Idea #1-Interactive Story: In my portfolio, there were a lot of projects regarding writing. Writing, creative writing to be specific, is a hobby I have had for a long time, and quite honestly my dream job would be to write/storyboard for JRPGs. To start down this path, I was thinking of writing a story (a short story given the scale of the project) and using technology to make it interactive. Now, in regards to where I would take this down the interactive field is still up in the air, although some ideas have come across my mind such as a text-based adventure, pictures and animations in still frame accompanying the story to give it life, and having voice over edited in so you are following along with the story.

Idea #2-Visual Novel: While the concept might be the same as the first one in being heavily story reliant, the technology and skills needed for the project are different. A visual novel is a hybrid between gaming and storytelling, and focuses on a few core gameplay mechanics while making sure the story is one of the main selling point. When taking a look at my IMM portfolio map, there were a few gaming projects I had listed, and after talking with a friend about what I should make my project be for thesis, this was one of the ideas they pitched. As of this point, I can say I do not have the skills needed to pull this off, however over the course of 7 months I’d like to think that could change.

Idea #3-Folklore Compiler? (Name Pending on this one) An interest of mine aside from writing has always been history with a strong focus on ancient times. Now, while learning about the civilizations themselves was neat, I always likes the stories the had to tell, which in turn ended up leading to an interest in modern anthropology. I realize that “stories” might not be clear, so let me make that even clearer: the myths, the legends, the tales where scholars are not certain if there is any reality backing them. With technology where it is, I was thinking of making a large compiler for a great many of these projects, be it in the form of a website, a video, etc. Let’s take the website as an example: one direction I could take this in is having a map of the world on the screen and have it be interactive. Once you hover the mouse over a certain region of the Earth, you can see a list of stories and tales from that region, and then click on one to see it. At this point I don’t really know how I would go about creating something like this, but when skill and practicability were taken off the table this was a thesis idea that came straight into my mind.

So many ideas, what to choose?

There are certain people who struggle with thinking of one idea. There are other people who struggle with finding one good idea out of the hundreds of ideas circulating in their head. I am the latter. In the first week, I already had 5+ ideas that I thought were interesting and could easily get excited about. The problem is, I know that some of them will be my enemy in regards to time. I am still keeping an open mind so I chose the first 3 ideas that popped into my head when referencing the 3 topics: pick a topic that reflects on your expertise, pick a topic where your expertise is taken away, and pick a topic where you are intrigued and interested, which doesn’t necessarily follow your career path. Without further ado, here are my three potential project ideas for senior thesis.

Music Technology

I love music. I also love technology. I have spent the past few years at TCNJ taking as many music tech related classes as I can. This involves me spending as much time as possible with Dr. Nakra. If I go down this path, I would love to spend more time with her and really dig down deep to get the best project I can produce. This music tech related project wouldn’t be any ordinary music composition made in Logic. I want to do something truly innovative and inspiring that hasn’t been done before. Originality is hard to come by, which is why synesthesia comes to mind. For those that are unaware, synesthesia is the phenomenon where two sensory pathways are linked and one unconsciously activates the other. The main form of synesthesia that we see is one that I would base my project on: the link between sight and sound, or chromesthesia to be exact. We typically see that people who have this form of synesthesia have perfect pitch, or the ability to identify a note as it is played. Perfect pitch has been interesting to me since I started learning music and synesthesia makes perfect pitch that much more intriguing. We have all seen people using colors to enhance a musical experience with Aftereffects. Just go to a live concert and you’ll see this. However, this is not the type of project I want. I would want a synesthesia project where each note, each pitch shift, each timbre, and each note velocity has a unique look and color to it. I want to envision what it is like to have synesthesia in the form of technology. That would mean that by simply messing around on a piano and seeing the colors projected through Aftereffects, one could train themselves to have perfect pitch. I believe this could also be beneficial to deaf people, a culture that I adore alongside the music culture. Deaf people can still enjoy music without sound as it is. However, I think that seeing each note represented by a color would enhance their experience even more and help them appreciate and love music more.

Project #1: create a musical piece and have colors associated with the notes, following all of the guidelines I had previously stated. Also, there would be an active interaction element to it as well, where a user can play the notes (on a Makey Makey piano) and create their own visual music masterpiece.

Design and Coding

I’ll tell you right now, this idea is not entirely fleshed out and I’m making it up as I go along. This was probably the hardest idea to come up with because I’m thinking “What am I without music?” I might have taken it a little to literally and just crossed out the music section on my Odyssey Plan. What am I left with? Design, coding, and digital media. All of which I am not particularly passionate about or spend hours of my day working on. Sure, I’ve coded for the IMM120 and IMM130 class, but I didn’t enjoy it. In fact, I found myself more frustrated and stressed out from the coding in these classes than any other class. So stressed, in fact, that I had to go to the gym several days a week just to work off the excess energy. Based on this reflection, I would probably go towards the digital media side of things, even though I am not that skilled in the area. I’m not particularly pleased with this idea and I hope that I don’t go with this one. But who knows, maybe in the future, I can make this into something I enjoy.

Project #2: An interactive art piece, or animation, that the user can manipulate and move. This isn’t a video game, just an interactive drawing in a sense.

Visual Novel

Here is the far fetched idea. I know I said that I hated coding and was stressed out in the intro level courses for it. However, there is something about this idea that keeps sticking with me and I don’t want to let it go. At first I thought, “This is going to be a video game,” but I didn’t want something as sophisticated as that. I wanted something simple, with a great story, where the player has complete control over the story and the endings. This is when the term “visual novel” came to mind. If anyone has ever read a visual novel, you will know that it is mainly just text and some animations. You are basically reading a book on a screen with some imagery to complement it. I have seen some “visual novel-esque” games, where the player is brought through the story and you can “choose your own ending.” I will shamelessly admit that I have played a few dating simulators during some of my darker moments in life (there isn’t anything wrong with them, it was just a guilty pleasure of mine and I would never admit it out loud). In a lot of these dating simulators, they are formatted like a visual novel and it claims that your choices massively effect how the ending of each story will turn out. In reality, the player only gets 3 choices every few chapters and as long as you pick “the right choice” enough of times, you get the good ending. I hated this concept because it gave the illusion that the player had control over the situation, when in reality everything is set in stone from the start with a few minor changes based on your “decisions.”

So what does this mean for my project?

I want a visual novel game, where the player has complete control over the story line and characters. In the beginning of the game, you would pick your personality type and as the game progresses, your personality changes based on the choices you make and how well you do. In each chapter, there are a number of choices. None of them would be “bad” so to speak, but each one will lead to a different outcome for the rest of the chapter and a different scene for the upcoming chapter. I started this idea over the summer and I honestly got inspired out of nowhere to do it. I’ll be a little shameless here and post a bit of my journal entry from that day:

July 9, 2018 10:11PM

I spent the rest of the night playing sif, deresute, and animal crossing. So that’s about it. I did get a sudden urge to get motivated though (at 10:30? Why the fuck not?) It might be a little overambitious but that’s what life is all about. If you try something and it doesn’t work out, just try again. I want to create a visual novel of some sort where the player’s actions heavily influence the story. I haven’t figured out where I want to go with the storyline yet, but I know I want it to be decision based and text-based. I was sort of influenced from Detroit: Become Human and how the choices you make decide how the story ends. Of course I would have to learn how to code a video game. And I’d have to draw the characters and such. But whatever. An artist’s first product is hardly the best one. If it doesn’t turn out great, then I’ll just keep practicing until I get better.

-Randi 10:41PM

Mind you, I was at a low point during the summer and was suffering from depression for awhile (it’s still here, but we’re getting there). I was trying to find ways to purposefully motivate myself and get myself out there, to try things I had never done before. The idea for the visual novel hit me all of a sudden at 10:30PM in the middle of summer. I have had stories set up in my head all the time. I just never had it in me to write them down. Secretly, I love creating stories, but I’ve never shared them with anyone nor, shockingly, wrote them down until that day. To be quite frank with everyone, I have been creating stories in my head since I was about 12, but, of course, I never told anyone.

If I did go through with this idea, there is a lot of potential, but there is also a lot of risk. Let’s talk about the potential it has first.

Potential: It would be a breakthrough visual novel type game because (to my knowledge), something like this hasn’t been done before. We have those dating sims, DDLC, and actual visual novels, but I have never seen them show a truly interactive experience for the player, where the choices really matter. My idea could be the first of its kind for this type of game and I think a lot of people would benefit from a truly interactive gaming experience.

Risk: I have NEVER coded a video game before (unless you count IMM120). I could easily look up tutorials, but if I was going to master this project, I would need months or years just to learn the basics of coding. Time is my enemy here. My other risk is that I have no concrete evidence of story-telling skills. I’ve been creating stories in my head for years, but what good is that if it isn’t written down and I didn’t get feedback on it? It’s a serious risk to have 1. no coding experience and 2. no story-telling experience. Two required skills for making a video game are two skills that I do not have. If I were to go with this idea, I would have a SERIOUS amount of learning and work cut out for me and it may very well stress me out until the day of the showcase.

With the potential and risks laid out, I would like to acknowledge a few things. I know this idea is well out of my league and would be better suited for someone with actual experience in this field. However, I want to make this vision of mine a reality and unlike some of the other projects I had in mind, I would like to complete this some day in the future. I acknowledge my lack of experience in the coding and story-telling world. But I also acknowledge my drive and passion for this idea to make a meaningful project.

Project #3: a decision based visual novel with multiple storylines and endings.

Now I had a bit of the characters thought up already. These were never set in stone and I actually cringed at some of the self-introductions, so I deleted them. I’ll leave my Word doc of my original ideas here (in case anyone wants to roast my inability to create an original character).

Visual Novel

**IDEA 1:

Goal: Volunteer app to find volunteer jobs in your area

This could be a matchmaking service similar to tinder/bumble in which a person seeking volunteer opportunities could be matched with someone who needs help.

Examples of this could be:

-Looking for ten people to help clean up the beach for an hour

-looking for someone to babysit my special needs child for two hours

-looking for a group of people to pass out soup at a local soup kitchen during dinner time and then clean up the kitchen.

This app idea came about when I was recently searching for volunteer opportunities that I could take part in to feel fulfilled, but I couldn’t find any short-term, trusted work. Sometimes, people really need help, and there are many people looking to be fulfilled in life by helping someone, but they need a way of being connected.

I became very interested in UXD and app design after working with the UX and engineering team at my recent internship, and feel very confident in this project idea, although it would be something I have never worked on before by myself.

To DO:

-I could start my research by listing out non-profits and churches and different volunteer opportunities that might want to post on the app and contacting them for specific needs/examples of needs.

-Research how background checks are done

-Research how an app like this would be able to be funded (ads, gov. funding?)

-Would have to be designed beautifully to attract people– need to hone in on UXD and web design skills

-Begin storyboarding/prototyping the app design and layout

-App could be called: Do Good. Catchphrase could be: Do Good. Feel Good.

**I am considering entering the MAYO business plan with this idea.

 

IDEA 2: Digital ad campaign / social media campaign for music booking company/label that I create.

Goal: Create my own music label that is in charge of booking bands for concerts, putting together graphics to promote concerts, etc.

-I’ve been booking concerts/shows for a couple of years now, and my friends and I have shared the idea of starting our own label that represents local music artists in a way that they are not currently represented. This would mean taking something I love and am skilled at to the next level, and out of my comfort zone.

To DO:

-Create a logo/brand that is distinctive for this label

-Develop an entire social media campaign for this label

-Develop website to showcase label artists, tours, recent albums, editorial blogs about the artists, photography, video, etc.

-Monthly digital and print “zine” to feature artists on label, recent music released, tour schedules, photography, etc. — could hand this out at local shows to promote the new label.

 

IDEA 3: Interactive Music Video

Goal: Makes the user feel like they are in the music video of their favorite music artist using virtual reality.

-I have no clue how to create this, or if it is even possible. I’ve always been interested in creating a music video because of my passion for music. Taking an “interactive” twist on this could mean having the video game player enter the world of their favorite music video.

-Someone could use virtual reality to join the music video of one of their favorite artists and feel like they are right there with them. Imagine, being right next to Beyonce in the video for “Single Ladies” or dancing next to BrockHampton in the locker room of their recent music videos.

-If this ends up being an absolutely impossible idea, the idea of creating a music video also interests me.

To Do:

-Research VR and if an idea like this could actually work

-Figure out a way to create a database of millions of music videos that people could potentially want to be a part of

-Talk to people about this idea and figure out if they have any advice/knowledge of whether this is possible or not

 

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.