Project Idea #1
My first project idea includes the help of friend and fellow classmate, Phil. We are both also in a Topics of IMM class about the life and lessons of Fred Rogers. In that class, we’ve started a project together that I would like to see go farther than what it will probably end up as. The idea is a children’s app/game that’s purpose will be to help kids get over some of their irrational fears. With a mix of 2D illustrations, animation, and 3D environments we’d create a game where the objective would be to shine a flashlight on these creepy creatures that would appear in the dark corners and closets of the space. The room would be a palette of dark purples, and spooky silhouettes with red glowing eyes would pop out of openings and from behind objects. The child would then aim the light at these creatures to reveal the cute, adorable, and friendly being that is actually there. Hopefully, this would help kids see that maybe the closet, vegetables, spiders, and other irrational fears aren’t anything to be afraid of. It’d be cool to have a codex of sorts for the creatures you find to give more information on the beings and why they aren’t that spooky after all.
Project Idea #2
This other idea involves an entire set of skills that I haven’t dived into yet but would love the chance to. My idea is to create a quest, from scratch, for one of my favourite games, i.e. Fallout or Elder Scrolls; in other words, a mod alla Fallout: New Vegas’ Autumn Leaves by BaronVonChateau. This would involve a few hour long quest involving a unique narrative, voiced NPCs, new guns, animations, armor, textures, and environments. This project intrigues me so much because the skeleton of these games, the Creation Kit, gives me many opportunities to work on things that I want to follow in my career instead of all the technical mumbo-jumbo of coding and such. And the thought of dipping my toes back into narrative writing, a place I used to excel in, excites me greatly. Even more so, voicing those characters would be even more fun. I never stop hearing that I should pursue a path in voice acting, and it is a passion of mine. I know it isn’t the most original and never before done thing in the world, but the modification of games is immensely interesting to me. And the skills that I would develop during the course of this project would be invaluable to me.
Project Idea #3
My third idea, I guess, is to learn to work with my hands. I’ve always been inspired by the likes of Adam Savage and the props he creates. So my idea would be to create props, be it weapons, armor, objects, from my favorite pieces of media. For example, creating a suit of foam core ODST armor from Halo. Or maybe Deckard’s pistol from Blade Runner. Possibly the sword Sting from the LotR and Hobbit series. All of these things can be made to look like the real deal, but at the same time be made of foam. Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, may look like solid Uru metal but is really just foam. It would be such a pleasure to bring these objects to life in full form outside of the tv screen. Maybe by the time I’m done, I’ll have a full cosplay ready for the next convention.
Hey, Andrew. So on Friday, Phil talked about the idea you and him have about the game made for kids to help them get over their fears, and I think that’s a cool concept because it’s hard to find ways for kids to get over irrational fears. However, a concern the class and I had was that maybe making these things have eyes or being able to talk might inadvertently make certain kids even more afraid of those things. So you’d have to be real careful in how you design the characters/objects within the game.
I also like the 2nd idea of creating your own quest. I feel like there are a lot of really cool things you can do with that idea (plus, I can confirm you would do some great voice acting for the game quest). Plus, I can tell it’s something you’re really excited to get into, so I feel like it’s one you should definitely take into consideration.
Idea 1 – In general, I like the idea of an app that could help kids with their fears. Here, though, it seems like you’re only focused on one fear — fear of the dark. And in that case don’t you want kids to know that those creatures they imagine aren’t real? They’re just a pile of socks or something… not another creature, even if that creature happens to be nice. Could the app possibly deal with a larger set of fears? And in each case address the fear in a way that’s consistent with recommendations by child psychologists and other experts.
Idea 2 – This is interesting, and as you suggest it gives you a lot of creative freedom without bogging you down in technical processes. I’m intrigued by the idea of creating an experience that is somehow very different from the “native” experience of the game. It’s something we did early on in the IMM games courses, where we modded Half Life 2 into a toony, cuddly kids game.
Idea 3 – I’m just not sure how this moves the conversation forward and adds your own unique voice to the conversation. Seems like it’s already been done.