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mwolf0epsilon · 4 years ago

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First off, before everyone comes after my butt with their "No Fun Allowed" and "Cringe" signs, this is in no way something to be taken as gospel or insightful. It's not a prophetic enforcement of canon. It's literally a theory done for fun, and to try to piece the Bendy Crack up Comics into the general and messy lore of the BatIM franchise.

Most of you get this and don't need a big wordy warning about fanon interpretation, but a lot of peculiar people tend to show up in my ask box hoping to start a fuss over my headcanons and AU ideas, so I thought to be nice and leave a polite and diplomatic "Kindly Fuck Off" sign at the door for them.

With that said, there will be mild spoilers, carry on of your own volition, down below under the cut that will definitely show up because Tumblr mobile is a functional app that's never given me trouble!!!

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The Bendy Franchise has an established issue with cohesion in its lore. We all know what I'm talking about, we all have reservations about canonical character discrepancies (game vs novel vs guidebook) and we all have been racking our brains with a few holes in the timeline, as well as how BatDR (which is neither prequel nor sequel) will fit into this, since it's connected to BatDS and that's an established prequel to BatIM.

Granted I myself am missing a lot of pieces, having to scrounge around for info since I can't really get any of the reading material myself and rely heavily on @british-hero (who owns the novel plus got her copy of the comics yesterday), a very incomplete wikie, and analysis and theories from SuperHorrorBro's Bendy videos.

Heck, I also rely on a lot of gameplay footage, because BatIM has a bit of subtle storytelling through visual design of its levels, and hints of how certain characters work through a few game mechanics.

Through this mishmash of collecting puzzle pieces for the greater picture I even have a few notes on my phone to piece together certain events in established dates, something which comes very in handy for this theory since it talks about two particular characters, the Projectionist and Brute Boris (and I guess Twisted Alice to some extent but it's more of a note on some interesting thoughts I have of her).

Without further ado, here's what this theory is all about: Why did Norman become the Projectionist, and why did Twisted Alice turn Buddy Boris into Brute Boris?

If you think about it, there's only two creatures in the studio that really seem out of place in the world of BatIM, and that's Prophet Sammy and the Projectionist. Neither are inherently similar to any of the cartoon characters, nor are they considered to be Lost Ones. They're certainly not Searchers, but while we know Sammy is unique because his method of transformation was different, we never got an explanation for Norman's. It could be that it's a process similar to BatDR's new enemy type that's larger and seems to have bits and bobs stuck to it, but then those big guys seem like the equivalent to Swollen Searchers for the Lost Ones. The Projectionist doesn't really fit the puzzle.

Or at least he didn't.

With the introduction of the Crack up Comics collection, we get three new characters that were definitely designed in the same manner that the Butcher Gang was. Beginning with a corrupt monster forms and then giving way to perfect and pristine rubberhose toon forms.

I'm talking about Miss Twisted, the Brute, and Cameraman.

The villainous trio from the Souper Boris comic strip.

To us it's obvious the artists created them in parallel to Twisted Alice, Brute Boris and the Projectionist, but to the actual canon this actually has a bit of an impact on the Projectionist's existence.

Why, you ask? Because those characters were introduced between 1936 and 1940.

Bendy Crack up Comics table of contents, showcasing the publishing dates of the strips.

For anyone who doesn't know (either from not paying attention to the Joey Drew Studios channel audio logs, or from not owning the books) the Ink Machine wasn't conceptualized or installed until 1942/1943. Putting that into perspective, the only other thing that happened in Joey Drew Studios in 1940, was the conceptualization of Bendyland (which is likely the origin of the idea for the Ink Machine itself).

This means that Cameraman existed well before the Projectionist ever came to be, and that made me think about another thing: The Ink's apparent sentience.

I'll be frank, the Ink is very hard nut to crack. I consider it a form of alchemized entity, others consider it pure black magic, and I'm pretty sure Joey Drew himself had no idea what he was dealing with when he began using it. The fact of the matter is that the Ink is alive and that it has its own agenda. One that coincides with Joey's, out of mutual interest.

In the novels it seems to want to be free, but it can't exactly do that as a formless liquid, so it tries to body-snatch people (ex: Sammy and Buddy's grandpa).

When Joey tries to use it to give life to Bendy through nothing more than using the Ink and a template (likely a character model sheet) the Ink tries to follow the model but immediately becomes a distorted humanoid version of it (which honestly rings so many fucking alarm bells on its own). Things… Escalate there on out, with Joey trying to perfect the method and only managing to succeed through Daniel Lewek (and many other nameless Boris Clones), Allison Pendle and Thomas Connor.

An important thing to take from this, however, is that by trying to perfect this method Joey not only taught the Ink to reshape things into viable referenced material, but that he had to have lost control of just how many souls were being pumped through the Ink Machine for him to monitor and keep up.

Sammy started killing people when he completely turned, and it didn't seem to take long for him to cut down people in likely both the music and art departments. At this point he had no self-restraint and was completely wrapped around inky fingers and Joey's lies.

Norman is one such potential victim, and Dot and Buddy even passed by his ink-wrapped body while fleeing.

Now, the thing about trying to follow a specific guide and not having the actual means to make it exactly the same thing, is an easy enough notion to get (as shows like "Nailed It", and years of trying to perfect visual style mimicry, have taught me).

The Ink likely had the template it needed (maybe a printed copy of Souper Boris that got thrown around in the chaos), the insight of what Norman's role in the studio was, the amount of mass it needed to consume and transform his dead body, but not exactly the right sort of… Centerpiece for it...

Cameraman using his lens to light up his path.

But what's a projector besides a bigger fancier camera? Both blink, both take film, same thing right? The ink doesn't see the difference and just stitches together this humanoid bootleg cameraman with the pieces it finds that are similar enough.

Mechanical blinky head? Check.

Strange round disc near the belly? There's a speaker. That's round! Check.

Film? There we go, a nice big round reel full of film in it, let's put it near the head, that's how it works right? Check.

Lastly, no Joey to actually direct this artistic recreation of a one-off character. The Ink did it all by itself while he was off getting his hand broken by a rightfully upset Buddy Boris.

If you look at it objectively it makes sense that being the projectionist tasked with not only recording and maintaining the projectors themselves, that the entity in the Ink would pick Cameraman as a template for Norman's transformed self.

It also makes sense that the Projectionist is so off-putting in the studio. He's almost perfect, but not quite because there just weren't the right materials. He's stuck in between Twisted Alice and the Butcher Gang clones as another failed recreation.

Moving on to the next question on why Twisted Alice turn Buddy Boris into Brute Boris, when she hadn't done the same to any of the other Boris Clones.

It's hard to say really, but I think it all comes down to who Twisted Alice really is. It's very likely that, as Susie Campbell, she would have knowledge of the comic strips. A few were most likely made into cartoon shorts even (which isn't an unusual assumption to make), and maybe Susie voiced a few background characters for said shorts.

Susie may have lost her role as Alice, but before Joey came to her with his proposition for the "special project" it's very likely that she remained in the studio, forced to do the voices of characters that weren't noteworthy or that she felt completely disconnected from (talking chairs and singing hens really don't become beloved fan-favourites) . Maybe if the Souper Boris story was made into a short, she might have voiced Miss Twisted (which honestly would be personally insulting considering she once had the role of the main heroine).

Point is, Susie knows her lore, and that translates to Twisted Alice's repertoire of insightful knowledge on the abominations lurking around the studio.

She never did turn other Boris clones into brutish lackeys because at the time she didn't need to. But it doesn't mean she hadn't considered it. Henry's disruptive behaviour is just what she needed to put that plan into motion.

There was already a "Cameraman" walking about, one that could easily rip apart anything it came across, so acquiring the means to recreate the "Brute" would have been benefiting from her point of view. The Projectionist doesn't take orders and can't be reasoned with, so if she could make something just as strong that took her orders she could, theoretically, be safe from most terrors in the studio. If that didn't work, she would still likely send others to their death by simply sending them down to Level 14, or maybe lure the Projectionist to them herself (just because he doesn't take orders doesn't mean she can't use him to achieve her end goals).

Miss Twisted, the Brute and Cameraman in their evil swamp lair.

But why Buddy Boris specifically? Why couldn't she have used any of the bodies laying around? Freshness most likely. Rigor mortis is probably still a thing, even for living cartoons. Easier to work a fresh dead body than a bunch of stiff wolves.

That's at least why I think Brute Boris is a thing. Susie's knowledge of most Bendy cartoon/comic strip characters, taking inspiration from the Projectionist's presence, and honestly a very twisted sense of humor and irony. In her quest to become a Perfect Alice, the heroine of the show, she ended up becoming just as antagonistic (although more sadistic) as Miss Twisted, a Bendy comic strip villainess.

#bendy and the ink machine #batim #bendy crack up comics #bendy spoilers #spoilers #theory #headcanons #speculation #twisted alice #the projectionist #brute boris #long post

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lightsandlostbells · 4 years ago

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wtFOCK season 3, episode 1 reaction

So! It’s a million years too late, but I decided to talk about wtFOCK season 3.

I had fairly positive feelings about S1 of wtFOCK. It was the scrappy underdog of the Skam remakes, in a way, and what it lacked in polish, it made up for authenticity. I was very willing to overlook its flaws because of what I perceived as genuine attempts to connect with teenagers. I was really, really holding out hope that future seasons would improve on its flaws. And ... well. (Disclaimer: I still haven’t seen S2. Sorry! I just failed to keep up with all the remakes and S2 is my least fave so I didn’t feel that motivated to make it a priority, even though I did like Zoë a lot in S1.)

Heads up - I didn’t care for this season. A lot of people did, and I would never, ever want to ruin someone’s enjoyment of something, even if I personally didn’t like it. So please take this as a warning that I have a lot of negative things to say, and don’t read if it’s going to harsh your buzz for a pairing or a story that you deeply love. However, I didn’t want to just be grumpy and angry the whole time, so I tried to think of constructive ways to fix certain problems I had with this season. No guarantees that they’re satisfying solutions, but it was an interesting exercise.

Also, I didn’t watch this in real time, and I paid barely any attention to fandom reactions and/or drama, so it’s very possible that I am missing context, or that pacing issues didn’t register with me quite as strongly, etc. If one of the actors ate a live dolphin on Instagram, and then got into a fight with fans on Twitter about their right to eat live dolphins, and now fandom has canceled the problematic dolphin-eating actor, I legit do not know, do not come at me if I’m like “This actor is doing a good job” with “Wow, didn’t know you stanned dolphin-eaters??? YIKES.” Honestly, for the purposes of just grading this season on a storytelling level, I would prefer not to know anything about the cast or crew unless it directly has an impact on the show itself.

Clip 1 - House party

OK, I did like this flashy intro shot, immersing us in the Wild ‘n’ Crazy Teen Party of Wild ‘n’ Crazy Youths.

Amber rejecting every dude in site … When Will Gay Vilde Rise. (I know there have been some f/f storylines in the remakes, but if there’s one involving an actual Vilde, please let me know.)

Luca saying “We’re not walking around in a high school drama” - you can hear the rimshot.

I do like the transition from the party up to the bathroom, that’s a cool shot. wtFOCK’s directing so far is more ambitious than it was in S1.

Robbe is clearly a mess and they acknowledge his problems at home right off the bat.

We go back downstairs. wtFOCK’s version of Magnus knocks his drink on Amber and she gets pissed. She gives him the finger and he falls in love. Still a better love story than S3 Daphne/Basile.

It’s a small point, but I don’t get why we didn’t get this moment before jumping up to the bathroom with Robbe and the others? It would be a far smoother transition, just on a practical level and also in the sense of fully immersing us in Robbe’s POV after a quick update with the other characters.

Belgian Magnus joins the guys in the bathtub and announces he’s in love. They roast him when they find out it’s Amber and start talking about hot chicks. Moyo starts grilling Robbe about his type of girl, in a crass, sexual way.

This is honestly not a bad start to Robbe’s story at all. Robbe is clearly more reluctant to get into his interest in girls than Isak was - Isak was more fuckboyish from the start, Robbe seems like he’s about to start squirming and doesn’t really give an answer to Moyo’s questioning. Which is fine! I think it’s fine to start off the POV character at different stages of performing heterosexuality, as long as it’s taken into account in the writing of the character’s whole arc. The fact that the boy talk is so crude and sexual just ramps up Robbe’s alienation.

I swear, I will never understand how the girls in this scene just go into the bathroom and pee in front of strange boys … like maybe I am just a ~prude but that seems like a recipe for disaster and I would not trust those little fuckers to not be secretly recording me on the toilet.

Her peeing is kind of a power move, like marking her territory.

Also L M A O at Robbe starting to flirt with the girl while she is pissing … like now this comes off as a kink thing. OK, Robbe. Jokes aside, this gets across the same meaning as the scene with Isak: he starts to flirt with her because he was encouraged by the other guys.

Uh, flush the toilet, lady. And use some TP.

Now this version of Emma seriously radiates some Natalie Portman in The Professional vibes.

She orders him to stand up and then starts kissing him. I get way less of a vibe of Robbe’s mad game with women (like how Isak negged Emma into kissing him) and more like this girl is the love interest out of an indie romcom, all mysterious and spunky. She kisses him like once after taking his jay and then leaves. The boys all crack up. Moyo tells Robbe it’s his responsibility to get the weed back which lmao, no it’s not, all you assholes were there and could have intervened.

This scene is perfectly fine and even effective! Not entirely the same vibes as OG, but it still has a purpose and some obvious cause-and-effect, and there are some nice stylistic choices.

Clip 2 - Party pt. 2

Robbe is now making out with mystery girl. We already have a divergence in characterization from OG. Isak was being performative about making out with Emma and shut it down once the guys left. Robbe is making out with this girl because he wants to be straight, I guess? If it’s not to appeal to his friends, it’s likely that this is for himself. Again, I have no real problem with this change if it’s incorporated into Robbe’s overall arc and characterization. My thing is, if you’re writing this scene, do you realize the differences in characterization? Or do you think this is interchangeable from what happened with Isak? The latter is where you run into problems, because then the writing shows lack of nuance. I bring this up here because, well, you can guess how I feel about later events.

Luca seems rather aggro about the mystery woman, which I assume is because she still has the hots for Robbe?

It makes me laugh that we got this first-person POV as Robbe leaves through the garage, because of the “Smack My Bitch Up” song being played in the last clip (the song had an infamous music video, banned from MTV in the ‘90s, that was from a first-person POV). But again, WTFock is trying harder with the cinematography and direction, good for them.

Robbe ditches the cops by jumping on the bike with Belgian Emma. OK, I get it, Belgian Emma is too cool for school.

I have kinda mixed feelings on that, actually. I mean, I’ll be honest - I don’t see why any Emma has to be made into someone more palatable. Definitely don’t demonize her or present her in a misogynistic way! She deserves sympathy and dignity as much as any character on a Skam. But … it’s fine if she and the Isak aren’t like, amazingly compatible except for his sexuality. The Even character is supposed to be the one who really shakes up the Isak’s world! The Isak is supposed to be lost and confused and drifting and then Even comes in and is someone he can really open up to. Not just because he’s another guy who’s into guys, but because Even’s personality meshes with Isak’s so easily while still challenging him and introducing him to new things. In a way, it does kinda diminish the effect of the Even if the Isak meets ANOTHER mysterious stranger who’s an awesome person. Or at the very least, it lessens the feeling of the Isak’s detachment from everything.

And again, this could work if the writing realizes it. You can totally craft a subtly different arc from the pieces of Isak’s season. It’s just that (speaking from the future) I do not feel this is what happened.

Clip 3 - Tagging time

I don’t think it’s necessary to break up all the parts of a longer scene/set piece into a bunch of different clips. If you start a scene at 16:00, it’s OK to have the clip take place over several hours. You don’t need to chop it up unless there’s a reason why this pacing might benefit the story. Honestly, if you’re watching in real time, I think this method is often less effective at building tension/emotion/etc. But wtFOCK is not the first remake to try this tactic.

... this part where Robbe and Noor put on masks sure hits differently in 2020.

Belgian Emma’s name is Noor and she takes him to a warehouse, or something? It’s very secret and Cool Kid. And IDK, it’s fun, but again… I think making the Emma that much of a fun mysterious cool exciting person is very much diminishing the effect of Robbe’s isolation. We had a good start with establishing that alienation while he was in the tub, but now his reactions to her rad hipness feel way too sincere and act against the major character conflict of his season. He seems nervous to go with her, but not because he’s with a girl, just because it’s a risky scenario.

Noor hands Robbe a spray paint can and leads him to tag a wall. There’s a guy taking pictures. So I’m assuming one of the guys in masks is the Even? The POV seems to shift to the photo guy briefly, like we’re seeing Robbe through his eyes. And even though I’m not a fan of POV breakage, I do think this is a cool way to introduce the Even without really introducing him, you know? If that’s him. (EDIT from the future: Ummm, so that wasn’t Sander, right? I’m rewatching and it doesn’t look like him. Soooo that part has even less relevance than I originally thought. Got it.) (EDIT from the future beyond the future: @hellswolfie tells me that this actually was Sander, so I am just bad at recognizing people, lol.)

Robbe and Noor take off their masks briefly to kiss. Uhhhh, did the scene really just … cut off there? Because L M A O what a weird choice. We don’t get to see what Robbe creates on the wall, which could be a great way to establish his character, AND we end with him on a smiley, contented note which does not boost his POV at all. It legit just makes him seem like a guy who’s into this girl, and sorry, even if that’s his public persona at this point in time … that’s not what we, the audience should be getting at all.

Clip 4 - Boy squad morning after

Robbe skateboards to meet up with the guy squad. Again, the directing is far better IMO than in S1.

Robbe got the weed back so that conflict is over, I guess.

He gets a call from his mom and stops laughing with the guys and gets serious. He walks away to take the call. Then he starts to open up to Jens about his mom freaking out, and then Moyo spots some girls so they all ditch Robbe to go chase girls, and WOW, Jens, please turn in your Jonas card.

Don’t love that we didn’t hear his mom on the phone. There’s no reason not to let us hear what she’s saying since it would be in Robbe’s POV AND as it turns out, they just tell us about the situation with his mom right off the bat, anyway, so it’s not like there’s much point in hiding it.

This was effective in a sense to establish how girl-crazy his friends are, as well as setting up Robbe’s isolation, which I was worried wouldn’t come across as strongly after meeting Noor. But I think they could have NOT mingled in his mom issues to make this part more effective. Like if the goal was to show more of Robbe being alienated because he’s gay, then that’s not entirely successful, because there are non-gay reasons why Robbe wouldn’t join his pals on the girl chase. I mean, even a horny hetero Robbe might not want to chase girls with his bros because talking to his mom is a downer, so it’s not necessarily because of his sexuality. Plus he just found a girl he liked in Noor, so apparently, he’s not on the prowl. What this part IS communicating that the Belgian guy squad doesn’t have much interest in their friend’s family struggles, which ... ehhhh, maybe not great in the grand scheme of the storyline? These guys can be flawed, for sure, but we do need them to care about Robbe’s well-being. And Robbe tried to open up here, so the flaw is not in him, it’s in his friends. I’m going to let it slide because Jens was offering to help Robbe in the first clip, so it’s not like he’s been a totally insensitive friend this whole time.

Clip 5 - Phone call from Robbe’s dad

Noor jumps on Robbe and they make out. She shows him the garage and they talk about the tagging world or w/e. Again, not sure why they are portraying Noor as like … a legit love interest. I don’t get much of a sense of discomfort from Robbe. Isak was just not into Emma and was uncomfortable when his bathroom flirting came back to haunt him. And I don’t think it’s TERRIBLE not to follow that route, but you can’t just make this huge change if you don’t account for it in future episodes and Robbe’s overall arc. (EDIT from the future: Which I don’t think they do, otherwise I wouldn’t care.) Every scene should count in furthering Robbe’s character, especially this early in the season where we’re just getting to know his particular struggles. If Robbe is trying to convince himself to like girls, then I want to see definite vulnerability in how that’s portrayed.

I blame the directing/writing more than the acting for the lack of discomfort, since I sensed Robbe’s lack of comfort just fine in the bathtub scene.

Makeouts get interrupted when Robbe’s dad calls. Again, not sure why we aren’t hearing both sides of the conversation? Because we’re in Robbe’s POV. Why wouldn’t we hear them? This seems like they just want to create some suspense or mystery over the situation with his parents. But it’s perfectly possible to do so while still letting us in on the phone calls. In fact, it’s arguably more intriguing to let us listen to some phone calls where we get some vague details but nowhere close to the whole story. It’s not like Robbe’s dad is going to explain the whole situation to his son in an exposition dump. We can get some crumbs to tease us, while still keeping us in Robbe’s POV and not feeling like the show is cutting corners.

Robbe gets mad at his dad and tells Noor he needs to be alone. Closeup on Noor as Robbe walks away. OK … why? Why on her and not Robbe when it’s his POV? Why the focus on Noor’s feelings when we really need to be establishing our protagonist’s mindset in the beginning of this season? I’m not saying her feelings don’t matter, I’m saying that well, this isn’t her story. It would be better to see Robbe’s pained reaction as he leaves.

Clip 6 - Robbe’s dad drama

Jens comes running up while Robbe is being sad. Robbe says that it may be necessary for him to stay with Jens because Robbe’s mom has been committed to a mental health institution and Robbe doesn’t want to stay with his dad. Ah, so I guess we’re hearing that right away. Which honestly makes not hearing his phone calls to his parents even funnier - like you lock us out of his POV arguably for the suspense, but then you end the suspense anyway by just telling us what happened a scene or two later? All right. I guess there’s suspense in that we don’t know exactly what’s up with the mom, mental health-wise, or the root of Robbe’s problems with his dad.

It occurs to me that maybe they just didn’t want to hire people to voice Robbe’s parents? Or put in the time to film both sides of the conversation? I have a hard time believing either of those because it’s so lazy, but.

I mean, just turn the phone conversations into text conversations if you’re not going to let us listen to Robbe’s parents on the other end.

They go and play football without really resolving the situation. Sad music plays while Robbe joins in. Also, someone was calling Robbe, and I assume it was his dad, but it’s not shown.

These clips are VERY short and choppy so far. You could easily combine the last two, so Robbe is with Jens instead of Noor when he gets the other phone call from his dad, leading into this conversation.

We know immediately about Robbe’s mom’s situation instead of it being a mystery, like with Isak. Which, again, isn’t inherently wrong, but then I want them to DO SOMETHING with it.

Clip 7 - Jens and Jana

Oh hey, Jana got her braces off! IDK if that happened last season or this one, but it was something I liked, seeing a teenage girl with braces on a teen drama. That rarely happens unless it’s a joke or a plot point.

OK, they really need to film Robbe’s phone so I can actually see who’s calling…

Jens tells Jana about Robbe’s parental situation. I’ll note that first she asks if something’s up with Noor, so news of the Robbe/Noor relationship must have traveled really fast since they’ve only just gotten together. Like Robbe and Noor are clearly dating, going off Jana’s comment, and not just hooking up. Then Belgian Magnus wants to know about hooking up with Amber. Meanwhile Robbe is having a conversation off screen with his dad? Guess it wasn’t important!

And that’s the problem, obviously. It’s his POV season, anything you decide to show SHOULD be important to his storyline.

Also … it’s fine that we’re focusing on Robbe’s shit home life since that’s relevant to his story, but almost nothing in these clips has set up Robbe’s attraction to men, and only slightly his lack of interest in girls, which was negated by him seeming very interested in a girl afterwards. And knowing how long this season takes to get going with the Even character, it’s a pretty glaring omission.

So we don’t see Robbe’s phone call with his dad, but he gets snappy about it when Jens asks. One of the boys (I can’t tell who) says that Robbe’s on his period. Gonna be real, I don’t care for this squad so far.

What was the point of this clip? We already know Robbe is having problems with his dad, which is the most relevant part to the plot here. We shouldn’t be wandering from Robbe’s POV so much, but even taking that into account … we already know Belgian Magnus likes Amber, so that’s not necessary to establish. And we didn’t need to see Jens tell Jana something we already know. I assume he tells her so Zoë can find out and offer a room, but there’s no reason to see Jens tell Jana this, so. Filler clip.

Clip 8 - Zoë and Robbe at the lockers

Yeah, Zoë offers Robbe a place to stay here, but again, we didn’t need to see the news travel down the Jens-Jana pipeline. It could have been condensed more efficiently.

Robbe doesn’t want to because he says his dad wouldn’t approve. Zoë says she hopes things get better with his mom and Robbe at first snaps and tells her to leave it, then says thanks. This is an actual good interaction, writing-wise, kudos.

I liked Zoë a lot in S1 and I like her here again. I really should watch her season despite my Noorhelm allergy. The scene of them kinda smiling at each other across the hallways reminds me that this is probably the strongest relationship in the whole season, tbh.

Why was this clip so short? So many of these clips could have been combined into one. I mean, Zoë could have said, “I heard from Jana who heard from Jens...” without us needing the previous clip. Although, did Robbe really want anyone else to know about his home life? Lol @ Jens just blabbing Robbe’s private business.

So I guess they didn’t set up the Eskild situation in S2 that would lead to Eskild offering Robbe a place to stay?

Clip 9 - Robbe gets roommates

Robbe is in Zoë’s room. He sees her “everyone you know is fighting a battle” quote next to the mirror, which is a detail I actually quite like in context with the rest of this storyline and Even’s condition. It’s a good Skam thesis overall.

I guess Zoë met with Robbe’s dad. Zoë calls him a tough cookie. Robbe doesn’t want to speak to him. They bond a little over their parental problems. Again, a nice detail.

Belgian Eskild appears and teases Robbe a little before announcing that Robbe’s dad has agreed to let him stay in the flat. Yay!

Oh, so Senne is staying there, too? At least they didn’t do a pointless Noorhelm breakup in this version.

Milan (the Eskild) tries to go in for a hug and Robbe isn’t cool with it, so at least that’s something with Robbe’s issues with men. (I think? The thing is, Robbe also does not really know Milan, so it’s not as weird that he’s not ready to be affectionate with a near-stranger.) (EDIT from the future: Keeping the S2 almost-kiss that’s referenced in the next clip in mind, I can rationalize this moment as a continuation of that awkwardness from Robbe’s POV.)

They chat with Lisa (Linn) who wants to direct Robbe on what he is and isn’t allowed to touch in her room, heh. Milan and Zoë have cute interaction, and Robbe looks happy. I do like the flatmate vibe so far, they seem fun.

Clip 10 - Robbe and Milan

Senne and Zoë get cute. I haven’t seen S2 so I can’t give my opinion on their version of Noorhelm, but I did think a few things about them were less creepy in wtFOCK’s S1 than in OG. Milan talks about how they’re a Disneylike couple and Robbe laughs.

Then Robbe apologizes for something that evidently happened in S2, where Milan tried to kiss Robbe at a party? Again, I didn’t see the scene. Milan says he’d never try to do that. He offers Robbe a hug, which he accepts - tbh I don’t know if Robbe SHOULD accept based on where he is in his character arc, maybe he should have more skittishness? But it’s a nice character moment, at least. They really have to make up for lost time with the Robbe-Milan relationship, so I can get that they need to establish some closeness fast.

Not being in the wtFOCK fandom, I kinda wonder if there was backlash to that scene from before and this is damage control, LMAO.

I feel like you could’ve tweaked this to be more representative of Robbe’s issues, like have him stress here that he’s not gay, because it’s a sweet scene but again, I don’t feel like this episode built up Robbe’s internal dilemma very well. You could make this not just about smoothing over whatever bump there was in this relationship, but also about setting up some internal tension with Robbe’s sexuality issues. Multi-tasking - it’s great!

EDIT from the future: OK, I tracked down the S2 scene, and yeah, while it illustrates some of Robbe’s internalized homophobia, I really think you needed to carry this through to this clip. Because that was a very public situation, and they made a point of emphasizing onlookers’ reactions. I feel like you need to show that Robbe’s internalized homophobia isn’t just about external reactions, but internal struggles, because ... so far, that’s what it is? Like what is he doing with Noor otherwise?

Clip 11 - Housewarming party

Party is underway. Yasmina is there and is friendly with Robbe. It sounds like they’re working on a school project together. Aaron (Magnus) and Moyo are talking about hot chicks again.

Noor arrives and the boys tease Robbe about how far he’s gone, Robbe looks pretty chill and happy until Moyo says Robbe’s getting laid tonight and you can see the nerves and reluctance take over. Okay! A character detail that actually works for his arc! Yes!

Partying, makeouts with Noor … sorry but they are wasting a lot of time with this relationship. ROBBE ISN’T INTO HER. Here’s the thing: I don’t want to demonize any of Evak’s female “love interests,” right? It’s pointless anyway because Evak is the endgame pairing, Sonja and Emma aren’t “threats” in the end, but also because they’re not bad people just for wanting to date these two guys who happens to want each other instead. And I think you can do interesting things with Sonja and Emma as characters. I’ve read Sonja fanfic that’s really good!

But when it comes down to it … this is not the story of Robbe/Noor, and there’s a point where it feels like there’s too much development for something that is really intended to be a speed bump in Robbe’s journey.

I guess it’s a pet peeve of mine when gay stories devote a ton of time to het relationships, to the point where it begins to overshadow the main gay relationship. Love, Victor did this to an absolutely ridiculous degree. (I actually made notes for Love, Victor reactions, but hesitated to post them because 60% consisted of me typing I DON’T CARE ABOUT THESE STRAIGHT ROMANCES.) And I GET it, this is an experience many gay kids go through in their coming out journey, but also, less charitably… you don’t need het romance to dominate everything. You don’t need to make this about how a gay person being gay hurts a straight person. I genuinely appreciate that once Isak kisses Even, it’s fucking over with him and Emma, that plot thread is done.

Anyway, Noor tells Robbe he’s so fucking hot and Robbe looks more uncomfortable, moreso when she wants to see his room and he goes off like he’s headed to Mordor.

Aaron checking out Amber … okay, again with all the het. I don’t care!!! This is not important right now!!

Noor pushes Robbe onto the bed, ugh please don’t have them Go There.

She takes off her top and Robbe touches her boob like he’s sticking his hand into a porta-potty. We see his discomfort so at least this part is effective and relevant to Robbe’s arc. Noor is taking off her bra when the boys come into the room, wanting the weed. Okay, you dumb fucks, you’re teasing your bro about getting laid and yet you think it’s cool to enter his room when he’s with a girl? I mean, that’s a lucky break for Robbe, but his friends are extra stupid.

The mood is killed, Robbe goes hunting for weed. Episode ends.

HOW I WOULD REWRITE THIS EPISODE:

Lmao, some of my changes sounded a lot like “be like OG Skam S3.” Because Skam S3 was well-written and made sense. But I tried to think of edits that worked with what wtFOCK was presenting, not just repeating OG.

(I’m also repeating a few things in this section that I said above, btw)

While this episode doesn’t make me angry or anything, it’s got a serious problem with dithering. The first clip is a solid start to the season, but afterwards, so many of these clips feel like filler. There’s a lack of substance to them. It was hard to write about them because they ended up feeling like two minutes of nothing.

Did we need to see repetitive mentions of Robbe’s troubled relationship with his dad? No, it’s an important plot detail but we could have established that more concisely in fewer clips. Did we need to see the process of how Robbe comes to stay with Zoë, Senne, and Milan? No, not really. Or at least not dragged out over at least three clips.

I don’t feel like I’m in Robbe’s head to the extent that I should be so far. Some of this is because the show just flat-out locks us out of his POV, like not showing the phone call in the Jens-Jana clip. But a lot of it is also because of the narrative dawdling. There’s just not as much to analyze unless I bring in Skam season 3 and project what we know about Isak onto Robbe. And that’s not a good way to adapt a story.

The framing of Robbe/Noor needs to change. Combine the bathroom intro with the aborted sex scene - the boys are sitting in the tub, teasing Robbe about getting laid, so he makes out with Noor and they go into a bedroom where he’s clearly not into this, and then Moyo and Aaron come in asking for weed because Robbe still actually has the weed from the bathtub at this point. Or do what Skam France did (can’t believe I’m referring to Skam France) and have the arrival of the cops interrupt the makeout/sex session and Robbe takes his cue to exit.

But frankly, it’s not great to have Robbe acting or looking too cozy with Noor, like this is a legitimate romantic arc except when it gets to the sex. The point is that this isn’t a romance. Even if you want to show some cuddly, non-sexual scenes with Noor, you have to show more of Robbe’s reluctance and fear throughout.

Show Robbe’s fucking phone conversations with his parents!!!! Good Lord. He’s not ordering a pizza. These are important aspects of his story. Capitalize on that family tension, show us what a bad place Robbe is in at the start of this season.

Now, about the lack of Even in this episode. Not introducing Even is a bold move, but not necessarily a smart one. Even’s introduction in Skam is not just the intro of “the love interest” - he’s the catalyst for almost everything in Isak’s story. Consider that in episode 1, Isak is seen mostly unhappy and bored - he’s distraught after kissing Emma, he’s checked out of his friends’ lunchtime girl talk, he zones out staring at his teacher’s boobs, he doesn’t want to be at kosegruppa. Isak is actually very passive and just going through the motions, doing what people tell him to do. But once Isak meets Even at kosegruppa - well, that’s when Isak wakes up. In the next few clips, we see Isak taking action. And sure, they’re small actions, searching for Even online, watching the Even video over and over, asking Vilde if there will be more kosegruppa meetings. But we can see that Isak now cares about something, he’s paying attention. Of course, Robbe’s story doesn’t have to follow the same arc. However, it does the season a huge benefit to get him intrigued by something at this point, so we the audience are not just sleepwalking along with him for a few episodes.

There’s also just the simple fact that we have only 10 episodes to establish a love story and make us care about the Even character, and it’s a very risky move to waste too much time. If you are really killing it with the rest of Robbe’s arc, this could still work, but ... well, that’s not what’s happening here.

If they didn’t want to full on introduce the Even directly, one thing they could do is subtly and indirectly find ways to include him in the narrative and create some mystery. Let’s say Robbe sees the Even’s artwork somewhere and is like whoa, that’s cool, and we can tell that it resonates with him. Or he admires Even’s graffiti, or it makes him laugh, whatever. Basically Robbe has some kind of emotional reaction to a thing the Even has created or done, which helps to set up that relationship even before we officially meet the Even.

If we want to add a little more, perhaps Robbe sees a mysterious dude in a mask tagging a wall, but they get interrupted by the cops or something and have some kind of brief but intriguing interaction with each other, and Robbe’s like, who was that guy in the mask? Or Noor takes Robbe to the tagging place, the police/security bust them, Robbe and Noor get separated, and Robbe gets helped out by the Even so he can escape. So it’s an important moment, lots of adrenaline, we can frame it like there’s a sudden ~charge~ between them (ooOOOooo the Even helped Robbe stand up and their hands touched like this was a fanfic, etc.), but he doesn’t learn Even’s name, maybe he doesn’t even see his face because Even has a mask on, so Robbe spends part of the next few episodes trying to figure out who that guy is, casually asking Noor if she knows a guy like that, keeping his eyes open. Maybe we have some fakeouts where Robbe thinks he sees the Even again but it’s just a false alarm. He’s on edge, eager to know more about that mystery guy, and so are we. Bam, we have “awakened” Robbe from his deep sleep.

If you’ve seen Netflix’s The Get Down, there’s even a scene like this where Jaden Smith’s character gets caught tagging by the cops, he runs and flees with another young dude, and they have a moment where they recognize each other as graffiti artists they admire. While watching that scene for the first time, without any context or spoilers, without even knowing if there would be LGBT content in that show, I immediately thought, “This guy is his love interest.” Not even because it was overtly romantic. Because the way it was written and shot told us that this meeting was important. Because they had an instant connection. Something similar could have worked for Robbe and his Even. But in any case: it would have been best to establish something between those characters, even if it wasn’t an “official” introduction.

Stop focusing on Aaron/Amber when it’s not in Robbe’s POV. Reverse the scene at the beginning with Aaron videotaping and Amber getting spilled on. She gets pissed, he falls in love, and then we follow him upstairs and we meet the boy squad. That is a very obvious, very clean transition that doesn’t interrupt Robbe’s POV as it technically hasn’t started yet. So IDK why they didn’t do that, lmao.

Some changes with the Milan relationship:

Tweak the apology scene to be more representative of Robbe’s issues. Have Robbe apologize while still stressing that he’s not gay. Have Milan be chill and not question that statement, but maybe Robbe is so defensive that it comes across as unconvincing.

Then have Milan be the one instead of the boys to interrupt the Noor almost-sex scene. Milan wanders in acting drunk, haha Milan, he’s wacky. Robbe doesn’t realize it (though the viewers do if they’re paying attention) but Milan is only pretending and is “subtly” rescuing Robbe because he realizes, based on the earlier scene, that Robbe might be struggling with his sexuality and he wants to give him an escape option. (Although I still think it’s best to combine the not-sex scene into the opening clip, but this could work, too.)

Basic questions we need to be asking, clip to clip: what is the conflict? Where is Robbe’s head right now? Why is this scene necessary? How did this scene come to be - what’s the cause and effect here? How does it advance Robbe’s story? Is it redundant? How do we tell this story in a narratively economical manner?

#wtfock reactions

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iwaywardcreatorstudentblr · 4 years ago

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Game Art Open Project - Task 1 Research

Storytelling is a vast and interesting which can be influenced and enhanced by the medium being used to convey it. At the same time, these mediums themselves can also implement constraints on the story and as such the writers need to be aware of how to navigate these obstacles so that the story can be told in the best manner possible.

For my dissertation I am researching the Seven Story Archetypes and how they can be used to by narrative designers to create stories intended for video games. To take this a step further I also want to implement Jenkins’ Narrative Theory, namely that of evoked narrative types. Evoked narratives are storylines where the video game’s world is “reproduced from another work of fiction” (McEnerney, 2017, p.3). This type of narrative “can paint their worlds in fairly broad outlines and count on the player/visitor to do the rest” (Jenkins, 2002, p. 6/123), it relies on the familiarity or prior knowledge of the player to help the story. As such, I will be using a premade franchise and the Archetypes to create my own story, I will use transmediation and remediation to make it possible for my written story to conveyed through a video game.

Transmedia is the act of “weaving stories across multiple platforms and expanding learning and engagement” (Rodrigues & Bidarra, 2014, p.42/1). Transmedia is interwoven with the concept of my dissertation subject because it can be directly linked to creating multiple storylines from a single franchise. Narrative designers must constantly consider how to create these expansive and interesting narratives while keeping in mind the original storyline and world. Which is why it can be linked to my dissertation subject and in turn this project, due to how my dissertation will involve creating an evoked narrative from an already established franchise. Another concept to be considered is that of remediation, as the act of “borrowing or repurposing can take not only the content from an earlier medium, but also incorporate and refashion” (Dobson, 2006, p.4). This can also be linked to Jenkins’ evoked narrative and be incorporated into the heart of both my dissertation concept and the Game Art Open Project. The reason being that since I am going to be creating a new storyline from an already established franchise, then for this project I can create the game visuals depicting these characters in their original style or a different art style that would better fit with the theoretical game.

Since I will be creating a story and then remediating it into a video game for my dissertation, I have researched game types that would best fit my current programming ability and be able to convey my narrative in a fun and interesting manner to the player.

As such, the type of game that would best present my area of study and would be possible to make with my current level of skills is that of Point and Click games. This game’s main mechanic is clicking on specific game objects, doing this allows the player to interact with the game in different ways. There are three different results that can come about from using this mechanics:

· It can bring up information linked to the object

· It can move certain objects from one place to another and

· It can move the main character to that object so that they can interact with it

Point and Click games [ (left to right) Thimbleweed Park, Machinarium & Grim Fandago Remastered]

This game type is made to always display a single scene at a time, at times also allowing the player to slide left to right to reveal more of the area. Though the game can be made with 3D assets it is more often made to be in a 2D art style. Which also resolves another issue, as I do not have that much experience creating 3D models from start to finish it would be more beneficial to create a game in a 2D art style. As I am more comfortable creating 2D game art this is also an opportunity for me to improve on my abilities in this area.

Hollow Knight (2017)

Since the 2D art style is the style I will be using, part of my research has been looking at different ways of drawing 2D art and deciding which to implement in the game. The first art style I am considering is that of the Hollow Knights art style, with a minimalistic character designs but detailed and extensive environmental designs. The pros of using this style is that the characters are minimalistic so I would not need to work too long on them, especially if said characters are only going to have a few poses and no animation. The environmental art style creates a great contrast to this minimalism and would suit a Point and Click game as the main character will not be appearing on screen, except in cutscenes and text conversations. Cons of this style is that the environment is too detailed for the short timeframe that has been allocated to me.

Tales of Vesperia Opening Theme (2019 - Steam)

The second art style I am considering is that of the anime art style, specifically the ones used to mirror anime and manga artwork. The pros of this style are that if done well it can be very beautiful because it adds detail to props, characters and the environment. The con of this is that due to its detail it takes a lot of time, so much so that in actual video games this art style is saved exclusively for cutscene and the chat skits, while the rest of the game is made in a 3D style. So even though it is tempting for time that it would take to do this, even for the game type I would be making, it is too risky for a prototype.

Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth (2018)

NAIRI: Tower of Shirin (2018) in-game

The other art style I am heavily considering is that found in Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth and NAIRI: Tower of Shirin. The art style of the game is minimalistic in all aspects but not to the point that it eliminates a lot a features. The emphasis of design in this style is the use of exaggeration to emphasis personality and characteristics of the designed characters. As for the environments due to this simplified design there is still a good amount of detail but not so much that it consumes time, instead the draw of this environmental art is the use of good colour balance, lighting and shading. This would fit in with the theme of Click and Point games very well, since these game emphasis more on the environmental art than the character design itself at times.

NAIRI: Tower of Shirin (2018) cutscene

Another feature on Click and Point games is the frequent use of cutscenes, that can be used to move the story forward and allow the main character to interact with other side characters. These cutscenes can also be used to display character’s conversing with each other with the use of text bubbles. A method that artists use to make these conversation cutscenes much more interesting and realistic to the player is by create some small character animation. This can be done in two ways, one being that the character has a simple frame-by-frame animation that allows them to move slightly, giving the impression that they are breathing and alive. The other method is to have the characters stay in static poses, then depending on what they are saying change said pose into another.

From playing NAIRI, I find that it leans more on the Interactive Storytelling medium rather than a game. Though the puzzles would push it back into the game side of the spectrum at times it felt a bit too slow and boring. It was honestly my interest in the story that kept me ‘playing’, which I discovered later was more of a teaser/prequel type of story, due to the cliffhanger at what felt at the beginning of the story. From this observation, I would need to make sure that the gameplay engages the player. So, after researching various Point and Click the gameplay mechanics that they make use of is puzzles, action and text choice. Having puzzles engage the users mentally and by having the opportunity to ‘choose’ what they are going to say can make the player feel that the story is a more unique experience and that they have more influence. Another mechanics I would want to enhance in the game is that of action, Point and Click games have this action gameplay present when a player is picking up items, using items and even when they decide where the character is going to go. I have thought though of trying to add dynamic movement to the action gameplay, but in a way that can fit the theme of Point and Click.

Delicious World (2019) Conversation Cutscene

I found that video games which can fit this dynamic action are those made for the mobile. Since they demand the player to always tap the screen, they have found a way to create scenarios that demand for dynamic action and engagement. Delicious World (2019) is a perfect example of meshing dynamic tap mechanics with storytelling, since the game centres around cooking then the ‘point and click’ gameplay of each level involves the player quickly preparing food and delivering it to the customers under different constraints. The other more mellowed example is that of Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery it makes use of timing tap mechanics to keep the players engaged.

Though I would like to implement this I am not sure I would be able to due to the timeline and the lack of scripting knowledge. It is a thought and if I have time and am able I would like to find different means of implementing this in a Point & Click game, for now I will keep the concept as a backburner idea.

The research I presented thus far has shown my dissertation idea, the means and methods needed to create the project and my thought process. For the Game Art Open project I have decided to create parts of the dissertation in this area. As such, I believe that doing all the character art and sound design in the Game Art Project is the best course of action. As I have already delegated the environments to one subject and the narrative design to another I think it is necessary to place and work on a key factor of the project in this subject. The reason I will be working on character art is not only so that I have something visual to present, but also because of the constant change and adjustments needed for character design. Due to having gotten permission from Pirateaba’s Legal Agent I can use The Wandering Inn as the base of my dissertation. This means that the characters created will be my own in a manner including their designs. This makes the process a bit longer but since it is a very short story that ends in a cliffhanger there will not be many characters introduced.

Main Character Sketches

If I have enough time I would like to create cutscene as still image scenes to help convey the narrative better. In these scenes one would see a full-scale character presented so I believe that if I have time to do this it would be better if I have a long period of time and an area where I can dedicate all my concentration to it, instead of having it divided between the other necessary factors. That is also the main reason why I am going to do sound design in the Game Art Open Project.

I have two reasons for doing this, one by implementing sound into the game I can enhance the overall experience. The other reason is that I have not had much chance to be exposed to sound, so I find that this is a good opportunity for me. The sounds I am aiming for are that of background music, a sound to indicate the player has picked up an item and a sound that indicates the player cannot do a certain action. These sounds can better enhance the scenes and make it more interested to the player because more senses are being engaged.

References:

Booker, C., 2006. The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories. 1st ed. New York: Continuum.

Campbell, J., 2004. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. 3rd ed. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

Carvalhais, M. & Cardoso, P., 2018. Narrative games in ergodic media. Estudos em Comunicação, 2(27), pp. 55 - 65.

Green, M. C., Fitzgerald, K. & Moore, M. M., 2019. Archetypes and Narrative Processes. Psychological Inquiry, 30(2), pp. 99 - 102.

Ince, S., 2006. Writing for Video Games: A Scriptwriter's Guide to Interactive Media. 1st ed. London: A & C Black Publishers Limited.

Jenkins, H., 2004. Game Design as Narrative Architecture. In: N. Wardrip-Fruin & P. Harrigan, eds. First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, Game. Cambridge: MIT Press, pp. 118 - 130.

Juul, J., 2002. The Open and the Closed: Games of Emergence and Games of Progression. In: F. Mäyrä, ed. In Computer Games and Digital Cultures Conference Proceedings. Tampere: Tampere University Press, pp. 323-329.

Juul, J., 2003. The Game, the Player, the World: Looking for a Heart of Gameness. In: M. Copier & J. Raessens, eds. Level Up: Digital Games Research Conference Proceedings. Utrecht: Utrecht University, pp. 30-45.

Koenitz, H., 2018. Narrative in Video Games. In: N. Lee, ed. Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games. New York City: Springer International Publishing, pp. 1-9.

Larrimer, S., 2014. Where Storytelling and Interactivity Meet: Designing Game Mechanics that Tell a Story, Ohio: The Ohio State University.

Rodrigues, P. & Bidarra, J., 2014. Transmedia Storytelling and the Creation of a Converging Space of Educational Practices. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET), 9(6), pp. 42 - 48.

Vanderbeke, D. & Cooke, B., 2019. Evolution and Popular Narrative (Introduction). In: D. Vanderbeke & B. Cooke, eds. Evolution and Popular Narrative. Leiden: Brill / Rodopi, pp. 1-22.

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nameless-articles · 6 years ago

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Functions of Difficulty: A Response to a Contentious Piece of Criticism

It seems like every time From Software releases a new video game, journalists, critics, and consumers end up discussing the complicated questions: how difficult is too difficult and would From Software games benefit from having an easy mode? I want to consider where these questions come from, how the accompanying viewpoints are presented and defended, and where I want the discussion to go, all while minimizing direct comparisons to other artistic mediums.

These questions have existed since the release of the first Dark Souls game and have existed for games before then. The reason I feel the need to write about it now was a trending article by Forbes contributor David Thier titled “'Sekiro: Shadows Dies [sic] Twice' Needs To Respect Its Players And Add An Easy Mode.” This headline makes several assumptions. The first it makes is that Sekiro, as it is, does not respect its players, though it does not necessarily say why this is the case. The next part of the title helps understand how it is that Sekiro doesn’t respect its players by tying the lack of respect with the need for an easy mode. I go through the labor of phrasing the headline’s meaning this way because the fundamental “issue” that manifests as a lack of respect is not solely the absence of an easier difficulty, but, as the writer later puts it, “The fact that these games don't have any difficulty settings means that only a certain sort of player with time, inclination, reaction speed and lack of physical issues will ever see the final boss fight anywhere but on Twitch. This is a problem.” But is it?

This article marks the unwavering physical requirements of the game as an issue that would be addressed by having multiple difficulty settings that impact in-game properties related to these physical requirements. These adjustments would make it possible for people of varying ability to get to the same ending, a status the article privileges above not finishing the game.

Another way to frame the physical requirements are to view them as mechanical requirements and understandings. Games are more than the sum of their plot, presentation, and mechanics, and I put mechanics last because in the hierarchy of game analysis it is, ironically, the most difficult to critique and therefore more difficult to fully appreciate; while people might share the same language for the narrative and similar visual/audio aesthetic appeal achieved through cultural accustom, mechanical ability is hard to transfer, is always transferred indirectly, and is easily distinguishable from one player to another. This is not to say that one’s understanding of language and visual/audio appeal are not also tailored by an individual’s experiences and understandings, rather to frame video games as an artistic medium that places a higher value on the mechanical ability because that is the avenue on which video games fundamentally interact with the player. While some video game elitists would like to believe that video games are the only artistic works with interaction, it is better to view the interpretive qualities of other artistic mediums as an interactive process in their own right, and to see how one is not necessarily more interactive than another, but that the mode of interaction at play is different (might write more about this in the future).

So how are difficulty and mechanical requirements, made up of ability and knowledge, connected? While there is no linear graph to accurately illustrate how these two abstract notions work together, the relationship can be broken down as such: the higher the ability (physical abilities like quick reaction times, accuracy, and even time to play at all) or knowledge (understanding embedded game mechanics like how much damage the player does at a given time, time it takes to attack, how much damage do enemies do, remembering certain visual/audio elements that distinguish different enemies, etc) required to be competent makes the game more difficult. The ability part of this equation can be worked on and overcome by the player, but the knowledge requirement is something that the developer is only able to address.

To be clear, players can increase their understanding of mechanics by always keeping in mind those qualities of mechanical knowledge mentioned above, but only the developer can decide what knowledge is important in-game. For example, stamina has been an important trait of the Souls series and forces players to consider their consumption of a fundamental resource that many action-focused games do not consider. However, there is no stamina bar and no limitation of action with regards to stamina in Sekiro, thus there is no need or ability to worry about stamina consumption. This removal arguably would make the game easier than its counterpart in the Souls series, if it weren’t for the introduction of posture and a more robust countering system. However, I don’t want to get too into the impact of Sekiro’s differences because I hope to write another article about how they culminate into a game that is superficially Souls-like but results in a game that is mechanically quite different. But the point remains: there are aspects of difficulty within the player’s control and aspects of difficulty reserved for the developer. The fundamental question of the article and overall discussion of video game difficulty is how much of that difficulty should be reserved for the developer.

I’ve mentioned a player’s understanding and experiences earlier, but I want to address how this manifests as player bias. What players are exposed to and capable of will greatly impact what they believe is important in a video game. If a player has quick reaction times but doesn’t much care for the story framing their play, then narrative games are going to bore them and their preferences are best served by playing games that are solely focused on their mechanical interaction. On the other hand, if a player is interested in how games can present certain narratives, then the mechanical knowledge/ability required may feel like a detriment to their experience with the narrative. I am not advocating for one form of play over another. Both have their value, but I believe a good game is one that is able to incorporate narrative and mechanics in a two-way relationship, where a player feels compelled to engage with play because of the story while simultaneously having a narrative informed by the mechanics. This is the element that makes From Software games what they are: the experience of the story is inextricably connected with playing it.

However, Thier does not seem to see it this way. He says, “But the difficulty is only one part of what defines these games for me, and honestly, it's not the most important part. From Software has some of the best world building in the business and, I would argue, the best character design.” Difficulty is framed as separate from world building and character design. The challenge associated with fighting enemies is not connected with his sense of the world and the characters. He goes on to say, “Lots of developers have attempted to imitate From's style of aggressively spare storytelling that relies on opaque item descriptions and occasional short dialogue to build out worlds.” Yet, are these two ways the only means From Software achieves its oppressively dark world and atmosphere? The difficulty associated with these worlds plays a role in how a player interprets their experience in them. If the enemies did not hit as hard and if there weren’t so many of them, there would certainly be a loss of tension and dread that a player feels in the world as they make their way through its often claustrophobic and dreary environments. If these worlds weren’t as bleak as they were, then the games would not warrant being as difficult as they are. That’s the core of my argument, different experiences warrant different levels of difficulty, though I’m not convinced Thier would disagree with this argument. The question remains: Is Sekiro too difficult?

I don’t believe it is, but I want to establish why by looking at how Thier and his dissenters frame their point of view. While Thier says he’s been arguing for easy modes for the past few From Software games, he acknowledges those games have built in mechanisms to assist players who are struggling. The previous games have a social component to them; the messaging system lets players help/deceive other players, the summoning system allows players to receive help from other players that ultimately trivialize any threat the bosses posed for the player while risking invasion from other less-helpful players, and certain weapons and builds made traversal through the different parts of the game easier. There was a balance to the aid, but it definitely gave struggling players a better chance at overcoming the odds. Thus, the game lets players choose their own difficulty, the only requirements are an internet connection and a drive to seek these things out either through summon signs or online forums to find out how to safely dispatch foes.

However, Sekiro disposes these forms of in-game assistance. The community is still working to find all the secrets and easy-methods to progress through the game, but this is because it is very early in the game’s life. Months from now, players will have no difficulty figuring out how to progress through the game and the easiest path to doing so, the difference being their ability to get help in game. From Software has expressed the benefits of not having multiplayer on the world/level design of this game, but whether this makes up for the inherent increase in difficulty by raising the minimum requirements of a player’s mechanical ability is contestable.

Let’s look at Thier’s interpretation of this change: “Sekiro removes [summoning], and so if you run up against a brick wall, that's it. Either beat your head against that wall or stop playing… I do not like the idea of coming up against a boss that I can't beat without a week of frustration, and so I can't let myself get obsessed with this one.” For Thier, the only solution is to keep going up against the same enemy until either they or the player are defeated through a process of attrition, but this is not the only possibility. Sekiro opens up shortly after the chain-ogre to multiple paths that give the player a number of options in how they wish to go about playing. At its worst, the game lets you farm for experience and sen that increases the player’s arsenal of abilities and consumables. At a point, this type of farming loses its efficiency and this change encourages players to take on the challenges they once thought insurmountable. The game is not about beating your head against a wall until the enemy is defeated; players are encouraged to reasonably increase their avatar skill to accompany/compensate their player skill. This gives players some lee-way with the process of learning enemy movements and attack patterns which has become a staple of beating these games. This method of play has been contextualized by the hollowing/nightmare premise of the previous games and makes its way into Sekiro through the resurrection mechanic which has a more immediate effect on the story and how the player interacts with non-player characters. Without the threat of death, the tension of traversing the world is diminished and it becomes less threatening as a result, though player’s seem to enjoy engaging in this terrifying environment. At least those who enjoy the last decade of From Software games.

Would an easy mode break this delicate balance of difficulty? Thier suggests it would not:

It's worth saying, time and time again: an easy mode does not have to change the core experience in any way, at all, period. Playing a version of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice that had an easy mode would, theoretically, be completely identical to playing Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice now. The continued insistence that an easy mode would somehow affect the normal mode seems to represent a players lack of respect for themselves, an idea that they would not be able to play the game that they want without ruining it for themselves.

While the general idea of his argument makes sense - having an easy mode does not impact players who choose the normal mode because it literally does not impact how the game is experienced for those players - this does not address the concern players have over how these two experiences are different from one another. Thier says that “all you need to do is turn up the damage the player does and turn down the damage the enemies do,” but players and critics must consider how this influences the overall experience. Games that take this approach to different levels of difficulty tend to break combat encounters by either making them pointless on the very easy end such that encountering an enemy becomes a nuisance and overall detrimental to the experience of the game because combat feels tacked on to the narrative experience, while on the other end of the difficulty spectrum enemies become ridiculous health tanks that can kill the player in one attack, making combat a process of finding the safest, often tedious, way of fighting. This approach to difficulty either trivializes or negatively emphasises the effects of combat to a potentially negative result. Game difficulty can be tackled in other ways, as seen in hack-and-slash games where difficulty modes influence number of enemies, enemy layouts, and enemy movesets. Trying to balance these different components leads to more work on the developer, and the process of making games means that something else, like core mechanics that persist throughout all difficulty settings, will not get as much attention. In an ideal world, all games get enough time to fine tune the core and be able to address how to best adjust different difficulty modes, but the unfortunate reality is that most games do not have the time or means to properly do this.

Thier believes that players lack respect for themselves because they may ruin their game by choosing an easier difficulty mode, though this belief is undercut by his admission that previous From Software games allowed for just that. It has always been possible to make the games easier through summoning and using certain abilities, and players who wanted a greater challenge either refused to use them and imposed harder challenges by excluding the use of certain fundamental game mechanics like levelling. Sekiro limits or entirely removes some of the mechanics that made previous From Software games easier, but it replaces them with limited consumables that were previously absent and stacks the odds in the player’s favor. Whether a player feels comfortable using these consumables varies, but the options are there for those who wish to take them. There is even an option to increase enemy damage, though with a much higher item drop rate for players who want to engage with that risk. Simply because an easy mode is unavailable does not mean there are not tools to make the game easier.

Without diving too deep into it, Sekiro’s combat focus is less on health and more about breaking enemy posture, so Thier’s suggestion to make the game easier by raising player damage would not change how harder boss combat encounters play out, with their focus on breaking enemy posture over dealing direct damage. If the suggestion is to increase posture damage, not only are there already ways to do that in game via upgrades and consumables, many basic enemies lose their posture after three hits, and early enemies become comically easy to kill five or so hours into the game. There is a difference between having these options there from the start and having the player come to unlock them as they progress through the game. While developer intent does not matter, asking them to change such fundamental elements of the mechanics is not examining the game for what it is, choosing to examine it for what it isn’t or based on an experience the game does not seem designed to give.

Reviewers who do not enjoy games of this difficulty are not useless, despite what people might say about their skill. These reviewers make the correct assessment that the difficulty curve makes it hard for many players to complete the game. The issue is that they often go on to suggest that this is a bad thing, when this is not so. Likewise, there are players who enjoy this kind of challenge and believe it makes them a superior player because they value this kind of experience, but really it’s just a testament to the different kinds of experiences video games offer. The discussion ultimately comes down to whether individual video games should embed different modes of play from the start. There are options to make games easier outside of the code through hacking and modding, so there are means for players to experience the full game despite it not being condoned or encouraged within the game.

It is an entitled point of view to suggest anyone and everyone is owed an artistic experience, let alone an artistic experience tailored for them. Some video games will be made with accessibility at the forefront of their development, others will not. Both approaches offer different experiences and to privilege one over the other says more about the player than it does the art.

I do not mean to be dismissive of players with physical disabilities that hamper their ability to engage in difficult games like Sekiro. I do not believe there is any shame in needing to use third-party software to enjoy a single-player game. While there is a community for these single-player games that prides themselves on everyone having the same base game to experience, which they reasonably believe brings them closer through the process of overcoming the same challenge from the same starting point as far as the game is concerned (of course there exists exterior, personal factors that influences a player’s performance), the community is not diminished or harmed by players using what they need to enjoy it. It is fair to want these third-party tools included in the game and easily accessible to break any stigma that is associated with needing them. The inclusion or exclusion of an easy mode provides both an artistic and political message, and it is possible to appreciate the artistic while criticizing the political. I believe any stance on the difficulty issue will reveal which of the two any given player prioritizes, but explicit moralizing of the discussion will not lead to the most fruitful dialogue.

The art and politics of difficulty are not inherently diametrically opposed, as there are games that avoid the conversation altogether. However, in the case of From Software games, there is a valid argument to be made that the mechanics of difficulty impact the artistic experience to such a degree that having direct control over the abstractions of combat as given in a difficulty selection would provide a different experience that the rest of the game does not reinforce. To say a change in difficulty would not reinforce the rest of the experience implies an inferior experience for those who greatly value the mechanical importance of establishing theme and atmosphere, though the presence of the choice does not mean they must choose the one that will give them an inferior experience to the one they want. Those who find the combat tedious yet find the world engaging nonetheless, are asking for an all around different experience than the one being offered in preferring an easier difficulty. For those who prefer artistic expression to mainly exist through player choice, there is a value in this form of criticism, but people looking for a more directed approach to gameplay will find this perspective lacking. And yet, any direction limits the scope of mechanics and player engagement, which can functionally limit artistic expression.

Maybe it is just a matter of picking your poison and playing the video games that satisfy what you’re looking for, while letting others do the same.

Sources:

Thier, Dave. “‘Sekiro: Shadows Dies’ Needs To Respect Its Players And Add An Easy Mode.” Forbes, 28 March 2019, https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2019/03/28/sekiro-shadows-dies-twice-needs-to-respect-its-players-and-add-an-easy-mode/#642bd9951639

Vazquez, Suriel. “Why Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Doesn't Have Online Multiplayer.” Game Informer, 08 Jan. 2019, https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/01/08/why-sekiro-shadows-die-twice-doesnt-have-online-multiplayer.

#video games #difficulty #discussion #critique #sekiro #from software #DARK SOULS

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episodechooseyourstorycheat · 5 years ago

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Episode Choose Your Story Cheats

Episode Choose Your Story Guide

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But author-designers are not simply motivated by a desire for fame and feedback--there's money to be made from successful stories on episode. Phillipps cited a number of examples of success stories. She regularly works on how best to improve the scripting tools, how she and episode can help the community write better, as well as liaising with the player experience teams. "[at launch] we wanted to make sure our tools would be turned on for our community [at the same time]," she notes. "having a platform for a community of writers has always been our vision. We think so many writers and creators in general are out there." The thinking was to be able to give them a place to tell their story. If stories contain objectionable or offensive content, we may not be able to feature or promote them. We are on the lookout for stories that are appropriate for readers ages 13 or older. 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#episodechooseyourstory #episodechooseyourstorycheats #episodechooseyourstorygems #episodechooseyourstorycheatspasses

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meaeris · 7 years ago

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So Far Away

Chap 1 | Chap 2 | Chap 3 | Chap 4 | Chap 5

Pairing: Min Yoongi x Reader

Genre: Series - Fluff, Comedy, will get Angst

Summary: You are a happy-go-lucky rookie director, and you couldn’t know that your new job in a visual and design agency would bring you to directly work with the famous idol group “BTS”. You couldn’t neither imagine that you would grow fond of one of the members, the hot-headed and peculiar rapper Min Yoongi.

A/N: For this series I tried to give Miss Reader some sort of personality to make it more interesting. This is my first time posting a series on Tumblr so I hope you like it! I’ll update rarely for now because of my exam period, please understand. Also I apologize for any language mistake, English is not my mother tongue. Please support!

CHAPTER 1 First Day

(Yn) (Sn) has never been an instinctive person. Indeed, most of the times she thought about an idea for days, months, before making a decision. Otherwise, she would always take responsibility for her spontaneous and irrational actions. For example, sending her curriculum to a couple of creative agencies in Korea, a place she's been interested in for years now. She would have never expected that such resume would be accepted in one of the most renowned of these companies, the H.C.

The flight resulted very tiring because of the jet lag that struck her like a fist in the stomach. After exiting the immense Seoul airport (and asking for directions several times), she managed to reach the address of her apartment in Gangnam area. She stopped in front of the front door and sighed. Touching that handle everything would have started. A new adventure.

The next morning the alarm ringed at the set time, an hour before the meeting with the company. Half an hour later, she was ready to leave. - Documents, check. Keys, check. Laptop, check. Breakfast ... I'll think about it later.

The bus stop was right in front of the apartment. In ten minutes she reached the established location. It was her nature to always arrive at least ten minutes sooner to make a good impression, a key factor especially for a new contract of employment. The tall building was at least ten floors, at the entrance a list of all the companies that worked inside of it. (Yn) discovers with disappointment that H.C. was right on the top floor.

"Well, here I come, lift" she thought.

As soon as she reached the office, she jumped when a girl of her age reached her, radiant.

- Welcome! You must be (Yn) (Sn), right? - It's me, - she smiled, setting the Koreanmeter to the highest level. - Nice to meet you. - Same here. I am Min Aera, secretary and treasurer of the group. Follow me, let's meet the other colleagues right away. Anxiety started to grow in (YN), but she knew she would have overcome this, even if with some difficulties. But she was gonna be fine. As she's always been.

The office seemed to be fairly empty but pleasant and quiet. There were five or six computers on the desks, that were empty as well and neat, except for some candy papers here and there. Immediately the people inside the room rose and bowed briefly at the entrance of (YN) and Min Aera, who did the same. - I'm the new apprentice director, (YN) (SN). I can't wait to work with you, - she exclaimed enthusiastically.

The older man returned the smile. - It's a pleasure to have you here, did you have a good trip? - Apart from the jet lag, everything is all right, thank you. Seoul is really a beautiful city, even if I saw little of it. - I'm glad to hear that, I'm the director and CEO of the agency, Park Hyeonsoo. They are Kwon Jihu, 26, Yong Taewon, 32, and your peer, Rin Bora. - (Your Country), right? - Jihu commented, - It's one of the countries I'd like to visit. - When you're planning a vacation, let me know, I could guide you, - she did a thumbs up, which was immediately returned. Everyone introduced themselves and (YN) did her best to memorize the names. She probably should have asked them again. The CEO started talking. - Today we are planning a small meeting to talk about future projects. We've seen your portfolio and we were very happy with your works. You also have good language control, even though you struggle in speaking sometimes... (Yn) jumped. - I'm sorry. Despite years of Korean learning I have never had the opportunity to speak it for consecutive days. The director smiled. - Don't worry, we can understand you very well and that's important, because as you know, communication is everything in our work. (Yn) nodded several times. - Absolutely. - Then I would say we're all moving in the meeting room.

The meeting room was, well... a meeting room. An eight-seater table in the center of it and an IWB with a projector. Nothing more. Everyone took their place and so did (yn), trying to control the tension that flushed in her body. "Everything will be okay, now they will surely ask you the question. You have tried this more and more times in front of the mirror." - So before we start ... (Yn), I'd like to ask you the basic question, even if you've already given me the answer in the emails we exchanged. Why do you want to work with us? "Here we are." - The truth is that I've always been passionate about creative arts such as design or advertising, then I realized that my purpose in life was to tell stories. Storytelling is a fundamental part of human history and, honestly, I think anything, if accompanied by a pinch of a story, can be interesting. I'm also interested in cinema, and who knows, someday the time will come for me to shoot a movie. For now I have been satisfied with small projects.

The room was silent. Everyone was waiting for her to continue.

- Of course there are many ways of telling stories, but I think that through pictures and images you can get the best results with the most creative possibilities. That's exactly what I want to do, tell stories through pictures. I came across your work by chance, especially the video musics and some commercials, I've been keen on your particular method. And I also thought it might be a great life experience working overseas.

The attendants seemed satisfied. Hyeonsoo stretched a smile and took some sheets in his hands. - It's enough for me. So, we don’t have much time today, unfortunately. We'll have to meet with the new customer to decide what to do. It's going to be a long project, so I want you to do your best, as always.

They all nodded. (Yn) was in trepidation, taken by curiosity and the desire to put into practice her creative abilities. - You already know this, but I repeat it for the newcomer. Our new customer is a very famous talent agency nowadays, BigHit Entertainment. (yn) nearly choked on oxygen. - Wait, that BigHit? - Do you know some others? - joked Bora. - No... Sorry, keep going. - I said, the producers of the famous K-Pop group "Bangtan Sonyeondan" called us and another agency to develop the new comeback concept and videos. We haven't established anything yet, except that everything must be based on an unique story. She couldn't believe it. She would have developed videos for one of the most successful groups in Korea. Now she was even more interested in getting to work. - You guys have already met Bang PD and the members before, right? Hyeonsoo asked. - Right, - replied Taewon, placing his big glasses on his nose, - We just set the meeting time for today and had a little talk about the possible concept, but everything was very fugacious. - Then I'd say that for today you, Taewon, and (Yn) will come with me. So we can get her comfortable with work right now, getting to know the customer.

Not able to wait any longer, (yn) settled her bag and regretted not having worn something a little more elegant. "No, (yn), work, think about work."

To Be Continued...

#min yoongi #suga #bts suga #bts fanfic #bts fluff #bts series #bts scenario #bts imagines #yoongi scenario #yoongi series #yoongi fanfic #yoongi x reader #suga x reader #bts

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builderfly · 5 years ago

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Can you see the way online shopping has changed?

Now, you are never again constrained to spend hours on online shopping sites—you can simply click through a brand’s Instagram and effectively buy that shirt updated in a post. Social media is capable of boosting the growth of any business, which is the impact of ecommerce.

Considering everything, both social media and online shopping turn out to be an integral part of our lives. Their collaboration is making it significant and influential ideation for businesses to actualize their dream idea.

Here’s the reason.

Quality in Numbers

What is one thing that isolates social from other marketing channels? NUMBERS! Holy yes! Would you be able to envision that Facebook alone has 2 billion dynamic month to month clients? That is two trailed by I-don’t-know-what number of zeroes long. Furthermore, even though Facebook is the father of social media, there are different powerful platforms to be dealt with, like Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and the rundown goes on and on.

Is Socila Media empowering ecommerce or Ecommerce empowering Social media?

This is the part where ecommerce organizations can literally have clashes. One essential requirement for an ecommerce site is Sales! Who triggers these deals? People or site guests as they are named in the online marketing language. Subsequently, social media ticks all the privilege boxes here by allowing ecommerce site owners to exhibit their items and services to the world; honestly, truth be told.

Am I not persuaded at this point?

We should dismember this a little bit at a time and see how social media and ecommerce are bound to go inseparably:

Revealing to People Your Brand is Alive

How would you anticipate that individuals should realize that the image of your business exists? Can’t shout and yell till everybody gets the message currently, can you?

All you have to do is start via social media and present yourself before the world. The world that remains online seven days per week, 365 days per year.

This is the pre-imperative of all marketing endeavors.

Storytelling Is A Must!

Gone are those days when individuals like to scan through long entries and sections of content. Nobody has saved time any longer!

This is the time of visual creativity, about relating to a story instead of merely advertising your items with a single site connect.

Tell the story of your brand, how it came to the realization, what’s the motivation, early-day battles, about its legacy. Hence, people connect with the brand itself and build a stable relationship.

Building Your Brand

How would you need your ecommerce brand to be depicted as? What hues do you see your group wearing? How would you need your clients to resemble? Who’s the one to be focused in the crowd? What sort of a client would you say you are serving? What’s the age band you need to target? Each one of these inquiries can be replied with the strength of social media.

You need to make a brand around your ecommerce site with the goal that clients don’t simply run in for deals; however, for the contact too.

Hi Customers!

This is somewhat of an easy decision! Social media ensures numbers. What can be another place where you can get a canvas of conceivably millions basically by signing in?

This is a one-stop answer for potential people who are simply standing by to purchase what you’re selling.

The best thing about being present via social media is that it’s pretty much free! This is the sort of ROI that you find in paradise.

Amazing Customer Service

Businesses are continually progressing in the direction of improving relations with clients, and social media gives a superior approach to do so. Companies can improve how they can satisfy clients’ needs through a value-based web approach. This encourages you to better draw in with your clients and the market.

The instantaneous response is a significant component in web-based life, giving temporary access to what you’re doing. Social media gives you ease, as a business to rapidly react to real client questions, while at the same time making it simpler to see and respond to those disagreeable remarks. This gives you get a prompt response to support your clients, and you can build up techniques to react through these stages.

At the point when everybody’s utilizing these objectives, it bodes well to react and arrive at clients along these lines. Shoppers will adore that you’ve adopted this strategy to draw in with the brand.

Drive Visitors To Your Website

Make social media the channel through which people arrive at your site, which is the whole ballgame by the day’s end. You need deals, and this is how you’ll get them.

Social media is an effective tool loaded down with natural traffic; no big surprise why organizations burn through millions for genuine leads.

Helps Your SEO Efforts

You probably won’t know this yet; however, having a decent social media presence supports your site’s SEO remainder primarily. Indeed, even the best SEO company out there will recommend a similar immediately.

Just as the significance of SEO for e-commerce is mammoth, social media isn’t excessively a long way behind.

These are two powers if functioning couple admirably can soar your deals in only months.

Google considers how you’re contacting your crowd, how you’re interfacing with them, what they’re stating about your brand, the rating, and the criticism you’re getting while at the same time choosing search engine ranking positions, makes a successful situation for your business.

Making Community

Your customers and clients are something beyond that—they’re a piece of your locale. Your customers have discovered something in your image they identify with. This is the reason they like you.

You need to develop that network, notwithstanding building reliability inside it. Strategize how you can build your followers and guarantee every one of your posts is much increasingly viable and locks in. Offer fun, astonishing, and helpful substance that your crowd identifies with. Start discussions, regardless of whether it’s by commenting on the post or identifying a companion.

Social media enables your image to pick up trust and assemble credibility. Think of your social profile as your retail facade. Reliably present connecting with the content to develop your business and keep the network that cherishes all that you do.

Impact Buying Decisions

We just said how clients interact with social media, is an impacting factor in their buying choices. On the off chance that your profile needs content—or you aren’t even on the stage—you’re on a difficult task with regards to persuading your crowd to purchase from you. You need compelling content for each phase of the shoppers.

In the advanced age, you need to go on the web. Online networking impacts brand notoriety, to such an extent that it impacts the purchasing choice. An incredible online life nearness is vital for unmistakable ecommerce results.

Solid Brand Image

A functional social media presence enhances how individuals see your brand. Positive client surveys, input, and recognition help in ecommerce conversion. Make it a piece of your system to incorporate item surveys and client created content. This gold-mine strategy is how a client exceptionally acknowledge because they perceive themselves in the matter.

Individuals are as of now discussing you. Internet-based life places you as an in-charge of your brand’s account. Utilize this to grow your potential benefit to design the full picture. At the point when your crowd sees a strong reaction, they are forced to discover progressively about you. Customers account for validity, and this ultimately grows their trust upon you and your business.

It’s About More Than Selling

We know that the sole reason for your social presence is to sell, but if you follow through this approach, your followers and clients will quickly catch it. So, try to be contributing to the community. Social media is more than a gateway to a web-based business. You need to draw in with clients on another level, one that isn’t just about purchasing.

Individuals use Instagram, Pinterest, and different platforms for interest and human touch. Offer your image, its advantage, and relatable substance that is in line with your clients. Think about internet-based life past its selling potential: It’s a new method to draw in with your crowd and an instrument to hype the best material that shows off your image. You don’t need to do everything solo either—curation is staggeringly accommodating.

You’re constructing an association with clients, and you need to cultivate a sound association with them. Try not to be dynamic just when you’re attempting to sell.

Platform Purchasing Techniques

Utilizing an assortment of systems is significant because everyone is made with various ultimate objectives. Amplify your effort’s potential and take advantage of every stage. Not exclusively would it be able to facilitate the business procedure and permit an increasingly successful connection with clients, utilizing every step enables you to change your methodologies and complete deals in various ways.

Facebook, for instance, remembers worked for instruments for occasion advancements and is incredible for profoundly focused on broadcasting. Instagram is, to a great extent, considered the millennial go-to, with its convincing invitations to take action and high-caliber visual substance. Every stage has its very own advantages that engage your clients to purchase.

Exploit the trendy things inside every interpersonal company activity, such as hashtags, live video, join fastens. A significant piece of social networking includes the following patterns, and these subtleties help to flourish your business’s perception.

Conclusion

As observed above, Social media marketing isn’t a choice with to do or not to do; however, an impulse for each brand, be it a little developing one or effectively settled. Making social media channels the key idea of communication, the companies can connect with a more extensive unbiased crowd and convert them into a client base. Being embraced by numerous online business organizations now, social media marketing has just demonstrated its value.

Remember, the quantity of social media clients is required to arrive at 2.5 billion by 2018, and it is a major open door for all organizations. Is it safe to say that it isn’t?

#Builderfly ecommerce ecommerce sites

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itslikethatfrenchthing · 6 years ago

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028: HOW I USE ORGANIC MARKETING TO REACH 100K VIEWS

Today’s talking point:

Organic Marketing!

Welcome back guys! Just a quick reminder before we jump into organic marketing: if you need a rest, if you need a day here and there where you need a creative reset, please take that day. Burnout is real. I would have hit that point if I hadn't taken some time off, and it can absolutely happen to you if you are not being delicate about your time and your energy.

Please take some time to bring energy back in so you can come back stronger, more passionate and more creative. And if you don't fill your own cup first, it's very difficult for you to help others. Now for the juicy par you've been waiting for: organic marketing,

USING UNPAID MARKETING TO GROW YOUR AUDIENCE

If Mark Zuckerberg was standing right in front of me right now, I would tell him: I don't like that I have to run ads on my business page to get the best engagement. Not to blow my own trumpet, but I have mastered organic marketing in the sense that it's been how I consistently reach 100,000 pageviews every single month on my blog.

This is how I've truly grown my business over the last couple of years. I have not spent any money on ads. I truly did this organically (unpaid marketing) through a few different secrets and tactics that I'm going to share with you.

Okay, so let's dive into these tips and realise that all of this does take tests and trial. You have to figure out what is going to work for you.

P.S. Click here to grab your FREE step-by-step Boss Traffic Flow Checklist!

#1| Sharing your story (& solution)

Your story is everything. It's everything. Your journey, that A to B transition, is worth so much.

I've built a personal brand from me being vulnerable and that sounds so “woo-woo” and way too good to be true, but honestly that is the biggest tip. When you become a really good storyteller and you are finally allowing your audience to see who you are, that is when the connection starts, human to human sales.

People in 2019 are craving human connection more than anything. This is why live video is crushing it, why podcasts are crushing it because you have the opportunity to be intimate with a human. The beauty of live video and podcasting is when you can clearly articulate your story and marry it with a solution, you have hit marketing bliss: connecting your story with your solution.

To treat social media “like a diary” and hone in on connecting with your audience, you can ask yourself some questions & identify:

What is your story?

Why do you do what you do?

What brought you to where you are today?

When you chip away at those questions, you’ll realise where you’re passions stem from and be able to marry your story with your solution.

Once you’re in a position to say: “Hey, I actually know some of the top tips to heal from blank. I actually now know what it's like to go through blank and I want to help you with that to”, that makes you a powerful leader.

Humans need to feel connection to purchase. If you have not already, read Why She Buys by Bridget Brennan. You can check that out on Amazon. It teaches you so much about the female brain and how we truly are emotional creatures and the best sales conversions for us are through the heart.

So number one: what is your story and what is your solution? How can we marry and merge those two? These are the stories that you are going to recite and recycle on social media to really remind your audience who you are and why you do what you do.

#2 | Direct Messaging

Number two is direct messaging and no, this isn't sliding into people's DMs. It's clear messaging where you're speaking to one person. This is you, making sure that your message is very niche and your message is really something that one person could read and say, “oh my God, how did she know I was dealing with that?”

When I was in the beginning stages of building my personal brand, I was creating a lot of content. It was interesting to assess what type of content really landed and what type of content was just okay. Speak your truth, speak your mind, in a way where you always respectfully support the other side. Speak what you want to say.

When you're not running ads, organic growth comes from sharing your content, your content being so good and so helpful that Susie wants to share it with her best friend.

In my podcast episodes, I follow a Q & A format. Whenever I record an episode, I always speak to the person who asked the question -I have one ideal client in mind before I press record. If I think about all the other people, not only does it become overwhelming, but then I forget who this messaging is really for.

If you create content that everyone's going to like, you're not going to get those few people who love it. You create a loyal tribe of people who are obsessed with you and your work when you are polarising.

#3| Live Video

Number three is live video. I can’t say enough about live video and how much it's truly changed my life and my business. It's been one of the most fulfilling things to do, because it's allowed me to connect with my audience on a really deep level.

It's allowed sales to be so easy for me that I never feel like I'm actually selling (because I'm really not). I'm just showing up, sharing my story and being my authentic self, there's no filter, there's no editing.

So just giving you an idea, it's showing you the possibility and it's hopefully inspiring you to get yourself on live video. We go deep into this in the Busy to Boss Method - if you are not inside yet, I am adding some new trainings that are going to make you a boss at live video.

If you want people to purchase from you, get them to trust you first. Without showing up for your audience, how are they supposed to know you, or to trust you? Give your best passion to your audience, which they deserve. Solve problems, give value, give unmatched value. Live video is the fastest way to do that and that is way better than just running ads.

#4 | Affiliate Marketing

This can be a really powerful way to sell and can be really authentic and genuine to do affiliate marketing. So you can give a referral incentive (Aka money) to people who will help you sell your courses or products for you. This is how you can work around not having to run ads.

As a business owner, you can't think about it as, “oh, I'm losing money because so&so is getting a chunk of that sale” because that was money that was going to be spent on ads. As a marketer, I'd actually rather do heavier affiliate marketing and “lose money” because it's an actual guaranteed sale. Whereas, if I just pump money into Facebook ads, I don't necessarily know if that is a guaranteed sale.

#5 | Collaborations

Collaborations are huge. Whether this is you getting on a podcast, doing split screen live videos with all the bloggers and business owners, bringing people into your Insta stories, this is everything in the online space.

Sharing each other's audiences and really helping each other is so important. Utilise each of their networks like hell and collaborate because you never know who could help you and vice versa. If you know someone in the online space, who has a fantastic audience that aligns with yours, and you can bring a value to that person, it's time to pitch them. It's time to reach out. It can't hurt. If you don't ask, you don't get, and you might as well see if there's a collaboration opportunity.

#6 | Giveaways

Now giveaways can be annoying as hell if you're doing them every day and you're giving stuff away Monday through Friday. This is intended to be used strategically: a few times a month or a few times a year, where you are giving people an incentive, a free gift. Get creative, anything can be a giveaway. Maybe you're partnering with an amazing health and wellness company and they sent you a load of amazing products that you can give away.

To use giveaways to their full extent:

Ask your audience to tag 2 or 3 friends in that post

Give them some sort of incentive to join your email list or your newsletter

Get on live video, make fantastic graphics for it and incorporate collaboration with giveaways. Get creative.

Resources Mentioned In This Episode:

Tool Recommendation of the Day: Typeform

Want access to a library full of online marketing resources plus weekly bitesized breakthroughs to help you boss your online presence? Find it here.

What did you think of the show? Leave a review on iTunes and become the Breakthrough Blogger of the Week!

Subscribe to the show and get notified when a new episode goes live.

Come join my free FB group.

Apply to work with me 1:1 in the Busy To Boss Method here.

P.S. Be sure to download your FREE Boss Traffic Flow Checklist to grow your niche and generate more readers and subscribers organically!

from Blog https://ift.tt/2ZNXhgg via IFTTT

#Blog

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shslivalice · 8 years ago

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@endeavorsreward I do know it's a little like Fortress, but as it's done and gone, I don't worry too much about it. My canon now.

I've begun the comic and haven't begun to post it on Tumblr yet - mostly because I wish to finish the prologue which has a few pages to go and a video, alongside getting a Tumblr theme I wanna fix up - but the basic gist of it is that due to Situations involving certain characters from older Final Fantasies (which includes actual comparisons between Esper and the beings they're named after) and Jirachi the wish-granting Pokemon doing some bad things, people are being reborn in the world of Pokemon - some as people, and some as beasts/Pokemon - who is reborn as what seems to have no logic to the characters. Also Dissidia did happen, and the fate of the 12th cycle characters is central to the plot. And some who can shift between Pokemon and people exist - as an example, Basch is actually one of these shifters, which will be revealed when he appears, unless the characters decide it differently - like the video update I’m doing and is nearly done, the Charmander decided to reveal who she is instead of just leaving it be. The 'crack ships' are simply ones I've done though roleplay and the such - because I'm honestly using this 'verse to relieve RL stress sometimes as well. Torturing FF characters and also exploring how they handle rebirth and questions of who they are - that's just who I am. :B

The comic follows characters from Final Fantasy 14 at first, as well - some from alternate universes - in a Kanto-like adventure. (Except they're gonna end up working with characters from other worlds - including some Ivalice people, because I'm me and Eorzea and Ivalice are my faves. And I wanna write a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon-esque story as well.) I have a lot of worldbuilding I will be posting when I make a tumblr for it, but there’s very interesting thoughts to be had. For example, for the Eorzeans, Moenbryda and Uriangers’ mentor isn’t dead in this world - which changes their relationship with each other and the world a lot.

This is where it can be found on the Nuzlocke Forums. And yes, the title and the 'stone' they find are very... Ivalice.

I'm also making a visual novel, based around FF15, sort-of. Because I want to explore Stella and how she would be, after being 'deleted' from reality. And N being Noctis, which changes his backstory and motivations - is he still Noctis, even when he’s being made to play to a different tune? And what about Prompto, who’s [REDACTED]? And will a villain still be one if the setting/motivations of the world change? (Vayne is going to be so fun to include if/when he appears.) It’s really fun to write. And make, since I’m using RPG Maker MV to create the fanwork, because I feel like exploring different storytelling methods though fanwork is fuuuun.

#nuzlocke #long post #i'm a dweeb

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tterry17-blog · 7 years ago

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1. Mastery: Personal Development and Leadership – Online This class was the class that helped set my expectations that I had with beginning this Masters program. This class helped me understand how determined one needs to be to become successful. It helped me understand and measure the many levels of success. It seemed as though this class was preparing us mentally for the journey we were about to embark on through this program as well as life. I really appreciated learning about grit and having a passion and determination to pursue your dreams. I must say that I’ve always been very passionate and determined to fulfil the things that I put my mind to. Now that I’m here finishing up the very last class of the program, this goes to show that my determination to succeed is honest and the journey to mastery does not stop here. 2. Executive Leadership- Online This class I was able to study the 48 Laws of Power and also study others who we look up to and who are considered leaders within our area of interest. There are many ways that one can be considered a leader. We were able to explore the many different leadership styles and which style would be best used within certain domains. Prior to taking this course I was not aware of any different styles of leadership. I really enjoyed being able to research and write about one of my favorite artists/entreprenuers Beyonce Knowles. Though the course director didn’t quite agree on why I believed that she is a leader within the entertainment industry, I feel as though everyone have their own definition of who they believe is considered a leader. I learned a good amount of information from this class and I will definitely used what I learned within my future roles in leadership. 3. Project and Team Management – Online This was one of my favorite classes. I was able to learn how to plan and put a project together. For this class I decided to work on my project for an EP that I am releasing soon. My favorite assignment was putting together the excel project time management sheet which helps keep track of how far along the project is coming and what still needed to be completed. I was actually able to use the chart that I created and presented it to my previous job to show that I have the ability to plan and execute my goals effectively. Learning about team management was a great experience as well. I think it’s good to know how to work within a team environment and also being able to manage a team. It was great learning about managing risk and also how to work out any possible situations that can happen within a team setting. My personal favorite conflict resolution method is mediation. Being able to listen and understand each party and working the issue out. This is a method that I’d use for my future business. 4. Business Storytelling & Brand Development- Online Prior to this class I did not understand the importance of having a personal brand versus a business brand. I learned that your personal brand is what people see on an everyday basis. From how you walk to how you talk. You are the walking version of your own personal brand. If you are a business owner, you are also a representation of your business brand. In this class we were able to design our personal and business logos. My personal logo is now listed on my digital leadership portfolio. I really love having a personal logo because as a brand, no one else can be identified with that logo but myself. It’s a very positive representation of me and it shows my personality. My logo for my business 79th & Lyrix is still under construction but will be available soon. 5. Entertainment Business Finance – Online I honestly struggled in this class. I was never good at math and this was by far the most challenging class within this program. However, I learned a lot of helpful information as far as how to manage the funds of the business and how to calculate break even points. We were able to create a pro forma sheet of how much it’ll cost to start my business as well as how much I would actually make in my first year of operation. It was great going over the importance of understanding that your business may start off in the negative during the beginning stages of the business but you can continue working harder to increase those numbers. Though this was a difficult class, I still managed to learn as much information as possible that I can apply in the future. I think it’s very important to know and understand your own business finances to avoid anyone taking advantage of your lack of knowledge and using your funds for their own good. So I’m grateful for this course and everything that I learned from it. It really helped me understand how complete the financial sheets for the Business Plan Development course. 6. Digital Marketing- Online Digital marketing is used heavily in today’s business industries. Most marketing is done online instead of through hard copy or physical distribution of marketing advertisements. For my business 79th & Lyrix, I decided that using the digital marketing method to help market my business was the best option. I learned how to create and use the SEO through my website and track the activity and clicks from potential customers I also learned how to set up key words and phrases that’ll help people search and locate my business for their inquirers that match what we do. Social media is a very good platform to use to help market your business. There are many options to help promote such as sponsors. With sponsors you’re able to pay to have your add promoted through the social media platform. The add will appear if the user searches and likes similar things that relate to your business. In my case, my business will be promoted to users that are interested in music. 7. Negotiation and Deal-Making – Online I liked this class because I was able to understand how to negotiate deals. When watching a few videos we discussed, I liked that the situations were realistic. Since my business is a music production company, the majority of the time we will be negotiating with the client on their project. So having the information needed to know how to write a contract and negotiate it was well needed for me and my business. I learned that it’s ok to disagree and not to back down if you don’t agree with something. This is the point of negotiating. I know that I am going to be using all of the methods and information learned in this class for my future business. The goal is to land a deal and continue to work with the client in the future. Building that trusting relationship is very important. 8. Product and Artist Management- Online I learned in this course how to manage an artist and products. I loved this course because we were able to explore the roles of being an artist’s manager. I created a teen pop star that was becoming an adult pop star. The product I created for her was a makeup line and heel collection. I thought these were 2 great items that helps with the transformation of a teen to a young woman. This course was really fun and helped me understand how to be creative and manage artists and products. The assignments were very fun and full of information that’ll be helpful in the future. 9. Advanced Entertainment Law – Online My favorite class! I took this course in undergrad at Clark Atlanta University and I could not wait to take this course. I loved that we were able to interview individuals within the entertainment law industry. I was actually able to land an opportunity to shadow with a great entertainment law firm here in Atlanta! I really liked studying the many court cases and decisions of issues that can occur within the entertainment industry. Key things I learned was copyright infringement. This is one of the biggest cases within the music industry. I felt it was very important to educate myself on the matter because it could possibly be an issue my business can run into in the future. I will make sure that all of our music is copyrighted before being released. 10. Entertainment Media Publishing and Distribution- Online I have greatly enjoyed this class. I was not sure what to expect when entering the class. I was never familiar with the process of publishing media and distributing it. I liked the fact that we were able to work on actual projects that allowed us to prepare actual query letters, book proposals, and press kits. This class really helped with preparing me for the steps I would need to take in order to properly publish my future work. For most of the assignments, I used my mother’s book as the content that I would be working on. I also acted as the manager of my mom for the query letter we drafted in week one’s assignment. I researched the many ways to pitch your content to agents. I must say, I researched a lot of different query letters that many people wrote to locate an agent. Some were plain and simple, straight to the point. Others sounded very desperate and provided a little bit too much of the content ahead of time. All in all I am using this information learned from this class to help my mother pursue landing a publishing deal for her novel. 11. Business Plan Development – Online I was very nervous about this course. However I really enjoyed being able to put my entire business plan together. It was difficult at times but I received a lot of help from other class mates and the course director himself. Developing a business itself is not easy so I knew that the business plan would also be a challenge. Though it was tough I managed to come out on top and was well prepared for the last and final class of the program. 12. Final Project: Business Plan - Online I can’t believe I did it! I actually completed my final business plan and the entire Entertainment Business Masters program! This is a great feeling as I am the first in my family to receive their Masters. I am very excited for my future and the official opening of my business 79th & Lyrix. Thank you Full Sail University!

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