Scott McCloud

Scott McCloud, author of Understanding Comics and Making Comics, came to speak to SCAD. He was an awesome public speaker and had a mesmerizing PowerPoint presentation to go with what he was saying. Still, amongst all the things he said he mentioned something which I found very inspiring and useful for my thesis. He spoke about comics, movies or games and how they are viewed as a form of escape from our world; an imaginary shelter. But then he said that he doesn't believe that we escape into those worlds but rather that through visiting them we understand more about our own world. We can gain insights through these forms of entertainment and bring them back with us and grow from those experiences.

Well, this after all is what my thesis is about.

Studio2 - Abstract2

A revision on my abstract based on suggestions in class.

Abstract

Learning through experience is an integral part of human development. Children use play to discover more about themselves, about others, and about their environment. Computer games similarly serve as a tool for self-discovery but they also grant the user with the ability to explore his or her morals and consciousness in abstract situations unattainable in the real world. Having virtually no boundaries, games can offer players a peak within themselves and answer for them the question “what if?” Despite the fact that thousands of people are playing the same game, it still manages to establish a very personal relationship with the user. By helping the protagonist of a story solve a problem or defeat an opponent, the player’s emotional engagement in the conflict leads him or her to experiencing real growth through its resolution. Possessing such an intimate link, games do not substitute reality but instead add on to it by presenting players with a mirror through which they can experience and learn more about themselves.

Studio2

Below is my first go at creating an abstract for my thesis.

Abstract

Learning through experience is an integral part of human development. In order to experience scenarios unattainable in real life, the human mind employs dreams to answer the most basic question – “what if?” Games offer the unique opportunity to experience an advanced form of lucid dreaming where the dreamer is everything from the hero to the anti-hero, from the emperor to the soldier, from deity to man. Doing this, the game offers the player a peak within himself and grants him the experience and emotional involvement of living through a fantasy which is rivaled only by dreams. Despite the fact that thousands of people are playing the same game, it still manages to establish a very personal relationship with the user. By helping the protagonist of a story solve a problem or defeat an opponent, in reality the player is emotionally engaged in the conflict and experiences a real growth through its resolution. Possessing such an intimate link, games not only entertain, but present a mirror of possibilities, granting the user with character growth in fields unattainable before in the waking world.

A late update

Well, class is long over and the topic will be changing. For santimental value, I'va posted a link of the prototype I came up with. The story is semi-written, the graphics are mostly placeholders (except the first couple of screens) and the interacting quite limited.

It was, nevertheless, quite the experience and I will be salvaging a lot of things from it so I am happy with completing that much.

The link to it is as follows:
www.oldrealm.com/studio1/FinalPrototype.html

The file is about 5mb so it will take a while. I didn't put a preloader because it wasn't originaly meant to be put on the net like that.

And now onward to the second project!
~Vlad