Author: Marina

Podcast Reflection

For our second podcast we chose to analyze “Life is Strange”. This time my partner, Christine was the one to choose the game. This was very exciting for me, because it was in a way learning more about my peer and the things that she would find interesting. Thus I started researching and playing it. However as we began the process of creating our podcast we came upon a problem. Although this game’s story is very interesting, it is also very long. Completing it all would take at least ten hours! Therefore we decided to focus on the first two episodes.

This podcast was in many ways easier to complete. We already knew the process and decided to follow the plan we did before. However we also wanted to incorporate something new. When we were doing our first podcast we were very nervous and heavily relied on the script. Yet this time we decided to be more engaging and let the conversation flow. Thus, we only outlined our parts and tried to make it look very naturally. As well as that we were more familiar with the way that the Audacity works so we could to fix any parts we wanted. Therefore making mistakes was not as scary as it was when we were doing our first podcast.

We also wanted to include a new interactive element of playing the game within this episode. We thought that it would be interesting to include the reactions of the player that was experiencing the game for the first time. Since this game uses a lot of empathy, the emotions that the player would experience are very important. Thus within this episode you can find a moment where I play this game and comment on it, as Christine seats beside me commenting on my process of the game.

We hope that this time, we made our podcast more engaging and interesting to the listeners. You can find it here!

Why You Should Read My Essay

Wolf In White Van might at first be seen as the book of a horrible event and how one goes on about his life after an incident. However, when looked closely many life lessons can be extracted from Darnielle’s work. One of them is learning what trauma is and how it affects the mind of a person. It is hard to understand a person without putting one’s self in their shoes. Wolf In White Van does exactly that by presenting a person with trauma and leading narrative from the first perspective. This gives a chance of looking how trauma affects not only the external but also the internal world of a survivor. The essay: Wolf in White Van and Trauma, explores this argument further by looking closely at the details such as novel structure, the daily hardships the protagonists faces and finally how he faces the world after his trauma. With critical thinking and reading resulting in writing as a learning skills, this essay looks how Darnielle presents trauma as not only an event but an ever-present companion. By closely analyzing the thoughts of characters it teaches the others not only how the person with a trauma feels but also what they need in order to reach recovery.

Fiasco – A Way to Heal Writer’s Block

As I sat to play Fiasco, I has mixed feelings. The games are designed for entertainment yet playing it is my English assignment. As well as that this game is the first multi player game of a sort that we encountered in our class, so group work would be crucial. However, as we started playing, we felt more comfortable with each other. From creating the relationships between the characters to interacting with each other and developing the plot we were able to design a unique story. Thus, as the game developed I was surprised how engaging it was to create a story together.

I like writing; however it is a very intimate process for me. Editing would be the only time I would be fine in working as a group when it comes to writing. Thus, the fact that we created a story altogether with such an ease was very surprising. Now that I look back I realize that we followed the same process that I would if I were to be writing alone. First the setting, then the characters and the relationship between them must be established. From then on we can slowly make the characters to interact and drive the story to the climax. The only difference from my way of creating the story and the one we used when playing Fiasco was its start.

I find it rather difficult to start a story in medias res, however Fiasco does it easily. As we established the relationships and their details, some conflicts already came under the light before we even started to play. For example, Jake’s character and mine were divorced and I was seeking revenge for the way he treated me. As well as that Christine’s and Jakes’ relationship’s detail was something they shared in the past. This already created a possible mystery. These details made the story intriguing from the start.

The way how we cooperated throughout the game was also quite interesting. At first I thought that it would be extremely hard for a person to understand what I mean and act accordingly, however we were all quick to catch the cues. Granted, sometimes the replies would raise a couple of eyebrows; for example, in Jake’s opinion the secret that he and Christine shared was a romantic relationship. However she surprised him by suddenly saying: “Someone found the body”. Little yet crucial things like that helped to not only develop the plot but added the spice to the game as you had to react accordingly and very quickly.  This reminded me of some theater exercises that my English professor did in my high school. What is said is said, and you cannot take it back. You must go along and develop the plot. If things do not go your way, then you need to adapt and still try to reach your desired result.

The last thing that I found very enjoyable in this game is that somehow by the end we tied all the characters together. One way or another all of us were connected and were in the same place during the climax. These connections reminded me of a movie Pulp Fiction where in the end all the characters are somehow related. The fact that this was not planned but happened as the story developed was even more peculiar. We were trying to make sure that the story makes sense and in the end involved everyone. Also, again without any specific intentions, we had some character developments as well. For example, my character went form a housewife that cherished her engagement ring to a drug successful drug dealer that got all the revenge she wanted.

Truthfully, I did not expect to be that engaged in a table top game. Playing this game was very like writing a story, however it has its own little differences, which is why I would recommend this game to anyone who is having a writer’s block. This game helps one to look at writing from a new perspective that can give some crucial insights. As well as that one would enjoy it if they have a good company.

Magical Realism in Kentucky Route Zero

Kentucky Route Zero from the beginning will make a player doubt whether the whole situation indeed exists or it is all within the main character’s mind. The reason for that is the heavy presence of a magical realism characteristic: Fantastic elements.  Although the setting takes place in what could be a real place, meaning that there is nothing extraordinary within the environment such as purple trees, yellow sky or the like, there is still something intriguing. At the moments that you would least expect it something extraordinary will appear. For example in Act 2 near the end a boy appears claiming that his brother is a big eagle. At first when I personally encountered this character I just thought that the boy is either lying or gone completely crazy. There were already a bunch of characters present within the game whose state of mind was quite questionable thus I actually disregarded him. However when the little boy offered a ride and called a bird, a huge eagle indeed descended and swiped the main characters off. One of the best parts of the game I would say was actually controlling this eagle as he was flying around. The whole representation of the flight was very fantastical as well. The whole scene was made in black and white and one could see all of the geographical sites as they were floating. I feel that moments like this fill Kentucky Route Zero with Fantastical Elements and thus create Magical Realism within the game. This makes the game as a whole more engaging and full of surprises. Moments like this surely made me question: what if this whole game is just a dream that the main character has?

Reflecting on Unpacking Manuel’s

Writing is not an easy task. Especially if it is about an item that you have never seen before located in a place that you never visited. This task required a lot of research and critical thinking as I had to think hard upon what evidence am I looking for? We are living in a very technological age. There is an abundance of information on the internet and finding what is relevant can be really hard. Thus I had to be always attentive and pick out careful only those resources that will be most beneficial for my research. This incorporated one of my English Class’ learning outcomes: Critical Thinking and Reading Resulting in Writing.

Another skill that I improved upon while working on this assignment is Writing as a Process. To be able to not only revise our work multiple times, but also revise other students’ works was very helpful to me. I had to review my peer’s paper and by thinking critically about their assignment I started thinking of how this would apply to my writing. Also by receiving feedback from my classmates I realized that indeed their ideas make a lot of sense to me and they opened me to a new perspective. I would say that this touched the working together part of the learning outcome called Collaboration.

Overall through this project I did not only learn about the link between Jimmy Carter and the tavern but also the fact that writing is not static. There are always ways to improve and even if the changes are not huge, they are crucial. This is what happened with my writing. Although the changes that I made from my rough draft to my revised version can be called minor, I feel that they pay an important role within the composition. Through the review of my peers and from meeting my professor I realized what I need to focus on more and reach new heights. This engaging piece of writing can be found and enjoyed here.

Reflecting on Unpacking Manuel’s

Writing is not an easy task. Especially if it is about an item that you have never seen before located in a place that you never visited. This task required a lot of research and critical thinking as I had to think hard upon what evidence am I looking for? We are living in a very technological age. There is an abundance of information on the internet and finding what is relevant can be really hard. Thus I had to be always attentive and pick out careful only those resources that will be most beneficial for my research. This incorporated one of my English Class’ learning outcomes: Critical Thinking and Reading Resulting in Writing.

Another skill that I improved upon while working on this assignment is Writing as a Process. To be able to not only revise our work multiple times, but also revise other students’ works was very helpful to me. I had to review my peer’s paper and by thinking critically about their assignment I started thinking of how this would apply to my writing. Also by receiving feedback from my classmates I realized that indeed their ideas make a lot of sense to me and they opened me to a new perspective. I would say that this touched the working together part of the learning outcome called Collaboration.

Overall through this project I did not only learn about the link between Jimmy Carter and the tavern but also the fact that writing is not static. There are always ways to improve and even if the changes are not huge, they are crucial. This is what happened with my writing. Although the changes that I made from my rough draft to my revised version can be called minor, I feel that they pay an important role within the composition. Through the review of my peers and from meeting my professor I realized what I need to focus on more and reach new heights. This engaging piece of writing can be found and enjoyed here.

Podcast Reflection

Over the summer I was obsessed with the game called Don’t Starve. This survival game took over my vacation time as I explored it more and more. Moreover, I fell in love with the minimal yet meaningful plot line of the game. Thus this game instantly popped up in my mind when we had to choose a game to analyze. After briefly explaining the structure and the main idea of the game, my partner, Christine, agreed to settle down with Don’t Starve. Thus we began our process of creating the very first podcast of our own.

Before we could do anything we needed to make sure that we were both on the same page. Thus Christine played and watched some of the walk throughs to get the idea of this game. Then we brainstormed all the tasks that needed to be complete for this assignment and created a checklist. Some of them were very practical, such as renting mikes from the library or picking a person who we will interview in the podcast. Others were more of a content based: which term of Bogost’s we will analyze and composing an outline. We tried to do all of the tasks together, collaborating either face to face or working through google docs. For example, when we were writing our script we met and wrote all of it together.

We realized that the time was our biggest constraint as the deadline was fast approaching. As well as that midterms were in the full swing. Thus we decided to be as swift as possible so that we will have some time before it was due for any last minute changes. We were very successful with that. I personally felt that having checklists and adhering to the schedule helped a lot. As well as that we communicated a lot and made sure that the work is equally shared. Although we were friends before we started working on this project, I feel that we got to know each other much better.

Besides time I felt that the technological aspect of this project would be hard as well. I felt very comfortable in discussing the game, talking about the Bogost’s term and drafting the script. However, when it came down to recording it, I felt uneasy. Although I downloaded Audacity and read instructions upon how to use it, I still felt that I am stepping out of my comfort zone of a sort. But in the end it was not as scary as I thought it would be. We managed to record it and even have music of the game in the background. What helped us was that the availability of Professor Morgen as we could ask a lot of questions directly as well as refer to his websites for the basic FAQs.

For the future I would use the same strategy. Being the lead producer does not mean that that person has to do more work. Sharing as much work as possible helps a lot, because that way you collaborate more and realize that each person has different perspectives. I feel that this makes a big difference when it comes to insights of analyzing the game. As well as that working ahead of time is crucial for this project. What I would like to do in the future though is experiment with the technological aspect. Maybe add more different snippets of music or add something new entirely. However, that is for the future, and for now you can check out the freshly completed podcast about Don’t Starve here.

It’s Day 33 and I Still Can’t Navigate Myself

I really don’t understand this. I used to hike in my high school. This should not be this hard… Yet I still find myself completely lost within this game. As I learn more about the plot of the game I also learn more things about myself, such as having a disorder or navigating myself around this stupid forest. At one point I hoped that the Flapjack fire would burn everything down and I wouldn’t to walk around so much… But enough about me, there are more interesting things going on: the plot is picking up!
As days pass Henry learns his way around the forest (or in my case mostly walks around with no purpose) and gets occasional jobs from his boss, Delilah. One of them is tracking down the people who burned fire crackers. Henry finds out that the perpetrators are two teenage girls fooling around. Although Henry urges them to stop they don’t take him seriously. A strange incident of cut phone lines appears and Delilah blames teens for it, thus ordering Henry to track them down. Instead Henry finds out that the girls left, claiming to be freaked out by some creep (they claimed it was Henry). Later on the girls go missing and Henry is the last person to see them. I felt that this moment gave a lot of excitement to the game showing that there is more to the story than a man trying to get away from his past.
Speaking of which, I found it very interesting how Julia called Henry yet the supposedly loving husband does not seem that excited. At the same time Delilah and Henry become close by sharing more and more of their personal information. It was peculiar to know that Delilah also had a painful past and uses this job to get away. I am looking forward to the character development as well as learning all the secrets that the game has to offer.

Firewatch – The Beginning

This game caught my attention from its very first sentence. The imperative tone that it used to guide a player was interesting enough for me to decide that this game would be worth my time. Having various options of dialogue created an illusion of choice that kept the introduction interactive instead of being a plain, boring narrative.
The cute story with a bitter end opened was revealed in front of my eyes and helped me understand the main character, Henry. Soon enough I realized that he is the one from who’s perspective I will be progressing through the game. It was a nice change from Dear Esther and Gone Home since I got to know the background story before I began the game. This made me feel more connected to Henry and I actually started caring about his well-being as the game began. What also caught my attention was the style in which the game is presented. While Henry’s story is something that could easily happen in real life, the world around him is shown to be very cartoon-like. The colorful surroundings and cartoon like appearance of the main character (I could only see his hands, but still) made it hard for me to take the game seriously at first. However there were some aspects that made this game way more realistic than Dear Esther or Gone Home combined, one of them navigating yourself through the forest. I never realized that it would be so difficult to find my way around with a campus and a poorly drawn map.

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