Star-shard Tree

this was the model i did for my last assignment. im p proud of it considering this time i didnt follow any guide, made everything from scratch, and modelled stuff we didn’t even see in class

i think it looks pretty cool! i didn’t have time but i want to actually finish the flipflops and add a cable to the neon lettering and maybe fix the reflections on the glass table. 

Some of the scenes done for the last 3D modelling assignment ouo 

First two were to practice textures

Next 3 were to practice natural daylight/moonlight/artificial light 

Next one was to practice volumetric lightning 

Last 2 are my custom images for this assignment. Aka me playing with the lights in the scenes without a concrete guide. Tried to turn the sunset room into a night scene and the morning daylight room into a sunset scene

this assingment was much more fun than the modelling one ;u; 

I’ve been wanting to share the second assignment I did for my Interactive Narrative class (got an A omg!). The idea was create a proposal for a transmedia project, that is, a project that spans several types of media (books, film, games, social media.etc.). The requirements were:

The first extension should be a 15 minutes short film

There should be other 3 extension, and one of them should require audience participation.

No budget limitations.

All extensions should be independent from each other. The user should be able to experience and enjoy one of them without having to know of the others. 

All the extension should expand the main story. Therefore a trailer or an advertisement isn’t an appropiate extension

I decided to go for a dystopic cyberpunk story about a world where the sun has gone out and people trade in concentrated sunlight. 

[read the pdf in english]

(like, a year later)

I’m bringing this blog back. 

Things that have happened: I’m studying Game Design now! I have a small game in the making! I moved to my own place! Got a job too!

Also rebranded! Star-shard Tree sounds prettier. Also look! A logo!

Will be working towards continuing Welcome to the City. I’ve had some issues regarding it but I will work towards solving them :’) Hopefully before summer. 

So expect new posts! 

I was surprised to find out many people had liked the previous fairytale I had adapted to the world of Fallen London. And people asked in the tags to see more! So I decided to adapt another one. This one’s also a traditional Spanish fairytale, originally called “El Real del Sastre”. Enjoy!

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Not so long ago, there lived a gentleman near Ladybones Road who was too opportunistic for his own good. He came from a wealthy family fallen from grace and, decided to never put his hands to filthy work, he made his way through life by lying and loans.

He didn’t have a job, he didn’t even steal. Not in the typical way, at least. But everyday he was at the store, picking up his daily meal.

“I’ll pay you next week!” he said, over and over again.

If someone pointed out that’s what he had said the previous week, he changed topic fast, and flashed a charming smile. And he kept going on like this: a charmed young butcher, a forgetful librarian, a load here, and there, and over there…

Turns out these kinds of tricks don’t work forever. And the people in the neighbourhood were getting tired of his antics. They got together to visit the Opportunistic Gentleman and ask for their money back.

Welcome to The City’s first chapter is out!

Phew! So this is my first interactive fiction work. It’s a retrofuturistic choose-your-own-adventure game with decisions that have both immediate and high end consequences. Created with the open-source tool Twine and featuring art by the amazing @schemilix.

You are Dana. 26. You’ve always lived in The City. But don’t let the name fool you! We’ve got mountains, pastures, forests, and beaches here. Your life has been idillyc for the most part, born to loving parents, surrounded by friends. Pursuing a promising career in politics. Everything would be perfect, if it weren’t for the recurrent nightmares…

(that’s her)

What I can say so far without spoiling it, is that WTTC is a story about revolution, trust, freedom, and identity. And difficult choices.

WTTC is supposed to be an episodic adventure, which each chapter being published periodically (I’m going to strive for once a month, more often during not-many-classwork periods, more rarely during exams). 

So what to expect from further chapters?

lots of lgbt+ representation

as many kinds of representation as I can, and I welcome input on how to get better at it from members of communities I don’t belong to (POC, disabled, trans.etc.)

robots

(optional) romance

(optional) polyamory

a lack of homophobia, sexism, transphobia, racism.etc. here’s a game you can play without worrying about it. (again, I appreciate input on these issues and how the lack of them is handled)

cute robots

So if that sounds up you alley: 

Just leaves this here because this was so simple and so smart I’m amazed.

Basically, finish a scene and ask yourself: Does the character succeed?

And the possible answers: Yes / Yes, But / No / No, And 

Does anyone know of videogames with bad decisions that are clearly marked as such? Such as the SMEN branch in Fallen London where the game itself tells you that the consequences are going to be BAD so that you’re warned. 

(If I remember correctly The Stanley Parable has some like this too)

(I’m talking like clear bad decisions, not foreshadowing or similar)

Thank you for your help!

Good story, interesting choices, worrying representation.

I think I spent most of my time while studying for exams thinking “I can’t wait for them to end so I can finally play Life Is Strange”.

Then I binged it in two days. 

Don’t get me wrong, that’s a good thing. And for most people who don’t just decide to gorge on games and their writing and who play responsibly... It will probably last you several days. 

Okay, so first of all, I’m not an American. And all I know about the American college experience come’s from tv shows and 90s films... which I always thought were exaggerated, guess not! 

I know it seems weird to focus on this but for me it was quite striking. I don’t really know if it’s an accurate depiction. But I was really surprised, about the existence of this Vortex Club, this elite club. I think I left the “popular vs. nerd” (or, in this case, hipster) dichotomy in High School, so I was surprised to see it in college here. As far as my experience goes, people from different “social groups” tend to get along pretty well in college. But then again, my experience is reduced to degrees like Translation and Psychology which are fairly nerdy. 

This game is being used for for anti-bullying campaigns, which I think is a wonderful idea.

A bunch under the cut!

(inspired by the recent discussion at @fandomsandfeminism)

Same goes with people of color, disabled people.etc. 

If you’re writing a story and it only has cis heterosexual white (male) characters... then that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a bigot or a bad person! We are constantly shown these kind of stories since we were born. Honestly, it took me until I was 18 to stop saying “Women protagonists are boring!”. 

BUT it does mean you have to look at your story and wonder “why”. And go back at your characters and wonder if they really all have to be cis, heterosexual and white. And wonder why your word has to be, as @fandomsandfeminism rightly put it, “a homophobe’s ideal world”.

“But my story isn’t about gay people, or being trans, or racial discrimination!”

Yeah, and my life doesn’t focus in liking girls and fearing conversion therapy and hating myself, I like metal and wearing bloomers under skirts, among other things. Yet most books with characters I can identify with insist that my life has to be full of sadness and anguish. (This isn’t to say portraying the reality of LGBT+ youth aren’t important, the problem comes when those are the only ones allowed to be published)

Which brings me to the point: LGBT+ people, people of color, disabled people.etc. are NOT symbols. Or narrative tools. 

No one asks a writer what are they trying to symbolize or explain when their main character is a cis, heterosexual, white man. Then why should it be true for other kinds of characters? 

“You’re forcing writers to write token characters instead of focusing on the point they want to make!”

The thing is, we are people. Stop thinking about us as tokens and symbols. Your mighty paladin can be gay, your elven princess can be trans, your space soldier can be disabled, your story can feature nothing but people of color. And it’s just as valid and cool, and entertaining as any other story. Don’t give homophobes their ideal world. 

“What if my story isn’t about fantasy and I’m trying to make a full realistic historical narrative?”

That’s so great!