Archive for January, 2018

a sense of place or character

31 January, 2018 at 5:42 am · Filed under design, npc, writing

“A great film demonstrates a profound sense of place or character… A great film is one that I want to dissect.”

Author Laird Barron

Sense of place: “… is often used in relation to those characteristics that make a place special or unique, as well as to those that foster a sense of authentic human attachment and belonging.

Wikipedia

Can rpg game design create a depth of place or character which sustains player re-visits or multiple engagements? Maybe treat a location or place more like an NPC; provide a little backstory, development, a connection & history. Consider its influcence and role.
How does place create drama? Does it reveal something that advances the plot or changes the character (viewer or player)?

https://www.thefourohfive.com/film/article/a-great-film-demonstrates-a-profound-sense-of-place-or-character-a-great-film-is-one-that-i-want-to-dissect-meet-author-laird-barron-151

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say what you see

21 January, 2018 at 12:59 am · Filed under quote, storytelling

“I learned about “iconography” from working with Rob Schrab for several years. In cartooning, you have to draw a certain combination of lines before the audience is going to universally recognize what you’ve drawn.

“If I draw a cylinder, I can tell you it’s a banana, but I can’t make you think “banana” on your own unless I make it yellow, taper the ends and give it some curvature. To further extend this metaphor: Sometimes bananas are green in real life. If I make a green, tapered, curved cylinder, does it look like a banana? It looks like a pepper. You can jump up and down and scream about how you just drew a perfectly good banana, because it looks just as much like a real banana as a yellow one (student filmmaker), but I’m telling you, dude, it’s a fucking pepper, UNTIL you put more time and energy into giving it OTHER recognizable banana qualities- for instance, drawing it half peeled. Okay, now it’s a green banana. You blew my mind.

Dan Harmon
http://channel101.wikia.com/wiki/Story_Structure_106:_Five_Minute_Pilots

When creating we like to be different, unique or ‘creative’, unless it can be recognized as a banana it can fall flat. We suffer from the curse of knowledge, we know if it is a banana but the player/audience doesn’t unless it looks like one.

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