Game Design Blog #10 - The Nuzlocke Challenge

In the Pokemon community there are many who consider the regular games to be way too easy. The Pokemon series is not known for being a hard one. Many argue that the series is easier to get into because of how easy it is to play. Others want more of a challenge after playing the same games for so long. 

This was the thought process for a webcomic artist known as Nuzlocke. Nuzlocke was bored during finals week at his college and decided to play an old copy of his Pokemon Ruby. Thinking the game to be too easy he imposed two self-restricted rules on his playthrough. He was only allowed to capture the first new Pokemon he saw in each new area and if a Pokemon fainted he had to release it thus making the Pokemon not usable for the rest of the play through. The results were what he did not expect. He found himself caring about his Pokemon team and using Pokemon no normal players would use. He wanted to share his experience so he made a now well-known web comic known as Pokemon:Hard Mode. He posted them on 4chan and these users have dubbed it the Nuzlocke Challenge. 

The impact the Nuzlocke Challenge had on the Pokemon community was astounding. Many fans of the comic partook in the challenge and made their own webcomics. The Nuzlocke Challenge had thus developed it’s own community and the challenge is well-known by many Pokemon fans. People on youtube.com have also recorded themselves doing their own Nuzlocke Challenge spreading the popularity of it. Others (such as myself) partake in the challenge on their free time. Many add their own rules to the challenge to make it harder or easier and it is all up to preference. The same two rules are still intact. The original webcomic although vulgar and comedic did teach a valuable lesson to Pokemon fans everywhere. The lesson that it taught was “there is no victory without loss.”

You can read the original comic here: http://www.nuzlocke.com/pokemonhardmode.php?p=1

Resource: "What Is the Nuzlocke Challenge?" What Is the Nuzlocke Challenge? 1 Jan. 2010. Web. 5 Nov. 2014. <http://www.nuzlocke.com/challenge.php>.

Capstone Progress Blog - Achieving the look I want.

Style is an important aspect to take into account when constructing a graphic novel. You have to make sure the style works well with the type of story you are writing. I have discovered the style I want to use with my sprites for my graphic novel. By enhancing real photos to make them appear more sprite like I am able to make the contrast between the sprites and the background mesh well together. I am using the fresco filter in Adobe Photoshop to make the real photos like as if they are from a video game to match that sprites that are meant for video games. I am still learning about everything Photoshop is capable of and I am sure I will continue learn about what this program has to offer the creative fields. 

With the feedback I received on my storyboards I am on track to finally completing my novel. Funny enough the feedback I received helps me to reduce the work load I have to do. I have a history of wasting panels to have a character say one line but with the help I received from my director I now have learned to make the panels more concise and have characters deliver more information on a single panel. This will also help me from not repeating panels. A big part of creating a graphic novel is to make sure the reader does not have to continue shifting their eyes between panels every 2 seconds. It would be too much to process and make the reader feel as if they are in a hurry. As I continue the project I am continuing to learn much more about the kind of work and thoughts one needs to take in. I am relived to hear that my story is fine and well crafted and it gives me more confidence and motivation to finish this work I am crafting from my mind. I am not on track to constructing a novel that I have always wanted to craft. 

Game Design Blog #9 - Twitch Plays Pokemon

        There are fans of the Pokemon franchise who have stuck with the franchise since they were children. There are fans of the Pokemon franchise who strayed away from the series after the first generation or the third generation. There are some things in the franchise that still bring these two groups of people in harmony though. 

        On February 12 2014 a random twitch user going by the name Twitchplayspokemon developed a program that would work with the video streaming website twitch. This program streamed Pokemon Red and allowed twitch users to put in a command in the twitch chat that would control the actions of the player in the game. This phenomenon became known as Twitch plays Pokemon. Whenever a twitch user typed in the commands left, right down, up, a, b, start, or select the protagonist on the screen would act according to those commands. Over 1 million people participated in this experience and Twitch plays Pokemon became its own subculture and fans became creative with this phenomenon. 

         There was a lore that was developed with the quest and twitch users had many reasons for why certain events transpired. A good example would be the protagonist’s Pokemon Pidgeot. The Pidgeot in the game was referred to by the fandom as “The Messiah” or “Bird Jesus” for its incredible battle strength and basically commanding dominance in the whole run of the game. The fact that the fandom could create a compelling lore for the game despite having little control of the player’s actions is astounding. The creator of the game has said he has “interest in continuing the event through each generation of Pokemon.” Other live streamers have implemented the program he made into other games such as Minecraft or the Super Nintendo RPG Earthbound. Twitch Plays Pokemon is an inspiring event that many fans of the series and even individuals who use the internet will view as a historic event in the Pokemon franchise. Currently the website is streaming Pokemon Stadium 2 implimenting the same formula as the original Twitch Plays Pokemon.

Resources: 

Suszeck, Mike. "Twitch Plays Pokemon: Creating an oral history in real-time."Joystiq. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2014. <http://www.joystiq.com/2014/02/26/twitch-plays-pokemon-creating-an-oral-history-in-real-time/>.

"TwitchPlaysPokemon." Twitch. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2014. <http://www.twitch.tv/twitchplayspokemon>

Progress on my Capstone Project - Storyboards finished and Enhancing my skills

As the date for capstone presentations slowly approaches I find myself pressed for time on getting everything in order. My progress on the project however is currently on schedule and I am good to go for now. I need to start working more and I have quit my job to allow myself to have more time for this project. This project is the gateway to many better job opportunities so I devote my time to that. 

I have finished my rough storyboards for the project and I await the review from my director to see what I need to improve on. The sprites have been enhanced to look more crisp for my project and each character that appears now has a sprite of their own. The sprites size has increased so they won’t look blurry when I craft the graphic novel. An issue I have had with sprite comics in the past is that my sprites usually look blurry when I put it onto a Photoshop canvas but now I have eliminated that problem with the help of Adobe Illustrator a program in which I have no prior experience in. 

This project has already expanded my horizons by allowing me to gain more experience with more software which I need to have knowledge of in the work field. The programs I learn the more job opportunities open up for me as a person in the field of Communications. I now need to make some sample pages so I get a feel of what my actual novel is going to look like. I need to use the Photoshop filters to make the backgrounds look like they belong with the sprites. I plan on taking actual photos of the backgrounds and with Photoshop I am planning on editing those backgrounds to appear more sprite like as to much the cartoonish appearance of my sprites. Thanks to my existing knowledge on how to use the Photoshop program I am able to execute this method with minimal problems. As I am on schedule I hope to continue to be on this path and enhance my repertoire of skills for the work world.

Special Effects Blog 2: Making the zombie project easier

          One of the difficult affects I am anticipating to work with in the zombie footage is having myself (the subject) walk in the graveyard off screen. The reasoning for this is because I plan to have my feet hidden behind a stone wall for most of the clip and then I will have to add them back when I walk off the screen. I need to enhance my mastery of the 3d special effects for this undertaking as I believe it will help achieve what I desire for this clip. 

          I could have my storyboard show me walking sideways offscreen instead of backwards off screen. That way I could hide my feet still and won’t have to hide them in. Perhaps I could also add in an extra clip that is exclusively me walking off of the scene. With that clip I would have to record a separate walking sequence. 

         Another problem will be animating the backpack in the scene in addition to myself. This makes it so now I have two objects I need to rotoscope and manage. Both of these objects will be showing movement and both need to be rotoscoped in the composition. Again I could have a separate clip with me putting on my backpack instead of the normal clip of me rising and putting in my backpack in the same clip. Separate clips with separate actions seem to be easier to manage and combine into one film then to have to manage them all at the same time. Managing them all at the same time would be hectic so most likely I am going to have to manage different clips in different compositions rather than all of them in one to reduce chaos in the editing process of my film.

Game Design Blog #8 - The side games of Pokemon and their impact

The Pokemon franchise has produced so many spin off games and many argue that they are just as successful sometimes more successful than the main games. There are some gamers in the gaming world who have played some of the side games but none of the main games. These games take normal concepts and apply Pokemon to them.

In Pokemon Snap “players of the game proceed through various environments in a vehicle that travels through the air, in water and on land and try to “snap” the best pictures of various Pokemon® (pocket monster) characters. The player uses various techniques to get good pictures of the characters including using food and music to entice the characters into positions in which good pictures can be taken.”

In blockbusters around the United States there were kiosks where players could bring their memory packs and have the pictures they took in game to be printed out. The original concept for Pokemon Snap was originally just a normal game where the player would go into the wild and take pictures of normal animals. In order to make the game more interesting to Nintendo gamers, Nintendo had Pokemon applied to the game instead.

Many gamers and even non-gamers are exposed to another side game which is the Pokemon trading card game. Many young children were unaware of how to play the game so the Pokemon Trading Card Game for the Gameboy Color was made. This game helped players learn the actual rules and expanded interest in the actual card game for video gamers who were unaware of its existence. Pokemon Pinball and its many sequels brought the joys of regular Pinball to a portable system. Many argue that it is a better experience than real pinball. 

The side games are important to the franchise and will be continued to be created as long as the fans keep asking for them.

resource: Link, P. J., et al. (2002). Kiosk for printing and communicating video game images, Google Patents.

Game Design Blog #7 - Gender Roles and The Pinacle of Popularity in Pokemon

It is no secret at this point that Pokemon is popular. Kids, teenagers, and adults all take part in the culture our society has created around Pokemon. According to the article “Pikachu’s Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokémon”: Pokemon “might be appropriately be described, in anthropological terms, as a “cultural practice”. It is amazing that this series of video games, toys, shows, and card games has reached the point of being a cultural practice. Pokemon has even reached the point of entering into other domains. In the most recent 2014 World Cup Japan’s mascot was Pikachu who is the mascot of the Pokemon series. 

A huge part of Pokemon’s popularity is its appeal to both girls and boys. Starting with Pokemon Crystal in 2001 players of the Pokemon game were able to choose whether or not they wanted their trainer to be a male or a female. The games have since had this choice for players. Nintendo at this point became aware of their audience and made that point to add such a feature. 

In most forms of media girls are represented poorly. In Pokemon most of the female cast turns out to be the favorite characters of most fans. In each game there is a champion (or a last boss) at the end that the player must face to finally beat the game. For the first three generations of Pokemon all of these champions are male. Finally in Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl the champion is a trainer named Cynthia. The general consensus among fans is that Cynthia is the toughest champion that any player has faced in any game. In the anime she also plays the same role and acts as a teacher figure to the main characters in her story arc. She is a good role model for girls that are tired of having the same damsel in distress characters in their animated shows.

Resource: Ogletree, Shirley M., Cristal N. Martinez, Trent R. Turner, and Brad Mason. "Pokémon: Exploring the Role of Gender."Sex Roles 50.11/12 (2004): 851-859. Print.