Just as a heads up - the picture above has nothing to do with this blog post or even anything in particular. I just felt like I should put up a picture with some of these posts. This one is one I took whilst on holiday in Spain...
...Anyway, this week, we discussed our progress presentations that are happening next week. We discussed what needed to be said and showed and in small groups, we quickly prepared a short version of our presentation in order for some initial feedback that we can perhaps sort out in time for the actual presentation.
There was four of us including me in our group. It was useful hearing everyone's topics and how they had gone about it. Giving feedback to them and hearing what others said really helped in shaping up my own ideas.
I got a lot of very useful and very interesting feedback and pointers. This exercise has proved more useful than I would of realised. I summed up what I was looking to do which was something along the lines of:
To create a 3D environment showcasing the historic transformation of Mental Institutes and to showcase this through the eyes of someone with a mental illness to help raise awareness and empathy for those who suffer from a mental illness.
I want to create a believable atmosphere with a high quality environment focusing on textures and lighting. I also want to portray an accurate representation and knowledge of Asylums and mental health issues and show how they have changed over time.
As well as saying all this I went on to explain the research I have carried out and my idea a little further. The feedback I received was very good and emphasis that I still need to narrow down and cement my idea.
One point was raised about whether or not I was actually making this into a game or not. The reason being because I kept calling it a game although I don't actually want it to be - I just couldn't think up another phrase to explain it. Someone in the group suggested 'Interactive Experience' which sounds much more accurate.
It was also mentioned that if this was the case, I need to make it somewhat interesting in order to entice the user to interact through the whole experience and not get bored. This is something I feel narrative can hopefully solve in order to keep up an interesting flow.
They asked me to give examples of mental illness' I was looking to showcase - I mentioned Depression, Schizophrenia and Multiple Personality Disorder. They raised an extremely good point that did not even cross my mind - depression as a mental illness is highly unlikely to be a reason for being in an institute. This was an excellent critique which I will have to sort and decide what too do with.
A huge aspect of my project that was raised is that it is an extremely delicate area and I need to be careful when attempting to replicate these places and illness'. I am aware of this and will be doing my best to accurately portray the asylum and mental health illness'.
Here is what my group wrote as Strengths:
If done well, could bring a lot of new ground to representation of mental illness or treatment of, in games.
Project has a lot of room to evolve into a number of interesting avenues.
Here is what my group wrote as weaknesses:
Research has to be very accurate. Slight Misrepresentation could ruin validity on project.
Easy to use too grand a scale. Aim for a great representation of only a few elements.
All this feedback has already opened my eyes to different ideas and ways of going about my project. I was also given some research suggestions that may help in my progress of things. These were to check out the new Silent Hill Playable Trailer and to look at Brood Hollow - some sort of comic that involves portraying the effects of O.C.D. I find myself becoming even more interested in my project and cannot wait to progress further. Fourth year is beginning to shape up much better than I had imagined so I'm pleased with that.
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