Assassin's Creed 3: Lectured

Hey y'all, sorry this is getting out of my head WAY in the late, but here it is...

Corey May & AC3

Corey May is the President and co-founder of the company Sekretagent Productions and the main writer of the very popular video game series Assassin's Creed.  Graduating from Harvard University in 1999, May and a friend founded this company immediately after graduating from University of Southern California's Peter Stark Producing Program in 2001.  May has participated as lead writer for the first three Assassin's Creed games and has helped to write the other games (e.g. Brotherhood and Revelations). He has also co-written two Prince of Persia games and several other works, and has been a Producer or Executive Producer on two films.  (assassinscreed.wikia.com/wiki/Corey_May)

Earlier this April, the students of SMCM were privileged to hold an audience with May, via Skype, after a brief walkthrough of the game Assassin's Creed 3 by a faculty member.   The majority of the story (though I have not played the game) is centered around the main character, Connor, who is a Native American boy that joins the Assassins during the period of the American Revolution (http://assassinscreed.ubi.com).  In discussing the historical accuracy of the game and the subject matter, May came out on top.  He mentioned that in order to be as realistic as possible in writing the game, he completed a full year worth of research to ensure adequate accuracy and content.  One piece that stood out to me was the role of Benjamin Franklin in the plot.  May mentioned that because Franklin was away in Europe negotiating terms with the French, his role in the plot of the Revolution was distant and so he was not very involved with homefront activities presented in the game. the game, he stated, was made for a general audience, that "followed the 30-seconds rule of Google," which is essentially that if one can find the information within 30-seconds of using Google search, the people looking at that information become the receiving audience.  Also to gain a better understanding of the times, coordinators worked with Native American tribes to portray a realistic and accurate character and environment.  May continued that the purpose of the game was to excite the players about he narrative and not necessarily be a history lesson.  This concept is also exhibited by a, hopefully, unbiased view of the Revolution by all parties involved.

Overall, I felt that the script for this game, from what I have been shown is both quality work and, for the most part, historically accurate.  I have played the AC series up to this game, and all of the games have been fantastic!  I just need to get around to playing this one.  Aesthetically, these games have very high quality graphics.  They push some limits with realism in the abilities of the characters but I don't hold it against them.  I think this is a great series that has a lot of potential and that the screenplay is of the best quality.  I look forward to seeing the games written by May and his colleagues in the future, as I believe AC 4 is about to be released!!!!!!!!!

Project 3: Basic Animal Biology Site

Opisthokonts UNITE!

Hey all!  Are you interested in biology? ...no... understanding the world around you? ...no... looking at pictures of animals? ...depends... WELL, this is not the site for you.  Click the link below to explore an overview of the general relationships of the animals we see (or don't see) in the world around us.  In lieu of finals, this may just jog your memory or entertain you on a break! Enjoy!

http://students.smcm.edu/jrpiegols/index.html

Here is a Chordate:

GET LOST!

Don't actually leave!

Here is a link for my experiences when I got lost in North Woods...at night... with other people. Holla Emmy-V and Kayla!

http://students.smcm.edu/jrpiegols/Get%20Lost/GetLost/GetLost_home.html

Ryder Ripps: Web and Art

Ryder Ripps

http://ryder-ripps.com/ryder-ripps.png

Ryder Ripps is a New York native web artist that comes from a family of artists (wikipedia.org).  He is the founder of sites that include Internet Archaeology and the surfing company Dump.fm and has a portfolio of miscellaneous GIFs that are sure to make you second guess your desire to visit his sites.  According to flavorwire.com, he also works in affiliation with OKFocus, working on a project titled Draw With Your Face.

http://www.internetarchaeology.org/mpets.htm

The piece above is a GIF from Internet Archaeology, a "tribute" to GeoCities from Yahoo! before it was closed.  A lot of the GIFs and other moving images that Ripps uses are very simple in design, often pixelated (or just low quality), and branch to a variety of themes and genres.  I liked this one in particular because cats are awesome!  This next one is kinda comical...

Ripps also, on his portfolio site, ryder-ripps.com, has links to experiential sites, some of which are very strange, in my opinion.  One of these I found fascinating, but only to a short end.  The site http://ryder-ripps.com/mars/ brings you to a Google Maps style image where the user can navigate a 3D image of a pharmacy, much like one can place the little walking man on certain streets and get the first-person perspective of the area.  This particular work was creative but lacked that extra dimension.  Navigating the store was limited to about 4 different spots within the store and two spots outside of the store by the street.  By clicking and dragging the image, the user could "look around" the storefront and see products in the store and buildings in the area.  I found this interesting to have as artwork, since Google Maps and Earth are the only places I have seen this style used.  

To say the least about Ripps' portfolio site, it is very simple and easy to maneuver within.  All headers for his works are to the left side and clicking on one of the headers takes you to the piece.  This makes navigation very easy; however, there is a very unappealing blank, white space to the right of the home page.  Adding a small list of images from a category or some productive use of this space, I feel, would make his work more respectable.  In terms of his other sites, like Internet Archaeology, the layout is slightly more complex, but just as easy to navigate. Each header on the side for works drops down to show categories, then each category has a quick navigation to any individual work either by clicking the viewed image or the image you want to look at at the bottom of the page.

Project 3 Flowchart

Website Map

Gettin' Lost

DONE! Project 2: Jack Nicholson