Blog Post #23 A Land of Stories
Sa. 4/5/2025
Griff informed me that it would be beneficial to look into “runtime mesh generation”— because that would update collisions in the “smeared” environment. He also said that I could pair this with vertex shading to convey the “smeared” texture onto the new geometry. I watched this video, which makes it seem pretty simple (at least, for runtime mesh generation), but I would need to modify it to occur with the weapon swing— instead of the video’s firearm firing.
I found this rainforest asset pack on Fab, as well as this swamp asset pack. This swamp asset pack is also really appealing. I’m looking for environmental assets so that I have something to affect with alla prima. I just found this water with algae and plants asset pack. Pairing that with swamp groundcover could look really cool. For the final product for Praxis, I would want the stagnant water to have depth, and to splash as Sir Babbage trudges through it. I don’t know how I would do that. I found this underground fantasy plant asset pack, as well, that I think would fit really well thematically.
I watched this video on runtime booleans, which wasn’t directly, immediately helpful, but I could see it benefitting the “slicing” weapon’s mechanic.
Th. 4/10/2025
I’ve been communicating with Ulm about potential options for realizing alla prima. She said that particle systems or voxel destruction systems could work. I watched this old-ish video on voxel destruction systems. It uses a voxel plugin. This example is intriguing— not because it fits alla prima well— it’s very different— but if I could decrease the voxel size, make the environmental assets into voxels (not sure if that’s possible), then we could just move the voxels, instead of destroying them.
I’m going to look more into this.
This past week, I gained an ally! Matt, a fellow 1st year MFA student has joined the project! I met with him at the Dining Commons, talked about my vision— he seemed super excited about it. I did get food poisoning from the DC, though.
I’ve talked with Dillon (an undergrad interested in doing rigging for us over the summer), asking if models need to be textured before they are rigged. Fortunately, he said that they do not need to be textured. That’s great news, because, as Matt and I discussed, even the two requisite characters for our demo (Sir Babbage (PC) and The Binder (boss)) are very complicated visually— especially The Binder. He’s going to be an armored warrior completely composed of illuminated manuscript-style parchment— like medieval manuscripts— complete with illustrations. Even just modeling him is going to be complicated, so it’s good that we can get him rigged before texturing him.
What else? I just did my taxes, and I started the process of renewing my license. Still not really sure what my tax refund is going to be. I was considering pre-ordering the Nintendo Switch 2, and if my refund is sizable, I think I will go ahead with that. Do I really need it? Not exactly. Duskbloods doesn’t even come out until 2026. But I do want to keep up with the gaming world, and going to the midnight release in June sounds legendary.
Last night, I started reading Sunrise on the Reaping, the new Hunger Games novel. At first, I was a bit irritated about the seemingly surface-level callbacks— but I’m about 100 pages in, and the characters— primarily Beetee, Wiress, and Snow— are actually interesting characters! I read Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes a while ago, and disliked how it strayed from the Hunger Games’ first-person, present tense style; Sunrise on the Reaping goes back to that first-person, present tense style. Why did Collins change the formula for Snow’s origin story? Maybe because she didn’t want the reader to empathize as well with him as with Katniss or Haymitch. The tense change in Ballad doesn’t really make sense with that, though, because Sunrise is still set significantly before the first Hunger Games book.
Aside from reworking alla prima, I am caught up with classes! Which is great, because the end of the semester is mere weeks away. For my Texturing final, we can texture anything complex enough. If I had time, I’d model Babbage and texture him— but I don’t have time for that, so I bought and downloaded the STL file for the Trench Crusade Black Grail Corpse Guards. This is the ranged one.
I had this idea a while ago of modeling, printing, and painting my own Black Grail faction force— but instead of poisonous ichor and rot, it’d be Candyland-themed. The rules for the Black Grail work well for that. I was thinking of renaming the poison effect as, like, a “caramelization effect”, or a “saccharine effect”. I hadn’t seen the Trench Crusade models up close before, and never from all angles, so it was impressive seeing this Corpse Guard in 3D. The detail is stunning, and he even has some shrunken heads hanging off the back of his belt! Imagine a skirmish between, like, New Antioch and the “Saccharine Grail”. One force of combatants decked out in WWI-era armor and weapons, and the other brightly colored, with candy canes and gumdrops. Wouldn’t that be so much fun?
Anyway, texturing my Corpse Guard is going to be complicated, but it’s a familiar process by now, and I have two and a half weeks to do it. If I stick on it, I think it should be fine.
…
I partook in the event in MACD on Spree Day! It was legendary. I slid on the smooth floor and everything. We’re planning another, and I intend to be better prepared. I’m talkin’ costumes, I’m talkin’ personalized and modded equipment. I bought one piece off Christian for a significant price, so that he couldn’t refuse, and so that he can buy more with the money. I have an upgraded spring and dart adaptors arriving tomorrow, and I’m going to paint it gold with purple stars/purple with gold stars.
F. 4/11/2025
I’ve been auditioning for my older sister’s narrative podcast, The Lost Poetry Club. I auditioned for (I think) the narrator for The Hole, and was invited to audition for Jeb, the main character’s antagonistic brother. I had to learn a Tennessee accent for it, and I think I did pretty well. If I get a role, I definitely need to get approved for access to the Whisper Booth— I’ve just been recording off my phone, which is fine for auditions, but not for a final product. Still waiting on a response from Don.
I answered most of the questions for the Thesis/Praxis questionnaire that’s due Monday. I copied my responses for the praxis project to another doc, so that Matt can reference what I wrote; so that we can coordinate our responses. I’ll copy everything I wrote below.
What questions have you had that have allowed you to compare and evaluate games and interactive media.
How does the medium contribute and cohere to the thematic consistency of the game? If a game’s method of conveying information is congruent with the information itself, that means a lot to me, and generally allows for increased immersion— which, personally, is key.
Name two topics you are passionate about that you have always wanted to see explored in games/IM?
1) Innovative environments that convey a sense of wonder and whimsy.
2) How voice acting contributes to the presentation of games/IM.
THESIS TOPIC QUESTIONS
A brief description of the TOPIC you want to focus on for your capstone year (and generally why):
I will be researching how to optimize creative productivity for neurodivergent artists. As a neurodivergent student, I have experienced stressors that other students don’t typically have to deal with— which has resulted in being behind on assignments, and, even, having to withdraw from a course this semester. If I can identify cornerstone strategies to minimize the productivity drain that neurodivergent struggles cause, that will not just optimize my work— it will help other neurodivergent creators, as well.
Tell us how your topic is reflected in your thesis research topic -- if you have an idea for your thesis statement, put it here
My thesis and praxis projects are more ambitious than anything that I’ve done this first-year of the program. In order to lead a studio to success, and create a research paper and a related gamebook presentation, I will have to function more highly and more consistently. Focusing on optimizing creative productivity for neurodivergent artists will allow for that.
Tell us how your topic will ALSO be reflected in your Studio praxis project.
My topic is designed to be practical, and immediately implementable. I don’t know which people will be working on the praxis with Matt and I, but I intend to leverage my topic to increase team productivity and minimize burnout.
PRAXIS PROJECT TEAM QUESTIONS
A brief description of your idea for your capstone Studio project:
Our praxis project will be a simple demo demonstrating complex mechanics. The player will find themself in a unique environment combining rainforest, swamp, and fantastical plantlife. They will be tasked with exploring a limited area in said biome, using the primary alla prima mechanic to traverse obstacles and collect ingredient components. Those components will factor into the secondary mechanic: a three-dimensional spatial inventory system— like 3D Tetris— with each item stuffed into the PC’s pack imparting qualitative buffs (like “fiery” from a vial of alchemist’s fire imbuing the PC’s weapon with burn effects, etc.). The focus is immersion, so there will be a minimal-to-nonexistent HUD, and no quantitative values visible to the player. When the PC, a jack o’ lantern-headed warrior has acquired and stored the desired components, the player will head to the center of the area, where an open tome before a purple crystal obelisk will summon the boss. Engaging in battle with this giant combatant formed entirely of illuminated manuscript-style parchment, the player will have the opportunity to use alla prima’s secondary effect— dis-integrating powerful enemies. Upon his defeat, the “Binder” drops his triple-bladed paper sword, which shrinks, and is equippable by the PC. That ends the demo.
Stretch goals include creating a number of helpful NPCs outside of the central area, with which the player will be able to interact and purchase equipment from. Also, we hope to create an effect similar to alla prima, but instead of smearing the environment, the paper sword will send out slicing rays that slice the environment.
What area(s) do you want to _personally_ contribute to during your year of Studio time?*
Development (programming, hardware): Yes!
Writing/Narrative/Story
Game / IM Design (big picture): Yes!
Mechanics: Yes!
Level Design
2D art/animation
3D art/ animation: Yes!
Audio / Sound / Music/ Voice creation and/or recording: Yes to VO!
User Interface Design
Visual Effects
XR dev
Other:
List your primary and secondary role for your project. Consider that other roles will then be fulfilled by other team members.
Note here if you will be working with another Second year MFA student on a combined project.
Required _general_ roles to be filled: Art, Programming, Design, Production
Primary role: Director
Secondary role: 3D character design
I will be collaborating with Matt Kaz.
List and describe (since Art is broad for example), your three most critical Studio project team roles (outside of your role(s)) and if you have anyone in mind for them, who.
In order of importance:
1) Programmer— someone skilled with programming in UE5, especially someone capable of creating unique new mechanics, such as with vertex displacement, voxel systems, etc. It would be great to have multiple of these.
2) Animator— someone who can animate the two primary 3D characters, which will have a multitude of actions.
3) Level Designer— we will be using a series of environmental assets to create the setting, so we will need someone to assemble all of the components into an interesting, interactive layout.
I also made a simple sketch of a potential area layout for the area of the Wyrdwilds that the demo takes place in.
All of the pink is the ruins, the gray-ish green is all significant water features, brown is natural obstacles— there's also the obelisk in the center where you summon the boss. Everywhere is densely packed with the verdant plant life— so just assume that it's everywhere (I didn't draw it). There's also standing water scattered pretty evenly throughout.
The Wyrdwilds, a Land of Stories.
I wanted to research more for alla prima today, but it’s getting late and I need to start getting ready for tomorrow. If I can’t sleep, I’ll do some research.
