Unpacking Manuel’s Tavern: Lighted Goose Island Sign (FINAL DRAFT)

Goose Island Fulton Street Brewery Sign Project Underway

I felt as if I went on a completely different direction in the final draft of Unpacking Manuel’s Tavern Project. As I was writing my first draft, I was completely lost as to what the content would be and how to tie it together to Manuel’s Tavern.I wanted people to get something meaningful from this piece and I really felt that I learned the value of writing as a process. I solely thought that our project would be on the piece that we selected, yet I learned throughout the process that the objects we chose were merely additional pieces to the bigger picture. I believe that I improved on a variety of things from properly citing my sources to just structuring my arguments.

I stayed heavily on the surface in my first draft because I was practically regurgitating facts from articles and news sites, which made the project appear more like a research paper than an artistic and analytical piece of writing. I knew that I had to delve deeper as I write the final draft because I really wanted to make more of a personal connection in my piece. I ended it with a statement that ties together Goose island, Manuel’s Tavern and also ourselves as human beings. From meeting Professor Morgen to reading commentary from my classmates, I had a much clearer idea about how I wanted to structure my piece as well as the message that I wanted to relay to my audience. This ties to the importance of collaboration and getting input from someone other than yourself. I completely abandoned my first approach and took on something completely different with some of the same facts that ties to form a much more significant message.

Unpacking Manuel’s Tavern: Lighted Goose Island Sign

Goose Island Lighted Sign

Hello! Many of you might not know about Goose Island, and that’s one of the reasons why you should read all about it in this post! It’s mostly about the history and key events of the brewery, but I personally enjoy reading about how certain companies rose to fame. Starting in Chicago, Goose Island beer has spread and settled in all 50 states in a matter of 15 years. Read all about it and any thoughts, suggestions or feedback is much appreciated!

Unpacking Manuel’s Tavern: Lighted Goose Island Sign

Goose Island Lighted Sign

Hello! Many of you might not know about Goose Island, and that’s one of the reasons why you should read all about it in this post! It’s mostly about the history and key events of the brewery, but I personally enjoy reading about how certain companies rose to fame. Starting in Chicago, Goose Island beer has spread and settled in all 50 states in a matter of 15 years. Read all about it and any thoughts, suggestions or feedback is much appreciated!

DAY 78-79

Now I learn that the girls from the lake aren’t dead and they simply took a joyride in a tractor. Then after spending so much time climbing through the rocks, I found a dead body of a boy. What is going on?? And now the person who rigged the walkie talkie is giving Henry directions. Henry climbs up the rope the killer provided and I honestly thought that it was a trap. However, he was actually helping henry break into research site. We find out that the culprit is Ned Goodwin and he killed his own son. Apparently Brian didn’t meet up to Ned’s expectations and it was probably an accident. So it ends with Henry entering rescue helicopter. I’m honesty kind of disappointed.

FIREWATCH DAY 77

Why is Delilah acting so strange? Why is she peppier than usual? She must have been brainwashed.

I am completely wrong. I learn later that she is trying to tell me something discreetly so the people tapping into conversation won’t know what we are saying. Things definitely heated up when she got henry a new radio and Henry finally fins the documents/assessments about Julia, Delilah and himself in the facility. And the music suddenly gets dramatic and eerie so the alarm for the supply bag near the rocks startled me so much. More ambiguity awaits as we head to Day 78.

 

FIREWATCH DAY 3

By Day 3, I can definitely tell that Delilah has sparked some interest for henry when she started asking him about his physical features and his wardrobe choices. I didn’t expect Delilah to reveal so much about her personal life and we begin to see her emotional side.  We skip forward from day three to day nine in a blink of an eye. Then I had to do more climbing and poorly navigated my way around as I tried to figure out how to read the map and work the compass. I also get way too excited when I encounter a supply cache. I also noticed the days are moving immensely fast.

The flapjack fire is so intense. The contrast between the flames and the night sky is so distinct and intense. And speaking of intensity, I feel like henry and Delilah are slowly falling in love.

I can’t believe someone was eavesdropping on conversation. And things started getting really interesting when Henry completely blacks out because someone strikes him in the head. I feel like this is when the plot twist occurs and the storyline builds up. Climbing down the ropes have become more natural to me but I still keep getting lost. I have no idea where I am going most of the time and the map is extremely confusing. But as I am getting lost, I find out new things about people and the setting. Apparently there is a research site that I know nothing about. There are so many missing pieces to the game that you have to find— such as the ax that you must use to cut the tree to make a path to the meadow. Delilah then left the line with such ambiguity.

 

FIREWATCH DAY 1-2

The setting and animation instantly made a lasting impression on me. Everything is just so detailed and beautiful. In terms of action, there is lots of it. From instances such as Henry’s rope breaking to first finding the girls by the lake, the storyline is always so striking and intriguing. I enjoyed the satire with the pun scene as well as the subconscious flirting between Delilah and Henry.

Like Gone Home, you are able to interact with intimate objects. I personally love this feature because it makes me feel as if I am a real character in this storyline and I can have my own say as to what goes on around me. Picking up the cans, turtles and cameras kept the game interesting. Having Delilah on the line not only develops the plot but it also keeps the viewers company. I was honestly getting a bit tired roaming around but having her crack jokes and flirt with Henry kept the game alive. She also gave me tips regarding what I should notice around me, such as the smoke that I had to follow.

The girls by the lake were very immature yet hilarious. Even though Henry following the trail of undergarments does necessarily label him a pervert, he was simply doing his job and investigating his surroundings. Henry then began to hunt for the girls using the beer cans they leave everywhere. Despite the navigation nuances, I am enjoying this game so far.

FIREWATCH- THE BEGINNING

Everything about this game is so intriguing. From the starting screen to the little storyline slides, I was captivated by Henry’s life and I enjoyed how we could kind of control the storyline by deciding what Henry should do in particular situations. The music makes you feel so emotional and peaceful in the very beginning. The sceneries are gorgeous and I learn how to somewhat navigate and explore. The dates fast forward so fast but we get some idea of the background of the couple. Now the music gets more melancholic and depressing. The nude guy in the journal kind of shocked me as well. We could feel sympathy towards Julia as her Alzheimer’s worsens. The lookout tower has a kind of ominous vibe and I got so startled when Delilah’s voice popped out of nowhere. We can kind of see the relationship building between Delilah and Henry.

FREEWRITE: Dear Esther

 

I agree with the distinctions that Bell makes between Dear Esther and Gone home. Dear Esther encourages us to make sense of the story through literary texts whereas Gone Home is a more engaging game in that it lets us interact with intimate objects in order to piece the story together. Dear Esther is more of a game in which students with a strong literary background can excel, which makes it more of a contextual game than Gone Home. Even the formal texts in Dear Esther depicts a type of writing that is more advanced and professional. I personally like Gone Home in terms of the player’s interaction with the game and the objects within it. Anyone with any degree of common sense is able to piece together some part of the story whether it be about Katie, Sam, or their parents. People with some knowledge of the culture in that particular time era can better understand the game, which makes it more of a historical game. Both games are similar in the way they let the players explore the plot for themselves. Nothing is conveyed all at once.

 

Gone Home Review

I found it absolutely necessary to play this game in broad daylight in order to avoid the mini heart attacks that would have occurred if I had played this game alone at night. As you can probably tell, I am not a fan of anything that falls into the horror genre. Personally, I did not enjoy eerie music and melancholic environment even though some people may think otherwise. I can see how the creators of the game utilize the background noise, such as the lightning and faint footsteps, to build a sense of anticipation and suspense. I desperately sought a light switch or lamp the second I entered a lightly dimmed room.

In terms of the structure of the game, I enjoyed being able to pick engage with the inanimate objects in the room. Even though most of the things we were able to pick up were completely irrelevant to the game, I still found pleasure in scoping the area and making some sense of the documents, stationary materials, cups, condoms, books and other random items. I felt as if each item played its own part in helping the audience piece together all of the information. We can assume the intimacy between Sam and Lonnie through their scribbled messages and drawings. From Sam’s first meeting with Lonnie to her first kiss with Lonnie, the audience was practically living her journey through her diary entries.Unlike a book, we found pieces of the story and we had to make our own interpretation of what is happening through the accumulation of clues through searching every inch of the house. It excites the audience and stimulates a sense of curiosity that is completely different from a book or movie feeding viewers information. The locker combinations for Sam’s locker and the filing cabinet as well as the key to open the darkroom were clues that the audience had to patiently find in the house. We weren’t watching Katie peace together the information; we were the ones who had to take a course of action.I feel that this gives the audience a more engaging first hand experience rather than a one-sided narrative text.

It was such a unique experience getting to know the characters through a game simulation. Even as minor characters, the mother and father had an interesting storyline as well. We can piece together the story behind the mother’s affair with the ranger and the father’s writing career in shambles. We can also assume that Katie is a very intelligent student whereas Sam seems to be quite the opposite. Through the narratives and little notes in the game, we can tell that she is a rebellious, strong-minded and resilient young woman. However, her diary entries also revealed a more vulnerable and timid side of her. In the late 1900s, someone coming out as homosexual would be unconventional, sometimes even shameful. Her parents were even in denial when she came out to them. Sam even doubted herself at first, but she learned to accept and love who she has become because her love for Lonnie proved stronger than traditional standards.

All in all, this game was definitely the highlight of my week. The excitement and curiosity that grew as I discovered additional information engrossed me until the very end. Homophobia and molestation were definitely touchy subjects at that time period, and it made the game all the more interesting. I enjoyed reading the short messages between Lonnie and Sam as well as hearing Sam’s voice in her journal entries because it added intimacy between the audience and the characters.  The sound of her faint and sorrowful voice in her entries give the audience a sense of sympathy towards her, but in a different way that a book or a movie would do so. When Sam said that her heart was beating faster and faster, I felt as if my heart wanted to do the same. At the end of the game, I felt more of a stronger connection to both Katie and Sam.

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