Entry Blue: Week 7

Reflection:

In this week's reading, the topic of ideas is discussed. Particularly, Mihaly Csikszentmihaly's stages of creativity. I found this to be interesting because at first when I read this I thought to myself,

"You can't truly expect to sum up something like that?"

But when I read the stages, I quickly realized how accurate they were; as, this is a process I've been following my whole life to formulate my own ideas. And it's true that they don't necessarily follow one linear path, nor does it in anyway indicate how many times we will focus on one stage. As, I've over time found my ideas seem to continuously evolve as I learn more information about them. Because, I have a lot of interests my inspiration comes from a lot of different sources. For instance, just the other day I heard a new song and the way the artist sang, the beat, the lyrics all immediately made me think of my protagonist for one of my game concepts. And I thought to myself in that moment,

"Wow, I've never seen the essence of my character be summed up so well" and it helped me realize, "this is the kind of music I would want within my game"

Because the aesthetic of the song fit the one of my game. But often I will see that movies, shows, anime, other games, and art will influence my mechanical, story, character, and world building ideas, as well. Of course, my concepts for my games go deeper than simply the aesthetic.

But I think the main reason I found this interesting was because this was never a process I hadn't ever consciously thought about. And having it so simply put on paper helps to show, "oh okay, I wasn't lagging behind I was just in this stage". But this also makes me wonder, how going forward and being conscious of this process could possibly change my current conceptualizing process.

Experience:

This week I played Parasite Eve II on the PS1, which is considered to be an action-RPG and survival horror game. I was excited for this game because I just recently got a PS1 and I loved the 3rd Birthday on the PSP, so I wanted to try this game from the same makers. Of course, being that this game is a lot older, one can expect the controls and quality to be different; but, this doesn't in anyway really take from the experience if you have a love and appreciation for older consoles.

The game starts with a cutscene of targets in a target practice being shot at, cinematically, while music plays, and credits are given. They do a really good job at giving the game an eerie vibe, by this point. We quickly find Aya in a gun range talking to Pierce. I am able to choose to practice and choose the music. The controls were pretty easy to get down as I shot the moving targets. Afterwards we're left to wander around a bit until we are finally ready to leave. We are brought to a scene where a SWAT team is murdered by the creatures and Aya is brought in to help. A really neat feature they also add, is that you save by picking up the phone. I think this is really interesting as a lot of games nowadays do this, where you can access the menu or certain features but with smartphones.

Overall, I really enjoyed the experience, as the story is engaging and they keep a nice hint of suspence throughout. I think something can be learned from any game; and, so it was interesting to me seeing how well they established the game's aesthetic. Because I am wanting to create games in similar genres, it was worth taking note of how they convey this. From the characters, to the music, the scenes, and really everything that takes place. It all contributes cohesively to an overall mood and feeling that truly bring the game to life. I want to be able to capture this aura into my own work.