Understanding

Well many challenges have arisen in this past week. Vehicle problems kept me off campus on one of my work days, but it is now repaired and hopefully no more trouble. The above is the shortened portion of the motion graphic. The size was too large for me to correctly upload onto YouTube so I shortened it and scaled down the resolution. The voice work might be a few more days as I believe I've coming down with a sinus infection or something of the like. The voice portion is easy though compared to the rest so I'll be primarily working on my website until I feel 100% again. The time and effort put into all this has been pretty intensive at times but I'm pretty confident I can get back on schedule once I feel better. Luckily I gave myself that last week for touch-ups and the like so I could factor this sort of thing into the schedule.

Thus my favorite saying.. "Always give yourself some wiggle room because life likes to throw wrenches into everything."

Literary Interaction

Authors create and shape a world that is their vision and ideal. There is another outlet though for people that are small time writers that can create various worlds in conjunction with other writers. In text based roleplay you break the boundaries further than most other outlets. Your words give shape and your ideas are formed as long as those around you can imagine them as they read. This can be done through various formats:

• Chatrooms
• Forum Posts
• Email
• Etc.

With each there is a new means of adding additional ideas. In further blogs we will go over how these concepts are then added to media like MMORPGs to add an entire level of more content to games that already have massive servers full of content.

Text Based Roleplay is hard to nail down as there are no clear rules of engagement. Most set up profiles and clear rules as to what they will and will not tolerate. At times there are "unspoken" rules of engagement that often are either upheld or in the bad cases disregarded. With the lack of respect it takes for people to "force" their ideas it breaks the immersion the players feel. This was given the name of "God-modding" by the community who knows how long ago. Simply put it is when someone regards their character as a god in terms of taking meta knowledge such as profile information or otherwise completely unknown information and using it as if they character knew it the entire time. Simulation of real life interactions is the clear objective of these interactions and yet many will force upon their actions towards others. Force-ably killing, harming, or worse to someone else's creation without their consent. I used the author idea in the beginning to frame this, imagine whilst Stephen King was writing a book, another author came into his home and wrote in his own character without his consent, then proceeded to destroy the fabric of reality King had created. With this we see that this kind of interaction needs to be more of a dance than a game in which the players have free roam. Give and take are key for co-operations and these things to work out.

Going the Distance

With gaming there are various means of pushing the realm of reality. Tabletop gaming most of all establishes a sense of space and time while there being no prior imagery. The mind creates and fills in the blanks for the environment after the overall area is given. The smell of the trashcans or the sound of the passing people is all something that the mind creates in order to establish the game as a reality. In this the players take their pre-established characters and interact in the world within the confines of the world. Rules, Statistics, and points are all what allow the players to work and interact within boundaries of the world.

This leads to a state of virtual reality without the use of an interactive unit or board. The game's creator calls the shots and puts this all to work for the players and in this we can see what happens when our minds are the storytellers and not something pre-scripted by a developer. The player shapes the world and bends the boundaries of what is before them without losing the grip of what is and isn't in the world. This sort of mental gaming could be influential in the games to come when we develop more and more bits of technology. Having computer programs interact and fulfill our need for a truly "open" world setting may be in the cards at some point.

Progression

As of the time I'm writing this blog I've made some really good headway. So far I've gotten a good chunk of the motion graphic done and put into a storyboard. The next portion will be onward to finish the motion graphic and add voice work to it. This means I must also finish up on my script-work. The next two days will be allocated to this, working on finishing the portrait and voice work in order to keep on schedule. The main thing I've learned as I've been running solo on this is that I'm actually pretty decent at managing my time towards specific activities in terms of getting them done early.

As I continue forward I hope to also update my old website as a means of using the template I had to further my professional persona for the work place. Drupal is a decent content management system that gets the job done for whatever you'd like as a website. My drupal site is set up through godaddy.com so it's simple enough to work through.

Research to Fruition

When we watch media and the like we don't think of the work being put into it behind the scenes. The ideas that each person puts into their portion of work towards the cumulative whole of the project. In terms of voice acting you can't really be right or wrong unless you are emulating someone else that is already established.

From my research I learned the fundamental idea behind being desirable in voice acting. Be Yourself. They main thing that studios want is people that are new and fresh that can bring variety. If you can sound like Mark Hamill that is all well and good, but they could just as well approach him on their own if they felt he was best for the job. Create and maintain your own voices and ideas. This will put you well above the others auditioning that haven't figured this out yet. Being original and being desirable all come from how well you can bring new fresh ideas to the table. Sure it is great when we hear something familiar in a project, but bringing a voice that is brand new to the industry always inspires others to do so as well.

Breaking the Boundaries of "Games"

Gaming has spawned off all kinds of different ideas. Tabletop gaming, LARP, and the like are all small little sub-sets of games. Sports are also very much gaming regardless of how much emphasis it is put into being an athletic event for national pride. This portion of my blog is going to be devoted to how gaming extends past boards, dice, and any other medium and is created by the players. Dungeons and Dragons or any other pen and paper RPG being the spearhead of this segment. The games are 90% played inside the player's mind. The game master creates the environment and the players fill it with meaning. When you give someone a story, do they simply accept it all at the end as complete? No, most times there is something unresolved that you as a viewer would like to see fit completion. Another example that primarily grew from the early stages of things like AOL were the advents of online roleplaying chatrooms. In these and in some cases forum postings people were able to represent a character as if they were a character in a story either canon or original. In these we see the rise of imagination but it is still considered a game as many uphold rules towards these postings. Most places you find involving such postings you can find like-minded individuals with a few clicks and immerse yourself into their story.

This is gaming without boundaries but with few rules and as long as their are other players you may continue on.

Capstone Project Topic

For my capstone project I would like to delve into the one passion I have had since I was young. Voice acting is my one true drive I've had in the past few years as I've wished to find myself voicing many characters in animation, games and cartoons. I intend to work on a demo reel which showcases my talents and range in order to better sell myself into the roles needed. With this I can send my reel to various studios and be considered for auditions and spots for advertisement and all sorts of other positions. My research entails all kind of spots from well-known actors with years of experience under their belt.

The main thing I'm keeping in mind is that I am showcasing myself. Impersonations are all well and good but the companies could just as well hire who I'm impersonating. For this project to go the way as planned I must be myself. This means I must have my own original voices and ideas to give me an edge over others that are auditioning. My hope is to encompass my entire range and make sure I'm giving every bit of "me" I can put into maybe a few short spots.