WK4 Reflection: Publish Final Draft

There are a few things I wanted to change for this Draft. I really like the way it is shaping up and will submit it for a One Star portfolio project. I also intend to put together at least one other Transmedia Short Story as a portfolio project. I have a few more things I want to do to make it Portfolio ready but here is what i have so far.

The things I changed;

The video interview. I changed the perspective. Instead of my daughter interviewing me about the story I interviewed for as the character from the story.

The Blog: I changed perspective on this as well. The blog is now from the main characters perspective. The content is similar and gets the same information across but ties into the story instead of just explaining the stroy.

The Path: I changed the order of the way the content is discovered. I feel like the new path is a little more linear. It also requires a little more searching to find all the pieces. 

Thanks for the great class and the introduction to such an incredible "experimental" art form.

Addicus

Start new path: here.

New content assets here.

WK4 Reflection: RISE Self Evaluation

Transmedia Fairy Tale RISE Self Review

Here

Transmedia Short Story RISE Self Review

Here

GTS WK3 Project: Transmedia Short Story Soft Opening.

Trailer is here: Rabbit Hole.
Assets Folder: Drive

I’m feeling pretty good about this project. I got most of what I wanted in there. The only thing that I would have liked to get more completion on is the Web Comic. I ended up doing the artwork, of which I am not an artist. It turned out all right but I know my friend has better eye for that sort of thing. Finally getting the Little One Feather story done was a huge accomplishment for me. I really like the way it turned out and the additional pieces really add to the overall story.

I have been sharing bits and pieces with friends and family already but haven’t heard weather they have found the other elements yet. I might start giving them other hints to see if they are able to put follow the trail. I am very excited that my daughter liked it and had a lot of fun going the interview.

Name: Addicus Patton

Story Title: Little One Feather

Date: 20 Jun 2014

~Did you create every piece of media yourself?

Yes. All the ideas and creations were from me. Except the content on the pinterest page. That was collected.

~How did you help your audience find the different components of your story?

All the elements were linked together. By starting at the trailer the story continues by following the link in the description or in the comments section.

~If you had more time, what would you add or expand?

The Comic. I felt that it was still a little rough.

~What part of your TMSS creation is your favorite? Why?

I like the concept of adding backstory through the additional elements. With Little One Feather getting a chance to introduce my daughter, and the origin of the nicknames. Building in the story through developing a character beyond the foundation story.

~Would you share your TMSS creation with friends and family? The world?

I have already shared it with my family. I plan to polish a few of the elements and leave it up for a while. I am also submitting the foundation stay to a friend for some art and considering making it into a kids book.

The names

A person’s name has great power .My dad told me a story of my nicknames. He said his mom cautioned him on the amount of nicknames he used with me. She said I wouldn’t know my own name because he so rarely used it. Her apprehension was, of course, for not. I love my name and embrace it and all the nicknames I have acquired along the way. They are all part of who I am.

  

We have never really called anyone by their real name for long. Since we’ve been together, all of our animals get a name that sticks for about two weeks before they get a nickname. The Nickname starts to morph and grow as the pet gets more personality. It was the same with our Daughter.

Some of the noteworthy ones have made it into the story. Here they are with a little history.

Little Face – This one comes from my childhood. My parents (when they were married) were so sickeningly sweet with each other that they had to curb their pet names. Sweetie face, Honey face, Angel Face, Lovey face and every other incarnation got shortened to just “Face”, or at least that’s the story I got at a tender age. I liked this covert lovey-ness of it. When I saw my daughter for the first time and how little she was (she actually was not tiny 22 ½ inches) it wasn’t long until I was calling her Little Face.

Squid – This is one that has stuck around for a long time. People usually think it has to do with me being in the Navy. But it actually is a combination of Squishy Kid. It might actually go back a little further then that though. I have a cousin named Josh. He eventually got the name Squashy (Because you know everyone needs another name). Most summers growing up we went camping. One summer in particular seemed to have more kids than usual. Squashy and I hung out a lot with the other kids. His name spread to a few of the others and soon all the girls were squirrels (squashy+girls) and all the boys were squids (squashy+kids). At least that was the first Squid nick name. Zephira just inherited it.

Grumpasaurus – Pretty self-explanatory. Just like most toddlers (or every human on earth) Zephira gets cranky when she is hungry. Some of her hunger attitudes were reminiscent of Dinosaur tantrums. This was just one of the creative names we came up with to try to soother her inner beast until we could get some food in her.

And of course:

Little One Feather - Zephira has always been unbelievably excited about things she finds. Rocks, leaves, shells, you name it. If she finds it, it is the greatest thing. One day (when Grammy was visiting) she found a feather in the back yard. I told her she had enough found nonsense and she could leave it alone. Grammy of course was going to have none of that. Her grand daughter got what she wanted. Grammy put the feather in her hair and said "here you go little one." To which Zephira replied "Little One Feather"

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WK3 Analysis: Games Expand Transmedia Worlds

There a lots of different ways to play games out there. There whole point of a lot of these is to have fun and bring people together doing something they enjoy. The smaller and more portable our technology gets the easier it is to make this happen.

                Console games really got us hooked on video games. The arcades were great but could be costly and the lines were inconvenient. But what the early console games lacked over the arcade was the social aspect. That has change drastically over the past few years and now they make socializing more global then arcades ever could have. One of the console franchises that have cross media down are the Spiderman games tying in movies and comics. But the biggest one I can think of is Lego. They tie in movies, comics, TV shows, toys and many characters that don’t normally go together.

                Mobile app games have been probably the fastest growing genera on this list recently. The fact that anyone can create a game and get it distributed through several sources makes for a lot of content to choose from. One that has grown huge and crosses a few media boundaries is Angry Birds. They started in the Mobile App arena and have moved to cartoons, console games, and comics.

                I’m still new to the Brower Games as I haven’t spent a lot of time playing them. These are similar to the Mobile apps in that they can be produced and distributed a lot more freely because of their ability to be played on any computer with interment. They are different in that they usually require a consistent connection whereas most Mobile App games are can be played anywhere once they are downloaded.

                Role playing games are pretty diverse in of themselves. They started with storytelling and rolling dice then evolved into the digital age. Dungeons and Dragons is a great example of this type of game and how they can be played across genera. D&D has been in books, movies, games, comic books, and video games, the franchise is huge. These eventually rolled over into Live Action Role Playing (LARP) where whole groups get together for days at a time and live as their character in a share made up world. They conduct battles and parties and bring their characters to life.

                Cosplay differs from LARP in that the participant is just dressing up as a character they enjoy. They are still themselves and don’t enter into a made up world to interact with other characters. Cosplay is actually short for costume play and that’s basically what it is, dressing up. Some people have put some incredible work into constructing costumes for different events. And that is where the Cons come in. The biggest and most known is ComiCon. It has grown to include comics, games, movies, video games and Cosplay. There are a lot of other cons out there to include steampunk, tattoo, fiction and many others that offer an endless amount of areas to start or continue a story that reaches people that want to play.

WK3 Practice B: Games That Help

I’m not sure how I feel about these games. The heart is in the right place but I’m not sure in the execution really pulls off what they are aiming for. Stop Disasters had decent gameplay. The concept seemed like a more depressing version of SIM CITY. It was easy to forget about the impending danger while building your city but then it got demolished. It makes sense as a potential learning tool but I’m not sure how it helps with actual disaster relief.




















Free Rice claims to give 10 grains of rice for every correct answer that is given, but the rewards are ethereal at best. There is no requirement to choose a recipient before you start playing. Then when you make that choice you have no real way of verifying. I’m sure somewhere, someone gets a reward, but that is unclear. I am also unclear as to why playing the game is necessary. If the food is available and the recipients identified, then why require random game players to answer simple questions? The game here seems well intended and wants to do real good in the world but does not execute well and the game play is weak.

Conspiracy For Good seemed to have a well put together game. It required a great deal of audience participation and raised a lot of awareness for the need for a library. They were able to get people to have fun and learn and contribute to a worthy cause. This “game” was on a much larger scale then Stop Disasters and Free Rice but they also accomplished a lot more by reaching people on a deeper level.

WK3 Exploration: Codes & Clues in ARGs

Most of my problems come from traditional gaming. There is a story that you must follow and a well-earned prize at the end. I don’t have much of a prize to share but I though a glimpse into my life is a good place to start. As for the traditional story, I am going with a few spots from this Media Communications journey we have been on. This will take you through a few recent stops from this class and a couple of blasts from the (relatively) distant past.

I think it might have been useful to do a few more of these hunts myself before putting this one together but I don’t think its to bad for a first timer. I write scavenger hunt clues a lot for my kids for holidays and they get to search for their gifts. I tried to harness that energy when setting this one up. Good luck and have fun…

Now do you choose the Red Pill or the Blue Pill?

WK3 Practice A: Games Using GPS

                The idea of GPS games is pretty interesting and could be taken pretty far if applied correctly. So far with the ones I tested the GPS feature is more of a novelty. I tried a few different types of games because this is the category I was most excited about. I was surprised at the number of war or mafia type games in this category. It seems like the GPS feature would lend more to the adventure games.

Here are the ones I tried:

Turf Wars: This one was top on a lot of lists for popular GPS games. It is pretty cool that the game overlaps your own city and that you could connect with people around you. There seem to be a lot of people that really like the game, when I was checking the stats of player in my area I was impressed with the high levels some of them achieved.

Map Monster: This one is a little less impressive. It’s basically a running around adventure game that is laid over a slightly altered map of you current location. There don’t seem to be any interaction point with your map. The avatar runs a little slower in the water, but other then that the GPS feature is wasted.

PlzStayClam: A zombie hunting RPG game. I spent the most time with this one. It might be because it was a zombie game, but it was fun also. There are quests that are linked to landmarks in your area. Once you achieve a vehicle you are given the option to explore other areas. When I was playing I did not se any other “survivors” in my area but that could be for any number of reasons.

Four Square: I’m not sure if this counts as a game. IT seemed like more of a social network geared towards stalking your friends but I didn’t spend too much time with it.

Geocaching: I was drawn to this one because it is a lot like letterboxing. You get clues to go out in the real world and find hidden items.

These games are just the tip of what could be done with GPS. They are a fun start but are just that, the beginning. It would be nice to see a combination of the zombie game and geocaching. Where you have an avatar that you control in the game world but you can earn points and equipment y solving clues and completing hunts in the real world. It would require a lot of content and participation by players but would be a lot of fun.