It's almost here. It carries a surreal sensation - something I've never quite felt before. I can't wait for it to come, but I want these next few weeks to last forever (except for waking up at 7:30 AM, I could do with a more manageable sleep schedule). It's a train, huffing towards the foreboding horizon, ready to indiscriminately trample anything on the tracks. As I witness my time at DSA waning away, I can let go of all the petty high school drama and the long stressful nights of doing procrastinated homework while savoring the best memories.
Joining clubs, navigating my way through DSA, and learning how to use basic Adobe software filled my freshman year. My sophomore year brought more good and bad experiences. Math was the epitome of this: struggling to sit still during lectures and then laughing and talking with new friends. I'll forever remember the shenanigans we did and how I managed to survive even the least interesting of the classes. This was the year that I really got into 3DS Max in Digital Design class, furthering my digital art skills. Junior year was weird - an entire year online on zoom - but I grew nevertheless. I forced myself to adapt to a new environment and began learning how to code in C#. This year. Senior year. I've learned so much this year - not only academically and in AGAD through honing my 3D modeling and coding skills, but also personally. I've done so much this year that's helped me to grow as a person. I've learned so much not related to school and I feel much more prepared to be an adult now than I did at the beginning of the school year. I've grown in maturity, honesty, and patience this year, and I think I just might finally be prepared to go out into college and eventually into the real world. Attending DSA the past few years has been boring, exciting, stressful, but right now, it's mostly bittersweet. I'm leaving this school that's shaped me academically and personally, and although I won't ever be back as a student, I'll forever remember the amazing people and great memories from DSA. Graduation is only a few weeks away - and I think I'm finally ready for it.
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Red Dead Redemption 2 is a complicated game. You can brutally kill innocent people, and rob honest travelers, and commit various other terrible crimes. However, you can also explore breathtaking terrain, help your friends survive, and assist townspeople on quests. You can play the hero or the villain - or some combination of both. These nuances and complexities are what makes Red Dead an amazing game. I can understand criticisms of excessive violence and I think that it's important to ensure that no game is too graphic. At times, Red Dead can be very violent - which I don't like - but most of the time, it's alright. What about the gameplay itself? It's great: the controls are novel yet intuitive, the environment design is amazing, and so much more. I love the sound design and visual design as well. They fit into the game world well and don't take away from the game. The attention to detail is very good as well. I appreciate the advanced 3D models and the well done textures that I have learned to pay attention to through working on the team game project on Unreality. Speaking of Unreality, there are some lessons we can learn from Red Dead. In the game scene itself, we can make a very atmospheric environment from taking inspiration from it. We can also make sure there is convexity in the story, allowing players to choose which paths to take. There is some uncertainty in Unreality's progression and linearization (i.e. how much affordance to show the character's path). Hopefully, we can learn from games such as Red Dead to improve Unreality. Summary
As it turns, I hear an unquestionably painful squeak. I can sense the mechanism grinding against its prison. The screams of the screws, locked in a fight to the death with the wooden body, are easily audible. The cold metal glares at my hand as I touch it. I can feel it yelling at me.
And then it's gone. The portal has been opened. There has been a ceasefire established. The violence which plagued the last paragraph - which conceived such drama and emotion - has been defeated. Who is the savior of this battlefield? Who is this traveler, who dares to end the combat? It is I - the same who dared to start it. I turn to leave this dimension which I have just entered, preparing to manufacture another assault. I grip the brass like a knife, pulling it clockwise by its neck. Sympathy is not an option. I must force the metal to continue its jihad, pushing against the wood. Suddenly, in a matter of seconds, there is total defeat. The portal has been opened once more. The cool brass, my puppet, is victorious. I glance at my hand. The perpetrator. The commander-in-chief. I have done this. I have been the true aggressor. Bounding down the hallway, I am quick to forget the crimes I have committed. I feel the soft beige carpet fall to my toes like a fortress besieged by the best veteran troops the world could muster. Every step is an attack; every movement of my foot an act of violence. The fluffy carpet resents me, despises me, and wishes my fate would come and carry me away. It begs me for release from its reality, pleading and crying. Yet there is no remorse. I march on, a beacon of imperialism, indiscriminately encroaching on the ground beneath me. I peer around the hallway. There is another portal ahead. I prepare for war once again. I reach out for the brass, which curses me and hisses at me. It does not want to be manipulated - an infuriated child that never desired war. Then, my arm swiftly retracts - by my own free will! I have given up my violence. The incursions are over! I forgive the carpet and the door and its knob and I realize that it's this excruciating pain that we give the world. As our doorknobs bend to our every whim, so does our globe. We are the rulers of this realm. The entire planet is powerless against us. We are free to continue our conquests of this world. What are the consequences? Which sanctions will a lake throw at us for polluting it? How many protests will be angrily and passionately targeted towards us by the forests for murdering their brethren? We are the only ones who can stop ourselves. Will I be alone in my venture to prevent ultimate destruction? Will you join me? Do you want to prevent the world from burning? Summary
The thylacine was a carnivorous marsupial in Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea that thrived for hundreds of years. That is, until it went extinct last century (probably, there's a decent chance small populations still exist, but for the sake of this metaphor, let's ignore that). 3DS Max might be the next thylacine: a unique, interesting thing wiped out by humans. However, 3DS Max won't be incidentally hunted to extinction. It will be destroyed intentionally.
Why would Autodesk want to discontinue 3DS Max? There are actually some good reasons. Autodesk is the parent company of Maya, another 3D modeling program that I've used. Unlike its sister software, though, Maya can run on operating systems other than Windows. This makes it possible for Mac and Linux users to run it without building a virtual machine or switching operating systems. 3DS Max simply can't gain a wider demographic due to its limited availability for different types of computers. Additionally, the age of the program makes it harder to update than Maya, which has a staff that knows the software better. Lastly, it doesn't make a lot of sense for one company to have two 3D modeling programs - especially when one is more available than the other. Is there any merit to the rumors of discontinuance, though? It seems so. Autodesk has already announced that they are discontinuing the 3DS Max Asset Library. Autodesk got rid of Softimage in 2014. However, 3DS Max still has an active and large community which is full of workers who won't be willing to give up on the software they have trained and made a living on. That being said, as Maya becomes the industry standard, I wouldn't be surprised to see 3DS Max going extinct in the near future. Summary
With the making this year's PBM finally behind me, I'd like to reflect on some of the experiences which my classmates and I went through. I've heard lots of insults thrown at the Unity Game Engine, which we used to create educational parkour games for our 2021-22 AGAD Proof of Learning.
"Unity is literally the worst application ever made." A classmate of mine confessed this strongly opinionated statement very recently. I took a moment to think about it and I eventually realized his perspective. Bugs in games, tiny errors in scripts that are hard to fix, weird issues that seem unsolvable, and an aura of frustration are some of the things that the Unity Game Engine has given my class the past couple months. I've experienced my fair share of difficulties. I had terrible issues with my respawn script, I had lighting bugs in my published game, I had problems switching scenes from my main menu, and more. However, I appreciated that Unity Game Engine allowed me the freedom to solve these problems through consulting Unity Forums, examining the Project Settings, or by engineering my own solution through Unity's basic yet useful 3D modeling interface. Every major issue I had I could either circumvent by doing something differently or solve. Was it frustrating? Yes. Is frustration present in all game engines sometimes? How could it not be? Perhaps the best thing Unity offers is the Unity Asset Store, which I've used to find wonderful free assets to upgrade my games and add to the environment. For my upcoming team game, I already have many prefabs from the Asset Store lined up. Although Unity isn't a perfect piece of software, I can look beyond my frustration with certain issues and see it for what it really is: a powerful tool to create games. A flawed tool, but still one with limitless potential that I'm excited to explore more of. Summary
Recently, Activision Blizzard, a prolific video game development company, has been exposed for a very toxic work environment. There were many reports that surfaced of harassment and abuse that occurred daily at Activision Blizzard. However, it's still a company and still working on games.
There's been an array of great quality, best-selling games produced by Activision Blizzard, some of which I've played. Crash Bandicoot, World of Warcraft, Candy Crush, Overwatch, and the Call of Duty series are all games made by the company. There are, of course, many future games expected to be produced by the game development studio, including a new Call of Duty game set to release this year. But how realistic is it to expect new games from Activision Blizzard, and, if so, is purchasing them morally wrong? First, let's take a look on something essentially every business has: a work environment. Whether it's bustling cubicles or a peaceful private room, the atmosphere is crucial to productivity. With heightened tensions only being added with the past year's exposure of Activision Blizzard's toxicity, it's safe to say that delays should be expected. How about the moral situation? To start off, the CEO, Bobby Kotick, who has been accused of continuing harassment, is still employed despite calls for his exit. It's clear that Activision Blizzard isn't completely committed to the safety of their employees. However, many video game companies overwork their employees in times such as crunches in order to release a game on time and not buying from Activision Blizzard would their harm their employees as well. Although occasional overworking is nowhere near as bad as daily abuse, it's important to consider that no business is perfect. That being said, I can understand the perspectives of both sides of the argument to boycott Activision Blizzard. Summary
Anyone who's ever been to high school should know that high school logos are notorious for copying professional sports teams. I've observed copycats of the Atlanta Falcons, Denver Broncos, Colorado Rockies, and even universities such as Arizona and Virginia in high schools in the past few weeks alone.
Is this even legal? Some logos are blatant copyright infringements, while others have their own unique flair. Even the most obvious thefts, though, wouldn't be worth it to stop. Professional sports leagues can send cease-and-desist orders to countless high schools across the United States, but it probably isn't worth their time. Additionally, it would create mountains of bad press and create general unhappiness. Sometimes, people can get behind the idea of borrowing a pro team's logo: In 2010, the director for corporate communications of the National Football League (NFL) said that "We support football on all levels and do not have an issue with high school and youth teams using NFL team logos." It's also an easy thing to do. Why create an entirely new logo instead of tweaking an already existing one? I'd argue for the latter of that last sentence. The pinnacle of graphic design is creativity. Taking other people's work is not only illegal, but it's wrong. Even with an endorsement from the NFL, it must leave a sour taste in the mouths of high school principals across the country to lift their logo from a pro sports team. I'd love to see a future of high schools with exciting logos that are unorthodox and special. In a world full of talented graphic designers and endless possibility with software such as Adobe Photoshop, why not take the time to have uniqueness? My recent observations have only reinforced the importance I place on graphic design, and I can't wait to see - albeit unlikely - a wave of new high school logos. Summary
I'd be surprised if anyone who spends a decent amount of time on the internet has never heard of the word 'gamer.' But is it just someone who likes games? Or is it something deeper?
Video games have basically taken over the world during quarantine. Twitch, a platform based on video game live streams, has seen extreme growth. In February 2020, the average viewers were 1.41 million. May 2021 averages 3.17 million people viewing a stream. As I'm typing this, over 2,800,000 people are watching a live stream on Twitch, most of which are probably watching someone else play a video game. That's more people than the entire nation of Lithuania. League of Legends, GTA, Fortnite, and Minecraft are some of the most popular games on Twitch - and in real life - right now. They've gained players during quarantine, and with that comes subcultures. Sometimes, though, these subcultures go a little too far. There have been doxxing incidents in gaming communities and "stans (super fans)" of certain creators, notably the uber-famous Minecraft YouTuber Dream, have cyberbullied and been extremely toxic on social media. However, on the other end of the spectrum, fans of Grian, a fellow Minecraft YouTuber, donated over $150,000 to SOS Africa, a South African charity, during a fundraiser livestream. Gamers don't have to be constantly watching gaming content, though. Just playing a quick game of Tetris or Temple Run fairly regularly is enough to be a gamer in my opinion. It doesn't matter whether you play Animal Crossing for 30 minutes every other day or take five hours to play Call of Duty daily. Being a gamer shouldn't come with the weight of having to cyberbully or give money to support your favorite creators. Just do what you enjoy - and try not to criticize Dream on Twitter. Summary
Bibliography “Twitch Statistics & Charts.” TwitchTracker, twitchtracker.com/statistics. We've seen computers go from massive, classroom-sized boxes to small watches in just a few decades. We've seen storage and processing power go up exponentially. We've sat by and watched as computers have evolved, led by the competition between Windows and Apple. Machines have lived and died so fast, with new phone models coming out annually and old devices becoming virtually useless in a matter of years. But what might the future hold for computers?
Firstly, we can simply look at past data. It's rational to predict that storage and processing power will increase. However, size can't keep getting smaller forever and there may be a drastic slowing of storage and power innovation sometime. We can also take a glance at new technology. Artificial intelligence will certainly be integral in computers of the future. it would also be safe to say that face and voice ID will be increased in use, especially in Apple products, as they have already used face ID technology. Windows seems to me moving towards a detachable computer - a tablet and computer in one. Elon Musk is even developing a brain chip, but I don't think that'll take off, at least not in the next few decades. As cool as these new technologies sound, there are some setbacks. With the worsening of anthropogenic climate change and a decrease in available resources, production and transportation of computer products will need to be vastly changed to keep up the current rates. I'm very worried about the resources aspect, as it's exclusive to the industry and is extremely vital to it. I want you to sit down and think. Where do you want computers to go? Why? Is that realistic? Summary
The economy is always a divisive topic, but we can all agree that monopolies and ripoffs are both detrimental to companies. However, in the video game scene, the market is abundant with them. Let's begin with ripoff games. Games that are carbon copies of existing popular ones - except much worse. If you've watched a second of YouTube, you've probably seen ads trying to get you to click on images of Among Us and Minecraft, but redirect you to a ripoff site. The Among Us games are offline and obviously fake. The countless Minecraft frauds are terrible and ugly. These are objectively bad for both the consumer, who loses sanity, and the company, which loses customers. One obvious alternative to ripoffs is monopolies. It sounds great: no one is stealing a company's ideas and taking away their customers, who are happy with the product. But that becomes irrelevant when looking at real-life examples. NBA 2K holds a death grip on basketball video games, meaning they pack in as many in-game purchases as possible and barely improve the game each year because they know that anyone who wants a basketball video game has to buy their game. Without rivals, companies can price gauge and lower quality of their games without punishment. So, what's the solution? Competition. Pro Evolution Soccer has for years been a rival to FIFA, the more mainstream soccer video game. It wasn't good enough to take away all of FIFA's audience, but encouraged EA to improve their game. Nowadays, although all annual sports video games are pretty repetitive, FIFA is a game of decent quality. Crackdowns on ripoffs and new games made to be competitive with mainstream ones are direly needed to improve games for everyone. Hopefully these things will happen soon so that we all can enjoy video games. Summary
Right now, I'm beginning to work with Unity, a simple and popular game engine. However, it's not the only one. There are countless game engines right now. But which are the biggest and what do they mean?
For a long time, games were made from scratch. In the 1980s, the first game engines were being used, but it wasn't until the 90s that they'd become mainstream. Epic Games - the same company that made Fortnite - released Unreal Engine in 1998. That was a big moment for game development, as companies really turned to game engines. These days, virtually all games have been built in game engines. I've played games on the Frostbite engine like FIFA and Star Wars: Battlefront. Source is a PC engine that Half-Life 2 was made in. IW Engine was used to make Call of Duty. Ubisoft uses Anvil game engine. There are lots of other options too, and many are free and downloadable for anyone to make their own games in. Programs like Unity have made game design very accessible. Game engines are easier to get and more diverse than ever before. If you're passionate about games, you don't have to go to an elite university for eight years - just open up your computer and do a couple Google searches. There are so many different choices and so many different opportunities for anyone to make their very own video game thanks to game engines like Unity. So, the next time that you're angry at software, even something like Google Chrome, just remember: you're using revolutionary technology. Enjoy your unique opportunity, especially in a game engine. Because technology is fascinating and game engines are cool. Buttle, Paul. “The Power Behind Video Games: A Look at Game Engines.” Medium, We The Players, 29 Apr. 2020, medium.com/wetheplayers/the-power-behind-video-games-a-look-at-game-engines-2731315086e0. Summary
When you think of a gamer, 'couch potato' usually comes up. Maybe you're picturing a 9 year old screaming at a television. Maybe you're imagining a famous gaming streamer saying something racist live on camera. However, a new vision of a gamer is emerging: someone focused on creating positive change in the world. Games are no longer just about having fun. Games have a massive impact on the world and the people who play them.
Gaming icons like MrBeast have helped plant of millions of trees, content creators have donated to reputable causes, and as the world has cried out, gamers have joined arms to improve the world. From Minecraft adding anti-racist splash texts to seeing my favorite gaming YouTubers spread the word about protests in India, support the Black Lives Matter Movement, and stand up in other vital moments, it's clear the positive difference gamers make to the world. But what about the negativity? What about violence? What about streamers saying racial slurs? These are legitimate problems in the gaming community, but most gamers aren't like that. It's important for platforms like Twitch to monitor and/or remove this behavior, but you can also make a difference. Be a part of positive gaming communities and don't encourage toxicity or hate. Games often put you in someone else's shoes, fostering empathy, and content creators being committed to making the world a better place while harboring wholesome communities are some of the ways that games make real change. It's up to us to choose whether we game to be toxic and violent or positive and peaceful. It's up to us to show the world that gamers are just like the rest of humanity - if not better - by doing the right thing and surfing the new wave of gaming activism. It's been a new year for about a month, but there haven't been any major releases just yet in terms of video games. However, that doesn't mean this year will be disappointing. There are lots of games slated to release in 2021.
A new Pokémon game is coming out in April. It's a photography-based remake of the 1999 game Pokémon Snap and features hundreds of Pokémon. However, I've never played much of those style of games and I don't have a switch, so I probably won't play it. May brings the new Resident Evil game, but, once again, I haven't played any prior games and therefore I'm not very excited. Supposedly, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is coming sometime in 2021, which I'd really like to play, as I enjoyed previous installments of Ratchet and Clank. However, the game was supposed to come out last year, so it might be delayed. The last two big games this year likewise have undisclosed dates and are sequels. Horizon Forbidden West is the much-anticipated follow up to Horizon Zero Dawn, which had stunning graphics and a compelling storyline. I can't wait to see what the game has to offer. God of War: Ragnarok is the sequel to God of War, which had great graphics and a good story but was a little too complex and sometimes the open world design made it easy to get lost. Hopefully the sequel fixes some of the issues with the original, but it's not a must buy game for me. Hopefully, 2021's gaming scene will be similar to 2020's: successful sequels and unexpected games popping out of nowhere. Now, all we have to do is wait. Summary
This fall, a new EA Star Wars video game was released. I enjoyed Star Wars Battlefront and its sequel, so I was excited for the new game. Star Wars Squadrons, the October 2020 game, is actually really good. However, this game review will be solely focused on the story mode, as I haven't played enough online multiplayer to have a good perspective on it.
Let's start with what makes the game unique. EA, the production company of Squadrons, is infamous for insane microtransactions and purchasing of in-game content. However, Squadrons doesn't have a big part of the game behind a paywall. It's not too expensive of a game either. Another interesting and special part of the game is the ability to play as two factions: the Empire and the New Republic. Lastly, the story has compelling twists. Some people might even argue that the story's plot is better than the Rise of Skywalker. But what about the gameplay? It's fantastic. There are absolutely stunning graphics, customizable ships, bite-sized missions, and a comfortable and not disorienting space flying experience. The levels are all unique and the creators weren't afraid to venture out of established Star Wars territory and tell a new story. Squadrons doesn't just have beautiful graphics and mechanics, though. The game has big levels with an open-world feel even though it's actually fairly linear and not truly a free will type game. Also, there is VR compatibility. Sometimes the game becomes pretty hard, but you can adjust the difficulty setting in-game, which is really nice. Overall, Squadrons is a beautiful game with great features and mechanics that make it one of the best releases of 2020. I've spent hours on this masterfully made game, and I'm excited for the future of Star Wars video games. Summary
I closed out 2020 with a terrible tradition. I watched what I consider to be one of the worst holiday films ever. No, it's not some cheesy, low-budget Christmas B-list movie. It's actually a New Year's Movie - Rudolph's Shiny New Year. Perhaps Rankin and Bass thought they'd be able to get a little quick cash and then have everyone forget about it. But, like the Star Wars Holiday Special, no movie is ever lost to history. Somehow, the 1976 train wreck of a film has a rating above a 5 according to IMBD, but it's much worse.
Rudolph's Shiny New Year revolves around the baby new year running away. As if that sentence made any sense, Father Time, the old year, sends Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with General Ticker - a toy soldier with a clock in his chest - to rescue the baby new year from the Archipelago of Last Years, which is a group of islands, one for every year in history. Chock-full of historical inaccuracies and featuring an especially cringe-worthy plot, this disastrously written movie is truly horrible. It's made using the stereotypical 1970s claymation found in the traditional Rankin Bass Christmas films, and has the same issues with showing emotion in characters. Combined with a greivous lack of good writing and some bad voice acting, I can confidently say that they created a juggernaut of disgust. You can easily find Rudolph's Shiny New Year on YouTube if you wish to lose your sanity. Quoting the film, you might want to go 'due north of the North Pole' to better enjoy your watching experience. May 2021 be a very non-shiny year with no movies as bad as this one ever produced again. Summary
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AuthorHI! I'm a 12th grader and on this page, I will blog about me and what I'm going through, both in Game Design class and in life. There are a mix of required blog posts and personal reflections, which you can sort, among other things, below the disclaimer and archives. DISCLAIMER
The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not represent those of Durham School of the Arts or Durham Public Schools. Archives
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