 days played. thats 360 hours at between 5 and 10 min a match. If you know the game thats like playing close to 30 games a night. so for the question does playing alot of video games effect how you act in the real world i would have to say it doesnt have to. if you want to have real relationships and still play alot it is very possible.
As you probably now, I mainly play fighting games. Yes, I do play other things (particularly JRPGs. certain indie games, whatever genre Dark Souls is, and character action games), but the only games that constantly stay in my console are fighting games. I pretty much play anything that isn't Tekken (too complicated) or Mortal Kombat (Focus on gore over actually deep mechanics). Personally, my favorite fight game is King of Fighters 13. I should also note that I am not that good at them though...
In fact, my motivation for buying an Xbone over a PS4 was due to A: the better netcode of Xbox Live, and B: KILLER INSTINCT!!!
I think the fact that I mainly am only concerned about gameplay comes from my fascination with fighting games. Most fighting game plots are literally the same thing, if they even have one. Smash Bros doesn't even have a plot (Subspace Emissary doesn't count. Vanilla Brawl is terrible, play Project M instead) Fighting games are ALL about gameplay and execution.
Look at that fantastic combo... What other genre can produce that level of insanity?
I grew up with video games. I love video games. One of the ideas on my list of possible careers I could get into has always been character designing for video games and concept art for video games.
I certainly played them a lot more when I was younger, and if I had more time I'd probably play more of them now. But as my life got busier my video game playing diminished. However I still return to them when I have time or I need a distraction. And when new games come out I may indulge in buying one. My favorite game of all time is Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, I've always been a huge Sonic fan, and SA2 was one of my first games. To this day I still play it now and then, and now that I'm older I can truly appreciate the design and extra goodies that were all packed into it.
I do think a lot of people play unhealthy amounts of video games, and get way too involved. Have you SEEN videos of how absolutely enraged and upset people get over video games? Over something as simple as their World of Warcraft password not working anymore? Over other players causing them to lose the battle? It's unhealthy, it's insane, it's ridiculous.
You could look up video after video about people getting dramatically upset over video games. People even get into make believe relationships and lust after characters from video games, even buying merchandise that's been made for sexual situations of the character.
Even online 3D chat communities (which isn't exactly a video game but still that visual imaginary indulging) people get all enthralled with each other's avatars and get into relationships fascinated by the other's avatar, which more often than not is never an honest perception of how the person really looks IRL. And they never meet, they just meet on the 3D chat program and hang out for hours on end watching their avatars make out or role playing with each other.
And kind of tying video games back into the whole feminist argument is the issue of how women are treated in the gaming industry, and how they're portrayed in games. Women are put into armor that is sexually pleasing to the eye, armor that would never protect them in real life, armor that is not designed for functionality, but designed to look sexy.
In the recently released Hyrule Warriors, men were complaining early on about how there were too many female characters and not enough men. Men in the video gaming community can be some of the most sexist harassers you'll meet. Hurling dehumanizing insults at girls playing online, saying they should show their boobs, making fun of their inability to play because they're girls, etc.
I think video games should be thought of as an art form to a degree. Indie games are some of the most inventive and entertaining games out there. I don't usually enjoy the mainstream games, if I do they're the less heard of mainstreams. I've never found Call of Duty or any of it's likeness and other FPS games to be fun at all, but that's my personal opinion.
Everyone loves different types of games, I prefer action adventure games, I don't enjoy FPSs or Street Fighter-type fighting games (with the exception of Super Smash Brothers) I don't enjoy most RPGs or online gaming. By the definition of the gaming community, I would probably be labeled as a "fake" gamer or maybe less than moderate.
If I had more money and more time, I would love to buy proper gaming equipment, I would love to buy indie and mainstream games, I would love to play all kinds of video games and really indulge in the video gaming community. Heck, I've always wanted to be a video game reviewer, but I don't have anywhere near the money or time to do it. So I can only watch Youtube gamers like Markiplier and dream.
I never knew much about feminism until I joined tumblr, and I began to see all the articles, videos, and testimonies of women being treated in such shocking ways. What was more shocking was the men reacting to the women trying to bring light to the subject. Men laugh, make fun of women for complaining, blame women for being sensitive or over-reacting, and treating the issues like they're no big deal.
Honestly the more I see the more scared I become. I already had relationship scars I was healing from, and when I began to see how a lot of boys think about these things it just scares me even more that I'm never going to be safe or respected in certain areas.
The amount of harassment boys do in texting and in online messaging is seriously frightening to me, that boys think they can talk to girls like this, that they think it's normal.
This is part of the world we live in.
Rape culture is another thing that became more evident to me through articles and testimonies on tumblr. How often women are blamed for rape. You shouldn't've been walking alone, you shouldn't've been wearing that, you shouldn't've lead him on, and so on. Women are objectified and blamed by men constantly, and it's practically taught to them by our society. Women are just objects to decorate a man, to please a man, for a man to look at as he sees fit, for a man to satisfy his needs with despite what she feels about it.
Women who bring attention to these issues online get death and rape threats from men online. Women in the gaming community are horribly discriminated against and harassed just for being girls playing video games, or they're made fun of as being "fake" gamers. In one instance a bunch of online men harassed and threw insults at an image of a girl wearing a Star Wars parody shirt and how she probably didn't know anything about Star Wars, and the girl was the actress who played Leia.
Now, men, I'm not trying to attack you with this blog post. I know there are good men out there in the world, and good men here at HU. Just know that these are the kinds of things girls have to face, in some places more than others, and it scares us that in some areas we can't even go outside without being covered head to toe and amongst friends if we don't want to get raped and blamed for it.
I'll end with this video, some of you may have seen it already:
You might think there's no harm in what's taking place, but I'd be lying if I said this doesn't terrify me. If I had to walk through a city and deal with that treatment everyday I would fear for the day one of these men would decide to take it a step further, the day the harassment would escalate. The fact it even happens would make me so very uncomfortable, the fact a man is coming at me with intent to get in my pants and the fact he may be thinking about it in that very moment is disgusting and repulsive to me, and it scares me.
Rarely
have I ever investigated into the life and work of and Indie game programmers
and creators. I have always appreciated the work of these visionaries.
Minecraft, Battle Block Theatre, and World of Keflings are all solid games.
However, after watching this video, I realized just how much work and stress
goes into the making of these games. These people are really serious about
their stuff.
Now
granted, sometimes these creators appear unstable (and I think that some of them
are). However, people often closest to the creative muse are like this. I don’t
ever want to be like that, but I have to be careful that I don’t judge these
people. The creators of games like Super Meat Boy, Fez, and Braid have invested
their entire beings into these games. I admire them for that, but I also feel
that that might be unhealthy. Especially regarding the Tommy, the choice to
avoid a social life could be dangerous. God willing, as I go into the film
industry, I am going to seek to maintain relationships. Though film is my
passion, I will not let it engulf my life. God is my first priority, and I know
that the biggest way Jesus wanted us to spread the Gospel is through
interacting with people and making disciples. That is what is truly important
in life.
