Final Novel Blurb - Graphic Novel

Blurb: 
A young samurai named Nagamasa dares to end a war on his own by traversing pitch black forests filled with bandits and feral creatures.  During his journey to speak with the 4 Ancients, he is unwillingly aided by his perky sister, Midori, and utilizes the strength, fighting ability, and wisdom taught to him by their grandfather, Durara. Nagamasa's goal to speak to the 4 Ancients and learn more about the history of the world will not come as expected, as no one who has ever spoken to the Ancients has lived to tell the tale.

Themes:

How much would you sacrifice to protect the ones you love?

What about the ones you love will you remember when you can no longer see them?

What is "family"?

Expecting the unexpected can result in a more independent and inquisitive lifestyle.

Is the truth really worth searching for?

Characters:

Nagamasa - 22, male, 6'0", a Samurai with an athletic build, carries the katana his grandfather taught him how to fight with. When he is not training or exploring he is helping his grandfather fix up their family shrine.

Midori - 17, female, 5'6", Nagamasa's young and talkative sister. Against her grandfather's wishes, she wants to learn how to fight and protect her family like Nagamasa, though she is usually seen gardening or helping Durara with housework.

Durara - 72, male, 5'8", grandfather to both Nagamasa an Midori, homeschooled them from an early age since they live in the countryside (in an attempt to keep them out of the ear torn cities where their parents died). He is often seen teaching Nagamasa how to fight, or helping Midori around the house. Unbeknown to him Nagamasa has been teaching Midori how to fight as well…

Inputs - Capstone

For my next Capstone installment I realized that I should explain the origins of common attacks like fireballs and dragon punches.  These two attack motions have been the staple for nearly every fighting game that has ever been released since its debut in Street Fighter I in 1987.  I want use these same motions in my game since they are so widely used and they are what I grew up on, so in order for others to understand these motion I’ll go into detail explaining them.
                The fireball is known in Japanese as the “Hadouken”.  It literally translates to “Wave Motion Fist/Attack” as –ken means “attack” in Japanese, while “Hadou” describes the type of spirit energy being used.  The motion input for this move is (now keep in mind were playing on an arcade here, so it’s a joystick rather than a directional pad) quarter circle forward, and any of the (usually three) punch buttons.  Quarter circle forward would mean you start the joystick at a 6 o’clock position and swipe it to 3 o’clock position, travelling a fourth of the way around the “clock” that is the joystick. Another way of describing it is “Down, Down-Forward, Forward”, as if you were following written direction where to place the joystick. After this quick swipe if any punch button is pressed, a fireball will come out.  The reason why any punch button can be pressed is because of the light, medium, and heavy version of attacks like previously stated, each button would represent a different strength (usually with Light being on the left closest to the joystick).
                The dragon punch on the other hand is just as popular, but noticeably harder for beginners to do.  The dragon punch is known as the “Shoryuken” in Japanese, again with the suffix –ken meaning attack, and Shoryu meaning “Rising Fist”.  The shoyuken is a popular uppercut move that many characters have because uppercuts are notoriously safe moves with a lot of priority.  This move is inputted by moving the joystick: forward (to 3 o’clock position), down (to 6 o’clock), and then down-forward (to 4 o’clock), and then any punch.  To give a visual idea, you are making a letter “Z” where the top to points of the Z are neutral and 3 o’clock respectively.  Once you get the hang of it down it becomes a very easy command to do, and an important on at that due to its priority. 
                   These 2 motions are important because even though there’s only two different types of movements, they open up ways to do many different attacks with slight variations.  For example, there’s the Hadouken, the backward Hadouken (which is the same input in reverse, so quarter circle backward, or a swipe from 6 o’clock to 9 o’clock), the Shoryuken, and the backward Shoryuken.  Each of these four inputs can either be followed by a punch or a kick depending on the move, so that is 8 different combinations for moves right off the bat.  Most characters only have about 4-6 moves anyway, so not all of these inputs are even needed!  This prevents too much unnecessary repetitiveness and adds a realistic edge to the inputs.  If a character had a fireball attack that involved them kicking out a ball of flame instead of it coming out of their fist, their fireball input would be quarter circle forward, any Kick.  This customizability helps players remember moves easier and helps distinguish characters from each other because of their unique movesets.
                There are other inputs that are not as widely used, such as inputs for charge or grappling characters.  Charge characters do not use simple inputs such as quarter circle forward, but rather, they force the player the hold the joystick backward for a second, and then immediately press forward and any punch/kick.  This style of characters is more defensive, an usually relies on the opponent making a mistake an punishing them with a charged up move.  This same charge style input can be down from down to up, giving these characters only 4 types of inputs available outside of unorthodox inputs like mashing punch to send out a flurry of fists.
                The last moveset belongs to grapplers, and these inputs involve a lot of half circles rather than quarter circles.  A lot of these half circle moves are grabs that have very high priority, so the extra quarter of a distance to travel hinders the usefulness and priority to some of their attacks.  The attack may have more priority, but if the opponent can consistently throw out a fireball quicker than you can input a half circle, you’re going to have to rethink your strategy.   

-History of the Hadouken and Shoryuken are from Street Fighter: World Warrior Encyclopedia by Matt Moylan

A Wordpress Site - Advanced Internet Media

                Some of the most well known websites and blogs in the internet today are hosted by Wordpress.com.  The ease of use associated with this Content Management System sees popularity from novice web designers, but for these sites we get a look at what is truly capable with Wordpress’s features.  One such site is CNN.com, a popular news hosting site and blog that has been the go-to source of worldwide events for some people for years.  I know my whenever I visit my grandparents CNN is the only thing they ever have on, so for some people this is a program that they follow regularly and sometimes constantly.  Because of this their website needs to be easy to navigate, and know how to draw the reader in with the layout of their news coverage.
                I’m going to approach this from my grandparents’ perspective, and analyze why an average CNN viewer such as them could find comfort in the website due to its parallel to the television program. Upon first visiting the site, we are greeted by the signature red and white color theme that is associated with CNN, which is a nice way to introduce a reader to the website.  The Home page displays breaking news, which is a great organization tool because that is obviously what readers are going to be looking for most of the time.  Aside from Home there are two other pages highlighted in a darker red than the rest of them:  TV & Video and Trends.  TV & Video is a nice addition because for those who do not wish to read as much they can opt to just watch a segment to keep up in a similar way to them just watching the program.  I know this is probably what my grandparents would want to use, and they could easily find it sine it’s right next to the home button.  The next page, Trends, features not as popular news stories, but a wide selection.  For those who simply want to read any sort of news available this is another great starting point, and an obvious reason why it is bolded with these other two selections.
                The rest of the pages are laid out in a similar fashion to a newspaper or a magazine, with pages such as U.S. News, World News, Technology, Health, Politics, Travel, etc.  The farther towards the right we look the less serious the stories seem to be, with many of the last pages (like Travel) being slightly unnecessary to the average browser. Still, they include all of these options anyway to offer diversity to the reader, which for a news site Is a smart move.  Each one of these tabs gives a description of what kind of information the reader will find on each page simply by hovering over it, which I think is a great addition.  There is also a separate list of pages underneath of the main one for hot topics that have been searched recently.  Again, this is a way for readers to easily find what they are looking for at a glance.
                The Home page’s actual content involves large pictures with summaries of stories underneath rather than just displaying full stories.  This is a great way to draw people into the site rather than just being able to read everything at a glance.  This also prompts browsers of the site to actually explore the rest of the site as well, a way to get people to learn without even realizing it.  A glance leads to an exploration through this sight, and I think that is a very important quality to have in a webpage.  At a glance the material should be interesting and easy to navigate, but on the inside is where you can sort of persuade your reader into browsing the site further. 

Popularity of CMS - Comm 477

                Content Management Systems have seen an exponential increase in popularity as of late – and with good reason.  Content Management Systems have helped turned average citizens into novice web designers, and for the more serious have offered a way for adept web designers to easily and quickly create efficient working websites that please clients.  So just what exactly makes these Content Management Systems so effective and popular? 
                One of the main reasons why Content Management Systems are seeing more attention is their ability to organize a vast amount of resources.  According to http://www.essent.com, Content Management Systems can manage images (including GIF and JPG), audio (including MP3 & WAV), video (including .MOV and .WMV) Flash, Silverlight, HTML and other source files that would normally need to be handled separately.  With this in mind if you are working with a large staff –each working with a different type of file – they can all work simultaneously on the same site knowing that it will easily support everything at once.  But with all of these different types of files and actions going on there needs to be a way to easily manage all of this information in a way that makes sense, and that is another reason why CMS are growing popular.  Staying true to their name, Content Management Systems do a fantastic job of not only accepting diverse types of information but also organizing that information in a way completely unique to the users or designers.  This way everyone working on the site can upload their respective files onto the site and not worry about altering other peoples’ works, which can be a problem when trying to host a site from multiple servers when not using a CMS.
                Content Management Systems are easy to use, and because of their ease they are often utilized when a quick website needs to be created.  www.a3webtech.com explains that when using CMS it is just as easy to create a 1,000 page website as a 10 page website, and the only thing standing in your way is how you want it to look.  That part is relatively easy, with most CMS offering many default layouts to choose from for simple sites.  The ability to create pages rapidly is aided by the ability to make changes on multiple pages at once.  This way all of the data that is being added can all be updated as one unit instead of the author going in and changing every single page (reminds me of my time in Comm 352…)
                Content Management Systems are helping more and more people create websites and learn about web design every day.  The ease of most of these sites (like Wordpress for example) allows for even inexperienced users to create efficient websites that fill every needed role, making CMS an obvious choice for any company using webspace.          

Final Novel Ideas - Comm 343

                My expectations for my final novel project for Graphic Novel are to create a compelling story that uses minimalistic imagery.  After reading novels such as Maus and Essex County, I have come to realize that flashy, over-animated panels are not as important to conveying a story as I once believed.  Both of these novels are in black and white, and feature hand drawn characters that, despite their silly appearances, all do a fantastic job of expressing emotion on a human level.  We instantly sympathize with Lester in Essex County before we even discover his mother’s passing prior to the story.  His lonesome behavior and superhero attire suggests that he has a minute social life that is going unattended to by his uncle, his new guardian.  In Maus, even though all of the Jewish characters are portrayed by mice we are still able to feel the tension and sadness that goes into a story dealing with the Holocaust.  Making sure the characters can convey a message rather than relying on cool and flashy over the top artwork will prove to be what separates collegiate level work with that of a professional.

                My novel takes place in feudal Japan, during a time of roaming samurais working as swords for hire.  Our hero is a young male samurai in his early twenties that is in search of a way to end the ongoing war at hand and therefore keep his family (consisting of his younger sister and his grandfather) from becoming another casualty of war.  Whenever an individual prays for guidance one of 4 voices is heard.  This leads many to believe that there are four Gods (known as the Ancients) who are truly in control, and countless warriors have attempted to meet these Ancients face to face to ask them questions but none have lived to tell the tale.  The story will pick up with our hero already very close to the dwelling when his younger sister chases him down to join him and aid him in battle.  He is reluctant since he has only begun teaching her how to fight, but he is seemingly at ease knowing that he can keep his watchful eye on her.  When they finally meet the Ancients they will discover a secret that has escaped everyone in their attempt to know the truth; however, the truth about the Ancients may cause even more problems for our hero.
                To essentially spoil the ending, our heroes discover that the Ancients are really just one cloaked figure with 4 different rotating masks, each one with a different personality and a different type of advice to give.  When it’s true form has been discovered, the Ancient replies with anger and violence.  The story will end with our hero destroying the Ancient, and therefore the source of answered prayers for the world.  With this lack of a religious deity to fight for the war, many stop fighting as a reaction to their unanswered prayers and concerns about their family, and instead simply go home to be with them.
                The themes present are about family and nonconformity.  For many people who do not have the answers to the world for themselves, they rely on others to give them this information.  If this “other” is some type of religious figure, then your decisions will be skewed by what you are told is right and wrong rather than using your gut to tell you how you truly feel about a situation.  This is a generalization I understand, but this voice of reason is why many individuals choose to fight for what they think they believe in.  My novel will explore themes of individualism while breaking away from conformist roles that society would pressure us into performing, knowing that at the end of the day it is better to please yourself and those you love rather than the world who would probably not do the same for you.

Balancing Defense - Capstone

                Following Jesse Schell’s novel The Art of Game Design once again I have learned more and more about balancing mechanics that I would like to see present in my game.  One of the other more interesting aspects of balance is “punishment” – penalizing the player for making a wrong choice.  At a glance this seems counterproductive, wouldn't we want our players to have constant positive feedback while playing?  The answer is no, and surprisingly being punished while playing a game can make the situation more intense because you as a player are aware that you should be learning the entire time you’re playing.  In fighting games, since each character has a health bar and takes multiple hits to knock out, the ENTIRETY of a fighting game consists of punishing mistakes, which is why I believe fighting games are some of the best genre-wise in developing motor skills as well as thinking improvisationally. 
                Punishment in fighting games specifically increases the challenge for smarter players, as reaction time is crucial to being a successful fighting game player.  Increasing the punishment in relation to a minor or major failure is also a key element because you would not want to punish someone too severely for their mistakes, especially if they are still learning.  Unfortunately most fighting games have a steeper learning curve than most other games, as playing against the computer and a human have completely different feels and strategies associated with each. 
                The punishment factor in fighting games is usually always the same: two people are fighting, one person throws a punch, the punch connects and they must decide which order of operation to continue attacking with, while the opponent (who was punished by being hit) must think defensively of how they can get out of this situation.  Another example is: two people are fighting, one person throws a punch, the punch misses (or “whiffs” the opponent) and they are subject to punishment as they essentially chose the wrong move to do in that scenario, technically speaking.  This gives the opponent a chance to punish the attacker with a move of their own, and their offense becomes the same as previously stated.
                  In fighting games it is common knowledge that being on the offensive is easier than blocking a string of attacks, and for that reason I would add 2 distinct features that could help with players defensively: Burst and Parry.  Burst is a command usually activated by pressing all of the face buttons on the controller or fight pad, activating a “burst” of energy that completely frees you from any attack while simultaneously pushing the attacking opponent across the screen. This burst is limited to usually one per battle, and I cannot think of a better tool for defense that is accessible to any playing ability.  It’s like the perfect panic button.  Your instinct when panicking would be to press as many buttons as possible, and that is why this input works so well, just press all of them!  The burst is instant and completely resets the current fighting stage spatially, which gives you more time to think without the enemy just bullying you.
                The other defensive maneuver, Parrying, is a much more difficult to achieve action but yields a much better reward: complete invincibility.  In Street Fighter 3, a new feature was added where you could potentially parry any attack (or string of attacks) by simply pressing forward as soon as you get hit.  While this seems simple, it is one of the most difficult defensive maneuvers to master.  That being said it has easier capabilities.  Pressing forward puts you completely open to the enemy’s attack, so unless your timing is spot on, you’re gonna get hit.  However with good timing an experienced player could potentially block every attack thrown at him or her, but this is highly improbable.  It’s usefulness can be more easily attributed to surviving in a zoning war (a scenario where both opponents constantly throw fireballs at each other)  Since fireballs are usually a single striking move that travels forward at a set rate, it is relatively easy with little training to deflect fireballs consistently.  This instantly levels the playing field for characters without fireballs, and forces those with them not to rely on them.
                My next field of study is how I plan on using “super meter” for the fighting style I want.  But a good place to start is by clarifying in further detail just how important (to me at least) super meter is.  

Balancing Offense - Capstone

                                     In an effort to further my knowledge of balancing and mechanics, I have read even more of Jesse Schell’s novel, The Art of Game Design to get an idea of how these balances should be implemented.  An aspect of balance I had never thought about was the “risk versus reward”  factor:  moments during gameplay that offer little risk yield little reward, and therefore actions that involve high risk would yield a high reward.  A way to implement this is by creating a light, medium, and heavy version of each attack, all with minor changes.

                                An example of this is a move common to fighting games: the command grab.  A command grab is an input that certain characters can perform while directly next to an opponent.  If the grab connects (aided by the ability to go through an opponent’s guard because of its grab status) a decent amount of damage can be dealt.  But with light, medium, and heavy versions of attacks, we can add variety to each attack by offering the player 3 different versions to choose from.  The light version would deal the least amount of damage if it connects, but it would activate the fastest.  It also has the shortest reach, meaning you would have to be right up next to your opponent to activate it.  The heavy version on the other hand is the opposite:  deals the most amount of damage if it connects, has great range, but activates slower.  This means that if the opponent were to throw out a move at the same time as his command grab, the opponent’s attack has a better chance of breaking through because of the lower priority of the heavy command grab.  The medium version is a nice balance of the two for safer players.
                                Another addition to this strategy of multiple versions of attacks is allowing the player to use their a portion of their “hyper meter” (or whatever meter is being used to display special attack energy) in order to power up a normal attack to have essentially the “best” combination of effects.  Using the command grab as an example again, this powered up command grab utilizing a bit of hyper meter might have the damage of the medium version, the range of the heavy version, and the priority of the light version.  This means that the attack is better in every way, taking the better aspects of each version in order to make the “best” version of the attack.  It is up to the player to choose which one of these to use depending on the situation.  It also adds more depth to the fighting because even if a character has four attacks, if they have four different version of each attack then they can stand a fighting chance.  Sometimes the hyper meter versions of moves have effects like projectile invincibility, or home in on an opponent if the attack is a diving kick for example.
                                In my quest for obtaining balance the next topic I need to research is defense.  As a constant reminder from Schell, keeping both players on a level playing field is ideal, so I must find a way to level the playing field even when two polar opposite characters are fighting.  A lot of fighting game rosters suffer from “bad matchups”, where certain characters are just plain not good against others.  Hopefully the combination of defensive and offensive tactics implemented will combat this dilemma.