#sourcesandsignificance

[ellie-bygrave]

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty – Tarot Cards as Signs

Cyberpunk 2077 and Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty spoilers ahead!

A Brief Understanding of Semiotics

Semiotics is the study of signs and how they relate to hidden meaning or a bigger picture (Britannica, 2023). A sign can be anything that is used to represent meaning; a sign can be a drawing, a word, even something physical, like a red light. Even though there is no tangible reason why a red traffic light means “stop”, culturally and contextually it is agreed upon internationally that red means “stop”. However, if a person was brought up having never been introduced to the concept of red meaning “stop”, there is nothing physical to link the sign (the red light) to the concept it is communicating (stop) and they would not be able to make that connection without being provided some context. The same can be said for words; the combination of letters – and even the shape of the letters themselves if we want to consider this more deeply – do not inherently link to the sentiment we are aiming to get across when we write. It is only though an arbitrary assignment of meaning to these words that we can coherently articulate our ideas.

The linguist Ferdinand de Saussure proposed a dyadic model of the sign (Chandler, D. 2019). He defined a signifier, which is the form the sign takes, and a signified, the concept represented by the sign. A traffic light would for the signifier and the need to stop would be the signified. He declared that there could not be a signifier that exists without a corresponding signified, and vice versa, and that the linguistic sign was a product of the association we make between the two (de Saussure, F. 1959). Saussure supported the notion that the connection between the signified and the signifier within a sign was arbitrary, but acknowledged that words with onomatopoeia were not randomly linked to their meaning, and that signs related to images of objects were not necessarily arbitrary (Nӧth, 1990).

Charles Sanders Peirce developed a system based on 3 categories for identifying the elements of a sign (Albert, A. 2023). The first element is the signifier. This refers to the representation of the sign – the red traffic light, in our previous example. Not all elements of a red light need to part of the signifier for a specific sign. For example, the size of the traffic light has nothing to do with the meaning of it, nor does the material from which the light is made. It is simply the red light that is the signifier in relation to this sign. The meaning we interpret upon seeing the signifier is dubbed by Peirce as the interpretant (Media Studies, 2021). In our traffic light example, the interpretant would be that there is danger ahead and we should stop. The object of a sign is the intended outcome that occurs upon someone perceiving the sign. In this case, it would be for the person to stop. The signifier should clearly trigger the interpretant, which should in turn lead to the object occurring.

Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077 is a first-person open world RPG released in 2020 by CD Projekt Red with mixed success. The launch was rocky, with lots of players unable to play due to poor optimisation on certain platforms. After lots of subsequent updates and fixes, the game rose in popularity, significantly so at the release of a massive update – which overhauled and improved upon many aspects of the game – and its first major DLC, Phantom Liberty, in September 2023.

Set in Night City, a megacity in the New United States of America (NUSA), the game sees V, the protagonist and player character, try to fight their way to becoming a Night City legend by taking on mercenary gigs to gain favour and a good reputation amongst the big names in the city. When a particularly high-stakes heist goes wrong, V ends up stuck with a biochip inside their brain that houses the construct of a long-dead rock star and anarchist, Johnny Silverhand. An unfortunate turn of events means that the construct becomes fused with V’s own consciousness and the construct of Johnny unintentionally begins to take over V’s mind and body. The inevitable death of V’s consciousness is an ever looming deadline that drives the majority of the plot, as V and Johnny struggle to find a cure and separate themselves from each other.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty – The Basic Plot

The Phantom Liberty DLC has a complex and twisting plot. It sees V become involved in a plot to save the President of the NUSA, Rosalind Myers, at the behest of Song So Mi (Songbird), an intelligence analyst for the FIA (Federal Intelligence Agency). They enlist the help of two FIA sleeper agents, Solomon Reed and Alex Xenakis, to unearth a secret cure that could be the key to solving V’s biochip problem. It is later revealed that Songbird is also in need of the same cure, as her work for President Myers has unleased a rogue AI into her mind.

Tensions run high between the three FIA agents, and V can later choose to side with Songbird and help her escape Myers’ grasp or to side with Reed and Alex, leaving Songbird to deteriorate in the clutches of the Rogue AI.

There are multiple endings to the Phantom Liberty DLC, none of which are particularly happy endings. If V sides with Songbird, we eventually learn the cure is only useable once, and Songbird intends for it to be used for herself. The player can then choose whether to allow Songbird to take the cure or to hand her over to Reed and gain the cure for themselves. If V sides with Reed and Alex, the player later has a choice of whether to end Songbird’s suffering after the rogue AI runs rampant in her mind or whether to hand her over to Myers and receive the cure for V.

Semiotics in Cyberpunk 2077

Throughout the base game, and now the DLC, players can take part in a side mission to hunt for tarot cards scattered throughout Night City in the form of strange, glitchy murals that only V and Johnny can see. Whilst collecting scans of these cards, the player can visit their friend, Misty Olszewski, for a tarot reading. The Phantom Liberty DLC expands upon this, adding 4 new cards to be found in Dogtown, the region of Night City where the DLC takes place. Misty can tell you about each of these 4 new cards and the meaning they hold. There are 4 different ways in which the Phantom Liberty DLC can end depending on the choices the player makes. Each of these endings is named for each of the 4 cards you find and relates in some ways to what is revealed by Misty. My further interpretation of these 4 cards is that each is also a sign relating to one of the major characters we meet in the DLC.

Based on Saussure’s dyadic model, the mural of the tarot card would be the signifier and the person it is referring to is the signified. Peirce’s system of 3 categories would also suggest that the mural of the tarot card is the signifier, but the truth that is revealed from the cards about each character would be the interpretant. The actions the player then takes towards the characters based on the interpretation of the cards could be seen as being the object.

So how do the tarot cards relate to these characters?

King of Pentacles – President Myers

The King of Pentacles card is most likely the first one that the player will see. It is found outside an apartment safe house where V and Myers go immediately after escaping the downed plane. The signifier of this sign is of a shrouded figure, covered in cyberware with a five-pointed star behind them. Misty’s explanation of the meaning behind this card, or the signified/interpretant states that it refers to the leader of a rich and powerful realm that is constantly under threat, making the leader a dangerous person to have dealings with.

This card appears to signify President Myers, who is, quite literally, the leader of a rich and powerful realm: the NUSA. She finds herself and her grip on power under threat at the beginning of the DLC at the hands of Kurt Hansen and, unbeknownst to her, Songbird. Although it seems as though Myers is working for the greater good, it is not long before V finds out about her treatment of Songbird and Myers’ manipulation of V to maintain her power becomes clear. She shows disregard for the lives of her agents as she orders them to retrieve Songbird for her, which can lead to the demise of Alex or Reed. The only regret she shows towards Songbird’s death (if you choose to kill her out of mercy) is that she can no longer exploit Songbird’s skills to further her own rule.

The object, or purpose, of this sign is to create a sense of distrust between V and Myers, indicating that all may not be as it seems and to take what Myers says with a grain of salt until the truth comes to light. The warning confirms suspicions that Johnny voices throughout V’s interactions with Myers: there is something off about the situation they find themselves in.

King of Wands – Solomon Reed

The King of Wands card is found near to where V meets Reed for the first time. The physical signifier of this sign is of a muscular figure whose face is obscured by cyberware, holding a large sceptre. This card represents a leader who sticks to their principles and may commit a sacrifice in order to fulfil a greater purpose.

Aside from the physical location of this card, the signified/interpretant points to Reed, an FIA sleeper agent who was declared dead as a cover story after being betrayed by his own people and, importantly, Songbird, on a previous mission. Despite being wronged by so many, Reed remained a man of his word and left behind anything resembling a life for himself to continue to do his duty for his country.

In terms of a sacrifice, there are multiple different ways we can interpret Reeds story as involving sacrifice, some more literally than others. If V decides to let Songbird escape with the cure, Reed pays the ultimate price: his life. V kills Reed as he tries to stop them escaping, although there is some debate amongst the audience as to whether he really tried, or if it was a half-hearted attempt from someone who had accepted that the life they’d have afterwards was not one they’d want to live through. If Reed does not die, regardless of the other elements to the ending, Reed becomes a shell of his former self, questioning every decision and action he and V took. Either way, the sacrifice Reed makes for Songbird is well represented by Misty’s interpretation of the King of Wands.

There is not a clear object to this sign, as no matter the choices the player makes, a sacrifice must still be made. Additionally, it is not obvious which choices will lead to Reed’s biggest sacrifice right up until the moment it occurs. However, the sign still foreshadows elements to the story in a way that will keep the player guessing.

King of Swords – Alex

The King of Swords card is found near Alex’s bar in Dogtown. The card shows a chromed figure holding two blades. Misty’s analysis tells us that the person this refers to is a voice of reason who tells sharp truths that may be painful to hear. This signifier most closely represents Alex, another FIA sleeper agent who dreams of being free from the FIA’s clutches.

Throughout V’s conversations with Alex, we can see that Alex is very sceptical of the FIA and Reed, telling V that they should not have got involved unless they were prepared to essentially give their life over to the FIA. She has become very disillusioned with her work as an agent and is ready for an out, making it clear that the only reason she will help with Reed and V’s mission to rescue Songbird is if she can retire the FIA for good once the mission is done. She is very much represented by this tarot card, being brutally honest with V about things most people would shy away from saying.

The King of Cups – Songbird

The King of Cups card shows a hooded cyber-figure hunched over a goblet. Upon telling Misty about the King of Cups card, she tells V that they must be particularly cautious around anyone they meet that this card may be pointing to. She says that the person may bring understanding and emotional balance, but that they might try to manipulate V and cause spiritual crisis. Based on my semiotic interpretation, this reading refers to Songbird.

Songbird situation easily allows V and the player to empathise with her – it’s not every day you meet another person with a rogue construct taking over their brain. V and Songbird have a strong understanding of one another and become close throughout the events of the DLC. This close link the two share makes it all the more painful when V learns that Songbird has been manipulating them the whole time.

The “spiritual crisis” that the card implies could be interpreted as applying to Songbird or to V. Songbird is on the brink of death when she confesses her betrayal to V and is wracked with guilt at using her friend for her own benefit and then hanging them out to dry. At this point, Songbird is unable to complete her mission herself, and is relying on V to do so for her. V now faces the decision of whether to help Songbird as promised or to leave her for the FIA and take the cure for themselves. This leads to a lot of self-reflection for V and doubt about which choice would have been right.

Ultimately, the object of this card is to make the player think twice about their decisions relating to Songbird. They are warned to be wary around her and Songbird undoubtedly lives up to that warning. She is a complex character with a deep backstory that goes a long way to explaining her actions, but, in the end, V is the one who seals her fate.

To Conclude

The analysis of these cards and the way they represent the characters of the DLC provides a deeper understanding of the motivations and backgrounds of these characters. It provides a greater depth to the characters beyond the level that can be gleaned from gameplay that contributes to the deep and complex backdrop of the game that can be found if one explores below the surface.

References

Albert, A. (2023). Peirce’s Theory of Signs. The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy (Spring 2023 Edition). Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.). https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2023/entries/peirce-semiotics/

Britannica, The Editor’s Encyclopaedia. (2023). Semiotics. Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/semiotics. (Accessed 23/11/2023)

Chandler, D. (2019). Semiotics for Beginners. Visual Memory. https://www.cs.princeton.edu/~chazelle/courses/BIB/semio2.htm (Accessed 06/11/2023)

De Saussure, F. (1959). Course in General Linguistics. New York: The Philosophical Library.

Media Studies. (2021). Charles Peirce’s Triadic Model of Communication. Media Studies. https://media-studies.com/triadic-model-semiotics/ (Accessed 06/11/2023)

Nӧth, Winfried. (1990). Handbook of Semiotics. Indiana University Press. (Accessed 23/11/2023)

[tanith-davies]

Critical Analysis

Vandewalle, A., Malliet, S. and Demoen, K. (2023) 'Playing with Character: A Framework of Characterization in Video Games', Games and Culture,19(6), pp. 722-742. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120231179496

Characterisation is the process of attributing traits to narrative entities. When engaging within ergodic media, three participants shape the characterisation, including developers, actors and players. The article  'Playing with Character: A Framework of Characterization in Video Games' by Alexander Vandewalle, Steven Malliet and Kristoffel Demoen, explores the depth of methods used within characterisation in video games. I will be analysing pages 727-729 of Games and Culture V19(6), an academic journal about video games' role within society and culture, being pages 6-8 of the article, which examines the effects of storyworld cues on characterisation, specifically name-giving, action and appearance, with how each of these attributes can vary and the connotations of such. Understanding these ideas is valuable to all developers involved in the character creation process, highlighting the depth of features that go into ergodic characterisation by developers and players alike. The text explores original literary characterization, expanding the ideas into storyworld and medium cues as subheadings for ergodic characterisation.

This text is written by Alexander Vandewalle, Steven Malliet and Kristoffel Demoen, who combined hold extensive experience of media, literary and classical studies, with an emphasis on how digital games communicate and model human experiences. 

The aim of this text is to outline a comprehensive and modern framework for characterization within video games, to expand on previous literary texts with the relation to ergodic narratives. Ergodic characterisation describes nontrivial characterization efforts from the player by a variety of means. It answers several methodical problems within video games of distinguishing the player and developer influences over the dynamic characters by introducing a framework of traits that impact characterisation.

Throughout the article, the authors justify and build their argument with numerous examples of characters within contemporary video games, such as ‘Kratos’ in God of War, and Thanatos from Smite. This leads to an effective and convincing argument by utilizing a wide range of successful video games as evidence to support ideas explored. The authors challenge previous concepts of characterisation within literary narratives, and build up on new ideas to more accurately represent modern media. 

The authors work is evidenced by a range of examples throughout the article, and reference heavily to De Temmerman and van Emde Boas’ (2018) successful work surrounding the idea of transmedial storyworlds, expanding and adapting the ideas further to produce the story cues framework. The article further refers to Herman (2009) and Thon’s (2016) transmedia storyworld framework as founding ideas for the conceptual space for applying cues within video games.

Within these pages, characterisation via storyworld cues is methodically explored, analysing in more depth name giving, action and appearance, out of the eight listed in the framework (remaining speech, emotions, membership of a specific group, setting and objectives). Vandewalle, Malliet and Demoen start by explaining ‘name-giving’ in the characterization potential (pg. 727). They expand on Barthes' semiotic ideas of textual cohesion devices to structure character traits, using names to reveal social information such as gender, heritage and class. Examples of how names can connote femininity to particular cultures, or physical meanings are used to support this argument, utilizing references from the contemporary video game God of War, illuminating the main character ‘Kratos’, meaning power and strength from Greek origins. This illuminates how customisation options by players allow them to ergodically assign traits this way, or even abstain from this quality to foster more individual connections between player and character. 

Action follows, which refers to an individual's habitual activities, participation in small or large events, and the act of choosing to not engage at all. The action of a character is derived from its choices, referring to Aristotle’s moral theory of not engaging, and the consequent connotations. The text frequently refers to Vella’s (2015) dissertation on distinguishing between player and character actions, expanding on these ideas that action based characterisation goes further than choices to encompass movement and player’s skill. Video games being action based media, means that movement traits of a character likewise add to their characterisation, having Thanatos’ (Smite, 2014-) low movement speed and execute ability highlight him as a silent, sudden killer. This article argues that a player's skill is also a characterising attribute, since an expert player attributes different qualities to a character then a novice. Action of the player within the storyworld, is generally depicted as one of the primary impactful sources of characterisation, being a crucial differentiation between literary characterisation and ergodic media.

Thirdly, analysing the appearance of a character is often expected to hint at all the other traits, to infer personality via external features. The authors noting J.K.Lavater’s (1800) work of this idea, highlighting issues, but noting its usefulness as a powerful narrative resource, by use of attributes beyond the characters control, (facial features), and dependent features (clothes). Rimmon-Kenan’s work of distinguishing between physical appearance and costume is expanded into being subcategories of this larger cue category of appearance. Appearance of a character can be determined by the developer, or remain open to player customisation, it may change through the game. Be purely cosmetic or linked to personality traits or statistics. The last paragraph of the page summarises the impact of appearance, going on to look at the remainder of the proposed framework of story world cues.

The authors built their arguments from game experience, with multiple relevant high-end external references. They bring a unique idea surrounding the ways video games need to be analysed differently to other media due to their ergodic nature, which will be continuously relevant within the growth of video games, and other media.

To conclude, this article provided relevant ideas that have made me more aware of the importance of a character's name, appearance and actions, when allocating physical and personality attributes to them, and in what visuals should, or shouldn’t, be reflected. Ideas surrounding characterisation are relevant for a wide range of media, not explicitly to video games. This paper also further opens up ideas to expand the research applying the theory to a further range of different game models, and notes the authors are already developing ideas, further exploring what decisions shape the players characterisation process, and how players engage with their player characters.

[tanith-davies]

Reader

Berger, J. (2008 [1972]). Ways of Seeing. London, Penguin.

Berger evaluates the way society views a range of media images, dictating that we lack inherent neutral objectivity and instead are shaped by culture, ideology and societal power. Berger explores a range of ideas including the change in status of images due to the ability of mass production, the ‘male gaze’ depicting the way women are represented as objects, ideas of art tied to wealth in what it depicts and the consistent myth within advertising showing what the audience lacks to create desire. Berger demonstrates that art is seen based on cultural hierarchies of the time.

An established work, Berge’s ideas are still relevant today, enlightening regarding reshaping my own thinking in the way I look and create future images. Ways of representing women more respectfully and being aware of the male gaze and how best to avoid it resonated with me the most.

Casey, R. C. and Brenner, G. E. (2025) ‘“You’re getting a little big for this”: fat characters in Disney animated films’, Fat Studies, 14(3), pp. 322–333. Available at: https://doi-org.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/10.1080/21604851.2025.2580808

This article highlights negative representations through the depictions of fat characters within 54 of Disney's animated films from 1937. These characters most commonly appear as white, middle aged, male sidekicks of the lower class, with a large number portrayed with ‘stereotypical depictions of fatness’ through their actions, such as getting stuck in something or over consuming. This article brings awareness of the harm stereotypical, fat-phobic narratives that surround fat people, and how media representation can further stigmatise marginalised groups, reinforcing harmful anti-fat attitudes towards the intended audience of children. 

This article was very insightful, furthering my understanding towards modern negative representations of people within media, and the widespread impact of harm the psychological issues can cause. Body shape is a big factor of character creation and I will be mindful about associating body shape with character’s actions, narrative and design in my own work.

Chen, X., & Azraai, N. Z. B. (2025). ‘Animating Embodied Memories: An Inquiry into Medium-Specificity of Animation in Greatness Code (2020)’. Animation, 20(3), pp. 201-218. Available at: https://doi-org.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/10.1177/17468477251379718 

This text analyses the medium-specific qualities of animation, denoting its uniqueness of expressing subjective, non-literal depictions of memory and sensory experiences. It identifies animations’ unique attributes, including temporal flexibility with fragmenting time to mimic memory or perceptions,  conceiving abstract ideas into comprehensible visuals, and perceptual immediacy causing multi-sensory embodied effects in the audience. Animation plays to its strengths when words and photographs can’t capture ineffable experiences, demonstrated by Chen through an analysis of Greatness Code, where animated bodily sensations play in tandem with live action footage. 

This analysis of animation is valuable to me for recognising the unique emotional attributes of the media, and how it’s utilised most effectively. Addressing the theory of medium specificity to contemporary digital works is useful for helping me understand the ideas and create more impactful work by utilising a variety of media.

De la Torre-Sierra, A.M., Guichot-Reina, V. (2023) 'Women in Video Games: An Analysis of the Biased Representation of Female Characters in Current Video Games', Sexuality & Culture, 29, pp. 532–560, Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-024-10286-0

The biased portrayal of women within contemporary video games is explored within this paper, noting that representation within the industry is improving, but persistent stereotypes still prevail. Females are generally being underrepresented, depicted as secondary figures, hypersexualized damsels in distress with limited agency. It also explores the impact on players from these harmful representations, and uses examples such as Aloy as positive counterexamples.The article highlights structural changes needed within games development to better reflect female player demographics.

As a 3D character artist, this current article was valuable in helping me understand and recognise negative social traits within the games industry, and encouraging my own positive female representations of characters. I will be applying these ideas and knowledge to my own work to improve representation within the industry and combat the persistent discriminatory content. 

Jamasbi, S. M., Safoora, M. A. and Goudarzi, M. (2024) ‘A Semiotic Analysis of Camera Movement in Animation Works of Disney Company*’, Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 41(2), pp. 225–243. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/10509208.2022.2108689

This article takes Pierce’s classifications of signs, iconic, indexical and symbolic and applies them directly to the movement of cameras within a variety of Disney animated films. It analyzes the camera's speed, form, direction, duration, positioning and context to the subject, and the multimodality layers it connotates. The article notes effective camera movement utilises a combination of these signs, with one generally prevailing dominant. Iconic movements are those mimicking real actions or feelings through speed, direction or form. Indexical movements are directed towards narrative elements, being physically linked, following an object or event to emphasise or reveal, and symbolic movements are those directed towards emotional intimacy, through learned conventions.

This article enhances my own practice, highlighting the extent of how semiotic analysis can be used within digital media, and regarding framing my own animated characters within games or animation, to further connect the audience with the subject, through the camera.

Lucassen, M. P., Gervers, T., Gijsenij, A. (2010) 'Texture affects color emotion', Color research and application, 36(6), pp. 426-436. Available at: https://doi-org.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/10.1002/col.20647

This paper explores the affect of colour specifically on the audience's emotions, and how adding a variety of textures changes the emotional response of a colour. Through repeated, reliable experiments with the subjects, Lucassen concludes that textures have a larger effect than the colour itself regarding the appearance of hard or soft materials, but the impact of texture is decreased for the perception of masculine to feminine, heavy to light and warm to cool scales.

This text enhanced my understanding of applying colour and texture within my own work to elicit specific emotional responses, and analysing the effect on the audience. I was aware of basic colour theory, however the effect of noise and value of a texture is insightful, regarding the importance specifically of surface feel.

Moon, W.-L. (2018) ‘Documentary and its realism’, Studies in Documentary Film, 12(1), pp. 43–55. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/17503280.2017.1420413

Moon’s paper primarily explores the experience of realism associated with observational documentaries. Declaring that realism isn’t the presence or correctness of facts, but the emotional effect on the audience from seeing and experiencing something real. The process of ‘seeing’ reality in documentary film isn’t just cognitive, but primarily about being emotionally involved with the subject. The distinctive observational realism arises from non interference, genuine observation, such as hidden cameras, rather than performance. Moon further explains that simply imaging a subject is not satisfactory, since the realism comes from the experience of transparency, and requires a focus on the subject's presence.

This article was helpful in my understanding of philosophical definitions of realism within film, and the perception of observational documentaries on the audience. Denoting that the realism lies more in the specific relationship between audience and subject, then the content itself, was a unique perspective to delve into.

Plass J. L., Homer B. D., MacNamara A., Ober T., Rose M. C., Pawar S., Hovey C. M., Olsen A. (2020). ‘Emotional design for digital games for learning: The effect of expression, color, shape, and dimensionality on the affective quality of game characters’, Learning and Instruction, 70, 101194. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2019.01.005 

This text effectively explores the affective qualities of colour, shape, expression and dimensionality as design features for characters in games, in relation to how they affect emotion for learning. Expression and dimensionality within character design were found to have the strongest effect, with shape having the least impact. It also highlighted that attributes of presence, character anthropomorphizing and movement had a larger effect on emotions than without. These characteristics were cognitively consequential, affecting motivation, attention, problem solving and perception within the subjects, both adolescence and adults.

This article was interesting to me regarding understanding the impacts of simple design choices with how characters emotionally arouse the audience in relation to learning. It demonstrates how visual choices within characters can be used to induce emotion without changing the content of the game, being important for my learning when designing characters to promote player engagement through the art alone.

Thon, J. (2019) Transmedia characters: Theory and analysis. Frontiers of Narrative Studies, 5 (2), pp. 176-199. Available at:  https://doi.org/10.1515/fns-2019-0012

Thon explores how characters can differ, while being still interconnected within the broader transmedia character network, using examples of Sherlock Holmes and Batman. Each distinct version of the same character has relations of either ‘redundancy’ - reinforcing similar traits or events, or ‘expansion’ - building up on prior versions of the character. When modifying core aspects of the character that goes against previous canon, it can prevent a work specific character from becoming a representation of the single transmedia character. It highlights how audiences draw on multiple sources to assess whether an interpretation of a character exists within the transmedia franchise or remains a singular entity.

I found this article especially interesting when exploring the idea of more open ended characters moving across the transmedia network, and considerations I would need to take when depicting an existing character within a new medium accurately, while keeping them part of an existing transmedia franchise.

Vandewalle, A., Malliet, S. and Demoen, K. (2023) 'Playing with Character: A Framework of Characterization in Video Games', Games and Culture,19(6), pp. 722-742. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120231179496

This article analyses how characterisation is achieved within video games. Character traits are attributed by three participants, including developers, actors and players. The developers design the visuals of the character, story etc, voice actors bring the character to life through audio and visuals, and players shape the character through the interactive decisions they make, such as customisation or engaging with choices within the game. The article introduces the concept of ‘ergodic characterisation’, which describes how players, through choosing to actively engage with the game system, participate in creating the characters identity, which is unique to ergodic media, as it's not a static narrative. 

This text was valuable to me as a character artist to understand how much input there is to video game character's characterisation then simply the artist’s 3D model. Becoming more aware of how my models will be characterised further by the players in particularly is insightful to ensure I facilitate their interpretations within my designs.

[tanith-davies]

Academic Blog - Post 10 - A Narrative Analysis Of Stardew Valley

Intro

Narratives within video games need to be analysed differently to that of other media, since a player’s control over the story creates individual narrative experiences, referring to a sequence of events with a temporal dimension. Video games feature ergodic narratives, defined by Aarseth (Cybertext 1997), who describes engagement with a story where “nontrivial effort is required for the reader to traverse the text” (Aarseth 1997). This can include interacting with choices, navigation or puzzles to develop the narrative. Some video games have more traditional stories with linear causation, and others are more abstract with ambiguous endings or play infinitely. In this blog I will be analysing the narrative elements of Stardew Valley (2016-), specifically focusing on embedded and emergent narratives alongside characterisation within the ergodic mdium.

Embedded and Emergent Narratives

In “Game Design as Narrative Architecture” (2004), Henry Jenkins coined the terms, ‘embedded’ and ‘emergent’ narratives, while discussing the different kinds of narrative experiences within video games. Embedded narratives are pre-written stories, structured by developers to take the player on a journey. Players can encounter the narrative in set ways, through cut scenes, quests and dialogue. What Remains of Edith Finch (2017) is an interactive embedded narrative exploration game, focusing on the player's experience of engaging with various objects to discover Edith’s past life. The player has very little autonomy at changing the story within the game, and is taken on a journey by the developers. There is less ability for self expression from the player within embedded narratives and more predictable emotional responses set by the developer.

Emergent narratives are stories that arise from player actions within the game; these events wouldn’t be scripted by developers but generated by systems that players can interact with. Minecraft (2011-) is a sandbox game which lacks any defined story, it gives players full control over whatever narrative they wish to create within the bounds of the game. 

Emergent narratives often give the player access to the embedded narrative, by requiring them to actively seek and engage with the content, altering how the narrative is traversed. Emergent narratives however, are amplified by ergodic structures, by allowing the player to interact meaningfully. Purely predetermined embedded narratives can be quite restrictive for players who just want to play, limiting their agency within the game causing disinterest. Whereas some emergent narrative games that lack any structure or plot, can get boring quickly for the player as they lack purpose or direction. Game design consequently most commonly uses a combination of these embedded and emergent narratives, to a variety of degrees to captivate player engagement. Jenkins describes game designers as ‘narrative architects’, (2004) creating the interactive space with story potential for the players to shape the narrative through their actions.

Unlike other media, games are not about ‘the other’, they are about ‘the self’, which gives the player first hand experience of the story. Characters are vehicles that drive the plot, and the means in which the player experiences the story. Vandewalle, Malliet and Demoen’s article, ‘Playing with Character: A Framework of Characterization in Video Games’ (2023), explores ideas of how the player interacts with the narrative through the use of characters. This article also introduces the concept of ‘ergodic characterisation’, which describes how players, through choosing to actively engage with the game system, participate in creating the characters identity. This is unique to ergodic media, as it's not a static narrative. Vandewalle deduces three core influences that shape a character, the developers design the visuals of the character (or customisable components), background and traits. Voice actors bring the character to life through audio and sometimes expressions (motion capture), and players shape the character through the interactive decisions they make, such as customisation and engaging with choices within the game.

Narrative Within Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley (ConcernedApe, 2016-) is a contemporary open-ended country-life RPG, which has a combination of both embedded and emergent narratives, with the majority of the game being player driven with how they choose to spend their time.

(fig.1) Stardew Valley

The primary embedded narrative element within Stardew Valley, is the objective of completing the community center bundles to prevent the corporation JojoMart from taking over the town. This gives the player a sense of purpose on how to engage with the game, and progress meaningfully. Other narrative elements primarily consist of interacting within the community, such as attending monthly festivals, befriending or marrying villagers and completing community quests. Narrative cutscenes often trigger additionally at festivals and achieving friendship milestones, demonstrates growth and classic storytelling elements. Most of these narratives are optional to partake in; the player can let Jojo destroy the town hall, and ignore all the villagers if they wish, however most players engage with the community and story because it is compelling. 

Day and night cycles and seasons within the game add a temporal structure to the narrative, encouraging engagement through environmental changes. Each villager has multiple schedules depending on the season, day of the week and weather, making the depth of the town more natural and immersive to interact with. The setting of the game and NPCs provide a framework for the player to build their emergent narrative around.

Emergent narratives within Stardew Valley are from the more sand box elements of the game and customisation options. The player controls how the overall playthrough unfolds, and is rarely ever told what they ‘must’ do. They have autonomy over whom they wish to befriend, marry and the activities they partake in: fishing, farming, mining, foraging or socializing. The game relies on these interactive activities to give the narrative meaning, and have the player form identities, to personalise their character. 

The breadth of customisation available to the player also forms an emergent narrative of characterisation. These options range from designing the look of their character, (hair, clothes, gender),  layout and content of their farm, (animals or crops) and house decorations (fig.2). This customisation within the game doesn’t have much of an effect on the story itself, but impacts the character’s identity, who drives the narrative.

(fig.2) Customisation options within Stardew Valley

Within Stardew valley, the player has the largest impact on characterising their protagonist, with the developers giving them the tools to create their player. There are no voice actors within Stardew Valley, so the element of characterisation brought through by voice isn't present. The majority is through the accumulated actions of the player, making meaningful choices and role-playing within the community, the ergodic characterisation of the narrative’s driving pillar is formed. Different characterisations form different narratives within the game and unique experiences for each player. (Vandewalle, 2023)

These player given characteristics are created through Stardew Valley's storyworld, such as name-giving, action, appearance, membership (or lack off) at JojoMart and carying material objects. These storyworld cues are presented through developer driven medium cues, such as the character's focalization, perspectives of previous life, animator's depictions and the game's interface, as being indicative of the character's profile.

Jenkins also describes alternative narrative ideas within games, however these are less prevalent within Stardew Valley. Evocative narratives immerse players by relying on their previous experiences and knowledge to fill narrative gaps without the need of explicitly explaining.These ideas are determined by the developer, but rely on the player to recognise them, and thus can induce individual experiences based on the players cultural knowledge. Stardew Valley draws parallels to other farming simulators, however the world feels original, there is no heavy reliance on players to associate ideas with other existing narratives. Enacted narratives involve the player performing the story through gameplay elements, where the character's actions drive the plot. Stardew Valley does not rely on the player to complete specific actions in order for them to progress, the narrative is more open ended for players to do as they desire. Thus making embedded and emergent narratives within Stardew Valley, the primary means of creating the player’s story.

Concluding

Stardew Valley is not purely a sandbox game, since there are embedded narrative arcs to guide the player, while also not having a scripted narrative for the player to follow. The narrative of the game is shaped through both the developers’ backstory and setting combined with the player's agency, blurring the boundary between story and simulation. It employs both embedded and emergent narratives, while utilising ergodic characterisation from player customisation to influence the unique story.

Personal Response

Understanding the depth of interactions from the player with ergodic narratives and how it impacts engagement is critical thinking for my development as a Character Artist, especially in terms of the role the player takes with characterising the playable character. Allowing the player to create their own narratives through their decisions around the character’s visuals, plays an important part with identifying themselves within the story, critical for engagement. As a Character Artist, it’s my job to ensure the breadth of options align with the types of narrative methods employed within the game. The importance of creating visuals that rewards player exploration and interaction within the world is also highlighted to me, to make the environment more engaging for the player.

References

ConcernedApe (2016-) Stardew Valley [Video game]. ConcernedApe (Accessed: 10 January).

Mojang Studios (2011-) Minecraft [Video game]. Mojang Studios (Accessed: 10 January).

Vandewalle, A., Malliet, S. and Demoen, K. (2023) 'Playing with Character: A Framework of Characterization in Video Games', Games and Culture,19(6), pp. 722-742. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120231179496

Crepax, R (2025) ‘Introduction + Stories’ [Recorded Lecture]. 7CTA2018-0901-2025: Digital Media: Sources and Significance.University of Hertfordshire. 30 September. Available at: https://herts.instructure.com/courses/125462/modules (30 September 2025).

Jenkins, H. (2004) 'Game Design as Narrative Architecture'. Available at:https://electronicbookreview.com/publications/game-design-as-narrative-architecture/?ref=noproscenium.com (Accessed: 7 January).

Giant Sparrow (2017) What Remains of Edith Finch [Video game]. Annapurna Interactive (Accessed: 5 January).

Aarseth, E. J. (1997) Cybertext. 1. The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Jenkins, H. ( 2004). Game design as narrative architecture. In N. Wardrip-Fruin & P. Harrigan (Eds.), First person. New media as story, performance, and game (pp. 118-130). Cambridge: MIT Press.

[yougash]

Critical Analysis

Introduction

This critical analysis examines pages 428–429 of Kozasa, Fukutake, Notsu, Okada, and Niijima’s (2006) conference paper Facial Animation Using Emotional Model, presented at the International Conference on Computer Graphics, Imaging and Visualisation (CGIV). I selected this passage because it presents the core conceptual argument of the paper and directly addresses a recurring problem in game character animation: why visually realistic faces often fail to feel emotionally alive. The authors are researchers working in computer graphics and interactive systems, publishing within an IEEE academic context, and their work sits at the intersection of facial animation, artificial intelligence, and player experience. The selected pages are particularly relevant to my own practice, as they focus less on surface-level visual fidelity and more on how internal emotional processes can drive believable expression.

What the Authors Are Trying to Argue

In the selected passage, Kozasa et al. argue that advances in rendering and modelling technology have not solved a fundamental problem in interactive characters: emotional believability. Although hardware allows increasingly realistic 3D faces, non-player characters (NPCs) often appear lifeless because their expressions and behaviours remain predefined, simple, and externally controlled. The authors identify this disconnect as a major limitation in how facial animation is typically implemented in games and interactive systems.

Their central argument is that facial expression should not be treated as a directly controlled visual output, but as the visible result of an internal emotional process. Traditional systems often manipulate facial parameters directly setting blendshapes or muscle values to create a smile, frown, or neutral face. While precise, this approach can result in mechanical and “switch-like” behaviour, where expressions appear disconnected from the character’s experience or the player’s actions.

To address this, the authors propose introducing an emotional model between interaction and expression. In their framework, interactions with a player update an internal emotional state, and facial expressions emerge as a consequence of that evolving state. Expression is therefore framed as causal rather than declarative: the system does not decide to display a particular emotion, but instead allows emotion to develop over time and influence facial output.

The passage also briefly references the implementation of a “neural network based emotional model unit,” suggesting that this internal state can change dynamically through interaction. However, the authors are careful not to present the neural network itself as the main innovation. Instead, their argument emphasises a conceptual shift in thinking about facial animation: believability comes from emotionally motivated behaviour rather than from increasingly detailed visual control.

Where the Passage Is Strong

One of the strongest aspects of this passage is its reframing of what “realism” means in the context of game characters. At the time of publication, realism in games was often associated primarily with graphical fidelity. Kozasa et al. challenge this assumption by arguing that believability depends just as much on behaviour as on appearance. This insight remains highly relevant, as players form rapid social and emotional judgements based on subtle facial cues such as timing, intensity, and transitions between expressions.

The authors’ emphasis on causality is particularly convincing. By positioning facial expression as the result of an internal emotional process, they align facial animation with how players intuitively understand human behaviour. In real interactions, we do not read faces as isolated poses; we read them as responses to events. The proposed emotional layer allows facial animation to participate in the logic of interaction, functioning as a feedback channel that communicates how an NPC has interpreted the player’s actions.

The passage is also strong in its restraint. Rather than overclaiming, the authors carefully limit their conclusions, stating that experiments suggest expressions can change according to emotional state. This cautious tone increases the credibility of the argument, especially within the constraints of a short conference paper. The focus remains on a workable mechanism rather than a claim to fully replicate human emotional performance.

Another strength is the authors’ consistent attention to player experience. Their motivation is not simply to improve facial animation in isolation, but to make NPCs more engaging to interact with. This situates the technical discussion within the broader context of gameplay and interaction design, reinforcing the relevance of the argument beyond purely graphical concerns.

Where I’m Not Fully Convinced

While the conceptual argument is strong, the passage leaves several important questions unresolved. The most significant limitation is the lack of detail regarding the emotional model itself. “Emotion” can be represented in many ways: as discrete categories, continuous dimensions, appraisal-based variables, or hybrid systems. The passage does not specify which representation is used, how emotional states are updated through interaction, or how those states map to facial movement.

This lack of specificity matters because it determines the expressive range and nuance of the system. Without a clear description, there is a risk that the emotional model simply replaces predefined expressions with predefined emotional states, resulting in a different but still limited form of mechanical behaviour. In other words, the system may shift complexity rather than truly increase believability.

The evidence presented in the passage is also limited. While the authors claim that expressions can change “like the human,” the criteria for this comparison are not explained. There is no discussion of perceptual testing, player studies, or baseline comparisons that would allow readers to evaluate whether the system genuinely improves believability from the player’s perspective. Given that emotional realism is ultimately a perceptual outcome, stronger empirical evaluation would have significantly reinforced the argument.

Another limitation is the focus on the face as the primary carrier of emotion. In interactive contexts, players interpret affect through multiple channels simultaneously, including body posture, gaze, movement, voice, and timing. Although the authors acknowledge NPC “behaviours” as a broader issue, the proposed solution highlighted in this passage centres mainly on facial animation. This can create a potential mismatch: an emotionally expressive face combined with rigid body behaviour or predictable decision-making may actually draw attention to the artificiality of the system rather than reduce it.

These limitations do not undermine the value of the passage, but they suggest that the paper functions more effectively as a design framework than as a fully validated solution to emotional believability in games.

Conclusion

Overall, the selected passage from Kozasa et al. is effective because it articulates a clear and influential design principle: facial animation becomes believable when it is driven by internal emotional processes rather than direct visual control. This conceptual shift is the primary reason I selected this text. While the technical and empirical details are limited, the argument remains valuable as a way of thinking about character animation in interactive contexts. For my own practice, the paper reinforces the importance of motivation, causality, and temporal development in facial expression, encouraging me to design animation systems where emotion evolves over time rather than being applied as a static visual effect.

[yougash]

Reader

1.

Bernhaupt, R., Boldt, A., Mirlacher, T., Wilfinger, D. and Tscheligi, M. (2007) ‘Using emotion in games: emotional flowers’, Proceedings of the International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology, pp. 41–48. https://doi.org/10.1145/1255047.1255056

Bernhaupt et al. treat emotion as something a game can run on, not just something players feel afterwards.

Their prototype Emotional Flowers uses players’ facial expressions as input, so emotional states directly shape how a virtual flower grows and behaves in a shared multiplayer setting. The part I keep coming back to is the feedback loop: it’s not only “win/lose” or “fun/frustration,” but a shifting emotional interaction that can produce social and competitive dynamics during play.

I picked this because it frames emotion as a design material you can prototype and iterate, not only measure at the end. The evaluation is still interpretation-heavy and leans on self-report, but it gives me a practical way to think about systems where emotion actively steers the experience.

2.

de Araujo, D.P. and Hildebrand, H.R. (2019) ‘Gameotics: a game analysis method based on semiotics’, in International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 14–22. Available at: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-23570-3_2

de Araujo and Hildebrand introduce Gameotics as a semiotics-based method for analysing how games produce meaning through interaction.

Using Peirce’s framework, they connect “signs” to concrete game elements interface, mechanics, and narrative arguing that meaning is not just sitting in visuals or story text. It builds over time through what players do, notice, and learn from repeated action, rather than through static representation.

I chose this because it gives me a structured tool for analysis: it helps me justify interpretations instead of staying at surface description. It can feel abstract without practice, but as a checklist it’s genuinely useful for reading visuals, rules, and interaction together when I’m writing for the module.

3.

El-Nasr, M.S. (2005) Intelligent lighting for game environments. Available at: https://summit.sfu.ca/item/596

El-Nasr argues that lighting shouldn’t be treated as a final “polish pass” in games, but as a system that can carry mood, pacing, and storytelling.

The paper introduces the Expressive Lighting Engine (ELE), designed to adapt lighting dynamically to events, rhythm, and player movement. The key idea is that lighting is communicative: it can guide attention, reinforce atmosphere, and support progression while still feeling integrated into the world.

Even though it’s nearly twenty years old, I kept it because the conceptual shift still lands. It pushes me to think of lighting as authored experience (planned states and transitions), not just static aesthetics. The technical detail is heavy, but the takeaway is clear: lighting can be part of the game’s expressive logic, not just a visibility tool.

4.

Kozasa, C., Fukutake, H., Notsu, H., Okada, Y. and Niijima, K. (2006) ‘Facial animation using emotional model’, in Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer Graphics, Imaging and Visualisation (CGIV’06). IEEE, pp. 428–433. Available at: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/1663828

Kozasa et al. propose a facial animation approach where expressions come from an internal emotional model, rather than being triggered as fixed poses.

Emotion is treated as a changing state influenced by events, then translated into facial movement over time. That matters because it allows expressions to evolve gradually, which can feel more believable in interactive contexts where characters react across a sequence of moments.

I included this because it frames “emotional realism” at a system level instead of relying on higher fidelity visuals. The paper doesn’t go far into player-based evaluation, but it gives a strong causal way of thinking: state → expression → change over time. It also highlights a gap I care about how players actually interpret these expressions which is something I want to keep in view in my own practice.

5.

Kudláč, M. (2019) ‘Transmedia storytelling: The many faces of video games, fluid narratives and winding seriality’, in Body and Text: Cultural Transformations in New Media Environments. Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 191–203. Available at: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-25189-5_13

Kudláč argues that games aren’t secondary add-ons in transmedia storytelling they can be central spaces where story worlds expand.

He focuses on how seriality shifts in convergence culture, where narratives spread across platforms and accumulate into a shared “supertext.” The chapter separates older models of seriality from newer transmedia systems shaped by technological and economic change, which helps explain why stories feel more fluid and less linear across franchises today.

What I got from this is mainly audience perspective: players often arrive with prior knowledge from other media, and that changes expectations around continuity and entry points. It’s theory-led, but it gives me useful language for thinking about worldbuilding across connected narrative spaces, not just inside one game.

6.

Lindley, C.A. (2005) ‘Story and narrative structures in computer games’, in Bushoff, B. (ed.) Proceedings of the International Conference on Digital Games and Intelligent Toys. Available at: https://www.math.vu.nl/~eliens/create/local/story/sagasnetLindleyReprint.pdf

Lindley’s main claim is that game narrative emerges from the relationship between simulation rules, gameplay activity, and authored structure.

He introduces different time-scales to explain how these layers coexist: the moment-to-moment rule system, the patterns of play, and the higher-level framing that makes events feel like “story.” I also like his reframing of the “gameplay versus narrative” debate less as a broken form, more as a mismatch in player preferences (watching story, performing play, or seeking immersion).

I kept this because it clarifies why game stories can feel fragmented but still meaningful. It works like a design guide too: decide what kind of story experience you want to support, then align mechanics and structure around that, rather than forcing a single model of narrative.

7.

Roberts, J.M., Arth, M.J. and Bush, R.R. (1959) ‘Games in culture’, American Anthropologist, 61(4), pp. 597–605. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/667148

Roberts, Arth and Bush treat games as cultural practices that reflect how societies organise values, rules, and social relationships.

They classify games into broad types physical skill, strategy, and chance and connect these to larger cultural patterns like cooperation, competition, and rule systems. The argument isn’t that games are “just fun,” but that they can express and rehearse social order through what they reward and how they structure interaction.

I chose it because it gives a foundational anthropological lens for reading games as cultural artefacts. It obviously predates digital games, so I have to translate the ideas carefully for online play and virtual systems. Still, it pushes me to ask the right questions: what behaviours does a game reward, and what kind of social world do its rules assume is normal?

8.

Tiwari, I., Solankar, D. and Khande, R. (2023) ‘Virtual and augmented realms: the evolution of video games with VR and AR technology’, Vidhyayana – An International Multidisciplinary Peer-Reviewed E-Journal, 8(si7), pp. 545–561. Available at: http://www.vidhyayanaejournal.org/index.php/journal/article/view/842

Tiwari et al. give a broad overview of how VR and AR have reshaped game experience, focusing on immersion as something grounded in embodied interaction.

They emphasise spatial presence, responsiveness, and the feeling of moving “with” a system, rather than treating realism as purely visual fidelity. In their framing, experiential realism comes from how players act in space how quickly the world answers back and how natural control feels.

I included this partly to balance older theory with a more recent technology-focused source. It reads mainly as a survey, and it doesn’t go deep on issues like accessibility, cost, or fatigue, which I think matter a lot. Still, it works well as contextual grounding when I’m discussing XR as a shift in player experience and design priorities.

9.

Vindigni, G. (2023) ‘Decoding cultural affinity in video games: An examination of narrative expression, visual aesthetics, and interactive design in the digital era’, Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(6), pp. 290–305. DOI: 10.14738/assrj.106.14911. https://journals.scholarpublishing.org/index.php/ASSRJ/article/view/14911

Vindigni argues that “cultural affinity” in games comes from the combined effect of narrative, visual aesthetics, and gameplay systems.

Rather than treating games as neutral entertainment, the paper frames them as cultural texts shaped by social values and ideological assumptions. What matters isn’t only what a game shows, but what it normalises through interaction what it rewards, what it makes feel natural, and what it asks players to do repeatedly.

I kept it because the lens is useful, even if the discussion stays broad and isn’t strongly backed by detailed case studies. For my module work, it gives me a clean way to connect mechanics and aesthetics to cultural meaning. It helps me read a game as a system of values, not just a story or a style.

10.

Wages, R., Grünvogel, S.M. and Grützmacher, B. (2004) ‘How realistic is realism? Considerations on the aesthetics of computer games’, in International Conference on Entertainment Computing. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer, pp. 216–225. Available at: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-540-28643-1_28

Wages et al. challenge the assumption that higher graphical detail automatically produces realism in games.

They frame realism as an aesthetic and experiential strategy shaped by perception, interaction, and player expectation not just technical accuracy. That opens the door for stylisation and selective design choices, where “believable” can come from coherence and play experience rather than from total visual imitation.

I chose this because it supports how I think about realism as a design choice, not an endpoint on a tech ladder. The paper is theory-heavy and doesn’t have much player testing, so I treat it more as a conceptual tool than empirical proof. Still, it helps me critique “progress” narratives and justify deliberate stylisation when it serves the experience.

[artsclevervivek]

Reader

Dickey, M.D. (2005) ‘Engaging by design: How engagement strategies in popular computer and video games can inform instructional design’, Educational Technology Research and Development, 53, pp. 67–83. (https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02504866)

Dickey breaks down why mainstream games hold attention so well, and argues that those same engagement tactics can be borrowed for instructional design.

The paper highlights how games position the learner inside a role, then keep them moving through problems, feedback, and a sense of progress. It points to things like point-of-view/player positioning, narrative framing, and interactive design choices that encourage participation rather than passive reception. What I like here is the focus on learning as something embedded in context: you’re not just told information, you’re pushed to act, interpret, and adjust based on consequences.

Even though the examples are from 2005 and feel dated in terms of technology, the underlying principles still map onto newer immersive and AI-driven systems. It gives me a useful checklist for thinking about how to design “engagement” without relying on novelty alone.

Farina, A. (2025) Visual semiotics and digital game spaces: review of the semiotics of architecture in video games. Semiotica, Vol. 2025 (Issue 264), pp. 195-200.( https://doi.org/10.1515/sem-2024-0086)

Farina reviews Gabriele Aroni’s work on the semiotics of architecture in video games, treating game environments as sign systems rather than neutral background decoration.

A key point is that virtual architecture doesn’t just “look” a certain way it communicates function and values. Farina draws on Eco’s idea of denotation/connotation to argue that spaces signal what they are for (paths, barriers, entrances) while also suggesting ideology and mood, especially since game worlds are fully designed and nothing is accidental. The review also stresses movement and “anticipatory play”: routes, thresholds, landmarks, lighting, and materials act like clues that guide players before any dialogue explains what’s going on. Aroni’s case studies range across genres, including Assassin’s Creed II, Final Fantasy XV, and NaissanceE.

For my own practice, this sharpens how I read level design as meaning-making: what a space teaches through layout, rhythm, and constraint. It’s a review, not a deep artefact analysis, but the vocabulary feels immediately usable.

Grennan, S. and Hague, I. (2018) ‘Medium, knowledge, structure: capacities for choice and the contradiction of medium-specificity in games and comics’, Image & Narrative, 19(1), pp. 74–86. (https://www.imageandnarrative.be/index.php/imagenarrative/article/view/1765) 

Grennan and Hague look at how “choice” works across games and comics, and use that to question strict ideas of medium-specificity.

The paper compares Chris Ware’s Building Stories with open-world RPGs like ** Fallout: New Vegas and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim**. Their key point is that Building Stories lets you choose the order of reading/presentation, but it doesn’t let you change the order of events in the same way the games do (and they also mention other non-game texts like Saporta’s Composition No. 1 when thinking about event order). They build the discussion using narrative theory (including Chatman, plus game/text theory like Frasca and Aarseth) to argue that “choice” is a structural issue, not a simple badge that only games have.

I find this useful because it pushes me to think about interactivity as structure (what kinds of choices exist, and what they actually change) rather than treating “games vs comics” as totally separate categories. It also helps me frame my own practice around designed constraints -what choices I’m giving the player/viewer, and whether those choices affect events or only the order they’re encountered.

Han, Y., & Ho, X. (2024). “More Than Just Playing a Character”: Gender Exploration and Expression in Avatar Customization. Games and Culture, 0(0). (https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120241307982)

Han and Ho argue that avatar customisation isn’t just a cosmetic menu: it can become a space where players test, express, and negotiate gender.

They base the study on semi-structured interviews with 20 players across different countries who described a range of gender identities. The authors identify three recurring patterns: conforming to or deliberately bending gender norms, building an avatar that symbolises aspects of the self, and experimenting with identities that might feel risky or unavailable offline. What stuck with me is how players keep finding ways around “binary” systems by mixing cues and pushing limited options creatively.

For my own writing and practice, it gives me language for talking about representation as something players actively do, not only something a game passively shows. The sample is small and self-reported, so it can’t claim universality, but it’s still a strong fit for this module’s politics/identity angle.

Lee, L.-K., Wei, X., Chui, K. T., Cheung, S. K. S., Wang, F. L., Fung, Y.-C., Lu, A., Hui, Y. K., Hao, T., U, L. H., & Wu, N.-I. (2024). A Systematic Review of the Design of Serious Games for Innovative Learning: Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, or Mixed Reality? Electronics, 13(5), 890. (https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13050890) 

Lee and colleagues map how serious games are being designed for “innovative learning” across AR, VR, and MR, and what design patterns keep repeating in the research.

They follow a PRISMA-style systematic review process and synthesise a large body of studies (they report 273 relevant papers). Instead of treating immersive tech as a single category, they compare how different modalities are used, what interaction techniques show up, and how projects are evaluated. The review reads like a toolbox: it pulls together frameworks, design elements, and common evaluation approaches, but it doesn’t always push hard on which choices work better and why.

What I’m taking from it is mainly orientation. It gives me a practical way to justify design decisions in an immersive learning prototype, while reminding me I’ll still need to add my own critical lens around context, culture, and what “learning outcomes” actually mean.

Paredes-Olea, M. (2009) Procedural realism in computer strategy games. MA thesis. University of Alberta.(https://doi.org/10.7939/R3G98B)

Paredes-Olea argues that “realism” in strategy games isn’t mainly about convincing graphics, but about how the game’s procedures make the world behave over time.

Using computer strategy games (including Age of Empires III) as touchpoints, the thesis develops “procedural realism” through system-focused game theory, drawing on writers like Bogost and Galloway. The attention stays on mechanics and interfaces: tech trees, resource loops, unit rules, and feedback that quietly teach the player what “progress” looks like and which kinds of power feel normal inside the simulation. Repetition matters here by playing, you learn the model’s cause-and-effect logic.

This shifted my own view of realism from representation to operation. Instead of asking whether a game depicts history accurately, I’m pushed to ask what its systems assume about history. It’s dense in places, but it’s a strong way to read mechanics as cultural arguments.

Petra Jääskeläinen and Cecilia Åsberg. 2024. What’s the Look of "Negative Gender" and “Max Ethnicity” in AI-Generated Images? A Critical Visual Analysis of the Intersectional Politics of Portrayal. In Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '24). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 570, 1–9. (https://doi.org/10.1145/3613905.3644057 )

Jääskeläinen and Åsberg explore what “neutral” actually looks like in AI image generation by testing prompt settings like “negative gender” and “max ethnicity”, and then reading the outputs as political images rather than technical results.

Working with tools such as ArtBreeder and Midjourney, they show how the interface and prompt logic can steer users into familiar visual stereotypes: removing gender markers doesn’t produce an empty category, and pushing ethnicity to the maximum can amplify racialised cues instead of offering nuance. Their point is that bias isn’t only “in the dataset” it also sits in defaults, sliders, and the way the system invites you to describe bodies and identities.

This matters to my AI-assisted workflow because it’s a reminder that prompts and constraints are design decisions with cultural consequences. It makes me want to test outputs more critically, document patterns, and add guardrails when I use generated imagery.

Rodriguez-Garcia, B., Ramírez-Sanz, J. M., Miguel-Alonso, I., & Bustillo, A. (2024). Enhancing Learning of 3D Model Unwrapping through Virtual Reality Serious Game: Design and Usability Validation. Electronics, 13(10), 1972. (https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13101972)

This paper presents a VR serious game built to teach UV unwrapping, treating it as a skill that’s hard to grasp through demos alone.

Their game, Unwrap 3D Virtual: Ready (UVR), is organised into four levels that ramp up complexity and uses animation plus gamification, explicitly tied to Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning. They validate it with 53 students, grouping participants by device (PC vs VR) and by prior VR experience (low/mid/high). The evaluation leans toward usability and user-behaviour patterns rather than long-term skill transfer.

For my own 3D workflow learning, the main takeaway is how much easier “technical” knowledge becomes when the interface shows causality and allows safe repetition. I’d treat it as strong design evidence, but not final proof of durable learning outcomes.

Taheri, M., Cyma-Wejchenig, M., Gomes, L. and Tan, K. (2026) ‘Adaptive historical education through generative AI and immersive game design’, in Arai, K. (ed.) Proceedings of the Future Technologies Conference (FTC) 2025, Volume 1. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol. 1675. Cham: Springer. (https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-07986-2_6) 

Taheri and colleagues outline how generative AI could support adaptive history learning inside an immersive game, where the content shifts in response to a player’s choices and progress.

They propose a framework that mixes AI-driven narrative generation with interactive environments so that history is experienced through action (exploring, deciding, dealing with consequences) rather than only being “told”. The interesting part for me is the focus on the system: the game is treated as a learning process that can personalise scenarios, pacing, and feedback, instead of delivering one fixed storyline to everyone.

This connects with our class discussions about learning through simulation and agency, but I also felt the paper is still early-stage. It reads more like a concept/prototype than a long-term study, so the evidence for learning outcomes is limited. Even so, it helped me think about what guardrails you’d need to balance accuracy with engagement when AI is generating or reshaping historical material.

Zhang, Y. and Li, S. (2023) ‘Texts to games: Tracing intertextuality, intermediality and intermateriality in Chinese cultivation games and novels’, Journal of Games, Virtual Worlds and Social Reality, 5(1), pp. 1–18. (https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/jgvw_00101_1)

Yu Hao traces how Chinese “cultivation” games develop out of web novels, mythic traditions and fan culture, rather than appearing as standalone game texts.

Using examples like Jade Dynasty and The Legend of Sword and Fairy, the article shows how these games lean on players already recognising cultivation tropes power-up hierarchies, archetypal roles and genre expectations, so the world makes sense through familiarity. Hao frames this through a movement from intertextuality (shared story patterns) to intermediality (novels, games and other formats feeding each other) and then to intermateriality, where distribution, technology and commercial systems shape what stories can travel and how.

What stuck with me is the idea that recognition can act like a design shortcut: you don’t always need to explain everything if the audience brings the genre knowledge with them. Even though it’s very grounded in Chinese contexts, it gives me a better way to think about games as ecosystems, not isolated works.

[tanith-davies]

Academic Blog - Post 9 - Affect Within Steven Universe

Intro

Affect theory is an abstract complex, it describes something with no beginning or end, as a passage of intensity, or thoughts. Affect is the opposite perspective to representation, it's a circulation of intensities that sticks to bodies. “Affect is found in those intensities that pass body to body, (human, nonhuman, part body, and otherwise)” - Gregg and Seigworth 2009. I will be exploring the effect of affect within the Cartoon Network series, Steven Universe (2013-2019). Steven Universe, created by Rebecca Sugar, follows the life of Steven, a half human child, half alien Gem, who lives with his alien, (Gem), guardians, while protecting the Earth from other Gem related threats. Throughout the show themes of love, family and identity are explored, while utilizing many forms of audience engagement that have had a profound impact on myself, as well as others. I will be exploring the depth of emotional responses to the show, and the effect of that on the audience, through examining the narrative, emotional representation, colour, and community engagement.

Theory

Affect is abstract and automatic, not a conscious subjective experience, unlike emotions. Individuals aren’t always aware of the specific emotion they are feeling, but are conscious that feelings are there, unlike affect. Affect concerns emotions and sensations, being a framework that can examine how emotions influence actions and thoughts. It’s regarded as, ‘the emotional relationship between bodies and things, always transforming and moving.’ The force of affect, has the ‘capacity to affect and to be affected’ (Gregg and Seigworth), as it evokes an effect in the audience. There are two types of affect engagement, an immediate one, which is the initial emotional response, and the effect that emerges later, as a more intense relationship with the media, characters or narrative. The visceral theory of affect is important, as it has lasting impacts on the audience, and allows for a deep level of immersion into the media.

Narrative

Analyzing the narrative of Steven Universe through affect theory, explores not just what it means, but what it does to bodies, moods and relations. The show is very well written, with well rounded characters, each experiencing deep emotional growth, amplifying the audience's emotional connection with the media. The visceral power of the narrative explores raw themes such as love (family and friends), loss (of family and loved ones), vulnerability, anxiety and depression, all evoking deep feelings of self reflection in the audience, affecting them personally beyond the media. Affect focuses less on the subject itself, and instead on the relationships between the subject and the viewer. 

(fig.1) Amethyst dealing with low self worth (S1 E40)

The show’s focus on the characters confronting their trauma (fig.1) can resonate strongly with viewers as a way to help process their own feelings. Affect focuses more on the experience created in the viewers dealing with impactful topics, than the meaning behind it itself. Reddit users have frequently reported that the exploration of these themes have helped them with their own mental health struggles, especially episodes mirroring real therapeutic processes, such as meditation, confrontation and communication. In Steven Universe, the “Characters are fundamental to audiences’ emotional engagement with narratives” they “function as the main ‘tool’ or medium through which the audience experiences the story” - Van Rooji 2019. These topics directly affect the audience's bodies, causing powerful reactions inside before logical thought has time to unpack the ideas.

(fig.2) Happy Steven(S1 E3)

Steven is a powerful force in the show, demonstrating unwavering kindness and empathy towards others, and consequently becomes known as the happy person, irrelevant of the trauma he is going through himself. Affect theory notates that this representation sticks to his body due to his repeated actions. The show utilises the effect of Steven to bring positivity and triggering the viewers own enjoyment of excitement and fun throughout the narrative. Empathy is his strength, befriending antagonists rather than defeating them, encouraging the audience to embrace their flaws and others, rather than fighting. 

An ongoing theme throughout Steven Universe is the idea that feelings and emotions are directly linked to transformation. For example, Steven’s control over his powers, the ability for two gems to fuse, and to corrupt themselves. Exploring emotional turmoil within oneself (fig.1) that the show explores, generates affective intensities of love and pain between the show and the viewer, acting within themselves beyond passive watching. 

Emotioneering is a strategy of stirring emotions to create marketing buzz, press attention and a broader demographic, creating a competitive advantage over other shows. The profound affect Steven Universe creates, undoubtedly increased its popularity and notability. Representation of the LGBTQ community within the show further caused audience engagement, with sticky positive affects, from individuals being able to personally identify with the characters intensities and perspectives.

Presentation of Emotions

Steven Universe is a 2D animated cartoon, and thus the way characters in the show express their emotions are largely visually different to how we experience them in real life. To convey these emotions, and produce effect in the audience, gestures and expressions are exaggerated, both for comic effect, and making them understandable.

(fig.3) Steven’s dread and sadness before opening up to his friend Connie (S2 E1)

“As animators, we can learn a set of postures and expressions, almost by rote, piecing together an emotional scene with our alphabet of symbols, alm

ost as if spelling out a word. However, the difficulty is that the viewer of an animation is perceiving emotion through the filter of the animator” (Mobbs 2016). Here, Mobbs draws attention to the active role of animators in producing emotions in the audience, by fabricating emotions in cartoon representations. This is well represented in fig.3, the animated shots of Steven are incredibly exaggerated, the visual squish and droopy face exert feelings of dread, stress and anxiety. By overly exaggerating Steven’s body and facial language, the oppressive and overwhelming force weighing him down, externally visualizes the internal turmoil we wouldn’t see on a real human. This impactfully affects the viewer, making the character more relatable with the audience by triggering emotional responses of sympathy. Likewise with Steven bawling his eyes out, his face is warped way beyond a normal human, with dribble, tears and snot all leaking out his orifices like a waterfall. His eyes even wiggle about into little fried eggs, expecting to drip away with his tears at any moment. Both of these depictions intensely affect the audience, the visceral distress and shared anguish is felt in the audience's body.

However, we still all interpret emotions and gestures differently, and nuances can create ambiguity. Animators can’t always guarantee the audience will experience the intended emotion. “While we may try our best to understand gesture in order to express it, we might still be at the mercy of the interpretation of the viewer, based on their own context and background.” (Mobbs 2016) The decoding is the interpretation of the audience, and how they receive it, here the encoding of Steven’s emotions could be seen with an essence of humour. The exaggerations of Steven’s face are so dramatic and eccentric that it matches his ‘silly’ personality. The effect is then fun rather than sympathy in an emotionally intense scene. Humor has already been stuck to Steven's character, and so seeing him in a lighthearted manner is familiar intensity.

Music

Steven Universe has a large amount of original songs that are used to express deep emotions, process trauma and convey love through immersive emotional peaks. Affects from these songs stay with the audience, long after viewing the show, due to their catchy and emotional resonance. The soundtrack also creates an affective field that saturates the scene, amplifying empathy in the audience during emotional scenes, and assists in the ability to release anxiety. While additionally changing its pace and volume at moments of intensity to overwhelm bodies with a pre-conscious intensity.

Particularly notable songs include “Love like you”, being the ending theme for the show. The vulnerable lyrics about self-doubt and unconditional love are emotionally powerful, causing affect within the audience, notably evoking tears from a deep internal affect. Affect from this song goes into individuals’ daily lives and future, with how they handle trauma, triggering preconscious intensities. The affective atmosphere that lingers after the episode ends sticks, surfacing within daily life with audience members revisiting the feeling from memories or visual nudges.

(fig.4) Mindful Education (S4 Ep4)

Mindful education (fig.4) is another impactful song about teaching the power of meditation, and how to become less overwhelmed by powerful, intrusive thoughts. The educational value and calming nature has a large impact on the audience, with many referring to this song as a way to calm down. The affect of this song influences relationships between individuals, with how they move on from trauma, not just causing an internal psychological state, but learning how to more mindfully approach future actions.

A notable repeating tune within the show, is the ‘diamond chords’ that frequently play when the Diamonds (Royal Gem Dictators) appear in the show. They are presented as ethereal, omnipotent beings, and this charm sticks to their image, affecting the audience with a combination of terror and wonder.

Colour

Steven Universe is a beautiful animation, with heavy saturation and bright pastels, the colours set up feelings in scenes without the need of dialog. Colour in affect theory can operate as a visceral force, saturating the atmosphere and triggering specific emotions. Colours “are moving, transient and relational forces that animate matter and befall human bodies” (Deleuze 2005). The use of vibrant and eccentric colour gains a distinct affect on the audience's engagement, as the show uses specific colours to evoke unique emotions. Colour can be seen as an “imperfect representation of affect’s complexity”, (Haberl 2021) and used for representing affect.

The Gems themselves are coloured according to their personalities, with blue representing meditative and intellectual, red as intense and passionate, and pink as sensitive and loving. These modulate our mood around a character before we even fully understand them. The approach to colour is visually used to affect the audience by heighting emotional immersion. Tia Kratter suggests that colour can be used to “shape emotion…push tension or evoke a sense of tranquillity”. 

(fig.5) Pearl dealing with loss (S3 ep 8)

The general vibe of the world created through the series, emanates brightness and warmth, as the show on the surface, is one of hope and enjoyment. But when dealing with more intense emotions, the colour palette darkens and desaturates, (fig.5) this drains warmth from the scene, lowering affective temperature and allowing viewers to sense the heaviness before the narration. Notable examples include Pearl’s exploration of loss, the scene moves from bright vibrant colours to desaturated, dull, pink pastels (fig.5) effectively using affect to amplify the impact on the audience.

(fig.6) Pearl dealing with loss (S3 ep 8)

After wallowing in the desaturation, Steven moves to help Pearl confront and process her feelings by first bringing her into a bright saturated yellow room (fig.6). The effect of sudden yellow jolts viewers and the scene becomes energized, physically pulling Pearl out of the darkness and into the light of the future. The effect of this elicits discomfort within the viewer, mimicking Pearl. The scene transforms and ends with hues of pink, echoing the resolution and love between the characters. The affect of saturating the scene with a warmth intensity, sticks to the characters, for the audience to continuously feel their love after the scene ends. The consistencies in this darkened, desaturated palette when characters deal with heavy emotions, creates a stickiness causing an effect of unease, isolation and sadness in the audience whenever it’s repeated. Homeworld similarly uses a colour palette of sterile whites, which signals oppression and control. These colours stick negatively to the idea of the diamonds, creating an effect of unease.

Community Engagement

The community surrounding Steven Universe is well established, with audience members creating further buzz, even after the show has completed. “Buzz can be understood as itself an affect of energetic connection that surges exponentially: buzz begets interest, more engagement and in turn more buzz” - Fisher 2016. There is often a large presence of fans doing cosplay and community sing-a-longs at comic cons. Shared emotions can bring people together, and create bonds within the community. These immersive experiences create more impactful connections, and the different affects coming together increase recall and retention of the media. The nostalgia around re-engaging with the community at events like comicon, evokes more effective memories in the fans, keeping them hooked even after the series has ended. 

The show spans 5 seasons, with an additional film and special limited series, ‘Steven Universe Future’. The length of the show, and amount of content works further to engage audiences with the characters and plot, building up emotional connections and attachment. The more content the show has, the greater the affect it can have on an audience, as seen through the continued engagement.

(fig.7) The dove project

In 2018, Dove partnered with Steven Universe to produce content to help empower young people with confidence - addressing bullying, problematic body images and increasing self esteem. The content created within this project included videos, activities, books, cast studies and professional advice. This initiative aimed to have a positive affect on 20 million youths, by creating content from research backed body image issues. Again, having the show target sensitive topics in young people's lives, it’s more likely to trigger powerful emotions that positively stick. The stickiness of this content had a lingering positive affect on the community who have engaged with it, increasing body positivity and mental wellbeing.

Conclusion

Steven Unverise uses narrative, animation, colour, music and community engagement not just to represent emotions, but circulate intensities and fosters embodied responses. The show doesn’t just make people emotional, but produces lingering and transformative affective responses past the moment of viewing. The sticky affects of grief, loss and love stay with the audience beyond the media and deeply engages them throughout their lives.

References

Crepax, R (2025) ' EMOTIONS - The visceral side of digital media' [Recorded Lecture]. 7CTA2018-0901-2025: Digital Media: Sources and Significance.University of Hertfordshire. 30 September. Available at: https://herts.instructure.com/courses/125462/modules (25 November 2025).

StudySmarter. (2024) affect theory. Available at: https://www.studysmarter.co.uk/explanations/media-studies/filmmaking/affect-theory/ (Accessed: 9 January 2025).

Dove. (2021) The Dove Self-Esteem Project and Steven Universe. Available at: https://www.dove.com/uk/dove-self-esteem-project/our-mission/steven-universe.html (Accessed: 9 January 2025).

Savva, G. (2017) A sense of dread. Available at: https://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/articles/a-sense-of-dread (Accessed: 9 January 2025).

McCrae, R. (2021) Music Lessons for the Study of Affect. Available at: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.760167/full (Accessed: 9 January 2025).

KRATTER, T. (2017). The Color of Pixar. San Francisco: Chronicle Books LLC.

GREGG, M., SEIGWORTH, G. J. (2010). The Affect Theory Reader. Durham & London: Duke University Press.

Steven Universe (2013-2019) Series 1-6. Cartoon Network Studios. Available at: Plex (Accessed: 9 January 2025).

Ahmed, Sara. 2004. Affective Economies. Social Text, 22(2), pp. 117-139.

Massumi, B., 1995. The autonomy of affect. Cultural critique, (31), pp.83-109. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/1354446