PROJECT UPDATE

For my Final Project I have decided to continue working on my mini interactive game entitled "Pizza Man" because I have yet to finish it. I would like to see my game completed by myself so I can finish it the way I planned to. I am more than halfway done with my project and hope to finish it by the end of the semester. I can see myself finishing it right before the end of semester still, so I seem to be right on track to completing my project as planned. I have no questions at this time but if any arise I will be sure to e-mail you for your advice.

Midterm Post: Pizza Man Game

For my midterm project I decided to make a simple yet interactive game much like those found on websites like addictinggames.com or armorgames.com. Most of these interactive games use stick figures and I thought using stick figures would fit well with my aspect of what I wanted my game to look like. Although I decided to use stick figures for my project, I put my own little twist on some of the characters to get certain points across. For example, in one part of the game there will be a very muscular man who answers the door to the main character (Pat). This muscular man just so happens to be the boyfriend of the girl that Pat has a crush on. The boyfriend must look intimidating so I made him have muscular arms that apparently do not resemble a stick figure's arms but his face is still simple and very similar to that of a stick figure's.

My game entitled "Pizza Man" will be made in Adobe Flash and is an interactive computer game where one player decides choices for the main character, Pat. "Pizza Man" is all about a young man named Pat who needs a job or else his parents will kick him out of the house. Pat's search for a job brings him to Mario's Pizza, the local pizzeria. Mario needs a delivery man so he hires Pat. The only problem is Pat only has a short amount of time to deliver 3 pizzas before Mario's closes for the night. Then the adventure begins. Pat makes trips to 3 houses, all of which have 3 completely different characters awaiting for him at the door. The interactive portion of the game is for the player to decide whether Pat tries to get a tip or whether he takes the alternative choice given (different for each character) which results in something funny and/or crazy that happens between him and the character at the door. The main purpose that I am trying to get across with this game is just for entertainment. I am just bringing an everyday job and combining that with funny twists and turns into a single player computer experience. There will be a few opportunities to choose what path Pat takes on his way to pizza delivering success or failure, so the player must choose wisely.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/78995

My game will be something similar to the link above but I will have a completely original story-line, characters, and situations.

Manovich Response

After reading Manovich's article I really took a look back on my life and how technology advanced as I became older. Manovich's article talks about how the technological industries have "disguised" and improved technology in a way that takes technology of the road of "business" and more towards the road of "entertainment".

Manovich's example of the LG Chocolate is extremely accurate. I remember when cell phones were an interesting discovery, but it was not as appealing to society as it is today. According to Manovich's piece, technology is so much more present now than in the past because the way the companies "design" their products. They make them look futuristic, small, sleek, and have multiple functions that do not a cell phone just a cell phone anymore. Things that "catch the eye" about the new cell phones are the option of touch screen, almost all cell phones play music now, almost all cell phones can take pictures and videos, and most cell phones can access the Internet now. Ten years ago, those functions could not even be imagined to be placed into a cell phone. The same thing has happened with computers and laptops. The computer companies such as Apple for example have made their computers, both laptops and desktops, sleeker, faster, able to hold more memory, easier to interact with, and in conclusion: better. I remember when I first used a computer in my house, we still had to use a dial up connection. My younger sister however, who is only 4 years younger than me, I believe has not used a dial up connection or at least would not remember using one. It is amazing how technology has advanced so much through the decade.

Manovich's article talks about how personal devices have changed from being integrated more with business work to a new age of technological entertainment experiences. In other words, technology today is used more for entertainment than for the business world.

Interactive Media

Interactive media is growing and becoming the most preferred media out there. There are many examples of interactive media but I decided to look into the interactive "escape" games one would see online. These "escape" games offer various situations where the character (you) must find a way to escape from the situation using objects around you that unlock codes or give hints that lead you to your freedom.

http://www.addictinggames.com/escapethecar.html

This link will bring you to the "Escape: The Car" version but as I stated before, there are multiple situations to the "Escape" interactive game.