ENDING NOVA SCENE

Here is the clip of Cygnus' final breath before he annihilates the whole solar system.
Click Here for the Low Res Version (2.1 mb with sound, TURN UP THE VOLUME!)

UPDATES - PROBLEMS SOLVED

Thank You Joseph for allowing me to present on Thursday instead of Tuesday. This is going to be my saving grace.
I rethought a couple of major transitions between scenes and some scenes need to be COMPLETELY reanimated. Considering this is my first time incorporating clips into Flash and then transition them into a story/interactive narrative means it has been quite a learning experience.
Basic shot layout - in order of succession. All the Circular Bullets are the NEW Scene Transitions that I will incorporate to create and bridge the gap between narrative and interaction.

• A. STARS INTRODUCTION [Complete] (slow down beginning contextuals)

1. FADE TO SPACE SCENE (you watch this, and hardly interact with it)
2. FADE TO REVOLVING STARS (same) [COMPLETE]

• B. MOON INTRO [Complete] (fix transition from A2 previously)

1. FADE TO WALKING SCENE
2. PAN UP TO PLANET IN DISTANCE (you click this to *zoom* into the planet).
3. FADE INTO REVOLVING STARS [COMPLETE] (add distant planet that blinks (EARTH*)
   

• C. LAB INTRO [Complete] (Fix Fade From B3]

1. FADE OUT FROM DRAMATIC "CYGNUS" SCENE
2. PANNING SHOT OF DOCTOR LOOKING OUT WINDOW AT LAB [Complete - Window Scene Not] (A spaceship floats in the distance - blinks and is noticeable - CLICK)

• D. ZOOM INTO GENERAL SHOTS (NONE OF THESE ARE DONE<> MUST GET THESE SUNDAY ASAP DONE AND FINISHED)

1. FADE OUT FROM THIS SCENE SOMEHOW AND LEAD INTO DUEL SCENE

• E. Fade into Revolving Stars [Complete] - Select {CYGNUS}-"I shall burn brighter then ever. Behold the glory of Cygnus!" , {CYGNI}-"Even you cannot outshine my hunger!"

1. / CYGNUS - LAB SCENE [Almost Complete - Increase in Energy Decimates Lab - Comic Narrative.]
2. CYGNUS - -maybe-POST-LAB - SCENE OF GENERAL WATCHING THE SUN BURST
3. / CYGNI - MOON SCENE [Almost Complete - lead to moon crashing into moon explosion scene]
4. CYGNI -- maybe-POST-MOON
   

THIS WILL BE UPDATED TOMORROW (MONDAY) w/ FINAL SCENE ANALYSIS

Intro/Post Lab Scene

Finished it up. Little rough still. Will tweak on Monday.
Note: All Videos are still in heavy compression while the sounds are large and uncut and not streaming. This is whats giving the large file size and shitty video problems.

Click Here for Lab Scene

LAB FINAL LAYOUT - F

Heres the major scene and layouts for the Lab. Just got to lay these out into the flash animation.
Animate this.

Menu Bar _ Semi Functional

Got a menu bar that slides down in Flash above the scenes. Just lets you choose a chapter (basically pages and spreads)

Final Itinerary:

• Friday:

1. Animate Complete Lab Introduction (1/2 page spread) - Scenes and Characters Done.
   
2. Animate Complete Star Introduction (2 page spread) - 1 complete
   
3. Animate Armada Floating Scene+Nova(ship done, just need animation+blowing up)
   

• Saturday:

1. Get Photos of General/Politician
2. Animate Star Duels (2 page spread)
   
3. Animate Meteor Shower on Moon/Gravity Change on Planet
   

• Sunday:

1. Animate Complete General Introduction (1 page spread)
   
2. Animate Complete
   

BLAH BLAHB LAH
Here is a screenshot of my menu for chapter selections*

Introduction Scene - Hurray

Well it has begun!
Click Here for one of the main introduction scenes to two of my characters. It is 7.5 mb so allow it to load. Its not compressed and certain parts are still in beta stages. First attempt at animating dialog and storyboards.
Low Res Version Here

---Quick Example of Cygni's take off---
Low Res Version Here

Cygni Challenged Cygni Scene...

Click Here for the 5mb flash clip. Will take a while to load...
Here is the pre-eminent duel scene...

TEST OF LAB SCENE

Click Here for a preview of a lab scene BETA

BETA WORK LOAD

A few scenes/characters remain. Listed as follows:

• The General
• The Politician
• Assistant (maybe? only 1 or 2 scenes)
• Soldier (only 1 or 2 scenes also)

Percentage Completion of Sets:

Distant Moon (95% Set, 90% Character)

• Required:

1. Ω[one scene of Peter dying after Cygnus nova]
2. [two scenes of bomb being planted (darkside)]
3. [revelation of bomb prior to explosion animation]

Laboratory (85% Set, 80% Character)

• Required:

1. ∑ [two scenes of sacrifice]
2. [two scenes of politician escorting out]
3. [two scenes of Mary's button animation]
4. ∑ [two scenes of Mary contacting distant moon]

General/Politician/Armada (15% Set, 5% Character)

• Required:

1. [two scene discussion of politician and general dialogue]
2. ∑ [three scenes of Armada being launched]
3. ∑ [the herald ship in correlation to scene 3 on Distant Moon]
4. [one scene of General in disgust]

ΩSUPER ENDΩ (60-90% Set, 65% Character)

• Required:

1. [GENERAL - IN COMPLETION OF PRIOR SET]
   
2. [MARY - COMPLETE]
   
3. [LUKE - COMPLETE]
4. * * EACH IS FULL FRONTAL FACE SHOT - SHOWING DESTRUCTION BY CYGNUS ULTIMATE SUPERNOVA.

∑Secret Ending

• Required:

1. Just a quick shot

Ω - All Scenes denoted with Ω are animations from within AE and require 900 x 675 comp
∑ - All Scenes denoted with ∑ are small animations within the comp size of regular comic frame.

Layout - Beta

Some more storyboard layouts. Almost finished scenes of scientists.

More...[planet 1]

Here is one of the herald warship's docking at Moon 3 prior to its devastation. (note that no dialogue/narrative boxes are added in this either)

Here is the first introduction series of frames for the astronauts (only one line of dialogue has been placed). The 2nd image is after the death of the astronauts comrade (which is incidentally prior to what causes his self-destruction of the moon).

More Test Boards

Animation will begin soon once I get a happy medium between my various scenes. Below is our astronaut of previous exploring the ruins of a distant moon from his home. This is prior to his annihilation. Further below is scenes of the scientist in his lab attempting prior to his annihilation.

Ship Tests

Here is General Fortuna's floating office

More Test Renders

Here our explorer witnesses the destruction of his very own moon...
(two different color versions)

Cygnus Cried Cygni Rough ROUGH test

Map for CCC

Plot Overview

Cygnus Cried Cygni

Characters:
Cygnus: the brightest star who took his own name from the constellation itself. Though great in ability to outshine the other stars, Cygnus greatest weakness is his ego which cripples his own capability and progress.

Cygni: the fastest star of the Cygnus collective (constellation). Cygni feels he is the faster younger brother to his brighter relative Cygnus. Cygni feels a strong conviction to upstart his relative star. Jealousy fuels him and allows him greater speed in spite of his size and brightness.

Planet 1:
Peter: the first character we meet on Planet 1. The character is working research with Mary when a catastrophe occurs in their laboratory due to the change in gravity induced by the battling stars.

Mary: Peter's assistant in their lab. Peter's sacrifice creates a change in her which leads to her creation of a new type of communicator* then the one they were researching.


Planet 2:
Luke: the first character we meet on Planet 2. Luke is a space explorer on a distant moon from his planet. His mood is drastically changed by the change in swing and motion of the moon which in turn effects a drastic decision to inflict harm on his fellow explorer John.

John: a sometimes obstructive and challenging explorer whose research methods and philosophy conflict with aforementioned Luke.


Planet 3:
General Fortuna: a war-crazed general whose sole mission is to destroy all life upon Planet 2. His war-driven machines eventually overrun the further moons of Planet 2 until meeting with the moon Luke and John inhabit. John's demise leads to Luke's inner-turmoil and eventual self destruction by imploding the moon and sending Fortuna and his machines into an orbit nearing Planet 2. With his succession nearing Fortuna meets his demise by the super-nova of Cygnus and his ego imploding; engulfing the entire siege and half of Planet 2 in its wake. Planet 2 is finally contacted by Planet 1 at this point.




Overview of Plot Comparison:
Planet 1 and its characters represent a passion or even a forbidden love. Peter's sacrifice leads Mary to rethink her original task (strictly assigned by her administrators) and allows her to create a device to contact further life (if any) in deeper parts of the galaxy.
Planet 2 represents a further passion of man to destroy and how our own self destruction through our devices. Luke is a nobleman but his integrity is questioned and lost during his exploration in a remote moon with his one companion, John. His downward spiral towards the murder itself leads to Luke's rash decision to detonate himself and the moon (along with all the research).
Planet 3 is a stronger characterization of man's destructive nature. Fortuna has no remorse nor logic and only craves destruction. His warpath is altered by the course of events and finally stopped by the rash decision of Cygnus to brighten himself further.
Cygnus , Cygni and their roles: Cygnus is an entity whose ego represents the ego of all sentient beings. His greatness and sheer importance in his own galaxy are rivaled by his own awareness. Instead of being brighter by his own mechanics and means, he merely tries to impress and intimidate. In doing so, Cygnus proves that no matter how great one is, even at an infinitely cosmic level, we all must pass with digression. Cygni is in the same boat as Cygnus but instead acts as a protagonist to Cygnus as they fuel each other's ego. Cygni already possesses great speed but cannot understand his role within the universe and instead attempts to upstart Cygnus.

Conclusion:
Planet 1 contacts Planet 2. Half of Planet 2 is scorched. Planet 1 attempts to delegate some control in an attempt to help Planet 2 rebuild itself. Planet 2 agrees but seems slightly off-put. We see a connection between Cygnus and Cygni and their trivial affair. Planet 2, although willing to accept the help, seems slightly offended at the gesture (through the voice of various leaders - scenes of politicians communicating).
Planet 3 is seen in the last shot as a giant metropolis, far technologically advanced. In its last shots, Planet 3 is launching more starships similar to Fortuna's. In the background a star will twinkle and then brighten and engulf the whole screen; as if to signify Cygnus has imploded again (or another star has taken its task).

Meaning:
Basically the point is that in this universe, as we know it, there will always be those who fulfill certain roles and our destiny is determined by all of these factors, including our own.

Dialogue Beta Storyboard

"The two star's float with insatiable anxiety as to the other's reaction. For a moment, it seemed as if time had lost its place and infinity had forgotten it's name. All attention of the universe had met at this point like a singularity."

Cygnus- "By my own word, has time been a menace..."
Cygni-"How so great elder brother?"
Cygnus-"The men and their forefathers continue to name me after their Collective ["collection"] yet my true memory are met in grave brevity. What must I do?"
Cygni-" You are slow and pompous. Yet your fire burns bright; like your size, brother, indeed. But your fire which you burn pales in comparison to the vanity it exhumes within you. If only exhumation were not so simple for your vainglory."
Cygnus:"Silence your tongue little one. My stage is beyond yours. In your adolescent pursuit you only embarrass yourself."
Cygni- "I will outlast you in this galaxy. Your essence will be downtrodden by your own ego in ebb."


Mary: "Welcome Doctor."
Peter: "It is time to prepare the structure"
Assistant: "Give it time to load up properly..."
Peter begins to start the process. - "Computer off record please" -
Computer: "Yes sir."
Peter-"Initialize the lower zeta frequency this time. "
"We are not properly authorized to-"
"Forget them..."

Fade to planet 2
Luke (pompous tone): "This way, there will be much more availability here!"
John: "Heh, of course doctor." -Throws a rock towards Luke.
Luke: "Test me further John..."
John: "We began on the wrong day for this phase of research. This moon's own atmosphere and growth alone warrant our arrival at a later date. The specimens-"
Luke (interrupting): "Quit the pompous attitude. We have dates that must be met, its time to wisen' up and do your work!"
John: "Spare me the lecture, Luke."
Cut to scene of only Luke's half face shot covering half the screen - John behind him at 25%. Luke is angered.

Fade to Planet 3
Politician: "Well all the papers seem to be in order General Fortuna. I see no problem in passing this on to the next stage of votes. Surely a securely favorable decision will be concluded. "
General Fortuna: "I couldn't think of it any better way my boy."
Politician: "Of course all of this will be translated fully to the mass of the imminent threat that this "intelligent planet" may carry? Surely no one will-"
General Fortuna (interrupting): "The planet invariably has proved to us the capability to receive distant communications and possibly REPLY with a far more dangerous communication. Action is the only just and logical cause!"
Politician: "And the retriveable goods will be-"
General Fortuna (interrupting): "Well accounted for and retrieved."
Pause...Shot of half of General's face covering half the scene smiling insanely with the politician nodding
Politician-".............Good."

Critique of Walking Tour

The concept revolving around this interaction is subtle and sometimes too subtle. Peter Stuyvesant's farm tour is an interesting audio backdrop to what exists now in Manhattan; but was it really that immersive?
Each numbered code given to us contains a specified area with accompanying audio clip. As you walk or bumble about the general area you find on the map one has to listen to the audio clip. One notes the poor quality almost immediately of these clips. I draw comparisons of immersion to another audio tour I took 2 years ago in Central Park which involved ambient sounds and headphone speakers. This scenario relied on timing and involvement of the user while this tour is more like a played-out website scenario (all live) or a museum tour guide. The major differences here however are what set this tour back.
Lack of ambience and poor quality certainly do not draw attention to the piece. From this 'user's' point of view it is almost a task to complete these tasks. Straight from the get-go we had to read this map and "treasure hunt" our codes out. It wasn't so much that the task was hard as it was merely time consuming and it was not a consolidation of skill to find these places as just a mere hindrance in our quest to hear each audio clip in its proper place on the map.
These problems from a designer's point of view seem glaring but I suppose this is what the designer's failed to realize. It seems that their piece was merely only trying to allocate at the surface the ideal behind many interactive pieces; audio, sound, location and interaction. The glaring noticeable flaws mentioned above seemed to be ignored as they had finished their own agendas in the first place.
As stated, the hindrances in the piece make this a difficult project to remark on. The audience I would imagine would be tourists or even locals. Certainly not kids unless an immersion factor was played out more. If this was a beta test , I would add different interactive phone features (unknown just now what or how), better sound quality and audio immersion (perhaps make it seem like you can hear someone from the 17th century speaking from a phone in that exact location . ie. "Why hello this is my old - WOAH WATCH OUT THEIR HORSE!!") and finally, ANOTHER NUMBER. I had to do this the next day as everyone was calling on this number during the time given.

my domain map

Forgot to put this up before class and after.
Basically, a narrative follows this
Each section is pretty clear

Paul Virilio Interview

Mr. Virillio has an interesting idea about comparing various elements of media. I'm a little bit lost on his whole idea about these "accidents". I see his take on modern technology and media as a somewhat naive point of view. In a sense, he is being too vague and metaphysical in his comparisons. How is television a mistake? In comparing cinema to television and our capacity to be impacted by them on different levels he ignores the history of such elements. He segregates television into some league which it certainly is not. I will agree that television has had a fairly negative impact but it has also brought information prior to the internet at an alarming rate that was not seen before in the radio. Surely then, telegraph, is an accident as much as television during its time period. His scenario is simply too unrealistic and contrived of metaphoric comparisons to relate to the realistic notion of technology and media. His comparison with the Gulf War was a strong example but still does not touch upon the realistic nature of media and its impact in our day. Mr. Virilio seems to draw too much from some idealistic cyberworld which he perhaps envisions. Maybe in his old age reality has taken a toll on him or perhaps life wasn't what he expected but reality is not going to be substituted by his Jewish proverbs or technological bridge extensions. He seems to be very jaded by his time as a soldier and while I agree war is certainly a "civil" approach to future, his idea is too abstracted (especially when relating current technologies) to contrive an idea of the future being a separation of body from mind and our "war machine accident" being 'finally' eradicated.

Review of Paula, Sam and Joseph

Paula's, Sam's and Joseph's piece was very interesting. It began as a stationary listening device which would envelop the user in a soundscape from far regions within the room. I believe their final iteration was a lot stronger for many reasons. The interaction was strong but requires a final step that was missing in it. Its simplistic nature limits its nature however it is strong in design already even in its current concept. With the addition of other prototypes (as suggested by critics) in a large environment such as a gymnasium (possibily pitch black to reinforce the importance of sound in this) users could possibily interact with each other using these as further extensions; even more so than currently since they would rely on the sensations the headgear provides in order to interact in the environment. As stated however, the concept is strong and utilizes their ideas perfectly. It seems as though it only requires a stage or concept for itself to be utilized within.

Helium Hoop

HELIUM HOOP

1. DESIGN BRIEF/ABSTRACT/SCOPE
For our anti-technology interaction, we plan on creating a game that will challenge players to work as a team, and coordinate their actions to achieve a common goal. This activity will inspire teamwork, and communication skills. For our game, some influences are the game Twister, and the activity known as “the helium stick.” The basis of our game comes from the concept of the helium stick, where players are instructed to lower a light-weight rod to the floor, only making contact with the rod using both of their outstretched index fingers. This task becomes very difficult because the players are all lowering the rod at different speeds and times, and the overall upwards pressure is generally greater than the mass of the rod itself. The game works best with anywhere from 4 players or more. In our interaction we plan on taking the idea of a Twister board, and combining it with the helium stick activity. Our game will take place on a board that has a ring of circles situated around an outline of a hula-hoop. Players will each stand on a pair of circles, and have to lower the hula-hoop to the floor before an egg timer goes off. If the timer goes off they will have to rotate on the board, which will break their flow and make this task even more difficult. Some spots on the board will have certain challenges that the players will have to engage in if they land on that spot. Another possibility in game-play is a spinner that dictates which circles you move to. Our interaction is meant to focus all of the players on a single task, and make them communicate and work together to achieve the goal before the timer goes off.

2. SKETCHES

STRUCTURE
It has been decided the game will begin with 5 players on adjacent pairs of circles (appropriately colored differently from each). Two feet stand on each circle. The hoop is raised to an appropriate level of everyone's chest, with two fingers balancing the hoop with each hand only. The player on the orange circle will begin by setting the timer for 30 seconds and from there the players will have to begin lowering the hoop towards the place marker (circle) in the center. After 30 seconds, all players must rotate ONE circle clockwise. The same player who began the clock will restart it at 30 and repeat the process again. On the 2nd rotation, the next player on the orange circle assumes the job of the timer. This resumes until the hoop is fully lowered and placed in the circle. After a full rotation with all players and feet on their assumed color, the game is over and they have lost.
The problems that are met in this game is the fact that the hoop is hard to balance and players must rotate during this task.

PROCESS & METHOD: We began this piece by looking at camp games involving teamwork. The diagrams show some notes of how we began with games such as Twister, Helium Stick and Connect Four. From there it became obvious that when combining two games such as Twister and Helium Stick we would have to simplify each other to accomodate the extra game strategeme. From there we decided that a hoop allows us to encircle the players onto a board. We found the gameplay structure was strong enough between lowering a hoop and rotating of the players. This creates a process of X and Y movement and rotation that creates a space on the board for the players to interact and control the hoop with. This led to the final game concept being on a timed notion to allow players a span with which they can lower the hoop to create tension in an otherwise simplistic game.

COMING SOON : PHOTOS OF BETA TESTING STAGES IN CLASS _ BLUETOOTH ON COMPUTER ISN'T WORKING, TRYING TO EXTRACT THEM

finally working link - sorry Tina!

http://a.parsons.edu/~lamorte/chris/hw2.html
Still no FTP on my end. trying to fix this.

HW for 10/12 - Day in the Life

a.parsons.edu/~tlines/chris/hw2.html
HeyHey

Assosciative Words

Graphics
Film
Bars
New York
Punk
Beer
Purple



Graphics -> hi-def, edge, attitude, pixel, meticulous, grafika, flow, visual, large, style, laser, beat, color, line, position,

Review of Interactive Piece

I was chosen to review Fred's piece.
For those who missed it, Fred brought in an interactive piece which involved the use of objects that he has interacted with himself within the past month. The objects lie inside a box which had 2 holes on either adjacent ends with which we would place our hands and feel around to identify as best we could the objects.
I found it to fairly hillarious. I've played a similiar object orientation game in elementary school so it was reminiscent of this action. As far as the interaction it was a GLORIOUS experience albeit simple. However I am not quite sure of Fred's intended interaction with the user (as in what these objects meant this month in the grander scheme of things). I do enjoy how there were two holes however. It allows for a better 3-Dimensional understanding of the objects with two hands are involved; this is because of our spatial comprehension when two hands are used as modifiers for distance and touch.

Core 3 Project

Here is my workflow including a link to my project at the very bottom.










List of Words (subject related/no order):
SLAP
HANGNAIL
BEAT
BEATBOX
SKIN
TENTACLES
DIGIT
GROPE
DISTORT
FUN
EXTENSION
EVOLUTION
DEVISE
DEVICE
UTENSIL
TEXTURE


Categories of Words (subject related):
1. TENTACLES/SKIN/HANGNAIL/GROPE/DISTORT/TEXTURE/BEAT/DEVISE

2. EVOLUTION/DIGITS/UTENSIL/EXTENSION/BEATBOX/FUN/DEVICE

3. SLAP/BEAT/DISTORT/DEVISE



Founded Connections:
FINGERS AS A DEVICE -> HELPS TO DEVISE , STRANGE CREATIVITY

HANDS AS A DEVICE -> HELPS TO DESTROY, SLAP BEAT DISTORY AND CREATE BACK TO STRANGE CREATIVITY

2 LEADS TO 3 TO 1
or
2 LEADS TO 1 LEADS TO 3


A SERIES OF EXTENSIONS FUNCTION AS DIGITS. THESE TENTACLES ARE
CLEARLY USED AS A DEVISE TO CREATE AND DESTROY.


http://a.parsons.edu/~tlines/chris/main.html

Response for Game Design Article: Death to the Games Industry

I found the 'Death to the Games Industry' a very interesting read. I had not realized the full extent of the current business model's situation in the industry. I believed those knock-off movie-title games were reeling in big bucks and were paralleled by more creative releases. Alas, I have not kept up in the game market for many years now and it seems that the game industry has fallen into a sort of Hollywood-limbo. It also made me a bit happy because I had wanted to be a game designer as a child but chose not to. Sounds a lil risqué at this point in the game. I particularly enjoyed the comments about sports titles and the endless drones who purchase them. I've always wondered what the need was that drove so many of my friends to constantly buy Madden NFL 97,98,99,2000 as if something was totally different between them. I did enjoy NFL Blitz however but that game took zero cues from reality. I believe due to awareness of people these days however these game-spaces will find more peaks and leverage in better titles. I don't think this can last as such. Even Hollywood has taken cues from the Indie film movement and has been producing some excellent films as of late. I believe now is just a dryspell for the industry.