Interactive Major Studio Blog

Final Idea’s

I have been writing a book in my spare time, which I am going to use for my final thesis for this MFA program.  I was thinking about turning it into a Graphic novel, obviously completing the whole thing is out of the question, but the novel is made up several short stories compiled to make on greater whole story.  I was thinking for this final I would create the first part, or one short story of this graphic novel and have it completed for my final.  I have been toying with the idea of making it an interactive graphic story through using flash.  Clicking certain area’s would tell certain part of the story.

James Blake

James Blake
Major Studio
2/11/08
Proposal
It’s On
Abstract
A study done by the University of Texas in 2004 has linked obesity amongst children to their gaming habits.   The lack of physical activity compared to generation’s prior seem to be one of the largest reasons why the surge in obesity is becoming more common amongst kids.  This is why I have designed an interactive game that will encourage outdoor activity, while still giving the draw and capabilities of online gaming.

Precedents
Interactive games that encourage physical activity have in some cases been known to triple the amount of calories burned as opposed to the traditional gaming.  Games Like Dance Dance Revolution©, Wii Sports© and Wii Fit© are not a replacement for physical exercise, but these games help get the ball rolling and help lead people in the direction of a slightly healthier life style.  These games have also shown that a game like this can be wildly successful, proving that there is quite a market for games demanding physical activity.
Overview
The game I propose to make is called IT’S ON! The premise of the game is that you are the leader of your army, and you need to defend your base and conquer others.  This is accomplished by having the child scan a card with a type of mission he needs to complete before he can purchase more materials for the online play.  These “side games” or  “mini missions” would encourage the child to get out from in front of the screen and play outside with their friends.  The more “mini missions” the child accomplishes, the more the child is rewarded in fake money.  This fake money is used to purchase vehicles and weapons in the online video game.

Scenario
Little Bobby is 8 years old and has gained a substantial amount of weight.  When his parents suggest maybe he should go out side and play with his friends, he chooses to stay inside and play on his computer with the newest Dora the Explorer Game.  So tech savvy Dad goes out and reads up on a new video game encouraging exercise amongst kids called IT’S ON, and buys it for Bobby.  Bobby resists at first, but once his boredom sets in he gives the game a shot.  Quickly the game grabs his attention and sparks his imagination.  Now Bobby is competing with his friends on the Internet having little mini LAN games, and playing with his new friends in the backyard.    Now Bobby is getting more exercise and increasing his social skill set, and Mom and Dad couldn’t be happier.
References

1.    Aaron Levin and Barbra Rodriguez. 2004. The University of Texas, at Austin. “Video games rather than TV may be linked to childhood obesity”. http://www.utexas.edu/news/2004/03/23/nr_video_games/
2.    Exercise in a Box,http://www.exerciseinabox.com/, February 11th 2009.
3.    Helium.com, The Impact of Video Games and Society, by Tegan Mcrae,http://www.helium.com/items/388566-the-impact-of-video-games-on-society, February 11th 2009.

James Blake

Major Studio

2/15/09

Waiting in Line

                                                           Abstract

            Dystrophy is a game created for music enthusiasts needing to kill a little time.   The game can be played with friends or random strangers helping to increase interaction with ones peers, and overall knowledge in the musical realm.

Precedents

            Waiting inline is one the most frustrating and agonizing parts of modern day society, yet we all haft to do it.  That’s one of the main reasons why portable solo games have been so popular.  Examples of this would be the Nintendo DS, Game Boy and the PSP providing mobile entertainment for those who need to kill a bit of time.

Overview

            Dystrophy is a game played with 3 or more people where people try to have a conversation completely through quoting song lyrics.  The players’ can chose lyrics from any song/genre they can think of.  The more obscure the lyrics, the more points are awarded to the individual.  Points are also awarded for stumping other players.  Each player has 5 seconds to respond with a lyric quote.   Points are awarded as fallows: lyric quote that fits 1 point obscure lyric quote, 4 points, stumping other players 10 points. The great thing about this game is it can be played anywhere, over text messages, inline, over a computer.  The game is not constraint by any type of medium.

Scenario

            John and his friends are waiting inline at Six Flags Great America.   They all want to ride the Raging Bull, rollercoaster.  They get inline but the line appears to be at least an hour long, so John decides to get the gang to play dystrophy, which he read about online.  Everyone starts join in, and others surrounding him or her start to join in as well.  Now this painful wait has now turned into a quick one, and him and all his friends are now boarding the roller coaster.

proposition 2

James Blake

Major Studio

2/11/08

Proposal

                                                              It’s On

                                                            Abstract

            Since video games popularity has been getting increasingly larger every year, these games have had good and bad effects on the mass culture.   A Study done by the University of Texas in 2004 has linked obesity amongst children to there gaming habits.  The lack of physical activity compared to generations prior, seem to be one of the largest reasons why the surge in obesity is becoming more common amongst kids.  This is why I have designed an interactive game that will encourage outdoor activity, while still giving the draw and capabilities of online gaming.

                                                            Precedents

            Interactive games that encourage physical activity have in some cases been known to triple the amount of calories burned as appose to the traditional gaming.  Games Like Dance Dance Revolution, Wii Sports and Wii Fit are not a replacement for physical exercise, but these games help get the ball rolling and help lead people in the direction of a slightly healthier life style.  These games have also shown that a game like this can be wildly successful, proving that there is quite a market for games demanding physical activity.

                                                            Overview

            The Game I purpose on making is called IT’S ON! The premise is you are the leader of whatever color army you so desire, and you need to defend your base and conquer others.  How this is accomplished is by having a little chip in the bottom sole of the child’s shoe, this chip registers how far he has traveled in that day by walking/ running.  The child would take this chip out from the bottom of the sole of his shoe and plug it into the USB of the computer when he wants to play the game.  The more exercise the child does, the more they are rewarded in fake money used to purchase vehicles and weapons in the games.

                                                             Scenario

             Little Bobby is 8 years old and has gained a substantial amount of weight, when his parents suggest maybe he should go out side and play with his friends, he chooses to stay inside and play on his computer with the newest Dora the explorer game.  So Tech Savvy Dad goes out and reads up about this new video game encouraging exercise amongst kids called IT’S ON, and buys it for bobby.  Bobby resists exercising at first but once he realizes his friends are totally “stomping” him, he realizes he needs to get it in to gear.  Now Bobby is at a healthy weight, and he is now “stomping” his friends online. 

Obit.

James Blake

Major Studio

Assignment #1

2/4/09

            Obituaries as defined are notices of one’s death; in some cases they include a brief biography of the individual whom is now deceased.   With people receiving data and absorb its contents much quicker than ever, it is important that this exchange of information is made readily available, and easy for everyone to use.  This is the idea that legacy.com has embraced, and I have come up with a few idea’s to help make there website a little more user friendly.  Especially since the target demographic would be towards the elderly.

            The idea is to create a search engine of sorts that can break down all the mounds of information gathered from multiple different sources and bring forward the ones most prevalent to you, the user, by asking a few simple questions to narrowing the search.   Such things like Geography, Name, Sex and birth date would be prime examples of how one would narrow a search down.  Since very select few of us reach celebrity status, there needs to be a service that can alert one to the untimely passing of our friends and loved ones. 

            This engine would have the feature in which if you lived in say a rural community you could receive a weekly email updating you to all the deaths that occurred in the area, with a link to find out more information.  For those in the elderly community, this would be an easy way for one to find out about friends, and family members in the community that had passed, that they may have otherwise not been aware of.  The engine would also have a feature that could break down a specific demographic how ever large or small and plot it out of a certain range of time.  So if you would like to know if more women or men die on Valentines Day you could find out, showing the results from year to year.  This would make use of the same operating search engine, used prior to make the site better, and less cluttered.

            The design work would be very minimal and lean more towards functionality then artistic vision.  After doing some research black and white seem to be the traditional look for a funeral invite, to symbolize a time of grieving and rebirth.  Since this website isn’t just a funeral invitation, and for a few it will have recaps of what they accomplished in there lives and some of there personality traits, I feel it is best to go with pastel colors which are generally used to represent the spring time, also generally associated with rebirth.

            Some of the precedents I drew upon when formulating this idea was first talking to people who I felt would be primary users of the site.  After discussing with my own Grandparents for a bit and getting their input, I checked out the current legacy.com and their competitors.  While both are nicely laid out, they both could use improvement. Obit-mag.com only had local celebrities and celebrities listed in it, and there drop down they did offer a easy way to categorize or find your person based off profession which inspired my idea for the new search engine.  From there I looked at websites made “in loving memory” as they call them, or memorial sites.  Many of which used Spring colors which gave me the idea, that people want to celebrate there loved ones lives, not morn them.  Which is why we came up with the color and design choice.  Personally I feel the more simple/clean it is the better.