#individual project

[myfoxlight]

Due to the amount of difficulty i faced creating the work, at some point i had to search for artists who have done something like this on Youtube. I stumbled on a very talented artist #Annadreambrush, her works are really amazing and inspired me. I thought to myself if another artist can make those amazing works, i could too with time obviously. I studied her work process and it helped me improve on the second figure.

[lexxi-mitch-blog]

This is a gif I made in class. 

Blame the awful lines on the fact I was late...again :)

But at least I made it in the last 20 minutes before moving on to the workshop.

We had to make a gif based on our individual projects and so I based mine off of the ‘maze’ concept that I have been working with and made a gif of a corridor leading to a doorway which opens up to the unknown. It’s for a smaller team project website where each of us had to insert our gifs to be used as a homepage that will link our individual projects together.

The gif itself is too quick, lacks detail and doesn't explain much so if I were to redo it again I would use varying line widths to accentuate where the ceiling and floor meet the walls, give the door more of a strict shape and add in the thickness of the sides. I would also slow it down by adding in more frames, add colour, and maybe something in the darkness? just an idea.

[leilas-digital-scrapbook-blog]

“Your Favorite Game” – Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean

It’s all about videogames this week and I am living. Seriously, if 14-year-old-me had known one day she’d be sitting in a classroom in Edinburgh watching a presentation about the history of gaming, she might have been less emo about her terrible life choices. I’m sure she would have been proud of future-her for tearing up at the Wii picture, at least.

The battered PC I shared with all six of my siblings and a number of different Nintendo consoles have always been my gaming platforms of choice; the mainstream, more toxic-masculinity-oriented worlds of Playstation and Xbox (I’m sure that’s a load of crap, but that’s how they looked to me at the time – and in my defense, their fans did nothing to prove me wrong) held zero attraction on me. As for apps, well, I’ve bought my first smartphone about four months ago and still have to download a single game on it.

But Leila, that is great! You finally have an excuse to try! You love Pokémon! You love augmented reality! Download Ingress! Download Pokémon Go! Blog about those!

That sounds sensible, doesn’t it? (Or it would sound sensible if I hadn’t gone overboard with the exclamation points, at least.) But option #2 is to blog about my favorite game, and I will never, ever pass up an opportunity to gush about Baten Kaitos. Sorry, Pokémon Go. I promise I will give you a chance someday.

So, meet my greatest gaming love and lifelong companion, the game that ruined every other RPG for me and at the same time ensured that I would never really stop playing. Drumroll please.

Just to give you the basic information, Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean is a 2003 JRPG developed for Nintendo GameCube by Monolith Soft and tri-Crescendo. I played it for the first time when it came out in Europe in 2005 and as you may have gathered by my completely chill and detached tone, I’m still very much not over it.

As mentioned in a previous post, in order to fall for a game I have to fall for its story, and boy did Baten Kaitos deliver on that front. The premise is almost banal in its simplicity: a gang of improbable heroes gets together to try and collect a series of magical artifacts that will help them thwart the evil Empire’s plans of domination over their fantasy world. Yawn, right? Except that their quest is filled with mind-blowing twists and shocking reveals, and even before those come into play, the complex, lovable characters, the breathtaking world building, and the perfect balance of heart and humor make for the most compelling epic fantasy I’ve ever come across – not just in the gaming world but on any platform.

What really sets Baten Kaitos apart from other RPGs, though, is the gameplay. Even though I’ve happily played a wide range of genres, RPGs have always been my undiscussed favorite – and in most of them I’ve found the same two fundamental problems: one, the annoying notion that the player has to identify with the main character, which results in cardboard protagonists that rarely engage with NPCs beyond replying “Yes” to everything they say if they’re good guys and kicking their ass if they’re bad guys; and two, a boring battle system, which makes the hours spent leveling up a tedious obligation rather than one of the most fun parts of the game.

Baten Kaitos brilliantly solves the first problem by making the player’s mirror and the protagonist two different characters. In its world, special people can bond with Guardian Spirits that will advise them and make them stronger – and that’s exactly what happens to the protagonist, Kalas, at the beginning of the game. This solution allows the player to identify with the above-it-all Guardian Spirit, to move around and fight as Kalas, and to enjoy a rich, well-crafted story where the main character is allowed to speak his mind, to make mistakes, to grow. And it blurs the line between fiction and reality by making the Guardian Spirit a creature from another world – our world –, not really a character but rather a role for the gamer to play.

As for the battle system, as it often is the case, it’s probably way more complicated to explain than to just play. And it is pretty damn complicated to play in the first place. It’s turn-based (attack and defense), which is great for me because I’m not handy enough with a controller for real-time combat. Just ask the dozens of people who pwned me on World of Warcraft before I ran from that game in tears. And it’s card- and number-based, which admittedly can be a bit of a turn-off on first impact. After all, there must be a reason why Baten Kaitos sold so poorly in spite of being The Best Videogame Ever. But once you get the hang of it, there’s nothing like the rush of selecting the right combo, and even fighting puny soldiers and lesser monsters becomes as engaging as big, epic boss fights. After all, there must be a reason why I keep wanting to return to it even after completing it four times and knowing the story by heart.

Baten Kaitos is special to me for many reasons, some of them really personal, but from a more course-oriented point of view, it’s the shining model I want to follow for my individual project. Because I see videogames first and foremost as a medium to tell stories in a different way – by allowing the audience-turned-player to live them in first person, making important decisions and taking part in the action in a way we couldn’t imagine on a TV screen or in the pages of a book, and Baten Kaitos does it spectacularly. Here’s hoping Breakaway will come close.

More to come...

[leilas-digital-scrapbook-blog]

Individual Project – The World of Henosis

I was looking for visual references for my individual project and came across this art by Radoslav Zilinsky that perfectly represents the game’s world:

The central conflict of Henosis’ story is based on the irreconcilable dichotomy between the Centre and the Wasteland. The two factions are polar opposites in values (the “American dream” mentality of the Center vs the Wasteland’s prioritizing the need of the many over the need of the few), beliefs (the Center’s almost fanatical adherence to the state religion vs the cynical atheism of the Wasteland), government systems (democracy vs an authoritarian aristocracy), technological advancement, way of life and so on. The most immediately striking difference, though, is how different the two worlds look.

Exploration is a big part of the gameplay; both during missions and in the down time between them, the player will have a chance to explore a vast, diverse world, and to interact with the people that inhabit it. This isn’t just a way for the game’s artists to showcase their talent, but is essential to the plot – Mira’s sense of wonder at the utopian beauty of the Center is the first step in making her realize the people that inhabit it are more than the faceless enemies she’s hated all her life, while Sirius’ plight in the toxic, barren world of the Wasteland makes it very clear that the war he’s fighting is more than an obsessive quest for revenge.

Below are some visual references for a few locations in the story world. While they aren’t quite how I picture the game to look like (the Center’s architecture is futuristic and sleek, but should also have some more classical elements to it like pillars and marble, while the Wasteland is not a desert as much as a burnt out landscape still filled with debris), I believe they do an effective job at depicting the very different visual impact of the two settings.

The Center:

(https://editballai.artstation.com/projects/v1zVQY)

(http://www.arch2o.com/hyperions-vincent-callebaut)

A few sample Sectors*

Magnolia Sector:

(http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php/71114-Blizzard-pic-at-the-end-of-p-1-update-November-1st-p2?p=913801&styleid=39)

Vista Sector:

(https://architectureau.com/articles/green-light-for-queens-wharf-brisbane-casino-resort)

(https://www.this-is-cool.co.uk/the-superb-sci-fi-artworks-of-yi-liu)

Raven Sector

(https://www.artstation.com/artwork/3ady2)

*Sectors surround the Center and form the suburbs of Henosis. They’re a middle ground between Center and Wasteland, and not only physically – while they’re often as stunning and technologically advanced as the Center, their inhabitants only have token representation in the government and often live in less than optimal conditions. They’re the place where most of the missions take place.

The Wasteland

(http://starkovtattoo.spb.ru/surreal-wallpaper-1080p/img658169F2A32)

(https://www.artstation.com/artwork/dXoKx)

More to come…

[leyrens]

Я ЗАЩИТИЛ ПРОЕКТ, УРААААААААА

——————————————————

I DEFENDED THE PROJECT, HOORAAAAAAAAAAAY

[leyrens]

Господи, я сегодня наконец-то доделал свой индивидуальный проект.. Осталось только пережить понедельник, и будет всё супер!! ^^

———————————————————

God, I finally finished my individual project today.. All that remains is to survive Monday, and everything will be great!! ^^

[leyrens]

Эх, уже в следующий понедельник я буду защищать свой индивидуальный проект.. Надеюсь, что получу хотя бы четвёрку за свои мучительные труды 🙏

———————————————————

Oh, in the next Monday I will be defending my individual project.. I hope I will get at least a four for my painful works 🙏

[niall-ma]

Individual Critical Context

During my research into the ongoing abortion debate occurring in America, I used a mixture of different sources. I began my research by looking into political commentary websites per recommendation from my lecturer, this allowed me to get a grounded more real-time report of the events happening. Currently, on Trump's 1st day as president, he has already removed reproductiverights.org which will drastically Impair women’s ability to seek reproductive care in states where it is legal as well as impairing individuals’ ability to inform and counsel each other about the reproductive care that is available in other states. Then I moved on to more academic essays and journals written around the subject of women's rights from the 1990’s up to 2024 which helped to contextualise the history of the ongoing struggle for equal rights present throughout American history for decades. Below I have included some graphs of statistics that also helped inform my research