Author: carolina_vogt

Ideas for games

I have to ideas for my games, both being these games on formalism. As of right now I would like to use the aesthetics of my “clock” piece and make it more interactive.

The first idea is an aesthetic game of tic-tac-toe in which the X’s are black and the O’s are white. The winner’s pieces then change from black or white to a black and white image of water. That being the reverse of the inverted picture of water in the background.

 

My other idea is a formal game that is more about constructing a geometric structure within the grid than actually winning a game. It is timed, so builders will have three minutes to construct something and then game over.

Here are some reference images:

Screen Shot 2014-10-14 at 9.21.39 PMother water

Drawing Instructional

Close your eyes

Dot your entire sheet of 8.5 X 11 paper

Open your eyes

Two thirds down your piece of paper, in the center, draw three squares

Make the outer square the biggest

Make the medium square inside of the big square

Make the smaller square inside of the medium square

Now draw a diagonal line across the paper, following your dots that leads to the squares but does not touch them

Mirror that line on the other side, again make sure it does not touch the squares

Shade in the negative space

Repeat all these steps inside of the smallest square

You are done

Program or be Programmed Response

In the reading there’s a big emphasize on understanding computers, and specifically their biases, rather than an emphasize on how computers can cater to our needs. I found this interesting because typically when people rave about technology they are speaking in terms of how technology has catered to them. However, it is important to note, aside from ourselves the true function and purpose of these technologies.

Twine Ideas

I’m interested in abstracting regular conversations and therefore recreating the narrative.

I’m particularly interested in conversations that occur over the phone or on the internet. Both of my ideas have to do with this interest. For one I want to take statuses as well as ongoing comments on these statues and abstracting their order. I want to recreate the initial statement as well as the responses. My other idea is to recreate conversations with telephone operators. I was thinking I could also combine these two things and create one story with both????

 

Reflection on The Garden of Forking Paths

One particular excerpt from the short story was of interest to me. When Stephen Albert is speaking to Dr. Yu Tsun in the garden of forking paths he asks “In a guessing game where the answer is chess, which word is the only one prohibited?” Tsun responds with “the word chess is”. This riddle (in a way) made me think about words versus their meaning and whether or not the word itself is important, or what it represents. For example when introducing yourself to someone, there is some importance in exchanging names, however to know someone is not to know their names, but rather characteristics, attributes, and the history of said person.

Furthermore the theme of labyrinths and history in this story make life itself a game in which we are constantly making choices that then lead us to more choices. Essentially life is not linear but rather cyclical and circumstantial, and therefore the past is necessary to inform the future. That being said it can be inferred that life is a game, which draws me to the idea of creating almost mundane games in which simple actions lead to other simple actions that only seem grand when viewed as an all encompassing event.