The part about learning to play Skyrim is relatively irrelevant to me, as I've had enough hours in videogames that the playing is natural to me and I don't have much to learn there. Instead, I'll try to focus on the additional genres of art hidden in this game instead as Skyrim is rich full of them.
One of the neatest things in Skyrim is the mostly fully fleshed-out dragon-tongue language, Dovahzul. Various websites exist for learning how to speak or use this language, such is the depth of its integration by Bethesda. There is even a website, called Thuum, that takes you step by step through the process of learning the language and even includes excercises. It also seems it was deliberately structured to make the creation of new words easier, since there is only a limited vocabulary in game.
There is additionally a large amount of literature in the game, from journals and diaries to small short stories. I don't believe there are any actual novels but there at least a few short stories that appear multiple times in an episodic format. Some of these fill in background lore, others are historical anthologies that tell the story of various places, locations, or people. Some of these even provide hints to solve puzzles or where to find treasures, as was the case in Bleak Falls Barrow.
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Plog Reflection
Intro:
I tend to analyze things. Which seems like a strange way to open an essay, but its something that is relevant and I believe important to state. I am engineering minded- often I get lost in my mind thinking of the intricacies or concepts of some random object. So I often pick up on small details in media, but am also able to zoom out and view the big picture. When I view a game like Skyrim, I can't help but pick apart the subtle intricacies and mechanisms at work within the game. What small things affect our experiences and make the game how it is? And how do these concepts play into the bigger goal that is the game and its world as a whole? And how are these skills relevant to today's digital landscape?
Conclusion:
These skills in analysis are incredibly relevant for engineering, as I have shown. Keeping a detailed log of your weekly thoughts and analysis is not just helpful for a final design brief, but essential to ensure you are thoroughly following the design process. By continuously keeping track of all the minutiae of a project or interaction, you can better sort it, categorize it, and learn from it. Yet the minutiae of a project are not all that matters; indeed, it is often how these small facets add up to a larger whole that prove most important in the field of Engineering. This Plog project has allowed me to build an ability for digital, not just physical, analysis and reflection- something undoubtedly relevant when the majority of large Aerospace projects use piles upon piles of code and advanced simulation systems to build a new system or analyze and refurbish an old one.
I tend to analyze things. Which seems like a strange way to open an essay, but its something that is relevant and I believe important to state. I am engineering minded- often I get lost in my mind thinking of the intricacies or concepts of some random object. So I often pick up on small details in media, but am also able to zoom out and view the big picture. When I view a game like Skyrim, I can't help but pick apart the subtle intricacies and mechanisms at work within the game. What small things affect our experiences and make the game how it is? And how do these concepts play into the bigger goal that is the game and its world as a whole? And how are these skills relevant to today's digital landscape?
Conclusion:
These skills in analysis are incredibly relevant for engineering, as I have shown. Keeping a detailed log of your weekly thoughts and analysis is not just helpful for a final design brief, but essential to ensure you are thoroughly following the design process. By continuously keeping track of all the minutiae of a project or interaction, you can better sort it, categorize it, and learn from it. Yet the minutiae of a project are not all that matters; indeed, it is often how these small facets add up to a larger whole that prove most important in the field of Engineering. This Plog project has allowed me to build an ability for digital, not just physical, analysis and reflection- something undoubtedly relevant when the majority of large Aerospace projects use piles upon piles of code and advanced simulation systems to build a new system or analyze and refurbish an old one.
Sunday, April 19, 2015
3.2 Bleak Falls Barrow
This section is a lot like a puzzle game, and to be honest, Puzzle games are fascinating in terms of game design. You have to make a puzzle or logical question that is both solvable, but satisfyingly challenging. Without giving any verbatim clues, the game developers have to integrate you into the puzzle and lead you to the logical conclusion (or leave you just short of it).
Bleak Falls Barrow features tons of Iconography everywhere, and the symbols used to solve the puzzles are seen hidden or in the background quite a few times. The lintels and tympanums all have various hieroglyphic-like symbols. These are all supposed toead you to the solution without giving it outright. When we get to the first stone puzzle, we can see part of the puzzle completed in various sections of the room. Also, we get to see someone try to break through without modifying the stones and how that ends up for them- prompting us to be a bit more considerate of our actions. Therefore, we have to run around the environment around us and find the full final sequence.
The final puzzle, where we use the golden claw, is the one that relies extensively on hidden symbols. I'll be honest, the first time I played this game I didn't notice these and had to look online to solve it. The second time I played though, I looked around carefully for the hints. There are loads, actually. Its not something you'd likely notice if you played games very often though. Often, once you've played a game once or twice you start to zone out and just "grind" the quests out so to speak. A puzzle like this is a good way to slap the player back into focus, so to speak. You can't exactly grind and click the slash-my-sword button when there's a puzzle wall blocking your way. I imagine that is the reason these puzzles work so well; they're a fun quiz of how much you were paying attention for new players, and a test of if you were really playing the game for veterans.
Bleak Falls Barrow features tons of Iconography everywhere, and the symbols used to solve the puzzles are seen hidden or in the background quite a few times. The lintels and tympanums all have various hieroglyphic-like symbols. These are all supposed toead you to the solution without giving it outright. When we get to the first stone puzzle, we can see part of the puzzle completed in various sections of the room. Also, we get to see someone try to break through without modifying the stones and how that ends up for them- prompting us to be a bit more considerate of our actions. Therefore, we have to run around the environment around us and find the full final sequence.
The final puzzle, where we use the golden claw, is the one that relies extensively on hidden symbols. I'll be honest, the first time I played this game I didn't notice these and had to look online to solve it. The second time I played though, I looked around carefully for the hints. There are loads, actually. Its not something you'd likely notice if you played games very often though. Often, once you've played a game once or twice you start to zone out and just "grind" the quests out so to speak. A puzzle like this is a good way to slap the player back into focus, so to speak. You can't exactly grind and click the slash-my-sword button when there's a puzzle wall blocking your way. I imagine that is the reason these puzzles work so well; they're a fun quiz of how much you were paying attention for new players, and a test of if you were really playing the game for veterans.
Saturday, April 18, 2015
3.1 Whiterun
Whiterun is a really cool environment in Skyrim, you can tell that Bethesda tried to build it up. You start in the smaller town and spend sometime trekking on a road to arrive there. And unsurpsingly, I found more evidence of how people hate Khajiit. Outside the gates, there is a Khajiit called Ri'saad. For some reason, Khajiit traders have been banned from entering the city. Mostly because of the presumption that theyh are all theives, as far as I could tell. The problem is that Ri'saad is a legitimate businessman who leads a caravan of traders. Thats what most Khajiit are, actually. They come from a desert land and seem to share a lot with the Bedouin from our world. It was a curiosity, and something I would have to investigate later.
As I entered the city I could hear the din of general other conversations, mostly about various happenings and controversies in the town. The town is fairly diverse, but VASTLY human in its representation. Mostly male, too (at least what I saw). Additionally it seems most people are of the Nord race, which is hardly surprising considering this is one of the great keeps of Skyrim. Also, it seems that almost all of the human NPC's were voiced by the same actor. The only different accents I really detected were those of the Khajiit and Argonians, Argonians sounded like a 3 pack-a-day smoker if you ask me.
Almost all of the quests try to use emotional appeals, but some just go straight to a logical reward. They would literally say something like "I'll pay you to do this" or "I've got a reward if you can do a job", and other phrases along that line. Most of the topics brought up are requests for help, or offerings of jobs. Mostly people asking me to do things, instead of making casual conversation. It was a less lore-friendly environment than Riverwood.
As I entered the city I could hear the din of general other conversations, mostly about various happenings and controversies in the town. The town is fairly diverse, but VASTLY human in its representation. Mostly male, too (at least what I saw). Additionally it seems most people are of the Nord race, which is hardly surprising considering this is one of the great keeps of Skyrim. Also, it seems that almost all of the human NPC's were voiced by the same actor. The only different accents I really detected were those of the Khajiit and Argonians, Argonians sounded like a 3 pack-a-day smoker if you ask me.
Almost all of the quests try to use emotional appeals, but some just go straight to a logical reward. They would literally say something like "I'll pay you to do this" or "I've got a reward if you can do a job", and other phrases along that line. Most of the topics brought up are requests for help, or offerings of jobs. Mostly people asking me to do things, instead of making casual conversation. It was a less lore-friendly environment than Riverwood.
Saturday, April 11, 2015
2.1 Perception
Racism seems to be a rather common trope in Skyrim, in that if you play a non-human race most humans will address you by your race. They will say "Khajiit" instead of some oblique reference to who you are or your name (but, to be fair, no one uses your name in Skyrim). One shop owner even mentioned she was watching me carefully, which I am assuming is a reference to the commonality of thievery among Khajiit. I was going to rob her blind but I decided that I'd rather not take the chance of building a bounty or other issues early in the game, and felt rather bad doing it. Not to mention I was literally playing right into that virtual stereotype.
Our main path for interaction in this early segment is simple dialog and exploration. We can head to the mill and speak to the craftsmen there, or we can head to the pub and hear the chatter and happenings of the local area. The developers seem to have attempted to make this interaction as organic as possible, since excepting some early required dialog, all of this is optional. In fact, much of Skyrims content is hidden outside the main questline and must be found through dialog and exploration. There are some limitations however, in that the dialog is often repeated and has a limited number of paths it can take. The world has small errors in it too that pop you out of your "immersion" as well (mostly by looking so ridiculous you can't help but notice it). And Skyrim's never ending supply of bugs are no help, either.
The options above though all work to integrate us into the world as smoothly as possible, however. This ease of dialog and the fact that it isn't forced on us at all allows us to build our own views of the world we play in, and expands its background and lore in a way that doesn't require us to look outside the game itself. We find our characters identity, and our motives, being shaped simply by our interaction with the NPC's (non-player characters) in the game. Even the environment itself shapes our perceptions, with Riverwood a tiny little hamlet snugly tucked between towering mountains giving us the illusion of a space bigger and cozier than it really is.
Our main path for interaction in this early segment is simple dialog and exploration. We can head to the mill and speak to the craftsmen there, or we can head to the pub and hear the chatter and happenings of the local area. The developers seem to have attempted to make this interaction as organic as possible, since excepting some early required dialog, all of this is optional. In fact, much of Skyrims content is hidden outside the main questline and must be found through dialog and exploration. There are some limitations however, in that the dialog is often repeated and has a limited number of paths it can take. The world has small errors in it too that pop you out of your "immersion" as well (mostly by looking so ridiculous you can't help but notice it). And Skyrim's never ending supply of bugs are no help, either.
The options above though all work to integrate us into the world as smoothly as possible, however. This ease of dialog and the fact that it isn't forced on us at all allows us to build our own views of the world we play in, and expands its background and lore in a way that doesn't require us to look outside the game itself. We find our characters identity, and our motives, being shaped simply by our interaction with the NPC's (non-player characters) in the game. Even the environment itself shapes our perceptions, with Riverwood a tiny little hamlet snugly tucked between towering mountains giving us the illusion of a space bigger and cozier than it really is.
Saturday, April 4, 2015
1.2 Unbound
I ended up choosing a Khajiit character, which I had alluded to in my last post. I felt it gave me the opportunity to use a neat name, I've never played a non-human race before, and I liked the idea of playing a stealthier race instead of your standard run-of-the-mill Imperial. Something else I thought of was the reputation of the Khajiit in the Elder Scrolls Universe- thieves, seen always with suspicion. An Imperial would be unlikely to be arrested Additionally, keeping up with the trend of new choices, I followed the Stormcloak character instead of the Imperial as well.
I think the appeals to Pathos play most importantly into these two decisions. For the choice of race, it was just simply an emotional choice made by me due to what I know of the background of the Khajiit. Generally prosecuted and regarded as a lesser race by the elves and humans, it seemed fitting to me that the Hero that would rise up and save their world would be someone that barely registered in their thoughts. Just a typical underdog hero story, and who doesn't like one of those?
Same thing happened with the Stormcloak decision. I have started Skyrim many times (only to get bored partway in) and have always chosen the Imperial character. Personally, I am a very by-the-book follow-the-rules type of person. The Stormcloaks are a rebellion to be purged since they are obstructing the legitimate government. This time though, I had to wonder why the Imperials were prosecuting me. As a Khajiit character, I had even less reason to like this "legitimate" government that was prosecuting and oppressing me because of my race (I'll start a tumblr blog and gripe about privilege if need be). All of these appeals to Pathos were written into the intro sequence in an organic way by the developers, or were part of the larger game universe. Either way, listening to emotion and not logic was a new idea for me.
I also believe it is rather interesting how Bethesda manages to weave a story. They always attempt to immerse the player fully, doing their best to never make the character feel they are being punched out of their immersion. The intro sequence loads simply, and gives us ample time to learn how to pan our view. Simple conversation and thematic events set the tone, and our character creation and naming is done in a way that flows better than the usual "here's a menu before the game even starts" method of character creation common to most RPG's. I'm not even sure you could give a genre except that of a video game; it is a unique medium in many ways. The audience is never really fully set, anyone could play this game. The information varies based on your choices, and few of your interactions are entirely forced. You are happily led along into living this experience simply through playing the game- what other genre so easily lures you into a deeper universe and experience?
I think the appeals to Pathos play most importantly into these two decisions. For the choice of race, it was just simply an emotional choice made by me due to what I know of the background of the Khajiit. Generally prosecuted and regarded as a lesser race by the elves and humans, it seemed fitting to me that the Hero that would rise up and save their world would be someone that barely registered in their thoughts. Just a typical underdog hero story, and who doesn't like one of those?
Same thing happened with the Stormcloak decision. I have started Skyrim many times (only to get bored partway in) and have always chosen the Imperial character. Personally, I am a very by-the-book follow-the-rules type of person. The Stormcloaks are a rebellion to be purged since they are obstructing the legitimate government. This time though, I had to wonder why the Imperials were prosecuting me. As a Khajiit character, I had even less reason to like this "legitimate" government that was prosecuting and oppressing me because of my race (I'll start a tumblr blog and gripe about privilege if need be). All of these appeals to Pathos were written into the intro sequence in an organic way by the developers, or were part of the larger game universe. Either way, listening to emotion and not logic was a new idea for me.
I also believe it is rather interesting how Bethesda manages to weave a story. They always attempt to immerse the player fully, doing their best to never make the character feel they are being punched out of their immersion. The intro sequence loads simply, and gives us ample time to learn how to pan our view. Simple conversation and thematic events set the tone, and our character creation and naming is done in a way that flows better than the usual "here's a menu before the game even starts" method of character creation common to most RPG's. I'm not even sure you could give a genre except that of a video game; it is a unique medium in many ways. The audience is never really fully set, anyone could play this game. The information varies based on your choices, and few of your interactions are entirely forced. You are happily led along into living this experience simply through playing the game- what other genre so easily lures you into a deeper universe and experience?
1.1 The Meaning of a Name
In Autumn quarter this year I took a Scandinavian studies course, and one of the topics we went over was names. In ancient Scandinavia, names carried a lot of meaning and spoke a lot about the individual in question. Most young soldiers who left to go a-viking (raiding) would leave with nought but a simple name, this being your classic Olaf's and such. Through their deeds and adventures, they could earn an additional distinguishing characteristic, either referring to some physical feature of their body or wear or a deed they committed in or out of battle. Svein Forkbeard, for example, is a man called Svein who has a Forked Beard (the Vikings were pragmatic folks).
This name would give you, of course, a name. But even this name had different meanings and could have prefixes or suffixes added to it to further differentiate it. But through this addition of another adjective, we could give the persons name themselves a story and make it stick out more. This is something I would like to attempt in Skyrim; a character with a simple, memorable name that means something. Additionally, using Norse-influenced names makes perfect sense considering the environment and world of Skyrim. I'll start with the simple name with a prefix format and add a suffix or something else later based on my deeds or anything that stands out to me during this experience.
I'll most likely end up playing a Khjajiit character, since so often I find myself playing a Human Male Soldier walking stereotype type character in RPG's. So I'll switch it out and play some sort of anthropomorphic kleptomaniac cat with an anger issue. Khajiit names follow a similar format, with then main name featuring a prefix that has meaning and the familial name after that (usually following an apostrophe). With all of this said, my characters name for this class shall be Dar'Orvar, literally meaning "Arrow Thief". Switching it up even more, I hope to be a mostly archery-focused character that freely steals things (I almost always use swords and never perform amoral actions in a game).
This name would give you, of course, a name. But even this name had different meanings and could have prefixes or suffixes added to it to further differentiate it. But through this addition of another adjective, we could give the persons name themselves a story and make it stick out more. This is something I would like to attempt in Skyrim; a character with a simple, memorable name that means something. Additionally, using Norse-influenced names makes perfect sense considering the environment and world of Skyrim. I'll start with the simple name with a prefix format and add a suffix or something else later based on my deeds or anything that stands out to me during this experience.
I'll most likely end up playing a Khjajiit character, since so often I find myself playing a Human Male Soldier walking stereotype type character in RPG's. So I'll switch it out and play some sort of anthropomorphic kleptomaniac cat with an anger issue. Khajiit names follow a similar format, with then main name featuring a prefix that has meaning and the familial name after that (usually following an apostrophe). With all of this said, my characters name for this class shall be Dar'Orvar, literally meaning "Arrow Thief". Switching it up even more, I hope to be a mostly archery-focused character that freely steals things (I almost always use swords and never perform amoral actions in a game).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)