Jose Deschamps

Thesis 2

February 20, 2019

Reflective Paper 2

Since the inception of Pong in 1972, the video game industry has firmly established itself in mainstream Western Society. Formally referred to as “interactive entertainment“, video games have been a staple part of Americans lives. As video games get more complex with mechanics and realistic graphic due to technological advancements, one particular area that doesn’t seem to benefit from these advancement are narrative base games. Triple A’s game titles like the Final Fantasy series, uncharted series, and many others mainly focus on the same old formula of text-base dialogue that has you continuously pressing through a series of text that doesn’t immerse your senses or emotion. These are common design principles that are used within the game industry as the rule of thumb when it comes to game design. In my thesis project “Robo 37” I’m pushing for innovation on how we tell a narrative in games with the use of visual interaction and environmental architecture where the user can be engaged by its surrounding. The experience will explore the relationship between a human and an android who are brought together in a modern world. Where we follow their story while I criticize society obsessive relationship with new technology and how we abandoned them when something new comes along. The overall goal is to provoke a real response where people can feel an emotional connection with the characters and the narration. I’m hoping that this project can lead me to figure out myself as a designer and developer where I can incorporate personal issues as art and give new insight into how experiences or games are being created. I believe this an important principle as a creator where we can use our voice to give different political and social views. As a minority, I sometimes feel small and powerless with how little we impact society view on us. In my work, I tend to talk about societal and political topics as a way to gain control and give people that are not aware of an understanding with unrepresented communities. I want this project to fuel me as a tool to express my voice without restriction and touch individual emotional where we can have a conversation. These sort of interaction are the key ingredients I believe that reflect my personal interest and desire as an artist. I believe that this project will lead me in pursuing related job opportunities toward narration and social impactful prototypes and products where I can use personal experiences and knowledge to fuel their effectiveness in the commercial space.