Blog 1
During this first week, I have built out the blog portion of my website. This part is meant to share my thoughts throughout this journey, some context about me and my artistic past, and the progress I’ve made on my project.
Because this is the first week, I am still in the beginning stages of my brainstorming and work. We have been discussing what our projects might look like this week, and how we should document this progress. I have started to think about some ideas for this project, but I do not have the full picture yet.
During this first week, I have started to think about what this project might look like in a few ways. I need to decide what the project looks like physically, what hardware and software I might be using, but also emotionally/narratively. Right now, I have a better picture of what the physical components look like. My first thoughts were to have some sort of tactile interaction, like buttons or switches. I’m not sure how complicated I want to make this process yet. At first I thought of making the whole thing from scratch, soldering my own buttons and switches. Now I am leaning towards using a non-traditional controller to control things on a screen.
I am less sure of what the actual content of this project is going to be. I am starting to break down some of my thought processes and emotions to see if I could “gamify” them. How can I turn my experiences into something that others can feel through this project? This is where my current thought process is regarding the subject of the project. It will take some more time to actually churn out an idea.
I started doing some research on some non-traditional game controllers to see if that idea might work for my game. I want to find some answers to these questions: Does this type of controller bring a more positive experience to the user? Does it get in the way of the gameplay, or does it compliment it? From my brief research this week, I found that these controllers might make gameplay a little more difficult, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If the controller takes the player out of the game, maybe that's the point. The game is what is on the screen but also what is in front of you. Normally, your keyboard or controller is your way to interact with a game on a virtual screen, but what if the game starts with the controller? When you sit down? I’m hoping to explore some of these questions during this project.
Source: https://www.engadget.com/2014-03-22-gdcs-alternative-arcade.html
I started looking at different artists who use digital media and interactivity. I found a page of artists who use light and became very interested. One of these artists was James Turrell. Turrell was born on May, 6th, 1943 in Los Angeles, California, and is a big name in the light and space movement. He began experimenting with light in 1966 in his Santa Monica art studio during the rise of the light and space movement. I very much connect with Turrell's work, I think they are simple and beautiful. He does a lot with a little but still connects deeply with viewers.
The work of James Turrell has surprisingly informed what my project might become. At first I was thinking about how I could emulate what he does, and how to create art through light. I have pivoted to figuring out how to replicate the emotions he provokes while using a simple art form. I think that this thought process could really help to inform my work.
I enjoy what I feel when I look at Turrell’s work, and I wanted to see how I could create a similar emotion in my own work. I like the simplicity, elegance, and almost ethereal feeling. In the past, I have had a lot of fun using particles and different types of polish in my games. I think that there is some overlap between Turrell’s lighting and particles or lights in the game. They are simple, aesthetically beautiful, and can create this area and space based art.
