Media Madness by LASA Ezine

Media Madness Fall 2019

A Letter from the Editors Team Bios

Letter from the Edi...

MEDIA MADNESS

Dear Readers, The Media Madness magazine is a showcase of all forms of the entertainment arts. The editorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; combined interests for music, visual arts, and tech, as well as passion and curiosity for all forms of media gives you a well -rounded magazine describing the behind the scenes process for each form. From the tale of making movies to the process of writing a book, this magazine covers a wide variety of media and we hope it will introduce new ideas about media to the reader. Throughout the project we learned so many new things about using Adobe software from drawing, to editingediting photos, and designing layouts. All the editors were passionately interestested in their feature stories and spent many hours on Illustrator designing graphics and on InDesign designing graphics for our own feature stories. We are most proud of being able to go out into the world and interview others about topics we care a lot about. As a team, the experience of communicating with experts and enthusiasts about shared interests was invaluable and eye-opening. Even though on paper the task appeared daunting, reaching out helped us find different, new, and intriguing perspectives that we aim to display in our stories. Over the course of the Media Madness project, we accomplished a ton of work. Out of all of those things, the hardest to finalize was definitely our infographics. They boasted both a stressful deadline and little room to work on other things, but after all the hard work our group was able to complete them and be very proud of them as well. Sincerely, The Media Madness Editors

Table of Contents

Movies in the making

Development of books

Visualizing the experience

The game of developing

Moving the picture

Meet the writers

Movie mania

Publishing vs. self-publishing

Media musicality

Japan exclusive Mario games

Which step of the animation process are you?

Crossword

Meet the Writers Flavio Chavez

Flavio is not a very active person; heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s actually kind of boring, but he does like to read books. He will be talking about the process of writing a book and the steps to get it published. At the start of the class he fell behind but through hard work and determination caught up. He hopes to have his own book in the future. In this magazine Flavio wants to show the reader that not all media related things are done on technology.

Julia Chen Julia is a cheerful, passionate, and thoughtful artist who pursues the arts as a relaxing hobby and creative outlet. She covered some of the aspects of graphic design and music, subjects which she finds interesting, for Media Madness, and is proud to offer a look into visual design as a career and its prominence in everyday life. She hopes that her experience with Media Madness will help guide her interest in studying design in the future and all the possibilities that come with it.

Felix Stimets

Felix is a huge fan of video games, hence why he wrote an article on video games. However, he is not only that, Felix is also a fantastic, fabulous, and fascinating person who worked with his team to make sure they had a good Ezine. Felix worked hard and never fell behind this semester, which helped the team continue to do great work! In this magazine, Felix showed the reader that all types of media are important, including gaming!

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Nathan Voorhees

Nathan is an active, fun, and creative person who is always accepting to others ideas. Being a freshman at LASA, he tries to set himself up for success. He is super interested in live action movies and everything that goes into making them. Over the course of the 2019 Media Madness Ezine project Nathan was constantly engaged and a great team member to be around. Through this magazine, Nathan wants to display the care that he and the rest of his group have for the media industry.

Isabella Zavalney

Isabella is fun, creative, and open artist. She wrote the animation feature story and created the animation infographic. Her passions are to create art, make funny jokes and just vibe. She wants to go into art seriously and will continue to use the programs she has learned to use while making Media Madness, most likely going to school to study art and design. Her contributions to the magazine gives the reader a look into the freedoms and possibilities that technology has given animation; turning a still drawing into a moving character.

The whole team!

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MOVIES I N

T H E

M A K I N G

By Nathan Voorhees

A movie in the production phase by Stept Productions, directed by Varsity Directors. Courtesy of Jake Sanders.

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s of 2019, around 2,500 movies are made and produced for the public, adding to the crowded market of the film industry. That number only continues to rise with each coming decade, making millions of jobs for editors, producers, directors and more, and these jobs often encompass much more than the public may think. There are many different roles to be filled when producing a film. The director and business associated with the film must recruit editors, other managers, actors, and various other people to reach the final result. While the actors play a big role in the shots of the film, and the editors a big part of bringing everything together, the directors touch in both aspects and are a huge part of the entire production.

Timing

The movies production normally starts off with a timeframe, and tends to be long, hard, and tough, according to a nationally proclaimed American documentary filmmaker. Paul Sketler, has been on the set of numerous films over his career, and has perfected his process of directing, and still takes years on each of his film’s

productions. “It’s a long process, normally about a year, and plus there’s the question of where do I get the funding to make the film,” Stekler said. Graphics editor

Films and movies vary from genre to genre, and the time frames on the final release date are rarely set in stone. As of 2019, movies are finalized up to months ahead of their release date, according to

- Jake Sanders, Graphics Editor

Jake Sanders has also had long and hard projects, but most of his projects are completed in a shorter time span, mostly because he only has one job as an editor. “It depends on the project itself and the feature film can take anywhere from, and there are some that are still being edited that have been in editing for 12 years or something,” Sanders said. “That’s so uncommon though, and it’s normally 3-6 months.”

Sanders. “In the company I work for now, we do commercials, and those deadlines are normally around a month or so,” Sanders said. “But I’ll get the footage on a Monday, have my rough cut by Wednesday and the whole thing will be finalized by Friday. The process can be really quick if you know what you’re doing.”

Teamwork

According to Chris Bomely, the creative

At The Chive Austin, editors work hard at their personalied desks, side by side with their teammates Photo by Nathan Voorhees.

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Graphic by Nathan Voorhees

director at The Chive Austin, choose which directors they work a group that specializes in providing with, they often have very different edited videos for entertainment, many viewpoints on how the movie should people involved in the production agree flow. the work can be hard but they pull “It always sucks too, when through. “That’s how [projects] basically work here,” Bomely said. “You’re given a day to do a project that takes a whole day! No breaks!” These tough work schedules are a result of the directors schedules. They must hire people they trust can get the job done. Directors do most of the hiring for films, especially if it’s a smaller production set. According to Paul Stekler, directors get to choose the majority of their editors, actors, and others for the film. “Hire the people you feel comfortable working with, a cinematographer, a sound person, and an associate producer,” Stekler said. “Once you film material then you start working with an editor. Different people have different relationships with editors. I tend to work with people that I know.” The editors get a little less freedom because they don’t normally get to choose the team they’ll be working with, and are more often chosen then choosers. Jake Sanders has to be picky when it comes to the projects he is asked to work on. “A friend of mine said, ‘Hey I want to film this series, we’ve already shot two episodes, we just don’t have an editor. Can you take a chance on it?’” Sanders said. “While I was editing, they got picked up through a company to have all of their final episodes premiered on this channel and it became a lot more stressful than I had expected.” Screening rooms are essential at all As the editors don’t get to editing and filming studios, they are important for the editors cuts. Courtesy of The Chive Austin.

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you’re an editor,” Sanders said. “And you want to, or even a producer or writer or even a director, and you’re on set and you make a choice and then somebody else says otherwise and for some reason that other person is superior… [they] override it.”

Focus

Another aspect of production is the focus of the film. Throughout the film, all the members involved in production, from actors, directors, and editors, they must have a similar focus or the film falls apart, according to Paul Stekler. “In the last film I worked on, we had an editor I wasn’t used to working with,”

Stekler said. “Eventually we had to let him go because we just could not get our ideas to fall inline with each other.” Filmmakers also have to focus on their individual strategies and strengths. Stekler’s main focus as a director is what message he’s trying to get across and if his current path still follows that focus. “Once [the editor and I] are on the same plane as to what the film might be, you let them go and as time goes on you see what the footage actually yields,” Stekler said. “That may change over time, the story may change over time, the character you follow may change as you film, and then you ask, is the film still going where I want it to?” Jake Sanders tries to follow a similar process when editing but not with the message of the story and focuses more with its flow. He tries to use the music to produce a smooth outcome. “If you were to remove music, a scene should still move at a pace. So I always try and feel that out while I’m editing,” Sanders said. “Sometimes I’ll physically tap the table to see if it’s in beat, or if not I’ll breathe almost to see how it’s flowing.” The production phase of a film can be a great process to be apart of. The people and projects are changing experiences. “[Footage] may change over time, the story may change over time, the character you follow may change as you film, you find different things and different aspects of the story,” Stekler said. “We, as a group, change over the course of the film.”

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By Natha

n Voorhe

100+ High School Freshmenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Favorite Movie Genres Comedy - 36% Action/Adventure - 36% Sci-Fi/Fantasy - 17% Horror/Thriller - 5% Romance - 3% Crime/Mystery - 2% Documentary - 1% Over 100 Liberal Arts and Science Academy High School freshmen in Austin, Texas, were polled and asked for their favorite movie genre. The most liked genres were comedy and action/adventure together making up over 70% together. The least liked genre was documentary at 1%. 10

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2020

Some of the United States most influential movies, organized by date, with their effects on the film industry. Released in 2019, Marvel’s Avenger’s Endgame broke many film records one of the most substancial is that Endgame is now the highest grossing film of all time at $2.8 billion US dollars (as of 2019).

2019 After it’s debut in 1977, Star Wars gave people a reason to go to the movies, the series wasn’t the first of it’s kind to leave off on a cliffhanger, but the overall excitement that caries over, even to modern day is unmatched.

Image courtesy of Marvel Studios

1977

Jaws was a film that branched outside of just the movie theater. Since’s it’s release in 1975, Jaws has had many showings in unique places such as Alamo Drafthouse’s “Jaws On Water”. Where the film was played on a beach.

Image courtesy of Lucas Film

1975 The original Wizard of Oz film was made in 1939 and was the first offical live-action movie in black and white and color with dialogue, even though that seems like a minor feat it was huge in the colored movies we see today.

Image courtesy of Universal Pictures

1939 The Lost World, debuted in 1925, the film is the first movie with both claymation and CGI and has greatly influenced where we are today in computer-generate d imagery in films today.

Image courtesy of MGM

1925

Image courtesy of First National Pictures Inc.

1900

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Visualizing the Experience Austin designers face the industry’s future by Julia Chen

olor, gradients, retro throwbacks, any design theme that can be named. Typography? No problem. Want something earthy? Can do. From the fanciest fonts to the simplest shapes, every graphic designer has employed a wide variety of techniques to reach audiences. Austin has no shortage of design either. It’s everywhere: from restaurants to canned food to towels, visual design takes 12

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many forms. It might blend in, it might stand out, depending on what purpose it serves. How much effort was put into creating the design can determine how many people stop to take it in. Visual design might seem like another everyday item, but it has its moments and struggles in the process of becoming integrated into life. Kevin Pease, designer at Pound Design, knows of these ups and downs all too

well. He’s seen many good and less ideal designs in his eleven year experience at Pound. “I guess there’s a quote out there, ‘great designs should be invisible,’ and that is so true,” Pease said. “People shouldn’t be able to know it’s good design, they should just experience it and be called to act.” Design challenges the efficiency of spreading a message, and with this comes the prospect of marketing. Both have a relationship with each other, but whether the two subjects

are inherently related is up to debate. Anica Joran, graphic designer for Austin Logo Designs, works locally to create designs for clients.

“Marketing is just the vessel that launches the graphic design visual elements, so you have to have them together,” Joran said.

brain, but graphic design is the other side because it’s more interpretative and you’re filtering all those elements into a visual way that only graphic design can

“People shouldn’t be able to know it’s good design, they should just experience it and be called to act” - Kevin Pease, graphic designer

Her job has brought her work to Shark Tank and the Mexic-Arte Museum, and she has witnessed the impacts of successful branding firsthand.

When it comes to the two, she doesn’t necessarily believe the terms are synonymous. “I think marketing can be on one side of the

do...marketing, I think, is completely different,” Joran said. Laurel Barickman, creative director at design company Recspec, works

Designer Anica Joran works on one of her logo projects. The founder of her own company, Austin Logo Designs, Joran may take on as many as 10 to 12 projects at once. Courtesy of Anica Joran.

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on a wide range of projects from people around the world. She doesn’t consider her company’s main focus to be marketing or advertising, but acknowledges that her designs are connected to the sales department. “I think that’s it’s integral, it’s something that I always try and keep in mind and it’s part of whenever I start with a new client...even though it’s not my main focus; at the end of the day I’m trying to create something really beautiful...I don’t think that you can have one without the other,” Barickman said. Pease agrees with the crucial role that Barickman noted. “It’s just interesting how important we are in that whole process; it’s so important because at the end of the day, without visuals, trying to explain yourself to people through text or face to face 14 Media Madness

conversations...would be so much more difficult,” Pease said. Graphic design is still in the running as a

Joran talks about her job experience. Courtesy of Weiqin Yan.

Laurel Barickman is the creative director of her design company Recspec, which is based in Austin. Courtesy of Recspec.

successful profession, but old and new concerns for the industry are rising. While struggles include rising and falling trends,

the development of projects such as AI to help with making the most appealing graphics, and a competitive market, the designers still have a positive outlook for what the future holds. “I think it’s just going to get bigger,” Joran said. “There’s marketing, social media, there’s such a huge need [for it]. Logos are everywhere, they’ve never been so immersed in our culture ever before than now, and it’s not going to go away.” Joran elaborated, noting how companies are always changing and how logos are needed virtually everywhere. She added that she doesn’t believe that graphic design will become AI-dominated anytime soon. “People really love that interaction, they want to be able to huddle and share your ideas and bounce things off of each other,” Joran said. “I think there’s a lot of emotion in graphic design and that’s something that can only come from people.” Pease referenced the still up-and-running print industry as a prime example of a similar situation. “I don’t think the designers will fully ever be replaced. I think that we could use AI to make it more efficient in making decisions, but I think that, no, I don’t think we’re going anywhere,” Pease said. In a job where success is not easy and creativity is

Kevin Pease, designer for Pound Design, goes through various stages of his design process. Courtesy of Pound Design.

key, the economy of graphic design is competitive. The economy experiences rapid ups and downs with design trends going in and falling out of fashion. Done well, trends are what drive many of the economic lows and highs. “I think it’s really important to be aware of trends and not to fall into the trap of doing something because it’s on trend,” Barickman said. “[I want] to really think about something that’s going to last beyond that and be timeless.” Specifically, Barickman listed examples of trends on the rise in Austin to put things in perspective. “There’s a very popular trend that’s going on with a sort of throwback retro thing that also meets to minimalism; a lot of custom typography,” Barickman said. “I find that it’s making it so that a lot of the designs coming out of Austin

specifically [are] looking the same and looking a bit homogenized.” As much as the industry is shifting and moving, some things will remain the same. Defining designers as problemsolvers using creative ways, Pease argues creativity is important to what the industry does and what it encompasses. Joran notes that most famous designs have a creative, specific identity. “If you approach [design] and you think out of the box, and you use something...that sticks with the viewer or makes someone think about something that they haven’t thought of...then that will resonate with you and stick with the audience,” Joran said. Just like Barickman, she thinks that designs

should appeal both to the audience and the designer for timelessness, something that is not always easy to achieve. She hopes that in her experience, she will be able to create logos that stick around for a long time. Her experience has challenged her multiple times, but Joran said it made her tougher in the end. Joran found design hard to summarize in a few words, and had to give it some thought. “Never boring, always challenging, because each new client’s always a surprise,” Joran said. For Joran and other designers, design is more than an attractive drawing. It’s a way to express a company’s essence. “[Design] has to convey a message, it has to encompass who you are, what you do,” Joran said. Media Madness

Subscribers per app, 2019 250

of the music industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s revenue came from streaming in 2019

200

subscribers (millions)

80%

150

sou

100

IAA

R ce:

by Julia Chen Amazon music

Spotify

Apple music

Pandora

source: DMR

Around

source: DMR, 2019

adults are currently subscribed to a streaming service

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50 million

the amount of songs on Spotify as of 2019

source: DMR

None of these 1.1%

Other

5.3%

What streaming apps do people use the most?

Apple Music 6.3%

Amazon or Google Play music 5.3%

YouTube 24.2%

Spotify 57.9%

source: survey of 95 people

26.9 2005: both YouTube

and Pandora are launched

The average number of hours a person spends listening to music in a week

source: Billboard.com 2013: RIAA recognizes streaming in its digital single awards

2007: the concept of

music streaming comes to light, the music service SoundClcoud is launched

36% percent of worldwide subscribers Spotify held in 2018

source: MIDiA research

2006: the music

industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sales goes beyond 1.5 billion units for the first time

2008: sales hit a peak of 1.9 billion units, the most of any year

sources: soundcharts, RIAA

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Development of Books By Flavio Chavez

hen reading a book usually the process that went into making the book isn’t though of. What if an author decided to write their first book would he know how to start? Some authors have said “There are different process for what is being written like is it going to be a physical book or go up on the internet there are different process for that,” said Michael Noll. When planning to publish a book, an agent is needed. They will then sell the book to a publishing company and they will have a team who will edit, format, and promote it that’s the simple explanation. The longer process is figuring out how to write the story getting the idea on paper reading it. Then figure out how to make it better is the next step. “I think that people get good at writing by paying attention to what they read how the story is 18

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“Writing is not hard it’s only hard when it becomes work” -Paul Cooley, Author of The Black

Paul Cooley’s most recent published book, The Black. Courtesy of Paul Cooley.

put together,”. Said Michel Noll Before trying to sell a book to a publisher there are something that the book need to have and the author need to know. When trying to publish it will take time to get a contract for the book. “ I decided to send out five more manuscripts and for the first time in 15 years was asked for more,” said McIntosh. Writing isn’t just the work of one person there are some authors that help each others like Mr. McItosh who help others

by making it was a good covers for piece of writing” their books. said Cooley. Part Learning of being a writer how to write is is not knowing like learning to what to do next, do anything it sometimes that takes time and means having to practice. throw something “Writing out and start is not hard new”. When it’s only writing a book hard when there’s a reason it becomes to become work” said an author so, Paul E Cooley. a mindset is When writing needed to give a book the the idea that first draft the book is not will never going to make be perfect, any money or as shown by get published Anne Lamott’s but, giving up book Bird by isn’t an option. The Writer’s Field Guide to the Craft of Fiction was written by Michael Noll. Bird which When writing It was the first book Michael Noll published. Photo by Flavio Chavez. says that a first draft it’s you should a good idea for writers give yourself to let someone read it in permission to order to get feedback on write shitty first what’s good and what’s bad. drafts . When writing a book or a “First novel there is a reason for it drafts are because want to be a writer. going to suck “When writing they suck for something like a novel there everyone said is a concept called a hero’s Michael Noll journey, which is based the author of a off the majority of fiction book called the that has been written and writers guide talks about how the story to the craft of should flow. First, the main fiction. protagonist is just going “Don’t on about his day but then ever think you there’s an incident that have to have challenges the protagonists a piece of sense of self. The rest of the writing perfect story should be about how the first time no one has ever The first of a three book series writen by Tosh McIntosh. 19 Media Madness Courtesy of Tosh McIntosh. done that and

he tries to get back to where he was originally” said McIntosh. What some people do is they go to organizations that have critic groups so that other authors can give feedback on what’s bad and how to fix it “When writing anything with illustrations it’s not necessary to describe what will be in

the illustration because the illustrator will do that visually” said McIntosh. It’s a good idea to keep a journal to record ideas that come at random moments. Writers sometimes get inspiration from other books or something on TV. Some authors don’t think that all books are good “There are books that are badly written

A book that McIntosh help on by make the covers of. Courtesy of Tosh McIntosh.

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but if you enjoy its a good book to you,” said Cooley. When writing a book or a novel there is a reason for itv to be a writer. Writing a book or novel is not something that is done in a day or two it takes time. “I spent the better half of nine years to get my first novel to the point where I could get it published” said Tosh McIntosh author of the Pilot Error. Before trying to sell a book to a publisher there are something that the book need to have and the author need to know. When trying to publish it will take time to get a contract for the book “I decided to send out five more manuscripts and for the first time in 15 year I was asked for more,” said McIntosh. When sending a copy of the book to publishers it has to be the best you could make in because some publishers will only read the first couple of pages and if they don’t like it put it down and don’t publish it. When trying to publish the author has to show the publisher that all the structural element of english in their book have been mastered. When the publishers read the book they have to see that the author understands how to turn sentences into paragraphs and turn paragraphs into chapters. People that want to learn how to write have to understand point of view, dialogue, and action that’s

The final step to writing a book is to

PUBLISH A laptop closing shows what the final step is to making a book. Graphic by Flavio Chavez.

the reason there are so many novels that don’t get published. When getting a book published something the book should have is a cover

your books,” said McIntosh. When self publishing a book the amount of time it takes to get published is usually less because don’t need to get a contract. When self

“If they don’t like the book that they looked at there is a high chance they won’t buy any of your books” -Tosh McIntosh, author of Pilot Error

that can draw in the reader’s attention so they’ll want to pick it up,and read the books description this will have to make them want to read the first chapter of the book and if they like it then they might buy it if they dont they will put it back and move on to a different book. “If they dont like the book that they looked at there a high chance they wont buy any of

published there are some down sides because the book won’t be advertised by publishing companies just by the author. Something to consider when self publishing is that the book might not make as much money as with a publishing company but that’s not always true. Some people don’t get a contract with very big publishers or self

publish and can have a very successful book. When self publishing a book knowing how to make covers is going to be needed unless the author is going to pay someone to do it so it’s more work when self publishing . One thing that can be done when self publishing is that can sell the book anywhere like out of the trunk of a car, or at the barber shop. Before when anyone published books online people would disapprove because most book online where bad so people though they all where but now thats not true there are many successful books that have been published online or printed and sold by the author. Media Madness

When to Self Publish By Flavio Chavez

What to know when trying to publish When publishing a book you should be able to show the company that you know how to write in the first 2-3 pages of your book.

How to publish When you publish a book you need a agent who will sell the book to a publishing house then it will get edited and advertised.

When you are trying to publish if no one wants to publish your book you should try to edit it. You have to know how to make people interested in your book.

Thing to know when writing a book

Grammar, Spelling

How to make the book look interesting

Book process

How to make the story flow. How to turn sentences into paragraphs

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books

Illustrations if any

Send to publishers Gets publeshed

More editing

Rough draft bla bla bal bla bla bla

Editing bla bla bla bla bla bla bla

bla bla bla bla bla

Final draft and cover

Title

How to Self Publish Edit and Illustrations

Publish Online/Sell

Cover Rough draft

Final draft

-Write your book -Get feedback -Pick a title -Get it edited -Make cover -Pick a price -Self publish

Publish/Post

enter

Source: selfpublishingschool.com

Benefits of Self Publishing

1.You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need to wait for a company to give you a contract 2.You can sell it anywhere Media Madness

(from top)Dishonored, The Shadow of Colossus, and The Banner Saga show massive, beautiful landscapes to the player. All of the games featured different combinations of gameplay and art direction. Courtesy of Bethesda Softworks, Stoic Studios, and Sony Interactive Entertainment.

The Game of Developing

Game developersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; thoughts on games, the development industry, trends, and the future By Felix Stimets 24

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ames are complete, finished, and sleek productsat least that is what we the public think once video games come out. However, not many know much about what happens behind the scenes. A heavily disputed question in gaming is what the best game of all time is. The developers had a huge variety of views on what it was, from firstperson adventures to MMOs(Massive Multiplayer Online games) and a wide variety in between. Many liked games similar to the ones they have made. “It’s hard to pick one game,” Harvey Smith, the director of Deus Ex and the Dishonored series, said. “Usually, I like first-person games that encourage exploration of terrain/space, exploration of narrative, and exploration of systems. And playing at my own pace makes me happy, so Ultima Underworld, System Shock, Thief, Bioshock, et al.” Another fan of Ultima is Arnie Jorgensen, the creative director of the Banner Saga games. “I first got into games because of a game called Ultima because it felt like I was playing D&D,” Jorgensen said. “My favorite game of all time, however, is Everquest for a few key reasons. It has a really good fear factor because if you get really far into a dungeon and you die, then you lose

Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, Shadow of the Colossus, and God of War Collection are some of PlayStation’s biggest hits. These games were developed by Bluepoint Games, the studio that Allison and Lowe made Shadow of the Colossus with. Photo by Felix Stimets.

everything. Another reason I like it is because of the team part of the game. You have to work with teammates to succeed.” He has even incorporated his favorite aspects into his games. “One of the goals of Banner Saga was to make it feel like you couldn’t completely win at the end. You have to lose people from your party along the way, so that feeling is quite similar to Everquest, where your real life teammates are gone for good once they die,” Jorgensen said. “We intentionally made the final boss to Banner Saga really difficult so you would have to lose a teammate and so once you beat the boss, you felt accomplished.” Being a game developer is not just fun and games though, according to Jorgensen. There are challenges in the development process, including tight schedules and budgets, personnel issues, and keeping up with the ever changing technology. One technology many video game

developers have been using is Kickstarter, a website used for crowdfunding projects. For Jorgensen, the hardest game to make was the first Banner Saga, partially due to the new technology of Kickstarter. “We didn’t really know what we were doing, we were all in huge debt, and we had to adjust with the Kickstarter,” Jorgensen said. “However, Banner Saga 2 is a close runner up because even though we had more people, we started making it and then about 7 months in we had to change the game completely so we all had to work really long hours,” Jorgensen said. Daryl Allison, a designer for the Shadow of the Colossus remaster, and his team at BluePoint had the difficult job of making an Xbox 360 port of Titanfall. “Respawn was focused on the Xbox One version, because of the [Xbox One] exclusivity, so they weren’t concerned at all about the 360 version. It was like changing the engine on a Ferrari while the Ferrari Media Madness

is going 200 mph on the highway. The Xbox 360 had less power and less memory, which made it extremely difficult to put an Xbox One game onto it,” Allison said. Smith believes even small games can be hard to make, but that making games can be hard in many different ways. “Some projects have been hard based on schedule problems, team chemistry, or life troubles, but when those things are not in a bad way, design is fairly pleasurable, pitching ideas, letting others modify them, prototyping, play testing, and iterating. In some ways, the bigger games – like Dishonored 2 – are harder, with more people to communicate with and more assets to squeeze into the game,” Smith said. “While in other ways the smaller games – like KarmaStar, for instance – are harder because there’s less to distract the player away from a simple or broken core loop, which might not be interesting on its own.” Budget is also often a challenge. Stoic Studio worked through this issue by making a Kickstarter, which

Jorgensen describes. a game. “When we first posted it to “Preproduction process Kickstarter, we asked for is the most difficult - you $20,000, but we thought we have to find the answers couldn’t actually get that to questions you ask when much. But a few days later, planning out a game,” Lowe Double Fine got $3,000,000 said. so we decided we could Allison gave a few more make more. We changed it details from his experience to $200,000, we thought we as a developer. were only going to barely “Preproduction doesn’t take make it, but somehow we too long on remastering, but made more than $700,000. it does take a long time for That was awesome, but it remakes.” also made it harder for us Remakes and remasters because we had It was like changing the engine on a so many Ferrari while the Ferrari is going 200 things to miles per hour down the highway” add into the - Daryl Allison, game designer game,” said Jorgensen. “So for advice on how to be stand the test of time successful on Kickstarter you against newer games, not have to have one clear idea.” just because of their visual In addition to fundraising for and audio improvements, a game, there can be other but also because of their rough parts of developing challenging gameplay, at games. Smith believes the least according to Jorgensen. middle of development is At the end of the day, the most boring and tedious. developers have to make “The start and end are something that will sell exciting. One is blue sky, and in these modern times, the other is rapid iteration simple games sell well as toward a polished final seen by the huge sales of work,” Smith said. franchises like Mario and However, Lowe has a Call of Duty. different take on what is the “I think that a really bad new most difficult part of making trend is making every game

Fields turn to small hills, then huge mountains and lavender trees in Banner Saga 2. Jorgensen was the lead creative designer for the Banner Saga games and helped decide that the game would use an animated art style, with many scenes like this one that evoke a feeling of an epic adventure. Courtesy of Stoic Studios.

The protagonist of Shadow of the Colossus, Wander, looks out at a temple across a lake. This is during one of the horse rides in between the numerous boss fights that Shadow of the Colossus is known for and what was essential to have been done correctly in the remake. Courtesy of Sony Interactive Entertainment.

too easy. They are made so gaming industry. you can turn your brain off “There are so many different while playing. There are trends in gaming, it’s hard to no consequences to your even talk about any ‘trends’ actions,” Jorgensen said. in this sense. I’m fairly However, Smith disagreed neutral in terms of what with this judgement, and people should be enjoying; the idea of gaming trends in most things that are trending general. wouldn’t be if someone “Some games have gone wasn’t enjoying them. I in a hardcore direction; follow what I love, and punishingly difficult with no dabble in everything else,” hand holding. Other games Smith said. have moved toward smooth One thing he does love is play, with quick recovery the idea of a future where from failure. People like players take on different social play, being around roles than they do today. others. Indie games have “The features in The a lot of heart, narratively Blackout Club – by Jordan right now. Head to head Thomas and Question card games are brutally competitive. Lots of games are procedural, with variablized content. Technologically, people are working in VR/ AR, with streaming, on handhelds, mobile, etc,” Smith said. He believes there are so The player warps to the top of a column in Dishonored 2. This is one of the many different advances many skills in game that can be earned in gaming it would be through playing in different ways, a impossible to say there is staple of the Dishonored series which was designed by Smith. Courtesy of one current trend in the Bethesda Softworks.

Games – point to an exciting future, where other players take on asymmetrical roles and serve as NPCs(NonPlayable Characters),” Smith said.. Jorgensen is also excited for the future, when he thinks a few interesting ideas will catch on. “One thing I really liked was the Fortnite end of season. I think it’s just such a cool idea to have multiplayer, but with story elements. It really is an interesting concept and I think it will catch on,” Jorgensen said. He also believes that games will be designed with more of a community in mind. “I think games are going to be designed more as a community. It already comes together to celebrate a game, so I think games will embrace that more. We at Stoic are embracing this with our Discord server where anyone who has played the games can talk with us.” Jorgensen has a simple strategy for favorable results in game developing. “You have to have a focused idea to succeed.” Media Madness

Japan Exclusive Mario Games The portly plumber’s biggest hits and the consoles that enabled the fun By Felix Stimets

1986-1994 Super Mario Bros 2

Year Released: 1986 Game Style: 2D Platformer Console: Famicom Disk

System

This game was released in Japan as a sequel to the smash hit Super Mario Bros. and as one of the games to pioneer the Famicom Disk System. Notably this game introduced the poison mushroom and warp pipes that send the player backward. Due to this, the game was deemed too hard for western audiences. Instead the United States, Europe and Australia got a reskinned version of Doki Doki Panic. Source: IGN.

Mario and Wario

Year Released: 1993 Game Style: Puzzle Platformer (Similar to Lemmings) Console: Super Famicom

The premise to this game already sets the mood: Mario gets a paint bucket stuck on his head. The player takes the role of a fairy, Wanda, who finds Mario and guides him through a variety of courses to his eventual goal of defeating Wario, who put the bucket on his head. The gameplay was based around the SNES/Super Famicom Mouse, which are used to control the fairy. This game was completely ready to be released outside of Japan, but was scrapped because of the poor sales of the non Mario Paint games released for use with the SNES/Super Famicom mouse. Source: Talk Amongst Yourselves.

Yoshi No Cookie: Kuruppon Oven de Cookie Year Released: 1994 Game Style: Puzzle Console: Super Famicom This game is extremely obscure and one of the rarest Super Famicom games as only 500 were made. Yoshi No Cookie is practically the same core game as the extremely common Yoshi’s Cookie, but it has a few interesting differences. The first is the presence of a campaign with a map similar to the one in Super Mario World. It was originally given away with the Kuruppon Oven, so there are special rooms where the player can find recipes to make cookies in a Kuruppon Oven. Source: Wired.

1995-2004 Mario Artist

Years Released: 1999-2000 Game Style: Art Creation Console: N64 DD (Disk Drive)

Mario Artist was a four game mini series intended to be a sequel to Mario Paint. All four games were wildly strange, but in different ways. The first game, Mario Artist: Paint Studio, is essentially Mario Paint with more features such as a four-player mode. The second game, Mario Artist: Talent Studio, is an animation production studio where players can make short films with their own face in the game. The third game, Mario Artist: Commuication Kit, was for users to share their creations with the world on the RandNet, an online service for the N64DD. The fourth game was Mario Artist: Polygon Studio, which is a 3D graphics program where players can make 3D shapes. Source: IGN64.

Nintendo Puzzle Collection Year Released: 2003 Game Style: Puzzle/ Compilation Console: GameCube Nintendo Puzzle Collection is fairly tame compared to the other games on this list. It was released as a compilation of enhanced ports of Dr. Mario 64, Yoshi’s Cookie, and Panel de Pon (known as Tetris Attack in the U.S.). This game is fairly normal, but it is known for having GameCube to GameBoy Advance (GBA) link cable support, which allows the player to download the games on their GBA to play later on the go. Source: GameSpot.

2005-Present Donkey Konga 3 Year Released: 2005 Game Style: Rhythm Console: GameCube Donkey Konga 3 is the fan favorite Donkey Konga. It features 57 songs, the largest song count out of the entire series. Notably it has the most songs from video games in the Donkey Konga series with songs from Super Smash Bros. and Star Fox. Source: IGN.

The consoles they ran on Family Computer Disk System Year Released: 1986 Units Sold: 4.4 Million

The Famicom(Family Computer) Disk System is an add-on for the Famicom. It enables the Famicom to play floppy disks that have more storage than cartridges and could be reprogrammed to have a different game on them by bringing them into an official Nintendo reprograming station. However, it was unsuccessful due to improvements in cartridges. Source: The Gaming Historian

Super Famicom

Yakuman DS Year Relased: 2005 Game Style: Card Game Console: DS Yakuman DS is a mahjong game where the player plays against Mario characters. It features a variety of modes all based around Yakuman. Interestingly, this game was the only in it’s series to feature Mario characters. Source: GameFAQs.

Itadaki Street DS Year Released: 2007 Game Style: Board Game Console: DS

This game is a Monopolystyle board game where the player has to collect money through buying shops that other players land on. It sounds very much like Monopoly, but it has a few key differences. The spaces may have powers and other effects on the gameplay. Dragon Quest characters also appear in this game such as Slime, who is seen on the cover. Source: Siliconera.

Captain Rainbow Year Released: 2008 Game Style: Adventure Console: Wii Captain Rainbow is..... interesting. The player is a superhero who has come to an island to become popular again. However, it features many characters from the Mario series (along many others) that live on the island. The game gets even stranger with a lot of inappropriate content that makes it seem like a strange fan-fiction that was somehow made by Nintendo. Source: Kotaku.

Year Released:1990 Units Sold: 25.75 Million The Super Famicom is the European and Japanese version of the SNES. It is fairly similar to it, but features a different shape of cartridge so the console is not region free. Source: IGN.

Satellaview

Year Released: 1995 Units Sold: 2,000,000 (Unconfirmed estimate) The Satellaview, even though it is extremely rare and expensive, is a non-functional piece of hardware. The system would work because games would be streamed to it, similar to a TV broadcast. It featured many big name games, including Japan’s first chance to play BS (broadcast satellite) Super Mario USA (the Super Mario Bros. 2 that the U.S. got). Source: Vice.

N64 Disk Drive Year Released: 1999 Units Sold: 15,000 The N64 DD was planned to be a more advanced version of N64 that would have featured games such as a sequel to Earthbound and Super Mario 64. Unfortuanetly, the technology was too ahead of it’s time and it was a flop, which led to it not being released in the United States. Source: IGN.

Panasonic Q Year Released: 2001 Units Sold: Less than 100,000

The Panasonic Q was a GameCube that had a DVD player so that it could compete with the PS2. Unfortuanetly, it was not successful due to it’s odd design and an odd customer demographic. It is now one of the rarest Nintendo consoles. Source: Kotaku.

Start

Which step of the

Do you like cool worlds and wild ideas brought to life or awesome stories, plots, and background with beautiful scenes, and amazing characters?

Yeah

Wri d

Do you like to watch animated films/shows?

Ok...Cool.

Yes

Great. Keep watching!

You are character Original Characters developement!

You are the script!

Writing

Do you like writing scripts, making ocâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, or drawing basic, key scenes more?

Keyframes You are the storyboard!

Animating a large project will have specific Animatics: rough short animation laying out story and keyframes.

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Keyframes: Poses and pictures that are later put together with smaller poses to create motion.

animation process are you? Which would you prefer: writing and drawing or using tech to animate and add special effects and touch up?

By Isabella Zavalney

Movement and tech

iting and drawing

Oh YEAH!

Do you like making deatailed props or creating versitle, moving characters?

Do you like 3D stuff?

Ew...

Do you like making characters move?

Moving

Still

You are setting!

Do you like to make realistic movement and sometimes get a bit techie?

Not really

You are 2D animation!

Yes

You are after effects!

Yes

You are animatics!

You are 3D aniamtion!

with many people jobs for each person.

After effects: details added to the finished project like lights, and color. Storyboard: the story drawn in skecthes of key scenes.

Script: written dialouge and actions.

3D animation: forming 3D models and using it as a puppet to move

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Moving the Picture

How tech has changed the animation scene and how it will remain the same. By Isabella Zavalney

A 3D animated video, by Chris Norman a 2D and 3D animator, of strange characters dancing in a cricle. Rendering by Chris Norman.

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he Demogorgon, an animated creature from the Netflix original show Stranger Things, was made using sophisticated animating and rendering programs. It manages to appear incredibly realistic because of its movements and detailed renderings of its skin. This was possible because of the help from technological changes through time, giving animators the resources 2D show Camp Camp by Rooster Teeth Productions, animated with the for quicker and in some help of Tanya Fetzer. Courtesy of Rooster Teeth Prodctions. cases more realistic projects will be to create appealing From drawing on with better software and actions for your characters. paper to using a program computers. However, the Chris Norman, like Maya, a 3D animation fundamentals will never an animator who has made program by AutoDesk, the change. ways that characters can Adam Nixon, character some animations for Adult Swim said how he has been be animated has grown a and creature animator who worked on the Demogoragan, using his knoweldge of the 12 lot. Tanya Fetzer, animator prinicples in his art. for Rooster Teeth who has explains the 12 principles worked on projects of animation which are a set of rules which every It’s all about learning like Camp Camp, has been impressed with animator uses in any the principles as much the quality of particle project of any size. These as I can to be able to apply animation, simulations rules guide animators of special effects when showing movement them to my art.” like sparks, water, for characters as well - Chris Norman and other texture, as general appeal of a because of improving project. Amatechnological technologies. “They are called the progressions continue to “I enjoy seeing how 12 Principles because they improve animation, but technological and artistic are very fundamental in specific aspects of this art advancements to animation your scenes and they can form will never change. and how the animators be interpreted in different Ryan Arrington, an were able to pull it all ways based on the kind of animator with Powerhouse off.” said Fetzer. “Have animation you are doing.” Animation Studios, said, you seen the water in 3D Nixon said. films and games lately? Used in every project, “Powerhouse did everything on animation paper. It is Environmental effects are these principles can be amazing to see how far we’ve improving every day! It’s seen in every good looking grown.” so cool to see!” animation. The quicker you get them down, the easier it 33 Media Madness

Just like many people now have to have a phone but 20 years ago having one would be a luxury; now there are programs almost every studio or independent animator has. “I’d say the most industry-standard program is Maya, made by AutoDesk, and that’s been pretty industry-standard for a little while.” Arrington said. “ Some visual effects companies for TV use, or did use 3D desk Max; it tends to get used a lot for video games still, and for architectural visualization, I think because of how well and how quickly it renders. But for me, Maya is much better for animating.” In terms of expense and production costs for a studio, these newer 2018-2019 programs, especially for 3D, have been more appealing to bigger companies. “With film, it’s also that production is a lot cheaper,”

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Norman said. “For a company I think that their outlook...is that production is probably cheaper with 3D animation. It lends itself to an episodic structure, and all the files can be used in a lot of different ways and shared very easily with a team.”

slower and less efficient components. Game engines are used a lot for rendering in real-time,as of 2019. “Rendering is pretty much calculating how the light moves and affects the surfaces in your scene,” Nixon said. “When you’re setting up in your lighting rendering, you actually You can move create and place lights forward on a 3D dimensional space production on multiple in and you set up your facets of production camera in 3-dimensional with 3D in ways that are space.” probably harder to do These game engines do the hard with 2D.” -Chris Norman work of rendering in real-time, even though Rendering, since the rendering work is it is a very expensive fantastic, there is still room and exhaustive process, for improvement with time. technology has saved As of 2019, simulating hair, millions of dollars and clothes and skin is very thousands of hours with the difficult to do and requires use of newer computers that tons of time and energy. require almost 5 times less “I think in the human and electrical power future...something that as older computers with will be worked on a lot

Character from 2D show WayForward’s Spidersaurus which Ryan Arrington, an animator, has worked on. Courtesy of Powerhouse Animation.

A 3D character model in its drafts acting out an expression. Rendering by Adam Nixxon.

is to make the hair look more real, and to make skin look more real in the game engine,” Arrington said. Other programs can do the kind of rendering that a game engine does, but can’t do it in real-time and take a little more energy. Many programs like Maya have a rendering option, and each update brings improvements to things like that. Improvement happens through small changes. Even though many animation studios choose to save time and money by using newer programs, Norman enjoys the fluid animation he makes, using far fewer tools than Nixon, Fetzer, or Arrington on a regular basis. Norman still

works with 3D animation, but he enjoys the process and the aesthetic of a simpler style. “I always loved drawing and I wanted to pursue a kind of an old fashioned method. But, it’s all digital actually. I draw it frame by frame by frame by frame by frame. I don’t do any computer twee[k]s at all. So that is a choice against 99.9 percent of people out there.” Norman said. Norman prefers not using as many pieces of technology like computers or big programs, on a regular basis than compared to Adam, Fetzer, or Arrington. This goes against many animators in the industry.

As long as the animator knows the 12 principles, the doors are open wide as to which style they use, whether that’s claymation, stop-motion, 3D, or 2D. As technology continues to improve and animators and programmers work to better the program with each update, the possibilities grow even wider, though the core idea of animation stays the same throughout time. “We have these new tools that let us really explore the medium and explore creating an audience, creating a body of work in different ways,” said Norman. Media Madness

Cross-Media Crossword Puzzle 1

2 3

4 5 6

Across:

Down:

3. A motion picture.

1. Sounds and instruments combined in rhythm.

5. The process of making pictures move. 7. The phase of making and editing a movie. 8. Nintendoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest game ever. 9. Producers of Avemgers Endgame.

2. Picture or drawing of the intended look. 3. Most used method of mass communication. 4. An electronically played game. 6. Written work consisting of multiple pages. 9. 3-D represntation of a person or thing.

Across: Movie, Animation, Production, Mario, Marvel.

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Down: Music, Design, Media, Videogame, Book, Model.