Utopia game idea

Utopia game idea 

for this project the class was split up into teams of four and set the task of coming up with a game idea that was either set in a utopian environment or a dystopian environment. my team that consist of me Matt, Jess and James had to come up with a game idea set in a utopian setting.

when we started with the ideas generation process it appeared very quickly that coming up with a utopian game was very difficult because of all the demands that a utopia needs. so after we had a couple of strong ideas we either had the choice of narrowing them down to the best ones or we could pick one idea each and run with it, we decided to chose one idea each and develop it. some of the ideas ranged from audio games, paint and puzzle games and even free running games. 

the hard part about coming up with a game idea set in a utopia is that it must be enjoyable for everyone.

When i was researching utopia games i came across some really good game that had the same sort of type of style that i was looking for all the information is in our presentation below 

my idea that i chose to develop a game Coral in which a scuba diver dives down into a coral reef and their aim is to swim around and take different types of coral and plant them in dead areas to bring the coral back to life and make the environment expand with colour and life. I chose to do this because i felt that it would put the player in a very peaceful place, also there is no harm that can happen to the player or in the game it is just intended to a peaceful game. When i was thinking about the game details i really envision it being  focused on colour (very saturated colours) because i feel that this puts people in a euphoric state of mind. This game would be intended as mini game from the PSN (Playstation Network) because you probably couldn't play it for hours at a time because you would get bored repetition. Coral would be one of those games you play when you just need an hour to relax and unwind.

The reason i chose the PSN and not the Xbox Market it because i wanted the controls to be based on motion with the controller so the gameplay speed would be slower and the fact that anyone could play all you need to do is direct the diver and press a button to pick up and plant coral.

When i thought of this game idea i was inspired by the song 'Where is my mind' by Pixies.

Utopia and dystopia

Utopia and Dystopia 

the word utopia origins from Greece and means No place and Good place 

one of the best descriptions of a utopia i read was 

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/utopia

often Utopia An ideally perfect place, especially in its social, political, and moral aspects.
b. A work of fiction describing a utopia.
2. An impractical, idealistic scheme for social and political reform.

In my opinion a Utopia can never be achieved because how individual all humans are and we all have ideas of what a utopia is. This dose not mean that you can utopia by your self i feel that people sometimes get a euphoric state and a utopia mistaken.

Plutos Republic 380 BC way ahead of time suggest the way forward so that society could be level

Venus project

The Venus project is a modern day idea for a utopia on the premises that money does not exist any more and that everything is based around science everything would be made to benefit humanity everyone jobs would be helpful to create scientific discoveries an everything would be green powered there is a massive flaw in this idea because of human nature greed comes into play because everything is free everyone can have what ever they want but because of human characteristics and emotion this cannot be achieved for example if one guy had 10 cars another person might see this and 20 cars and so on and so on until the formula becomes corrupted in this idea everyone has equal rights and equal opportunities because everyone is the same or can be the same.

Opinion 

In my opinion this is why a Utopia cannot exist because of human nature everyone has a different opinion of what utopia is i feel that sometimes people can get a utopia And Euphoric state mixed up euphoric state is a nice place to be and can effect one person on many people but it is not perfect for everyone like a utopia should be. 

Dystopia 

Sometimes a utopia may look good on the outside but really it may have a dark secret that turns into a dystopia. For example the movie the island on the surface it seems that everyone is equal and safe and in a nice environment but in reality the citizens  being controlled by people high above in a hierarchy 

The most common version of the dystopia is the post-apocalyptic dystopia were some bigger then/life changing event has happened with the world and is left in horrific state and people are facing horrible challenges everyday words basically hell on earth.

Gender and the Gaze (Tekken Tag 2)

After looking at gender and the gaze in college and how it was mainly focused on art /fine art I decided to look into videogames and how women are perceived in Tekken tag 2 (the most up to date Tekken) in Tekken  most of the female characters are dressed inappropriately this is clearly down to the marketing for a male audience also nearly all the female characters are lost in the storyline or looking for something this helps the male character to stand out to rescue the female characters to make them seem weak and vulnerable in the game there are no big bulky or butch women whatsoever they are all small and petite and agile.

Also  the noises of a hit in the game all the women's reactions or voices are incredibly over the top and incredibly exaggerated for female tone, most of the time this is completely unnecessary.

There is one character in the game called Leo nobody knows if this is a boy or a girl the way the developers have made the character is either a pretty boy or a masculine woman I don't know why they felt the need to put a character like this in the game maybe to balance out the female audience for the game so they don't always have to play is big strong man or really petite agile women maybe just to meet them in between somewhere.

Orientalism

The definition of Orientalism is how the western side of the world sees the eastern cultures. This  also means that this is the Westerners point of view of what the eastern culture would look like such as that the Westerners can create a false image of what they want to see instead of what is actually happening. For example when you see a poster of  holiday in india and you'll see elephants and people greeting you and lots of  colours nice buildings and everything clean but in reality it it might be very very different. 

In art there is a terminology for this  called pastiche, where the artists chooses to take on another art style from another artist. For example in the picture everything comes across as Indian or of indian culture but in reality the patterns  on the wall from Europe and Asia sculptures from India tiles from North Africa and an Islamic dress.

Two axis mini project

history in video games

                            

                          

                            

This is how Tokugawa Ieyasu was being portrayed in Sengoku Basara - a long way from the original :)

Semiotics

Health bars at the top of screen this normally indicates the players damage that can be taken. Icons or lights under the health bars represent how many matches one and how many matches the players will need to win. The stances of the two players on screen quite clearly indicate that this is a fighting game.The clock at the top of the screen in the middle is an indication to show how long is left in the round and how long each round is. The Character portrait at the end of each health bar  is there so that a player knows who's health bar belongs to whom.

The people in the background chanting show that this is an audience for fighting game cheering on the fight. The setting of the background is clearly somewhere in Japan you can tell this by the house in the background and the lights used to light at the scene.

One of the players outfits is a futuristic combat costume you can tell by the gloves and boots worn for protection the other character clearly comes from a very rich background judging by his attire is wearing a three Peace without the jacket and smart shoes. 

Looking at the positions of the characters there eye contact is purely fixed on one another knowing that they're both opponents in the game.