Animated Text

The goal of this project was to animate a word (or two words, provided they were antonyms). I chose to animate two antonyms to help describe their opposite meanings.

 Looking back at my project, there were many more ways I should have incorporated techniques and attributes we learned in the previous project. "Light" seems to hit a wall or something while it's swinging. "Dark" doesn't have the impact that I want it to, and I wanted to get more of a flickering effect with "Light". All things for me to address in my next project.

Dark Souls Playthrough Week 4

Day 6
Was it twenty? I think I’ve died twenty times now. I barely know what I’m supposed to be doing. It’s not even the demon that’s my problem anymore. I can dodge his blows just fine, it’s the damn dogs that keep catching me off-guard.

Day 9
I did it! I got passed those dogs and managed to dispose of them before moving onto the giant goat-headed demon. He dropped a key to The Depths. I decided to go poke around before making my way back to the Gardens and finish exploring.

The Depths were like nothing I had seen before. Slime seemingly crawling across the walls, ghouls everywhere, and more of those ruthless dogs. After making my way into the Depths a bit, and fighting off what appeared to be a cannibalistic chef for the undead, I discovered another sensible person in this world.

Leaurentius was my reason to continue, a pyromancer like myself, but he was from The Great Swamp. Upon deciding I’d poked enough around The Depths I headed back up to The Firelit Shrine to find my new acquaintance. He saw that I was still having trouble with my memories, so he filled me in on details as well as provided several powerful spells for my arsenal.

“Pyromancy is the art of casting fire, to produce flame then channel it. A pyromancer must be in tune with nature herself. Pyromancy has a primitive aspect to it. It meshes poorly with advanced culture and pyromancers are considered ‘unsavoury’. A pyromancer’s flame is a part of his own body. The flame develops with his skill.”

All things I knew, yet had to be reminded of. How could I forget? It was like riding a bike. This newfound social connection inspired me to go converse with the others around Firelink Shrine. The creepy man that had told me of the Bells being two, instead of one, mentioned that others were in the Shrine, performing rituals of some sort. They all ignored me.

The same man mentioned that he saw an undead like myself, being taken somewhere by a raven, similar to the one that brought me to the shrine. I discovered the nest and soon enough a curtain of black feathers swooped down to meet my shoulders and hoist me back off to the asylum.

Wandering around the asylum, I discovered a peculiar doll where my holding cell was. This strange doll was wearing a ragged dress. As I clutched the fragile, fraying figure, a story popped into my head. The strange doll in the dress. There was once an abomination who had no place in this world. She clutched this doll tightly, and eventually was drawn into a cold and lonely, painted world.

Day 11

I managed to clear out the rest of the asylum. There was a large Stray Demon in the basement, who proved a formidable opponent but extremely predictable. After 3 attempts I slayed him easily, picking up a large titanite slab in the process.

I returned with this slab to talk to the blacksmith more about how reinforcing my equipment would benefit me in the long-run. I’m glad I’ve been reinforcing my items! The Blacksmith said that when my equipment was ready I would be able to use his furnace to ascend my equipment to inconceivable levels. Imbuing a weapon with a special soul, such as the one I received from the Moonlight Butterfly, would make it a weapon of legend.

Day 13

I decided to go finish exploring the Depths, being drawn downward for some reason. After a long trek through a disgusting aqueduct system, I discovered a large open cavern, ruins of what used to be the rest of the aqueducts. Before I could venture out far, a giant dragon with its ribcage exposed had creeped up into the cavern, forcing me to defend myself.

I quickly removed its tail, so it would have less balance and opportunity to attack. At this point I just needed to stay behind or off to the side of the beast. Every time it charged, it left me with a wide opening, allowing me to plunge the black steel of the Knight’s Sword into the monstrosity. The dragon fizzled into a putty-like substance on the floor, the tail turning into something wieldable.

A merchant informed me, I’d discovered the Dragon King Greataxe. Unfortunately it’s still way too heavy for me to wield. If I ever get used to the weight, I’ll be sure to document its effectiveness.

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This week’s assignment: Emphasize the conventions of storytelling. Does the story create a reality, or are you more engaged with gameplay or story. Also add anything new about characterization, or general interesting storytelling techniques.

This game has the most unique story-telling system. On one hand, the plot is minimalistic and your character interaction can be relatively devoid of anything more than “buy the next best item from [x]-vendor.” But on the other-hand, the plot is so extensive that there’s no way anyone could absorb it all on the first go. Every item in the game has a unique description, the most unique the item, the more lore-related the description.

 The black-knight shield I picked up described how the Knights are now black because they were literally burned, fighting off chaos demons. The chaos demons must have also been massive because the Black Knight Sword is supposed to “reflect the size of the knights’ former adversaries”, and the sword is pretty much the character’s height.

Now that I’m reaching the part of the game I haven’t played yet I’m noticing a lot more attempt to pull in more characters, provided you interact with them. The rest of the game I still consider a “learning experience” or “tutorial” because it was teaching the player important things about the game.

One important thing about the game would be how certain bosses drop “special souls” that can be used on weapons. Another is that you should be reinforcing your weapons so you’re not just leveling up while your equipment stays crappy.

A final is that there are now characters I can affiliate with, and/or piss-off. I need to make sure to stay on other NPC’s good sides, I don’t need to have an entire zone become more difficult because I don’t pay attention to what an NPC wants.

Flower Pot Animation

In my media 351 class we're analyzing a "moving flower pot" and emulating overlapping movement by using parented layers.

The project description said to have a flower pot slide on screen, hit something and come to a stop. I decided to have my flower ghost-ride a whip on screen, crash into a rock (thus analyzing the flower's movement with wind, and identifying a danger in a pop-culture trend), and fall off a cliff coming to a stop.

Given more time i'd go back and cut out the wheels on the car to make them rotate, and probably make the "crash" into the rock look a little more realistic. Considering the focus of this assignment was for the flower though, I didn't want to focus too much on other assets.

Dark Souls Playthrough Week 3

Day 5

It's been a few days. The pain is going away a bit, which kinda scares me. Every time I die, it hurts a little less. Not sure if that's a good thing or not. After I rang the bell atop the Undead Parish, I continued beyond the ramparts and into the woods. Through some constructed caverns I discovered a Blacksmith, who was willing to repair and upgrade my equipment (for the proper price), but seemed unwilling to provide any further assistance.

I could finally wield the sword of the Black Knight I had vanquished days ago. The black sheen eerily reflecting every flicker from the torch-lights in the cavern. Descending the staircase I came upon a ruined entrance hall. Occupying the center was a large horned demon, with only one leg. Approaching it proved to be a learning experience, its hands, horn, and weapon began glowing yellow as a faint crackle began to fill the otherwise empty room. I barely managed to roll behind some old debris before the lightning had arced from the monster's hand to where I had been standing moments prior.

The fight killed me... literally. I had grown impatient and ran too close to the beast. A quick couple of swings from its trident reduced my body to a broken heap. Each swing seemed to crack a new spot of my rib-cage. After blacking out from the pain, I awoke next to the bonfire directly above the Blacksmith. This time around, I was ready for every trick the demon could throw at me. A final swing into the heart of the abomination yielded a satisfying spray of sanguine substance. Coating the obsidian colored steel, almost the same shade in the low light of the hall.

Venturing into the forest I began to realize a few things. Everything was feeling uncomfortably familiar. It was like i'd been through this path before, in a dream or another life. I knew what kinds of new horrors would stand in my way, and I knew I would die to them. Die I did, at least three more times, all to giant stone golems that were awoken from their slumber on accident. After passing the final golem I cam upon a bridge leading to an old tower that used to be part of the castle. Before I could cross the bridge entirely, the air shifted. I looked up to see a white barrier barring my entry to the tower. A chill shot down my spine as the moon reappeared from behind the clouds, casting a bright beam of light around me. Turning around I discover the source of this light is not the moon, but a Moonlight Butterfly, nearly 5 times my own size.

The butterfly made its decent upon me, spawning some sort of beams of light that did a lot more damage than initially expected. Fortunately the over-grown moth had to come down to recharge. After a few swings of my blade, the head was severed. The soul collected off this butterfly seemed different. I couldn't bring myself to absorbing the soul, no I think I might be able to use this later. I discovered a special ember in the tower and learned that The Blacksmith can utilize this new ember.

Time to trek the other accessible path within the forest. This one led down into the depths of a grand, open, cavern. At the bottom of this cavern I discovered another bonfire, praise the sun! I quickly refilled my estus flasks and set back off into the cavern. From atop the hill I could see the underground lake, beyond giant diamond-like creatures whom I doubt are friendly. My doubts were soon justified as one quickly dispatched of me, unphased by the swings from my sword.

Awaking with the vague memory of most of my bones breaking, I set out again. This time I managed to outwit the giant rockheads, only to be blown away by enormous jets of water. How they were hurled at me from 100 yards away, i wouldn't know until I got down to the lake. On my third death in this area I was face to face with what was hurling water at me: a giant seven headed hydra. After discovering gaps in its attack pattern, I quickly managed to remove each of the seven heads.

At this point, I decided to go utilize a key I had found that could get me into the lower portion of Undead Burg. I decided to take a more subtle approach, attempting to sneak around this more dimly-lit area of the city. My plan succeeded for about six seconds, quickly proving useless when undead thieves, much more agile than myself, lurked in every darkened doorway. Several snuck up behind and slit my throat. After feeling my own blood spill across the mud and grass several times, I had finally learned all their hiding spots.

After disposing of all these bandits and their ruthless dogs, I came across the familiar white barrier. Meant to keep things in as well as out, I decided to traverse the fog. Upon entering I only had about two seconds to understand that I was under attack. An ambush lying in wait for any unsuspecting victim. A demon with the head of a goat lunges forward and brings down both of its rusty swords, completely immobilizing me. A final blow leaves a huge hole in my back, quickly rendering me unconscious.

A man can only die to a demon so many times before he loses hope. I haven't given up yet, but losing count of how many times this demon has killed me is very tiresome. I will need to make a strategy before my next attempt tomorrow.

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"Write at least 250 words about the first four hours of playing your game. Emphasize the three act structure. Do you see events unfolding that seem to fit into the three act structure?

Also add anything new about characterization, or general interesting storytelling techniques."

I figure this time i'll add the prompt for those that may not understand my project goals.

At this point I mildly regret picking Dark Souls, because there's no direct plot. That makes it quite difficult to emphasize a three act structure, when one seemingly doesn't exist. At this point though, based on where my narrative is going and what my current game objectives are, I can see a three act structure coming into play.

Inciting Incident:
Escaping from the prison cell at the beginning of the game. It's the only action the character can take to make progress in the game and introduces the player to "tutorial island" as I like to call it.

Plot point #1:
This would be the ringing of the first Bell of Awakening, after defeating the terrifying Bell-Tower Demons.

First Culmination:
The first "boss-battle" aside from the Gargoyles would be the Moonlight Butterfly, showing how boss-fights would then appear in explorable places on the map and turning high rewards for those capable of defeating these bosses.

Midpoint:
I believe i'm currently working through the midpoint, a more conclusive analysis will be given once more progress is made

Plot point #2:
I can only imagine ringing the second Bell of Awakening is the second major plot point.

Climax:
Undoubtedly whatever follows the ringing of the second Bell. Another boss fight, some sort of cool item. Again, will revisit once progress is made.

Denouement:
I'm hoping a cinematic following the final boss-fight wraps up all the loose ends.

My next goal is to make my character a little less static when describing my narrative, I need a little more emotion. I love that the entire Dark Souls story line is based off of the world lore instead of the character interaction. It's like the story itself is how much I choose to explore the world.

Ball Bounce

For Media 351 we were asked to do two things for our first project. The assignment as a whole uses a simple bouncing ball animation to show the importance of spacing and timing in any form of animation.

For the first part I drew out my sketch of a bouncing ball, then scanned and outlined each frame as a separate layer in photoshop. After importing all of these layers into After Effects, I lined them up side-by-side to play like an old-school animation flip book.

The second part required me to have two different balls, showing different amounts of squash/stretch to create weight. This one had to be keyed entirely in After Effects. This one proved a little more difficult for me, simply because I do not grasp After Effects well enough to be able to get my animations to do exactly what I want. It was still a learning experience and i'm pleased with how it came out.

This project really made me focus on how to manipulate space and timing to create different effects on each object. Sometimes making an unrealistic arc can create a more smooth or realistic feel.

Dark Souls Playthrough Week 1

Day 1

So where am I? Some dark room. I just - I just woke up and I’m in - in a cell. There's the key. It feels like maybe it's just the first time I've been here, but perhaps I've been here for a week, three months. It's - it's kind of hard to say. I don't - I don't know. It's just an anonymous room.

My face has become something unfamiliar. As I use the key to escape the cell, I begin to explore the rest of the prison. What I found was just as horrifying as the decor of my former room suggested. Mindless rotting corpses were animated and hostile, lining the halls like potted plants, adding their own rank smell to the structure’s atmosphere. It wasn’t long before I discovered a dying knight that provided some insight. The knight asked me to do him a favor; apparently I have what’s called the Darksign, and it is said that an Undead marked as such must ring the Bell of Awakening. Looks like I’m going on pilgrimage to find this Bell, in his dying breath he asked me to promise I would for him.

Finding a weapon and quickly discovering how to fend for myself proved a useful tactic as the mobile decorations became more aggressive towards me. Upon entering the main wing of the Asylum, I encountered some sort of monster at least 15 times my own height, and filling out nearly the entire room. Every lumbering step seemed to destroy more of the already crumbling room. The monster quickly spotted me and landed a crushing blow that nearly killed me. Regaining my balance, instinct kicked in and a bright orange flame erupted from my hand, quickly tossed towards my foe. 

The monster was slain; otherwise I wouldn’t be here to write about it. Leaving the asylum and heading up to the peak, I was quickly abducted and flown off to this new world. The world of Lords, in this, the Age of Fire, it seems serene despite the amount of undead crawling around. Luckily the first “person” I’ve encountered has given me more information on the Bell of Awakening; it appears to be two bells, not just one.  The first one I decided to tackle was the one atop the mountain in the Undead Parish. Unfortunately the elevator is out, so I’ll have to hoof it.

Well that didn’t take long. Five minutes and a skeleton reanimated in front of me then shoved its scimitar right through my ribcage. I didn’t even have time to put my shield up. I don’t know how I am still alive; I just seemed to wake up at that bonfire back at the shrine with the helpful (yet creepy) guy. It might have something to do with that “Darksign” I have.

Trying another route, the zombies are a bit easier to defeat than the skeletons, but one ran me off a cliff. As I ascend the ramparts a second time, I made it all the way up to another bonfire when another who looked similar to me appeared. Washed in red, he attacked me, swinging his sword ruthlessly at me. I ran. There was nothing more I could do. I tried throwing a few fireballs at him, some bombs, a throwing knife. Nothing was even scratching this guy. Unfortunately as I was running back down the paths, I lost my footing and fell over the edge of the cliff.

Dying proved to lose my attacker. Though I wouldn’t recommend it every time, the pain still exists despite the whole “never dying” thing. It seems I end up waking up at the last bonfire where I rested. Continuing along my path I encountered a giant bull-demon thing. I don’t know how else to describe it. Similar to the large dragon in the asylum, its blows were crushing. What was worse was that there was limited space to dodge the tremendous attacks atop the rampart walls.

 

After dispatching this demon, I found myself at a bridge. Before traversing I stepped off to a balcony to see the view. Joining me was a Knight named Solaire. He requested I take one of his stones, in case I required his assistance in the future. Upon this meeting I disembarked across the bridge, already dreading the fight I could see looming ahead. Before making it halfway across, a screech split the sky, shaking the very foundation of this fortress I was traversing. Suddenly I was washed with fire; staggering to my feet, I managed to duck down a staircase underneath the bridge as I see the large red form of a dragon swoop over me and perch at the end of the bridge. 

Another wave of heat erupts from the stones above my head. Even below the bridge, it feels as though my face were near a furnace. I must press on. The dragon is now blocking the way, luckily it appears that there’s an alternative route under the bridge. Still a little burnt from the dragon’s attack, I decided to fire an arrow at its tail (which had been hanging off the edge of the bridge) to teach it a lesson. The dragon didn’t even notice! I continued my assault, eventually its tail fell off; A portion of it had, at least. It was quite study, so I decided to use it as a weapon.

Another bull demon (only this one slightly smaller) appeared to be intentionally blocking my route again. I quickly discovered its aversion to stairs and used it to my advantage. After suffering more stabs and claws I finally make it up to the Parish itself. I walk in the front door, to be greeted by three large ghouls with shields. All three quickly accept me into the center of their group and indoctrinate me into their club with a few stabs to my abdomen. Waking up again, I make my way back, being sure to take the side entrance this time.

Instead of being greeted by the same three gentlemen, I discovered a larger house-keeper, whom donned a shield as tall as himself, and swung a very large axe. After dodging two blows and luring him outside, he proved quick work with the Drake Sword I had discovered. Gazing up at my goal, the bell-tower, I could not believe the progress I had made just in one day (or how many times I had died within that same time-span).

After forcing my way past a wave of zombies and some sorcerer ghoul, I made my way up to the roof of the Parish. Close to the top, I discovered a strange white text emblazoned across the ground. The text was physically glowing, like nothing I had seen before. Upon touching it briefly, I felt a warm, comforting, wave shoot up my arm. The text itself began to glow brighter as the façade of Solaire slowly emerged from the ground.

Recognizing him as an ally, we stepped through the haze and onto the bell-tower roof. Not making it halfway across, one of the gargoyles atop the bell-tower let out a terrifying screech. The stone figure came to life and jumped down, throwing tile off either side of the roof. As soon as I get my shield up, the gargoyle is back in the air, swinging its tail at me (which has a giant axe on the end of it, mind you). After hurling a few fireballs and letting solaire distract it, the counterpart on the opposite end of the bell-tower becomes animate and joins in the fight! Luckily Solaire was skilled enough to distract both of them long enough for me to finish them. Allowing me to ascend the tower and ring the first Bell of Awakening. This marked my refuge for the night.
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                The game I chose to monitor is Dark Souls.  Dark Souls is a gothic style, open-world, action role-playing game. This game, developed by From Software is the successor to Demon’s Souls. The game begins by showing a short cinematic explaining the overall lore for this world that the game takes place in. There was once darkness covering the land, as well as dragons. When fire was discovered, dead souls used the fire and found Lords, who killed off the dragons. Now anyone that dies is taken to await the end of the world, and the Lords rule, despite the fact that the flames are fading to embers. That’s where the player comes in. An undead marked with the Darksign, the player’s character is destined to be a champion, if he/she can get past the terrifyingly difficulty of the levels. The game was designed to have a high-risk, high-reward system. This can actually detract from the plot at times, leaving players frustrated and uncaring to the details that only compliment the lore, who just want to defeat the next boss and get the next cool weapon. Because the plot is minimalistic in this sense, it gives the players the ability to create their own narrative that is the game. They are controlling and leveling up a character in an unforgiving environment, which will develop the character’s strengths and weaknesses, or failing that, provide a lot of frustration.

                I chose this PS3 title, because I wanted to write my own parallel narrative to my game experience. I had purchased this game last October, and fell in love with the scenery alone. The beautiful landscapes and intricate detail that goes into even the darkest of corners is simply astonishing.  That coupled with one of the deepest sets of lore and the most flexible character class system, makes this an auto-pick for me. Because of the game’s difficulty level, the game has minimum 60 hours of gameplay. Instead of basing my project off of supposed hours (because I don’t know how quickly/slowly certain sections will take) I have broken the levels/zones up into chunks that will allow me to better pace myself to beating the game within the quarter. I’m really excited to find out more about the game’s history now that I’m focusing on it directly to fuel my narrative.