Wild-Eyed Muse: July 2014

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Video Games, Art, Minimalism, and Where the Middle Ground Is - Part 9

I really should've said no, looking back on it.

As I mentioned before, Aika Village is accessable via the Dream Suite in Animal Crossing: New Leaf. That's how you get to it in the same circumstances as everybody else, and to be honest, I think it's better to use it through the Dream Suite than if you had to visit it like you do other towns. This means that a lot of people can go see it, and because of it's popularity, it's dragged up a lot of theories.

That dog's howling no more . . .

Creepy pair of mittens, what?

First is about the graveyard. It's pretty obvious what's going on in the graveyard, of course - the child's dog was buried here . . . many times. Odd, yes, but I'm more concerned about the mittens. Did they belong to somebody, left behind after some sort of incident? Did that person jump to their deaths? Remember that in the last house, the mother and father - two of the mannequins in the first house - weren't there. Did one of them die near this spot? Who knows . . .

See, even in the upper right, the girl isn't even looking at us anymore. Yeesh, even she's scared at this point.

Creepy Gaming seemed to draw the connection between the parents and the potential deaths. As I mentioned before, Creepy Gaming explained the reference of the shoes on the beach as having to do with Japanese suicides, where one would leave their shoes on the beach before - well, yeah, dying. Not pleasant to think, and to make it worse, Creepy Gaming (from what I recall) seemed to suggest that the mother might've died this way while the father died in the creepy torture chamber from before. Y'know, this one?

Nope, I'm just taking a nap, not trapped in a nightmare at all, yo.

I thought you might remember.

While it's a good theory, I have some different suggestions. Considering how murderous and creepy this doll is, I would like to suggest that the doll set it up - the doll set up the shoes on the beach to make it look like the mother killed herself, only to torture her along with the husband down here. Of course, it'd be better supported with some more evidence (i.e. showing where the mannequin-parents disappeared to), but sadly, we get no such relief. So it goes.

I know what you did, you stupid dolly. I will never be able to look at Red Riding Hood the same way again.

Then we come to the story of this doll. From what I can garner, the theories about this doll pretty much line up - it's a sentient doll that seems to want the girl celebrating the birthday downstairs in the first house, the same girl who owns the houses. Why? Perhaps jealousy. Either way, the goal seems to be to take care of the problem by killing the parents, as well as whoever else finds out. Then again, the other dolls may or may not be helping, although there's little to go off of there.

Round one, fight?

Most theories probably come off of what's going on in this back room. Has the dolly taken the girl into an ultimate match to the death? As a captive? As her next torture victim? I believe that the girl is trapped there with the dolly, now the doll's alone, and if she tries to leave . . . well, the axe is a good enough warning, isn't it?

I dunno, man. So many ways to look at this, and all viewpoints are pretty unsettling.

SO INSTEAD, LET'S LOOK AT IT FROM AN ARTISTIC POINT OF VIEW!!

Happy Birthday, Molly! Now it's time to die.

As I'm sure I mentioned in the second part, the interior design in this game sort of has to work off of a principle of minimalism, at least to a certain degree. After all, there's only so much furniture you can buy! But in the case here, I believe that the minimalism was used to a great degree. Not many people could pull off some of the style and use here, especially with some of the more complex rooms!

Props to the maze. I mean, metaphorical props.

This room is a really good example in terms of the minimalism required in the game. How do you make a maze without making it too obvious where to go? Dark pillows, small beacons of light, scattered stools that give you little in terms of direction . . . the execution of this room is probably one of my favorite aspects of the town, although that's my personal thought, just based on what the artist was going for and how they executed it. Hat's off to him/her!

To quote one of my own characters: "ENGLISH! Can! You! Speak! English?!"

Another artistic element relating to this town is the story behind it. Clearly, there is an element of story in this town - it's obvious from the get-go, the way it's set up. Even down to the details, we get good direction of what's going on even without text and speech, which is an incredible feat in a world of words.

I'm hiding from the dolly. Call back later.

Of course, one of my favorite aspects of Aika is the obvious symbolism used throughout the town, especially with the environment. The way it changes between houses is absolutely incredibly - it just goes to show how much thought was put into this, how hard this person must've worked to put it together. And there's so much going on, as well - from perfection to mazes to ruin to utter desolation, the symbolism helps tie together the mood and the story so well it's amazing.

I'm going to hope that my art is better than this kid's.

Lastly, I want to point out the progression of the doodles. The above picture is in the first house, where they're intact. These little doodles, done by the little girl, progress onwards as items representing obsession and are used to help tell the story from the perspective of the dolly. These images are both worshiped and reviled - used to decorate the surroundings and to show hatred, especially in the last house, where they're completely ruined and scraped away. They really help to set the tone for this town, including the doll's motives - which, of course, are what help string away this plot from the get-go.

But all of this is well and good, neverminding some of the obvious issues, such as the confusing rooms and the undeciphered Japanese. But there was a point to going to this town, of course - a very important point. And believe me, I haven't forgotten it - quite the opposite. That point:

Is this art?

There's just one more part to go, guys. I'm hoping to cover my thoughts on all of this once and for all then.

Saturday, July 12, 2014

A Thought and an Announcement

A double post? From me? Aw, of course not! The post earlier today was . . . uh . . . time traveling! Heaven knows I've done that enough, at least in Animal Crossing.

Anyways, I don't have much to say right now, but there were two things I wanted to touch on, mostly because it's late and I have nothing else to do.

First off: look at this poll.

For those of you who are rebellious and didn't click the link, good for you. Always question the man! The question was, "Do you believe that art can fundamentally change your sense of who you are?" Besides just a poll answer or a comment, I figured I'd share my own thoughts.

Short answer: Yes, I think art can change you.

Long answer: Yes, I think art can change you both introspectively and extraspectively (is that a word . . .?). AKA, it changes you on the inside and on the outside. I think it changes you even more when you're the one making the art.

Lemme give you some examples.

The series Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden are based off of manga, or graphic novels, as we'd call them in the US. It's dialogue with pictures; it's not hard to find scanlations of the chapters so you can read or else keep up with what's going on. I mean, buy the books if you're going to be reading it a lot, but if you want to keep up because Japan . . . well, whatever, I don't judge.

In my case, Naruto has influenced me to a huge degree. It's influenced my writing, which I'll talk about later, but basically, it's what's helped me get into and stay in writing. Naruto is also the reason I met my best friend, which I'm never going to forget, because I really like my friend. I'm also a fan of drawing the characters sometimes (often in drag . . . sorry, Madara!), so it's helped my drawing skills. So it's influenced both my art and my external, working self.

The other example that I can give is about introspective changes inside, or at least demonstrating those changes; when I was younger and had a more difficult relationship with my dad, I noticed after time that all of my character's fathers were either A) not there or B) fairly . . . bad. Them being bad was, of course, on a different level than my dad; he just wasn't around all the time because of work. But some feelings about my dad not being around leaked into my work, affecting my characters.

Art is also a form of support, too. There's a reason we have art therapy, after all, and I know people who make art because it's either that, or having to deal with . . . compromised health (and that's as far into that as I'll get). In my case, I'm writing a novel right now because I know I need to in order to cope with the fact that - surprise! - I'm moving away in a month and a half. Not only that, but guess what kind of novel I'm writing? A coming-of-age novel! See what I mean?

Lastly, I think that art made by onesself can also help explain our thoughts and expound upon them. A few years ago, I was writing a piece that included a part about the main character's religion, or lack thereof. At the time, I'd been having some issues with my own religion, specifically that my mother thought I couldn't "choose" my own religion at my age. When I wrote the central scene for the religious subplot, so much of what was written just popped into my head and onto the page, and I realized only later that what I had written was exactly what I had been wanting to tell my mother: religion is a personal thing and for the person themselves to choose, not their parents. So by making art, I further knew myself.

Anyways, to sum it up again: Yeah, art changes us. But it also helps define us, which I think is fairly important for those of us who need to understand who we are and what the heck we're doing.

***

Anyways, this is the announcement: I have another blog now.

And it's for my CampNaNo novel.

I've been writing second-generation fanfiction for the Naruto series, and I decided early on that I wanted to edit the chapters and publish them along with my work. After thinking about it, I realized that my work was a little more intensive than I thought, and I knew I didn't want to post it all on this blog. As a result, making another blog was the option.

To quickly explain to those who are curious: the story I am writing is about a girl named Katya whose parents, one of which is Itachi Uchiha, are ex-criminals. In order to try and escape the persecution she faces at home, she decides to travel and make a name for herself. Of course, this doesn't go off without a few hitches, though.

You can find my blog for this Camp NaNo novel here; there will be no chapter updates until August, but I will be posting some of my research as I go along, so stay tuned, okay? It's going to be a wild ride!

Video Games, Art, Minimalism, and Where the Middle Ground Is - Part 8

Last time, on "Let's scare the crap out of ourselves" . . .!

For the past few month or so, we've been playing Animal Crossing and simultaneously been thinking about the impact of art in these games and if, at all, we can consider creation in these games to be forms of art. Still no answer, despite all of the work I've put into these posts! Which means continued investigation, which has led me to a midnight-dreary Aika Village.

(Okay, so more like 4AM dreary, but whatever. Edgar Allan Poe's too cool for this shit (or is he?).)

So picking up where we left off - we found the second house, took a little tour, then stopped in the basement with the dollies having a feast, where we found one hiding an axe behind her back. Totally innocent, huh? You can guess my natural reaction: I ran like hell.

And then found myself in a graveyard.

A pair of abandoned mittens . . .

This does not bode well.

Once again, we see the use of custom designs, but more than that, we see clear indicators for gravestones. As for those stars on the ground, those are dig spots, and luckily for me, I picked up a shovel before coming. When I dug up some of the spots, I discovered dog houses - a fierce reminder of the drawings made by the little girl in the first house. That's not creepy at ALL, but moreover, I found a pair of mittens by the cliff's edge. Uuh, weird much? Whoever made this town, they sure paid attention to the details.

The third part of town - ruined, much?

I moved on further into the village, where I found just the beginning to the desolation to come. Remember the perfection of before? That's all but disappeared now. Weeds are sprouting everywhere, the trees are dead (a result of perfect peach trees having died!), and rotten turnips - typically used in the stock/stalk market - are strewn on the ground. Obviously, we're seeing a lot of symbolism in the environment, and in this case, it's clear: ruin. We've devolved into ruin, and the environment was clearly arranged to show that.

Um . . . ma'am, are you okay . . .?

This girl again - even with a translator's help, there's no way to tell what she's saying. For all we know, she could be screaming. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised at this point - I know I'm screaming anyways on the inside. Then again, that's normal for me, considering my oddities. So never mind that.

House number three, here we come.

Well, this isn't terrifying at all.

THAT DOLLY HAS A KNIFE.

NOPE NOPE NOPE I CHANGE MY MIND I WANT TO GO HOME TO MY HAPPY PLACE.

This is, if it wasn't obvious enough, ANOTHER MAZE. And to make it worse, THE DOLLY IS RIGHT THERE. Thank goodness I have the use of emotions in this game to make communication easier, because THAT IS MY REACTION RIGHT THERE.

Just for the record, this is NOT my happy place!

Like, let me get across to you how creeped out I was. I wasn't told about this mechanic of the room, and I wish I had been, because this machine makes higher-pitched noises the closer and closer you get to it. I had no idea this was around, so as I traversed through the maze, the sound just got worse. And worse. And WORSE. I got legit scared, never mind the other noises (a waterbird - yeah, real creepy). I swear, that was the worst part of the whole ordeal of walking through this town, mostly because it came so unexpectedly that I couldn't really handle it at first. I do not like scary noises!

Okay, I really wish I could explain this, but I'm at a loss.

Again, I don't understand this world.

Once I made my way through the maze, I found the rooms in the back and right sides. To be honest, I can't discern much meaning from these - the one, obviously, seems to be filled with papers (plans?) and the other of a piano with Easter eggs, but what do they symbolize? I'm not sure. I'm sure that the creator had more concrete plans, but to be honest, these are the most underwhelming rooms of the whole layout. Even then, though, they do seem to have a significant purpose, so maybe I'm just missing something? Again, there was clearly SOME plan, but it just doesn't seem to contribute to the plot of the town very well.

Those being over with, I went back to the beginning and immediately made my way upstairs.

And so we walk into the bedroom of your neighborhood sociopath.

. . . well. Now, this is what I would call obsession.

Who would even WANT to sit in these chairs?!

Earlier, I mentioned the ability to customize your furniture. Clearly, the artist did a lot of that here. Almost every piece of furniture in this room has been modified to include the drawings from before, plastered onto every surface and table and bed. Why? My guess is the doll's representation of obsession. After all, this does seem to be a pretty murderous dolly, with the axe and stuff. And on that note . . .

Am I the only one who hates fuzzy TV noises? Good, I'm not alone.

. . . yeah, this doll again. Now we know why she's sort of murderous - she's got an obsessive fixation on this girl, the lady we keep seeing who owns these houses. And the TV's spurred out, so that's a thing, too. Again, totally creepy. Still, this is good design stuff, and it sure does help the story. Yeah . . . totally . . .

Oops I blinked.

After that, we only have one more room to visit - the basement. While this house has been a bit on the bizarre side (I'm continuing to question those two other rooms), and while there has been some obsessiveness in play, and while there WAS the creepy machine scaring the pee out of me, the house itself has been rather underwhelming. It can't get much worse in the basement.

NOPE-A-RIFFIC.

. . . GOD DAMMIT GAME, I JUST FUCKING SAID- I'M NOT EVEN COOL WITH THIS ANYMORE.

Okay, this is just frippin' creepy.

What is up with this doll?! I mean, holy crap! I could accept that it was sentient, I could accept that it was obsessive and murderous . . . but this? This is flat-out sociopathic! I mean, I might've made a sociopath joke earlier, but I was kidding! It's basically the closest thing to a torture pen Animal Crossing can get! And hell-o, am I the only one seeing the doodle on the wall again???

Johnny . . . I see dead people.

What freaks me out the most, to be honest, is this bed. I mean, somebody's CLEARLY died there. Chalk outline, the telescope, the creepy walls and floor and stuff . . . and to make it worse . . .

Nightmare fuel for your burning flame of passion?

. . . I fit into the outline.

TIME TO GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE EVERYBODY, TIME TO HOP ABOARD THE STRUGGLE BUS OUT OF THIS CRAPHOLE.

And, at least, we just get freaking terrifying.

Back outside, it's still getting crummier and crummier - which, y'know, I'm beginning to prefer. At least I'm not inside the houses again, because I'm beginning to get the feeling they're all possessed or something.

The last house . . .

I couldn't find the owner outside of the house like I could the other three, even after some searching, so I had no choice but to flat-out enter the final house. Here we go . . .

There she is . . .

Gibberish for all.

. . . before anybody snarky asks me . . . no. That is no language that I recognize. It's not even Welsh, for goodness's sake.

This couldn't get crappier if you tried, man. It's checked out like the ladies at Walmart . . .

It's pretty obvious what this is - it's the room from the first house. Lights out, drawers ruined, trash everywhere. And while I'm still really nervous about where this is headed, I've got to once again admit that the time and effort put into this is tremendous. These sloppy furniture pieces, they're a very, very rare set. So rare I only have one piece of it after months of playing.

. . . even so . . .

This toy room is ruined, now . . .

We're continuing the theme of the first house. The second floor is exactly the same, besides some minor - and not so minor - changes.

There goes those doodles.

The dolls in the back are turned away. The drawings are scribbled out. And that doll, it still has an axe . . .

The back room is open now . . .

The biggest difference from the first house - this room is now open.

I'm going to regret this . . .

At last.

. . . the girl. And the doll.

Static noise . . .

. . . and the girl is trapped.

. . .

NOPE NOPE NOPE!

ANDALE, ANDALE, I'M OUT OF THIS PLACE!!!

Beach time, let's go to the beach-each-each!!!

Even with a warning, I sprinted like hell out of that place and onto the beach, hoping I could find some kind of merciful respite from all of this- this madness! I mean, I know I'm sensitive and all, but this is just creepy enough! Get. Me. OUT!

THIS DOESN'T HELP!

I tried to take a shortcut along the beach so I could get back to the plaza and wake up - the only way to leave without restarting the game. But while I was running, I found a pair of shoes on the beach - red shoes. Red shoes very close to the water.

. . . one of my sources told me that those are a symbol in Japan for suicide.

. . . eeeehhhhh?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

. . . I think it's time to wake up.

Shut up Luna! You know what you did!

Let's make the answer to her simple.

NO.

Back in normal, normal Sandhall . . .

The whole ordeal took a good hour of my time from beginning to end, and I know that it would've been quicker if I hadn't been taking so many photographs. I started at four and ended at five - a good hour of time put towards an interesting, albeit terrifying town. It's all too clear - the person who put this together? They're a genius. They knew what they were doing, alright.

. . . I don't know if I should suggest they go into horror films or not . . .

Part 3 for Aika Village coming soon . . .

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Video Games, Art, Minimalism, and Where the Middle Ground Is - Part 7

Hello! I hope that you're enjoying my Video Games, Art, Minimalism, and Middle Ground series regarding Animal Crossing: New Leaf. If you care to see all previous posts, click below:

Part 1 - Interior Design
Part 2 - Patterns and Designs
Part 3 - More about Patterns and Designs
Part 4 - Introduction to Town Decor
Part 5 - Pattern Design in Town Decor
Part 6 - Gardening in Town Decor

Onwards!

***

I've been talking about a lot in this series; interior design, pattern design, town design . . . there are so many elements to this game. However, these posts do take time, and I am aware that not everybody may be interested in them. Oh well . . .

Regardless, when I first started off this series, I knew there was a place that I wanted to visit, simply because it's so contributing to the discussion of if any of this is considered art or not. I had even written the posts for it all before deciding to talk more about pattern design and all that other stuff first! Still, I wanted to keep coming back to this, explaining more . . . so I decided I would save this until the end.

My friends . . . we're going into Aika Village.

My character, T.J., in front of the Dream Suite.

There are two things I want to mention before I get too much further. One - because I originally compiled these posts far before any of the others (besides Interior Design), these photos are actually from more than a month ago. Time traveling at its finest!

The other disclaimer is about the time on the clock. While I am unable to show the time during my visit in Aika, I can promise that the time you see in the above picture is accurate. I started at four o'clock on June 3rd in the middle of the afternoon. Keep that in mind.

Uuh - I guess we'll just have to call it Aika?

I was first led to Aika by seeing a video's title talking about it, then by seeing a series of posts done by Dette64 on his tumblr. I then went myself, at four in the afternoon . . .

The plaza - covered in a layer of noisy design.

. . . and appearing in Aika at 4:00AM.

Clearly, the person who uploaded Aika Village chose to do so in the middle of the night, with some of the creepiest music in the game. Great way to set the mood, huh?

As much as I want to begin by covering every single detail in the village, I think I'm going to go ahead and just give an overview of the houses for the most part. I don't want to take away anything from those who have the game and want to visit the town themselves. Those of the more delicate persuasion, be forewarned.

A tiny glimpse at the environment surrounding house number one.

The first part of Aika is fairly peaceful - tons of carnations and perfect peach trees. There are also these PWP statues that I'm standing nearby, and they were littered all around the plaza area I woke up in. As you can see to the right in the picture above, there was also a house. But before I went inside, though, I changed my clothes - preferring one of my personal designs - and searched for its owner.

A fellow player - and the owner of the first house.

Part of the thing that interests me as I grow up is language, and naturally, this has led to an interest in Japanese. That being said, I know next to none of the language, so I have to rely on the video source linked to above to translate what this girl was saying: "I love my mommy." Context? We'll get to that in a little while, I guess.

House number one - "Happiness"

The first house is pretty standard - just from the outside, I can tell it has two stories. In we go . . .

First floor looks pretty normal, besides the creepy (naked) mannequins.

Color me impressed - it's not easy to get these mannequins. Although I do wish that the mom and dad mannequins had been distinguished.

What's obvious from the start (at least to me) is that this whole story has been planned for a long, long while, because those mannequins take an extremely long time to get, and there's only four obtainable for each player character. From the looks of it, it's a typical birthday party - the girl in the middle, obviously, represents the girl we saw outside, and the mannequins next to her must be her parents. And while it's clear now that there's a backroom, there's no way to go in. It's been blocked off by a ranch dresser and a lovely doll.

Isn't the girl downstairs a little old for toys?

Upstairs, I found this room. A typical kid's room, obviously; little drawings, a dollhouse, and even some dolls. In fact, while I didn't show this off earlier, that red doll is an item called "dolly", which is something I picked up at the plaza in the beginning. Coincidence? Maybe.

Typical drawings for a little girl. Looks kind of like my art! *self-deprecation*

Here's an obvious demonstration of pattern design and usage; looks like the girl has made these pictures of herself and her family (including the family dog). Seems like they're pretty crudely-drawn, though . . .

OH WELL!

An Easter egg I was unable to investigate . . .

I left the house after that, since there was nothing more to see, but via a hint from the video source mentioned above, I chose to go west first before following the intended path. Not only do the carnations extend all the way to the edge of town (seemingly), there's also a grave on a section of beach impossible to get to without one of the game's tools, the wetsuit. I looked around later to see if the dream provided one, but it unfortunately didn't, so I was out of luck to see what was there, although I will provide my guesses later on. In the meantime, I might try to figure out if it would be possible to hack myself down there, although I'm not entirely certain. I might know one way, though . . .

The owner of the second house. The same person? I can't tell what she's saying . . .

Moving right along, I continued east through town and then south across the river, only to be led into sort of a creepy maze with tons of pitfalls (think of the classic Team Rocket traps in Pokemon. I might show one off later, if I have the chance). This was a great way to look at gardening design, especially since the village was uploaded in the fall and clearly used the nature to its advantage. It took a little while to make my way to the next house, where I found the next owner, who is identical to the first. I don't know what she says here, so I'm probably wrong, but my best guess is she's saying, "I love my daddy." I'm not sure; the first word/phrase is identical to the previous, but not the second. Hmm.

Well, I wouldn't have used that roof with that door, but who am I to judge?

One of the best mazes you can expect to find in Animal Crossing.

So we enter into the second house . . . and find a maze? Tricky. I tried to figure out what music was playing while I went through, but I couldn't reach the radio, so that's unknown. What's obvious from a glance is that there are both sliding posters and stools, but there are also solid black pillows that you can't walk over. So you're basically walking blind except for where the moon gives you a solid clue-in.

I'd meant to look at the radio and see what music was playing, but unfortunately, I couldn't read it from that angle. Pooh!

Personally, I really like the maze the artist has set up. It helps build suspense, especially since you have to traverse it in the dark. Not only that, but it's a great example of how interior design can be used for your benefit. Creepy or what?

The backroom. Well, this is eerie.

I made it to the backroom and immediately found this bare room with all of these stuffed animals, toys, and dolls - including the aforementioned dolly. But they're all facing away - how come?

Maybe if I turn the camera . . .

AHHH!

HOLY JESUS ON RYE!

Eyeballs staring at you without your knowing?! Voyeurism, or WHAT?!

Okay, I'm pretty easy to spook, I'll admit that, but those are CREEPY! Thankfully, I knew about them ahead of time due to one of my sources, but GAH! As you can tell, I did NOT appreciate that little surprise. No wonder those dolls aren't looking - I don't want to look either! Let's get the heck out of here and look into that upstairs room . . .

Aw snap, did I just fall into Eden?

Okay, this is a lot more peaceful . . . although it might be more so if I was religious.

My mama's bible always warned me about this shit . . .

Now, I'm not a big religious-y person (as I might've mentioned before, I'm actually an atheist), but this is a pretty obvious depiction of Adam and Eve. What else has a man, woman, apple, and snake? If this didn't set the mood for paradise, then the music certainly helped - K.K. Chorale sets a very regal tone for this room. A lot more peaceful than what we've seen - probably the least worrisome room we've seen thus far.

Or . . . is it the most worrisome?

The basement. A party?

I finally opted to check out the basement, which wasn't actually too bad at first glance. Looks like a dolly feast - chocolate cake, perfect peaches, fortune cookies, the works. The player obviously used a lot of furniture modifications to make this room, because the dolls are lots of colors, which you can't get otherwise. Again, great work with interior design.

Again, the wedding cake is a sign of just how much devotion was put into this. It's hard to get!

Regardless, it's certainly an interesting set up. A little feast, some cheery music, even a wedding cake in the corner! Nothing too bad about this, right?

DID I JUST STEP INTO AN EPISODE OF HANNIBAL LECTOR?!

I WAS WRONG. I WAS TERRIBLY, TERRIBLY WRONG.

If this seems creepy now, know this: this isn't even the end of it. This is just the second house out of FOUR. And there is so much more to explore . . .

If graves could speak . . .

So much more . . .

Next part coming soon . . .