A Dragon and his Hoard

So for my character design I decided as follows:

So i suppose this picture is kinda cheating, as I do want my character to be a bipedal dragon named Nerai the Red-Marked. Why he is Red-Marked will be explained later. However, there is symbolism in this, in that dragons are often said to be fierce, powerful, majestic creatures, which is how I envisioned this character. But, I decided to make him anthromorphic and not much larger than a normal human so that readers/watchers/players don't feel disconnected from him. I feel as though trying to understand the inner thoughts and feelings of a large, fire-breating reptile might be a bit easier if he wasn't quite as big.

Now for color scheme! I wanted to use purple with bits of red and blue. The purple I planned to use to sort of show a bit of cool calmness, but the red to resemble the fits of passion he may experience, and the blue to show the exact opposite, his moments of clarity and serenity. The character I've envisioned is sort of trichotomous in this way, in that he sort of has 3 different personalities, none of which he can control. So, with an analagous color scheme in this fashion I feel it could be pulled off pretty well. The red would be shown in two marks that descend from the corners of his eyes and two that rise upwards from the inner corners of his eyes. Therefore, Red-Marked.

Partially in Shadow, patially in light. However, it would not always be exactly 50/50 as it is in the photo. This style of lighting would be used to show the dichotomy within his soul with the desire to do right, but the nagging need to do wrong as well. Of course, both terms are relative to the person using them, so that never helps either. In the ideal situation of this character being in some form of media, it'd be best to see him this way either when he's dealing with his antagonist or about to make a crucial decision.

Now as for the Antagonist, Mael, who represents all of the dark and evil within the protagonist's soul personified and is secretly merely an extension of the protagonist's subconscious, would also be an anthropormorphic dragon, however he'd be much more muscular, and look much more intimidating. This approach is sort of to subvert the long standing tradition of evil and bad being a seductive force and this time being a much more intimidating, threatening force, so as more to provoke the protagonist through fear rather than seduction. Also, to be this large an intimidating would be a stark contrast to the protagonist, who essentially wants to be good.

Color Scheme: Green. This mostly goes unsaid for the greater part of antagonists, and though I hate to be cliched, here I really believe it fits. Green is used in so many ways, as in to give permission to someone, for a person to be inexperienced, symbolizes life and growth, to symbolize envy or jealousy, green doesn't really have much of a definite characteristic, but has many different meanings. So, as Mael is essentially Nerai's undeveloped conscious trying to ursurp control, he can be made into anything that is desired, yes mostly things that are evil, but most of what is desired.

For lighting, I would like for Mael to be seen mostly as shadow, but not entirely. The way I see the appearance of shadow, is that it's the impression something makes on a space, or the object preventing light from reaching a destination. Both of these things describe Mael almost to a "T," as the character attempting to corrupt Nerai and fill him with metaphorical darkness and shadow as opposed to uplifting light. But, to keep him from being seen simply as an impression, ideally at least a small part of him will be seen so that he stays a very real and existing character.

Finding your Aroo!

Here's a link to How to find your Howl by Johnathan Flaum.

In this presentation Johnathan Flaum discusses the path to finding one's creative voice, and describes this process parallel to a telling of Robert Frost's How the Red Wolf Found his Howl. This story follows Mumon, an endangered Red Wolf who was taken into captivity to save his species, but then released into the wild at a later time as an experiment. Everything seems to be going okay, except that neither Mumon nor the others in his pack can howl. Through what can only be described as a rather interesting vision quest, Mumon and his pack find their howls. Johnathan Flaum uses this as a way to describe how an average person is trapped in a box, who's walls are defined by their monotonous life style, and in order to escape this a person has to find a way out of the box, and only then will they find their unique voice.


For my favorite quote, we turn our heads back to 1999, with a little movie called "The Matrix:"


Morpheous: I've seen an agent punch through a concrete wall. Men have emptied entire clips at them and hit nothing but air. Yet their strength and their speed are still based in a world that is built on rules. Because of that, they will never be as strong or as fast as you can be.
Neo: What are you trying to tell me? That I can dodge bullets?
Morpheous: No, Neo. I'm trying to tell you that when you're ready, you won't have to.


This is one of the movies I nearly know like the back of my hand, though I've always been a fan of media that sort of attempts to break down the walls of reality; I suppose one would call them psychological thrillers? This quote is one that I actually use quite often even in my everyday life, misquoted more often than I'd care to mention. This quote says so much about my goal as a game designer; to break the world from its string of monotonous first person shooters and herald in a new age of gaming. I often feel as many other designers do when we have a creative idea that those we pitch the idea to tend to reject on the grounds that it's not the next Call of Duty or Halo, and would much rather have this as an alternative. But, being able to think outside of the box and see forth into the future of gaming as it progresses at the moment and adapting to it's demands without sacrificing personal creativity for profit. Too often have I been told to "Look at Black Ops and do your gameplay like that" or "Gears of War has the best campaign ever, that's how you have to do yours!" And while these games do have their pros and cons, they aren't the game I wish to design. I feel like this quote defines a world of rules and low bar expectations and the Mentor's sage advice to rise above this and make the thing that you know will shake foundations and resonate through history, though being reprimanded by your target demographic. As Morpheous said; "I'm saying that when you're ready, you won't have to." However I don't think that this quote simply tells the story of the Little Game Designer That Could. But this quote, in my opinion, is sort of indicative of a sort of creative Nirvana, in which finding thoughts and ideas comes much more naturally and without quite as much trouble as  someone who is new to the craft. A person who's learned what does and does not work when it applies to their job and their target demographic, and can easily draw from that knowledge to make something absolutely astounding. It's by this model that I'd like to take my place as one of the great game designers who are remembered through history. I feel like this also defines just how much more work I need to go through to become who it is I seek to be. Defeating Agents is no task one simply sneezes at, and the same can be said for game design, or Media production in general honestly. But even then, it goes beyond that. It's difficult to draw from the imagination onto a medium that people will like, and as it is my desire to tell the most magnificent story ever told, the pressure seems doubly on. But, as Morpheous said; "When the time comes, you won't have to." Truly inspirational words for one in a predicament as one looking to find their place in the industry of media.

I'm Getting Dizzy

Inception: Rotating Hotel Scene

This happens to be one of my favorite scenes from this movie, and on of my favorite fight scenes of all time, trailing behind the T-Rex vs. Velociraptors in Jurassic Park, and Woody vs. Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story simply for nostalgia and humor. Something that always bugged me about this, and the entire movie in general I suppose, was the background music. The track titled "Dream is Collapsing" appears a lot in this movie, and that wouldn't be a problem if not for the fact that it's the song warning the characters that they were about to wake up slowed down by a lot. So then, one must wonder if this is a diagetic or non-diagetic sound; as in if the characters can actually hear it or if it is simply a part of the soundtrack. I also liked how the things that were happening outside the dream influenced what was happening within. As in, if the dreamer hears a bump, then those in the dreamer's world hear a bump but at a much deeper pitch, and much more drawn out. I feel that this is both Literal, as to show how the outside world affects that of the inside, but it's also Semantic, and shows the distance those that are sleeping are from being awake.