My Views of the Future

            My view of the future is that the Mayans were correct, and I only have 23 days of life left. Plants do not turn on us and kill us with toxic spores. Computers do not unleash nuclear weapons on America. Robots do not use poisonous gases and poison our asses. I believe that the Earth is just going to crumble to destroy us all. The end.

iPad Game continued...

            So, earlier I started the unit of how to turn our board game into an iPad game. I went into gameplay and discussed the objectives and rules. Today, I will go over game mechanics.

            This game can play up to 4 players online, with most likely a minimum of 30 minutes game time. It could play like “Words with Friends” where players don’t have to play a continuous game until there is a winner. I see it as a patient game; players play when they have the time. Turns will be quick and simple when playing on the iPad since no one is reading a question card to that player. The screen will show the board in its entirety, and will periodically zoom in onto the player whose turn it is. There will also be a spot designated for the player’s Pest Cards in the bottom right-hand corner, where the player is able to view them in case he/she wants to use one of them.

            To me, this whole iPad part of the game is pretty self-explanatory, and can be thought-of visually very simply.

Are "Online Comics" Really "Comics"?

            Last week in class, we were introduced to the type of storytelling that combines the use of the Internet and comic styles. Essentially, they are online comics. These types of comics make way for a new era, leading to the inevitable virtual comics that can already be viewed on tablets and E-readers of today. Some of our favorite comics are being taken off of shelves, and are being put onto a screen to make viewing easier. But the question is: Is it really easier, and is this medium of viewing taking away that comic style?

THE RIGHT NUMBER

            To answer this question, I viewed two different online comics on my own, the first being Scott McCloud’s The Right Number: Parts 1and 2. This story is very different from anything I’ve read online before. It’s only one frame, and the viewer changes pages simply by clicking the spacebar or arrow on the screen. This then prompts an image in the very middle of the page to zoom in to be seen. At first, this was very distracting; I could not NOT notice it. But after the first 15-20 pages, I got used to it, and realized that it can actually be seen as a positive. It helps to add motion to the comic, so I actually consider it to be a hybrid of motion and classic comic. Each page takes less than 20 seconds to read, so it moves pretty quickly, giving the idea that the characters are actually moving. I’m eager to read Part 3.

CTRL+ALT+DEL

            The second online comic that I read is actually a 4-panel comic strip looking at two male characters who mostly sit around and play video games. It is titled CTRL+ALT+DEL, written by Tim Buckley. The majority of each comic, though, revolves around how their obsessions affect those around them. They’re funny stories that viewers like me can relate to. This comic strip had its first issue on October 23, 2002, and has a new episode every day since then. Over ten years, and it’s still extremely popular, which is good for such a small and simple story.

            So, to answer the original question of whether or not these “online comics’ really fit the description of “comics”, I’d have to say YES! They may have altered a bit, but it’s expected, especially if it changes from paper to computer screen. If they were the exact same, they would be quite boring due to lack of innovation. Buckley’s story does not stray far from paper comics at all, but the topics brought up in the stories are very relevant to a computer audience. McCloud’s story is so new and fresh, it actually ENHANCES story-telling, tenfold! In conclusion, it can be said that the comics of the future are heading in the right direction, and with a few more ideas, maybe, in my lifetime, we will begin to see the age of paper and newspaper comics coming to an end.

Road to the Clean Palace: Gameplay

            Ok, so remember that nice little iPad game idea I had last week? Yeah, well, scrap that. It didn’t work out, which I believe it is for the best since it was sort of a crappy idea anyway. Instead we developed a whole new game which is simpler, and without a doubt more fun to play. I even think that it could get even easier on an iPad, so it’s got that going for it. The game board’s layout is pretty much the same one for Candyland, so you don’t have much imagination there. At the beginning of this iPad game, the player will start off on a start menu, which will have the “start” button as well as links for stats and stuff like that. From there, the game has started.

            I’m imagining the online play will have no more than 4 people, with 5 Pest cards distributed among players. These Pest cards allow players to either gang up on or ally with other players at any time during gameplay. I imagine them displayed at one of the bottom corners so that they don’t prevent play, but also available when needed. During a turn, a question will appear on the screen for that player to answer. It will probably be timed, so he/she will need to answer the question within 30 seconds. If the question is answered incorrectly, the player is not penalized, but his/her turn is over. If it is answered correctly, the game will show what color the player will move to. The colors are randomly generated, and if the question is true/false, then the player moves one color space. If the question is multiple choice and answers correctly, then that player can move 2 colored spaces (so it could be a double-blue).

            Also, randomly generated into the game are Reward cards. They have images of say a bird, or a leaf, or an acorn, and so on. When these are drawn, the game will move that player to the space with that picture (so if a bird is drawn, that player is moved to the bird space). The player is then able to keep that Reward card and use it as a Pest card (some added bonus is good). With all of these twists added to the game, it makes gameplay longer therefore (hopefully) more fun.

            The object of the game is to reach the Clean Palace before anyone else. This becomes difficult especially with those pesky Pest cards. Next week, I will look into the mechanics for this game.

Reading Rainbow App and The Future of the Internet

            Reading Rainbow. You guys remember that show? You know: Opening Books, Opening Minds. It’s the one that aired on PBS where celebrities would come on the show and read popular children’s books. Well, if you’ve never heard of it, you most likely didn’t have a TV, because it was EVERYWHERE! The show was very popular (3^rd longest running kid’s show on PBS behind Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers), and it even scored a couple of Emmys. It lasted from 1983 to 2006, with President Bush’s shift in education philosophy blamed for its cancellation, according to show executive producer and host LeVar Burton. So, has it ringed any bells yet?

            Anywho, Burton has decided to bring back the show, but not to PBS. Instead, reruns and, most likely, new episodes of Reading Rainbow will be available at some point on the new and improved site, RRkidz. Burton got the go-ahead to develop this site back in March. Kids will have the opportunity to view digital books that have that RR feel to it, and in the near future, if the site gains enough interest, actual episodes of the show. So it looks like Reading Rainbow is getting a second chance at educating young children in the form of online learning. Now for the big question: Good idea or bad idea?

            Personally, I never enjoyed Reading Rainbow as a kid. I remember times when I used to watch it, but it got to a point when the books weren’t all that good, and the narrators were just boring. I decided that turning off the TV and reading my own books was better. More often than not, I would just change the channel. Does this mean that I disagree with the new online concept? HELL NO! I praise what they’re doing. If it lasted for more than 20 years with static demographics, I say more power to them; they must have been doing something right. And now Burton has found a medium that has become popular and quite useful for modern years, the Internet and apps. Although the article never stated the fact that apps would be used, I would assume that’s the direction they will be going in once it gets off of the ground. Basically, I have no doubt that this is going to work for Burton and the RR fans.

            This leads me to a hot topic: the Future of the Internet. And there is only one way to describe it: Up. Billions of people have benefitted from the Internet since it came about in the 90s, and even more will benefit from it many years from now. Have you ever considered what your life would be like if you never had any access online? In recent years, not only do we have Internet access, but now it’s portable; cell phones, tablets, laptops, etc. have all been extremely useful when needed. At this point, it’s even harder to determine when this would even end. And it probably won’t! Every year, there is a new piece of technology that consumers buy to help enrich and simplify their lives. It may even just be an upgraded version of a piece of tech, but people buy them anyway. Who knows when this age of technology will ever end; all I can say is to live and flourish in the present with what we have.

Structure of Essex County

            In Jeff Lemire’s Essex County, three unique stories tell a tale that gives an audience a very special history of the small town. In the first book, Tales from the Farm, a young boy has to deal with living with a distant uncle after his mother passed away. The young boy befriends a mysterious older man, who is no stranger to the uncle. The second book, Ghost Stories, is narrated by a senile old man in which he tells his life story involving glory days, relationships with his brother, and so on. At the same time, he has to realize the fact that he is getting older, and can no longer live on his own. His personal nurse struggles with trying to take care of this man, but it is too much once the third book, The Country Nurse, starts, for the man dies of old age. The story now revolves around this lone nurse, who is distant from her son, but is also very strong when dealing with death or loss. The viewer becomes aware of her role during some flashbacks to 1917. Basically, the stories become less confusing as they go along, and even after reading the first one, the reader most likely will want to keep going. Not only because of Lemire’s fantastic arts, but for the story structure, especially.

            We get a glimpse of the world that is Essex County in the first book, but it really doesn’t expand until the second. Lemire wants to introduce a few characters and a handful of conflicts, but will not jump into the story in just the first few pages. No, the reader has to get to book two for the main plot to really start. And even when you think you understand it, book three comes along and really throws you for a loop. I’m not saying that the structure is at all confusing; on the contrary, he pulls it off magnificently, and we don’t even think twice about it. I feel like this story would not even exist if not for Lemire’s unique structures. They really emphasize a story that (let’s face it) isn’t absolutely amazing. But because of the homeliness and “average” feel to it, using such an artistic style and structure adds so much to the excellent novel.

New Project: iPad Game

  So, the new plan is to post about a new project: Making our educational board game into an iPad game. This can be done, but unfortunately, I do not think these posts are going to be very long. This week, I'm going to focus on gameplay and how it will impact virtual play.
  My game revolves around how a player can get from point A to point B on a given path without losing all energy. At the same time, the player will learn about how a watershed can impact the community that the particular player lives in. In order to convert this into an iPad game, we can start on a home menu that includes "start", "how to play", and "credits" links. When the player presses "start", that player has the option to play as a different animal, which can range from a bat to a sparrow and so on. Once a player has been chosen, the game begins.
  The player starts on the first square, and the goal is to get to the end of the path without losing all energy, which is displayed in a health bar (and percentage underneath) in the top left-hand corner. a virtual dice will display in the middle of the screen, obscuring the game until the player taps it. When the dice is tapped, it stops on whatever number is tapped (basically, the number is randomly generated). The dice disappears, and only shows up for the player to roll when it's time to move. Whatever number was shown is how many tiles the player can move. So far, it's pretty basic, and I think that if I continue, then I'll finish the entire topic, and I won't have anything left to blog about for the rest of the semester. Next week, I will continue discussing gameplay for the educational watershed game.