After discussing my project idea with Nigel, I filled out my learning agreement before the easter break. The general gist of my idea is as follows:
What?
I intend to create a series of comic strips detailing life aboard a space station. This comic would be based on the open-source game 'Space Station 13' and my experiences while playing it. Within the comic, I will portray various situations and scenarios that have occurred while playing the game. The comic strips will focus on viewer entertainment through humor in the spirit of the Space Station 13 community.
An explanation of Space Station 13:
Space Station 13 is a role-playing game set upon a research station. It is often described as The Sims combined with Dungeons & Dragons in space. Players are required to choose a job within the station and play out their role as that character through text based roleplay in a 2D, sprite based environment. There are various jobs within the station, such as chemists, botanists, engineers, etc, and players are encouraged to play their role in a believable way in order to create an interesting and involving game round for the other players. Games, called 'shifts' by the players (job shifts) have objectives determined at round start. There could be traitors, whose objectives are to sabotage, steal an item, or assassinate a target. There could be a malfunctioning AI, which plays out much the same way as HAL does in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The game is what the players make it as they live out their character's life and react to events upon the station in either a realistic, in-character manner or with a play-to-win mentality. Server admins can also design custom events and stories for the community to play out, much like a D&D Dungeon Master would.
Why?
The purpose of creating this comic is to provide insight and a commentary on gamer behaviour when playing a community and participation dependent game. As the direction and outcome of a round depends on player participation, cooperation and the expectation of certain behaviour, many rounds and situations on the station can go in interesting and unexpected directions. These unexpected turns show much about the gamer mentality; how they are inclined to push the limits of their assigned role, or creatively abuse the mechanics and rules they are presented with.
During the Easter Break, the server I used to play SS13 shut down. However, I spoke again with Nigel and determined that screencaps and log evidence of the events I wished to portray in my comic were not important in relation to visual studies of space, and comics themselves. Thus, I have determined to shift my research focus towards understanding comics, effective ways to use the medium and the various things I will need to create a comic that is both entertaining and professional in presentation. The scenarios addressed within my comics will be from old experiences, and new/theoretical experiences I have created myself.
What?
I intend to create a series of comic strips detailing life aboard a space station. This comic would be based on the open-source game 'Space Station 13' and my experiences while playing it. Within the comic, I will portray various situations and scenarios that have occurred while playing the game. The comic strips will focus on viewer entertainment through humor in the spirit of the Space Station 13 community.
An explanation of Space Station 13:
Space Station 13 is a role-playing game set upon a research station. It is often described as The Sims combined with Dungeons & Dragons in space. Players are required to choose a job within the station and play out their role as that character through text based roleplay in a 2D, sprite based environment. There are various jobs within the station, such as chemists, botanists, engineers, etc, and players are encouraged to play their role in a believable way in order to create an interesting and involving game round for the other players. Games, called 'shifts' by the players (job shifts) have objectives determined at round start. There could be traitors, whose objectives are to sabotage, steal an item, or assassinate a target. There could be a malfunctioning AI, which plays out much the same way as HAL does in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The game is what the players make it as they live out their character's life and react to events upon the station in either a realistic, in-character manner or with a play-to-win mentality. Server admins can also design custom events and stories for the community to play out, much like a D&D Dungeon Master would.
Why?
The purpose of creating this comic is to provide insight and a commentary on gamer behaviour when playing a community and participation dependent game. As the direction and outcome of a round depends on player participation, cooperation and the expectation of certain behaviour, many rounds and situations on the station can go in interesting and unexpected directions. These unexpected turns show much about the gamer mentality; how they are inclined to push the limits of their assigned role, or creatively abuse the mechanics and rules they are presented with.
During the Easter Break, the server I used to play SS13 shut down. However, I spoke again with Nigel and determined that screencaps and log evidence of the events I wished to portray in my comic were not important in relation to visual studies of space, and comics themselves. Thus, I have determined to shift my research focus towards understanding comics, effective ways to use the medium and the various things I will need to create a comic that is both entertaining and professional in presentation. The scenarios addressed within my comics will be from old experiences, and new/theoretical experiences I have created myself.
Nigel suggested that I take a look into the book 'Understanding Comics', by Scott McCloud. From the library, I took out the following books:
Understanding Comics - Scott McCloud.
Webcomics: Tools and Techniques for Digital Cartooning - Steven Mithrow & John Barber.
Writing and Illustrating the Graphic Novel - Daniel Clooney.
Character Design for Graphic Novels - Steven Withrow & Alexander Danner.
In Chapter 3 of Understanding Comics, Scott talks of the 'gutter' -- the space between the panels of the comic. He describes it as a limbo where "human imagination takes two separate images and transforms them into a single idea". Closure, which he explains in a previous chapter is the phenomenon of "observing the parts but perceiving the whole", allows us to connect the separate panels of a comic and construct a continuous, unified reality. Closure allows the reader to participate in the comic. The example Scott uses shows a man with an axe raised, about to strike another man. The next panel has moved out from the scene to show the silhouette of a city and a bloodcurdling scream. Closure here allows the reader to make their own assumption on exactly what happened; whether the axe dropped, who screamed, the location/force of the blow, etc.
Scott also lists some of the more common types of panel to panel transitions, which are:
1. Moment to Moment.
2. Action to Action.
3. Subect to Subject.
4. Scene to Scene.
5. Aspect to Aspect.
6. Non-sequitur.
Most commonly used types in comics:
2, then 3, then 4.
Most commonly used types in comics:
2, then 3, then 4.
These transitions could be very useful in the inclusion of humor in my comic, if viewed as an opportunity for comedic timing and reader-insinuated occurances.
I chose to do a comic for my BA6 project after Nigel made the suggestion. I've had an interest in human behaviour for some time -- this is somewhat evidenced by my contextual studies ideas for this particular module as well. I wanted to be able to express the reasoning and states of mind behind various gamer behaviours, as well as the consequences. A comic seemed to be an ideal format to do so -- comics are fully capable of telling many different kinds of story and are host to all kinds of different tones and themes. Sequential pictures are an old and well established medium of storytelling -- Scott McCloud looks at Egyptian paintings and the Bayeux Tapestry as examples. Comic based storytelling is still going strong in modern times, in both digital and print form.
By expressing my idea in a simple, humour based comic, I hoped to get a better understanding how to tell stories in a condensed way -- in the way a larger story might be storyboarded in the early stages of development in a game studio. Comics are also used in a transmedia sense in games -- for example, the Left 4 Dead The Sacrifice comic. This comic was used to tell the story that took place between two different missions in the L4d game. There's also the Metal Gear Solid comic book, which essentially retells the events of the game. While comics aren't the go-to way to tell a story in the games industry, they are used both directly within games and in a transmedia sense to enhance an experience.
I chose to do a comic for my BA6 project after Nigel made the suggestion. I've had an interest in human behaviour for some time -- this is somewhat evidenced by my contextual studies ideas for this particular module as well. I wanted to be able to express the reasoning and states of mind behind various gamer behaviours, as well as the consequences. A comic seemed to be an ideal format to do so -- comics are fully capable of telling many different kinds of story and are host to all kinds of different tones and themes. Sequential pictures are an old and well established medium of storytelling -- Scott McCloud looks at Egyptian paintings and the Bayeux Tapestry as examples. Comic based storytelling is still going strong in modern times, in both digital and print form.
By expressing my idea in a simple, humour based comic, I hoped to get a better understanding how to tell stories in a condensed way -- in the way a larger story might be storyboarded in the early stages of development in a game studio. Comics are also used in a transmedia sense in games -- for example, the Left 4 Dead The Sacrifice comic. This comic was used to tell the story that took place between two different missions in the L4d game. There's also the Metal Gear Solid comic book, which essentially retells the events of the game. While comics aren't the go-to way to tell a story in the games industry, they are used both directly within games and in a transmedia sense to enhance an experience.
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