bcm112

The Development of an Interactive Visual Novel – Overview

lusueyLeave a comment

Overview of the Developmental Trajectory

Audience Analysis

The audience response to the development of this Digital Artefact over the past few months has been extremely positive, with pretty consistent high view counts and positive interactions via TikToks comment section. Viewers often commented on their excitement of our own Interactive Visual Novel ‘Olive in Love’, that was used as the continuous example, or interest in the behind-the-scenes development and how that influenced their own works.

Interest in our Interactive Visual Novel
Engagement with the educational aspect

Social Utility

“My project will be relevant to my intended audience because it provides a not often seen side of video game development that might encourage others to pursue any interest of their own.”

The above statement is the original Utility taken from this project’s Pitch. Throughout the development of this Digital Artefact, this statement has remained the core goal behind any and all created content. The majority of the TikToks created provided transparency and intrigue into the behind the scenes creation of our Interactive Visual Novel. This was done in the hopes that the audience would find this motivating for their own projects, or at the least educational.

@chromacatstudios

arguably the most fun part of the process! #chromacat #datingsim #visualnovel #sapphic #indiegames #visualnovelgame #lbgtqia #lgbtgame #characterdesign

♬ i wanna be your girlfriend – girl in red

Learning Moments

Throughout this development I not only learnt how to create an Interactive Visual Novel as part of a professional team, but also how to manage a promotional social media and engage with potential online audiences. I also learnt that maintaining a project for a long period of time required constant commitment in order to keep up with audience engagement.

Project Iteration

This project has grown a lot since its beginning. It has managed to garner a relatively strong audience, and has room for continued growth in the future. The core idea for the project didn’t change much throughout its creation, however over time we gained an idea of what accumulated a higher response from the audience and adjusted accordingly.

The Medium is the Message & Framing

The medium of creating TikToks shows that the Digital Artefact is primarily focused on audience engagement, particularly with its younger majority of users. TikTok is home to a lot of up-and-coming artists and projects, which makes it the prime platform to encourage engagement with like-minded people. Viewing this through an industrial frame however, shows that there is also a desire to promote a product alongside its educational intention. By using the focused ‘Olive in Love’ as the example in the TikToks on how to create an Interactive Visual Novel, it creates interest from the audience in our project as well as their own.

Conclusion

This TikTok account will continue to be updated in the future as it has proven to be a success in both our original intended goal, as well as a tool to help us in the creation of our own projects.

To keep updated, follow @chromacatstudios on TikTok

Algorithmic Control and You

lusueyLeave a comment

“The algorithm used to control, coordinate, and optimize urban traffic.”

Shen, 2012

Through the studying of this module on Algorithmic Control, it has become clear just how readily available our data is. In this blog post I will be discussing how companies use this data in order to target users and curate their feed to their interests, and the dangers this creates with future online security in concepts such as Web 3.0.

Predictive Analytics

Predictive analytics is utilised by the collection of data across user based platforms in order to optimise your personal feed in order to promote and regulate the data that is most suited to you. This often includes marketing and sponsoring by third-party companies that have been statistically linked to your interests based on your online interactions.

Web 3.0

“Web 3.0 is the third generation of internet services for websites and applications that will focus on using a machine-based understanding of data to provide a data-driven and Semantic Web. The ultimate goal of Web 3.0 is to create more intelligent, connected and open websites.”

Gillis, 2019

While Web 3.0 is promoted as having increased data security, scalability and privacy, there have been concerns around the opportunity for large amounts of data collection. There are also larger environmental implications involved with the potential production of this iteration, as the idea is largely centred around the use of blockchain technology as well as cryptocurrency.

References

Gillis, Alexander S. “What is Web 3.0? A definition by WhatIs.com.” TechTarget, 2019, https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/Web-30. Accessed 29 May 2022.Shen, Dong, and

Songhang Chen. “Control Algorithm.” ScienceDirect, 2012, https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/computer-science/control-algorithm.

The Internet Paradigm and Collective Intelligence

lusueyLeave a comment

I have been studying the Internet Paradigm which has been useful for studying our role in the online environment and how it affects our relationships. In this post I will be looking at the idea of Collective Intelligence and how it allows us as a community to further connect with one another, and Memetic Warfare in which the connection of a community can dangerously radicalise them. I will then discuss an idea for a project in which I further analyse how these collective intelligences are formed and how much power we have in the media we are submerged in online.

Collective Intelligence

“At its extreme, [Collective Intelligence] encompasses the whole of human civilization and culture, which constitutes the collective intelligence of our species, passed down imperfectly through books and schools, lectures and demonstrations, or by parents showing children how to sit still, eat, or get dressed in the morning.”

(Mulgan, 2018 p. 1-2)

Collective Intelligence allows the making of media to now be interactive within the online community, with the ability for media creators to communicate with and receive direct feedback from anyone at any time. It has also thrived in the production of trends and increased collective interests, which in turn has increased the marketability of media creation.

While it sounds scary, collective intelligence therefore isn’t necessarily a bad thing. As a society, we thrive in made communities and shared interests, and by having this information readily available we have the enhanced ability to problem solve and empathise with each other.

Memetic Warfare

“Meme warfare now more often refers to using memes as individual weapons of information warfare. It’s a form of disinformation that can be used to secure strategic goals.”

(Ascott, 2022)

Collective intelligence can however present itself dangerously when utilised by a group or community set to do harm. This has most predominantly been shown through the rise of ‘Memetic Warfare’ by the far-right in recent years, who utilise the collective understanding of memes to perpetrate propaganda, hate-speech or misinformation.

Digital Artefact project

For my digital artefact pitch for this module, I decided to take a deep-dive into the algorithmic creation of collective intelligence online. 

To do this I would create new profiles with different characteristics in mind (politics, gender, age, race etc.) and interact with posts relating to these attributes to see how the algorithm categorises me and what content I get pushed towards and exposed to. 

I would thus be documenting this experiment on a weekly blog or vlog format to analyse how much control we really have in what collective intelligence we are aligned towards.

References

Ascott, Tom, and Suzanne Cordeiro. “How memes are becoming the new frontier of information warfare | The Strategist.” ASPI Strategist, 19 February 2020, https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/how-memes-are-becoming-the-new-frontier-of-information-warfare/.

Mulgan, Geoff. Big Mind: How Collective Intelligence Can Change Our World. Princeton University Press, 2018.

The Development of an Interactive Visual Novel – Beta

lusueyLeave a comment

My project to document the process of creating a choice-based, interactive visual novel has gained a bit of traction since the Pitch. It has since tripled in followers and overall likes, and gained a bit of interest in regards to audience communication in the form of comments.

The project has thus far covered the ideation process, character creation and a bit of art development for the visual novel and will next be covering script writing and the technical aspects such as the involvement of Twine and Ren’Py.

As the project has gained a bit of interest, we will be continuing on the path we are currently on by hopefully posting video content more frequently to keep its current traction.

The project can be found on TikTok under the username @chromacatstudios

What is ‘The Medium is the Message’ and how does it affect how we view one another?

lusueyLeave a comment

Through the studying of McLuhan’s ‘The Medium is the Message’, I have been able to utilise this tool in the analysis of how the medium of the Internet and Social Media allows us as an audience to critically analyse and assess one’s subconscious values behind the content they promote and produce. I have used the examples of NFTs to illustrate this point, and have then ideated a Digital Artefact which would encourage others to also apply critical thinking when consuming online content.

Relevance to current internet developments

“The personal and social consequences of any medium—that is, of any extension of ourselves—result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology”

(McLuhan, 1964 p. 1)

In other words; with the introduction of new technologies, comes change in the meaning of our personal and social presence within that space, and as such becomes an extension of ourselves.

For example, in regards to the current topic of NFTs, besides their environmental, economic and social harms, the inclusion of them in our online space also provides valuable insight into the psychology of a person’s beliefs and values.

By observing these social changes through the online space, we see that only through the development of the Internet can we more publicly view and announce our own and each others core values; in regards to NFTs, whether one values a public appearance of status and technological investment over the alarming environmental and societal impacts of such participation.

Digital Artefact project

To further analyse this idea of ‘The Medium is the Message’ and how online presence allows us to promote and share our values subconsciously, I have come up with a research project in which one could use to enhance their critical thinking skills in regards to the content they consume on social media.

Ex. Celebrities such as Brie Larson being involved with and promoting NFTs and the Metaverse, and Taylor Swift with the production of a movie based on a book with an incredibly racist author.

What I hope my project accomplishes, is to encourage ones analysis of the content they consume online and recognise through the use of McLuhan’s ideas that with the ease of promotion within the Internet landscape, one is able to more easily dissect a person’s true intentions and values from the seemingly harmless things they promote.

This research project would be best suited to a series of TikToks or video essays as new material reveals itself.

References

McLuhan, M., 1964. Understanding media. New York, Toronto: McGraw-Hill.

The Development of an Interactive Visual Novel

lusueyLeave a comment
My project is to document the process of creating a choice-based, interactive visual novel with the aim of both encouraging an audience of young people with similar interests in visual novels and/or game development to both play our created visual novel or even be inspired to create their own. The project will be documented on TikTok where I will be monitoring its engagement and taking in feedback to hopefully create a piece of creative work that represents today’s young people. 

The project can be found on TikTok under the username @chromacatstudios