I know this blog has been quiet. There's a reason for that. I finally realized what career path I wanted to follow. I've decided to follow my dream and become a writer. Not just any old writer, either. I'm going to write for games. I love stories. I've spent countless hours with Hugo traipsing through Paris. Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" is so engaging that I read and watch every version of it I can find. Why? Because it's a holiday ghost story that sucks me in every time. I won't even go into the countless hours spent reading Edgar Allan Poe. The man's genius created a world I was both very afraid of and yet wanted to enter with every fiber of my being. I want to bring that kind of story immersion to games.
I know it's possible. I experienced it with Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, Guild Wars, Mass Effect, and Age of Conan. The seamless integration of story with gameplay may seem like a pipe dream to some but I have faith. As games get more sophisticated, they become more dependent on the storyline to drive the player's motives. This presents countless opportunities to integrate interactive storytelling; to take it to the next level.
So, the silence here was because I had a huge task ahead of me. I was already half-way through the Game Design program and needed to make up my mind on whether to transfer degree programs or stay put. I had put in a heck of a lot of work on my Game Design degree and I didn't want that knowledge to go to waste. I spoke with the program director for the Creative Writing for Entertainment Bachelor's of Fine Arts degree and found that Game Writing was one of the areas the program focused on. She also stressed that the main focus of the program is to hone my skills as a writer so that I will be able to write for any medium. I liked this aspect. Where the Game Design program focused specifically on designing games the Creative Writing program has a much broader application.
I was sold. I began the transfer process and on September 26 I finally, officially, became a Creative Writing for Entertainment student at Full Sail. I'm excited. I've always wanted to write. Books are my one enduring passion and to finally combine a career and my education with that passion has made me one very happy camper.
Showing posts with label Edgar Allan Poe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Edgar Allan Poe. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
FSU: Analysis of "Murder in the Rue Morgue" by Edgar Allan Poe (1841)
Positives:
+ Introduces the detective story genre to American literature.
+ Classic story of murder and detective procedures.
+ Keen insight into the analytical mind. He claims analysis isn’t simply intellect, but also includes a healthy bit of imagination.
+ Unconventional narrative layout that highlights Dupin’s detective skills.
+ Dupin’s method highlights the importance of literacy and the spoken word.
Negatives:
- The English is a bit archaic and can be difficult to read and understand.
- I don’t like the “Orangutan is the murderer” twist at the end. It is, for lack of a better word, a cop-out.
- The police are portrayed as idiots. I understand, though, that this is a necessary evil as it underscores Dupin’s logical thought process and procedures.
- The story is a bit intellectual as it extolls at length on Dupin’s various philosophical thoughts.
Thoughts:
~ The story is a metaphor for brains versus brawn with Dupin as the brain and the orangutan as the brawn.
~ A video game has been made of this title. I stumbled on it while looking for a copy of the story to refresh my memory. It’s not the kind of video game I’d first associate with the story, though. Instead of being an adventure game, it’s a hidden object game.
~ The level of horror this story would have brought in 1841 is infinitesimal by today’s standards. We’ve become quite jaded in the intervening 170 years.
~ It is claimed that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle patterned Sherlock Holmes after Dupin. Considering that they share a logical style of deduction, similar personal habits, and a friend who narrates their escapades to the audience, there may have been some influence.
Would Like:
* I’d love if more people read Poe. Although his works were created over a century ago, they still have a profound insight into the workings of the human mind.
* More action, less dialogue. Quite a bit of the dialogue could have been expressed as actions instead.
* I would have liked a different antagonist than the orangutan. A little more thought and Poe wouldn’t have had to resort to a wild animal as the perpetrator of the crimes. On the other hand, the orangutan would have been acceptable as the perpetrator if subtle hints of its possible inclusion in the pool of suspects had been made.
* I would have liked more general depth and backstory. There is a lot in the narrative that could be expanded upon, but it is glossed over in deference to Dupin’s deductions.
Credit where credit is due:
Poe, Edgar Allan. (1841). The murders in the rue morgue. Retrieved from http://poestories.com/read/murders
+ Introduces the detective story genre to American literature.
+ Classic story of murder and detective procedures.
+ Keen insight into the analytical mind. He claims analysis isn’t simply intellect, but also includes a healthy bit of imagination.
+ Unconventional narrative layout that highlights Dupin’s detective skills.
+ Dupin’s method highlights the importance of literacy and the spoken word.
Negatives:
- The English is a bit archaic and can be difficult to read and understand.
- I don’t like the “Orangutan is the murderer” twist at the end. It is, for lack of a better word, a cop-out.
- The police are portrayed as idiots. I understand, though, that this is a necessary evil as it underscores Dupin’s logical thought process and procedures.
- The story is a bit intellectual as it extolls at length on Dupin’s various philosophical thoughts.
Thoughts:
~ The story is a metaphor for brains versus brawn with Dupin as the brain and the orangutan as the brawn.
~ A video game has been made of this title. I stumbled on it while looking for a copy of the story to refresh my memory. It’s not the kind of video game I’d first associate with the story, though. Instead of being an adventure game, it’s a hidden object game.
~ The level of horror this story would have brought in 1841 is infinitesimal by today’s standards. We’ve become quite jaded in the intervening 170 years.
~ It is claimed that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle patterned Sherlock Holmes after Dupin. Considering that they share a logical style of deduction, similar personal habits, and a friend who narrates their escapades to the audience, there may have been some influence.
Would Like:
* I’d love if more people read Poe. Although his works were created over a century ago, they still have a profound insight into the workings of the human mind.
* More action, less dialogue. Quite a bit of the dialogue could have been expressed as actions instead.
* I would have liked a different antagonist than the orangutan. A little more thought and Poe wouldn’t have had to resort to a wild animal as the perpetrator of the crimes. On the other hand, the orangutan would have been acceptable as the perpetrator if subtle hints of its possible inclusion in the pool of suspects had been made.
* I would have liked more general depth and backstory. There is a lot in the narrative that could be expanded upon, but it is glossed over in deference to Dupin’s deductions.
Credit where credit is due:
Poe, Edgar Allan. (1841). The murders in the rue morgue. Retrieved from http://poestories.com/read/murders
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