Studio 2- Three pitches for minor project- HH21

Seaforth Secondary

I’m very interested in continuing to explore the world of SEAFORTH that I began to develop in Studio 1 with a game I made called “Seaforth Folk Festival”. MAGI has taught me some effective techniques for storytelling and especially during my Studio 1 class I could feel characters, plots and worlds pouring out of me in a refreshing and exciting way. Since I am enjoying being in that world, I have a vague idea that I want to create a trilogy of games set in Seaforth, the second of which will be set at the local high school that will provide the title Seaforth Secondary.

Recently I’ve been realizing how psychically important high school is to everyone who was forced to go- you learn the ways of the world in a sort of simulated version of it- and indeed lately have been dreaming almost every night about my high school (though they are more like nightmares!). For a while I have wanted to set a film or series in a high school and right now I feel very empowered by the ability to create WHILE making (an idea that Chris Barker encouraged last semester). So why not just start building a school!?

I don’t want to get too specific early on, but I plan for the school to be segregated between American and Australian students; the two groups take different classes and don’t much like each other. You as the main character will be an Australian student who is a very talented basketball player and therefore will be let in to the American students’ world.

This game takes a lot of inspiration from a book I read over the break called The Nickel Boys  by Colson Whitehead, set at a segregated juvenile detention centre in the deep south of the USA in the early 20th century, and also many other high school related works of fiction including Persona, Bully, and Harry Potter.

I want this to be a Unity game, and am considering attempting to release it for mobile though I have no idea how to do this! Woohoo!

I’m still working on an inquiry.

Short film idea- Teddy Bears’ Picnic

One day recently I woke up with a strong inclination to write down a screenplay for a short film. I could see the whole film in front of me and the words just poured out of me. It is an abstract film that is divided into two halves: the first half is based on a few events that happened over a day in my life a couple of months ago, and the second half is based on a dream I had last year, and they aren’t really connected in an obvious way. In the dream there is a big court case being settled and I walk around the city which is frantic, and then later go to the first house I ever lived in where my father sits scared in the kitchen. Anyway…

Because I so rarely feel inclined to write a whole screenplay down, I think I should definitely go through with making it, and it would be possible to make it in Studio 2. Doing so would require me to learn A LOT about animation: rigging, sculpting, movement etc. I sometimes get the feeling that I need to focus my time at MAGI (I’m getting old) rather than just exploring. I am traditionally a linear artist but have been seduced by the sirens of interactivity. Making a traditional film would be a way to return to my previous trajectory; to hone skills in storytelling, character, narrative, and also allow me to focus on developing my visual palette.

This would be situated in the worlds of David Lynch, Leos Carax, Brian de Palma- artists who explore the human psyche.

Realistically I don’t think I have enough time to finish this whole thing in 12 weeks, but I could definitely finish a storyboard, set designs, character designs, and record all the audio. I know a lot about this stuff from having worked in the film world for several years after finishing film school in 2014.

An inquiry could be “can I create the same emotional experience using only animation?” though I know this has been widely explored already!

Building a huge city!

While building up the world of Seaforth last semester I found the location was telling me about itself as I built it up and played through it. This got me really interested in the idea of building a much bigger city. I love cities in real life and in video games- GTA, Cyberpunk, Jak 3, Beyond Good & Evil 2, Dishonored- and always appreciate learning the history of different areas. Recently I was reading about the old city of Jerusalem which is divided into four quarters: Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Armenian quarters, and began to fantasize about building a city with equally rich histories. This may not necessarily be a game- or rather it may not be a very fun game; more like an interesting way for a player to learn about a world. Obviously the potential scope here is enormous. I could spend months and months writing Tolkien-esque histories and religions. That may be the only satisfying way to see this through.

Clearly this third idea is not very well thought out, but since I haven’t started making ANYTHING yet I won’t rule it out. Instead I will just let the project create itself. Wish me luck.