Final year at GGC

Two updates in one week? I must be going crazy.

Anyway, as it is my last year here it is also time for my last GGC, at least as a student here. Perhaps I’ll come back sometime in the future! Besides my self help app, which still isn’t finished, I haven’t worked on any game this year, which means I won’t exhibit anything at the conference.

However, I decided to put my work up on the art wall for the first time! I chose a personal project I did for fun, practice and my portfolio. It’s a modular 3D environment which I think best showcase what I’m good at and what I like to do!

Here are the pieces I’ve put up on the wall:

Plus two gifs (which aren’t on the wall for obvious reasons) to show the room in action!

Bachelor’s thesis

Hello everyone, it’s been a while!

I’ve spent the past month and a half writing my bachelor’s thesis. Originally I wanted to do something creative, specifically a 3D environment which I could use as part of my portfolio when looking for jobs after graduating.

However, my tutor didn’t think this idea was suitable for a thesis, so I ended up iterating my project until it became something entirely different and entirely theoretical.

I’ve written my thesis on the subject of cultural appropriation in character design in games. Cultural appropriation is when a majority culture takes elements from a minority culture and uses these outside their original context, without permission or compensation.

One of the examples I have in my thesis is Pharah from Overwatch. She’s an Egyptian woman who has two outfits based on Egyptian mythology, but she also has two outfits based on Pacific Northwest native American cultures.

Above: Pharah in her two native American outfits, called Raindancer and Thunderbird.

Besides the visual aspect, the name Raindancer is a reference to the rain dances performed by native Americans, and Thunderbird is a reference to the mythological creature of the same name, which is a popular myth in native American cultures.

Above: a chief’s headdress from the Kwakwaka´wakw village in British Columbia. (Source)

If we compare Pharah’s outfits with Pacific Northwest native artwork, we can see a striking similarity in the clear lines, bold colors and exaggerated features. Animal motifs are also common, and the use of red and white in Eyak artwork especially. Pharah also wears her hair in braids common among native Americans.

The developers behind Overwatch have hinted at Pharah being part native American in their comics. Pharah’s mother is Egyptian, but her father is implied to be native American, which means Pharah would be descendant of two cultures. However, as long as Overwatch doesn’t explicitly state that Pharah is of native American descent, this is an example of cultural appropriation.

It is appropriation because the developers are part of a majority culture, and because they have taken elements from a minority culture and used these outside their original context.

In my thesis I have examined a few more examples of cultural appropriation in recent games, this was just one of them!

The deadline for the thesis is in three days, but so far I’m feeling pretty good about it. I’m more or less done, I’m just poking at minor details at this point. Cross your fingers that I pass!

Self Help App: ALPHA and BETA build

Hello! It’s been quite a while since I last wrote (more than a month… shame on me) and a lot has happened since.

I mentioned last time that I was close to finishing an ALPHA version of my self help app, which I did! I should have posted about that here, but I completely forgot. If you’re interested, you can find the build and the survey to go with it over here.

However! Since it’s been a while since I finished the ALPHA version, I have now gotten so far that I’ve actually finished a BETA version as well! You can find the build and the survey to go with it over here!

So what have I done when it comes to developing the app?

Well, the alpha build had a library with a lot of information about depression, anxiety and mindfulness. It also has a mood test and a simple breathing exercise. Here’s a screenshot from the ALPHA build:

It’s looking a bit barren, to be honest.

For the BETA version, I have added two new rooms: the garden and the store. When the player visits the garden, it makes a flower bloom and gives them a reward in the form of gems. These gems can then be used in the store to upgrade and unlock new parts of the treehouse.

I have also added another relaxation exercise to the pillow fort, updated the mood test with more options, divided the library into more categories and generally just made things look prettier.

Here’s a screenshot:

Looks a bit more fun, doesn’t it?

The biggest issue I still have is the results from the mood test. That feature is currently unavailable because I simply couldn’t figure out how to make it work. I think I either need to do a lot of research or get some help from an actual programmer.

In a way, I would also like to remake almost all of the art. The art that I have is more or less taken from the original concept art I made way back in April this year, and what you see above is basically just copy-pasting-reusing-frankensteining that concept art. I mean, it kind of works, but I’m not entirely pleased with it.

I also need a lot more animations in the app. I currently only have a few which I really just put in to test the animation function in Fungus. The entire app is very static at the moment, and animations would bring more life to it and make it clearer what you can and can’t interact with.

Overall, I’m fairly pleased with what I have managed to make, but I do still feel like I could have made more with the time I had. I’m probably going to stop development for the time being, as I have other things taking up my time. Hopefully I’ll get around to finishing this project sometime during spring or summer next year!

Self help app update!

Just a very quick update today, to tell you that I’ve switched the self help app blog from a wordpress to a tumblr, as I thought I would reach more of my target audience there!

You can find the blog here: http://tovasselfhelp.tumblr.com/

This is what the app looks like at the moment:

I’m close to sending out an alpha build of the app, so look forward to that!

Self help app work in progress!

Hello gang! I mentioned in an earlier blog post that I wanted to make an app for self help with depression and anxiety, and that I would have the opportunity to do so during the course Game Design in Practice. However, I had the issue that no one seemed to want to work with me, and I was unable to find a group to join, so all of a sudden I found myself alone.

I debated what to do for a while, but in the end I decided to just try and do something on my own. I’m very comfortable working on my own and despite the fact that I don’t know programming I know a few short cuts which have helped me.

Before I begun development I made a survey which I posted on my tumblr, and I got over 130 answers in two days! The majority of the people who answered were women aged 16 to 25, with experience of both depression and anxiety, which is exactly my target audience! Finding my audience and getting so many answers really was a mood boost for me, and motivation to really start working.

Besides motivation, one of the most important things I got from the survey was what people expected from an app for self help, which gave me a point to start when making the app.

I have started developing it using Unity and the addon Fungus, which is actually a tool for creating branching narratives. There are a few more advanced things I want to include in the app, so I’ll probably need to ask a programmer or two for help at some point, but for now I think I’m doing pretty good.

You can follow the development of the app on the blog I create specifically for it!

Trip to Kustateljen!

This Tuesday our 3D class went on a field trip to Fårösund at the northern tip of the island to visit Kustateljen, which is a film studio. In our 3D class we’re going to start working with ingame cutscenes (movies) this week and the trip was meant to be a sort of introduction to that.

We were given a brief overview of how cameras work with different lenses and such, and how to light scenes to create different moods. After that we were divided into groups and given a manuscript which we got to film during an hour or so. The movie consisted of five shots which we had to plan out beforehand with the staging and the lighting, as we could only do one take per shot! It was a bit challenging, but it was fun! I especially liked lighting the scene. It was fun to try out a real movie camera as well, on a real set, it felt pretty cool!

BGP: Post GGC

Well, the past few days have certainly been a trip and a half.

I don’t think any of us in the team expected to get so many people who played our game and so much positive feedback from everyone. The two computers we had set up rarely went unused, as there was almost always someone who played there.

We’ve had people tell us stories about how they or their friends/relatives have gone through similar things and that it was very emotional for them to play it. Some people literally cried while playing our game, and that really felt amazing and like we had done something that truly affected people in a way none of us were prepared for. We also had a few people who identified as straight tell us that they now have a completely different view on LGBTA+ people and their issues, which is also exactly what we wanted.

One of my favorite things that happened was when parents played the game with their kids sitting in their laps, translating what happened as they went along. It really meant a lot, knowing that these kids will go away knowing that it’s okay if two girls are in love with each other.

All in all, the weekend has been very emotional but also very rewarding. We didn’t win any prizes during the award ceremony, but that’s okay with us. A lot of students and teachers/jurors came up to us afterwards and told us we should have won something.

But that’s okay; the stories and reactions we’ve gotten during the weekend have been enough for us. We’ve also gotten a lot of contacts with people in the industry who wants us to release the full game and who wants to help us, which is amazing in every way.

I’m going to stop writing now before I start crying. But a blog post from me isn’t complete without a few pictures.

BGP Week 8: We’re there!

The final week is almost over! The BETA was on Wednesday and it went very well, if I may say so myself! We had a beginning and an end, a bunch of different playable events and friends that the players could ask out. Our playtesters seemed to like it! They had some critique, of course, but it was mostly things we were already aware of.

This week I’ve done a little bit of everything again, since everything that has to be written is done. After eight weeks we finally figured out how to make the game 1920×1080, instead of 800×600, which is Ren’Py’s standard size. This meant all art had to be replaced, which wasn’t too much of a problem since we had larger sized images of everything, we just had to put them in the game.

I’ve also changed some minor writing things, mainly the intro since some of the feedback we got was about how the date seemed as if Sam and Nicole didn’t already know each other. I also rewrote the friend events so that not all of them take place in the café at Medborgarplatsen.

We’ve also put together a really nice-looking art folder for GGC which shows off some concept art as well as some art we have not yet managed to put in the game.

In a couple of hours we’re going to submit our game to SGA! And then I think we’re all set for GGC tomorrow :)

Here’s some concept and character art which will be in the art folder!

BGP Week 7: We’re getting there

Our game is starting to feel like a game! You can go around and talk to people, run into events while alone or when with Nicole, and you can ask your friends if they want to hang out! It’s amazing!

This week I’ve written two new events for our newest location, Kungsträdgården. Both of these events are with Nicole, as we felt the game lacked enough interaction with her as it was. I also wrote an event when Nicole comes with you home and your parents voice their opinions (as parents usually do).

Besides that I’ve done a lot of QA, playing through the game over and over and looking for bugs and errors. I’ve done some minor fixes myself in the xml documents, but most of the issues I’ve found ‘ve written down and handed to our dear programmer in a long, long list. (Sorry.)

During the Friday morning we also recorded a voiceover for our trailer! We asked Evelina, who works on Slumber, to do the voice for Sam and it turned out great so massive thanks to her!

I don’t really have anything else to write about at the moment, so have some art made by Emma and Lisa instead:

BGP Week 6: A little bit of everything

This week I’ve been doing a bit of everything, as the title says, since we’re nearing that point in the project where most of the major things are done and we just need to fix some small things here and there. I’m okay with this, as I enjoy working on a number of small things rather than one big thing.

We decided how to do the ending of the game, which I don’t want to spoil so I’m not going to write too much about it. But it’s done, anyway! I also wrote another coming out scene with a friend, this time a guy named John who can be seen in my previous post. I originally thought that I would make him positive, but still politically incorrect when making comments about Sam’s sexuality and relationship, but when I started writing him he kind of just took control and went in another way. If you write a lot you know what I mean. So instead, he’s just straight up positive and kind towards Sam and Nicole’s relationship, and that was really nice to write for a change.

I’ve also put together a number of screenshots that we sent in for GGC, such as these ones:

Characters are made by Lisa and backgrounds by Emma, as always!

Lastly, I also made a poster for the game that we’re going to print out and put up a little bit all over the place. Probably mostly just around the school, but it would be cool if we could have it in some stores around Visby as well!