Lemma Soft Forums

Introduction:

Thanks to digital technology, today we can mix and match different forms of media that were previously separate. An obvious example of this would be visual novels, which use images, words, and sounds to tell a story. But when you think about it, there are really endless opportunities to create new media - interactive novels, comic books with sound, and so forth.

Here are just a few examples of recent media that have mixed media elements in unusual ways:


But here's the big question: If you were working on something, a story, for instance, and you could use ANY kind of media at ANY time, what would you pick? What are the benefits and drawbacks to all the different forms of media? Why would you use animation instead of still images? Why would you use text instead of dialogue? Why would you make something interactive?

That is why I am doing this project - to serve as a guide for everyone who is currently working in the creative arts. My hope is that people who read this will better understand they different elements of media, and be able to use them more effectively.




Tentative Table of Contents:

The game will be broken down into several sections. Once the player has read through a section, other ones will be unlocked. I have an outline made up, although it might be a little confusing:



I tried to number and color code the list to make the order in which they are unlocked clearer. For instance, the main menu will display "Introduction," "Elements," "Interactivity," "Sample Media," "Credits," and "Options". However, when you start up the program for the first time, only "Introduction," "Credits," and "Options" will be unlocked. The rest are unlocked in order. For instance, "Elements" is unlocked after reading "Introduction". And then "Interactivity" is unlocked after reading "Elements." I really hope this isn't as confusing as I suspect it is...

Here is a hypothetical partial mock-up of the menu screen. It still requires illustrations in the right side of the image:






Elements of Media:

Let's start off by clarifying the different main elements of media. These are the basic building blocks of media that you can mix and match.



These are probably all obvious, but I'll go ahead and give some overly-long descriptions for them:



Okay, this might be getting a little complicated, so let's give some common examples:



Hopefully this helps clarify the different basic elements that are used to create media.




Interactivity: (or "Applications of Elements")

There are a few ways that you can apply the elements listed in the previous section. Basically, these methods deal with interactivity on the part of the audience. Let's take a look:





Some media uses a combination of these methods. For example, a video game may have dynamic visuals (gameplay), but static music. Or a game may have some randomized visuals, and other dynamic visuals (such as Diablo, which has randomized dungeons, but normal gameplay).

It's a good topic to tackle, but I'm not sure what sort of "deliverable" would represent your work. Do note though that visual novel engines have been used in interactive museum kiosks, tutorials for grade schoolers, even billboard advertisements. They're rarely mentioned in this forum, because this forum does have a preference for creative anime-style works made in the traditional form of presentation.

So I'm kinda curious if this will be some sort of long-running lecture series or if there's going to be an actual sample fictional piece of media which will be used as an example to illustrate various techniques.

Deliverable?



I'm so glad you asked! No, this will be a single educational program made using Ren'Py. I'm still trying to figure out programming and such, so I posted it in the "Ideas" section instead of the "In Progress" section.

It would be broken down into sections, and once the player has read through a section, other ones will be unlocked. I have an outline made up, although it might be a little confusing:



I tried to number and color code the list to make the order in which they are unlocked clearer. For instance, the main menu will display "Introduction," "Genres," "Elements," "Interactivity," "Sample Media," "Credits," and "Options". All the rest are sub-menus. And when you start up the program for the first time, only "Introduction," "Credits," and "Options" will be unlocked. The rest are unlocked in order. For instance, "Genres" is unlocked after reading "Introduction". And then "Elements" is unlocked after reading "Genres." I really hope this isn't as confusing as I suspect it is...

There will be some short pieces of sample media at the end, with optional commentary, that demonstrate what a finished piece could potentially look like. By short, I mean that each will only take a few minutes to complete.

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Oh, wow, this looks very interesting. Thank you for sharing and creating this. I look forward to seeing it finished. Are you planning on releasing this project to places other than LSF? I could see this as a media presentation for art schools and the like. My one nitpick is that visual novels can have "spoken" portions. Many commercial visual novels include voices, so in a way, visual novels are capable of doing everything on your chart.

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Well, I don't know many other places, but by the time I finish it, I'd like to at least have my own website set up. Do you have any suggestions on other places to release this?


Ah, yes. I noticed that, but it's tough to create a definition that encompassed everything, so I just went with the most common elements. For example, video games can vary greatly, and some movies may include written text as an important part of the film.

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Ah, and I would also like to add that most silent movies, if not all, were also narrated by somebody in the theater playing the piano, organ, or other instrument so music does need to be included, but as you have stated with all media it is passive to the main information being given. I'm not sure about the Tools category, particularly News since I don't believe it's a separate entity from the others. It could be and often is both educational and propaganda. Err... actually, news could potentially fit into all the other categories! I think if you just scrap that part it would be fine.

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Oh, and Kaleidofish, I am glad that to hear that you are excited.



Ah, yes. As I said to Kaleido, it is hard to account for every variable in the different media forms, since there are often a lot of differences between the same form of media. For instance, no one ever just sat silently in a room and watched a silent movie, there was usually at least someone playing a piano. But rarely did the films actually come with musical scores, so the pianist just had to use some unrelated song. Therefor I didn't count music as an element in silent films.

And more importantly, one problem is that this whole project is intended for the people who are creating media - all the the writers, directors, illustrators, etc. out there. It's not intended to be used by people to analyze other people's media.

In other words, it does get confusing if you try to guess what someone else is intending to do, because you can never know for sure. For instance, is The Daily Show meant to be news or entertainment? Is a documentary meant to be educational or entertainment? Are certain "video games" meant to be art or entertainment? Oh course we can never know. But the reason I include that is that I think that someone who is creating media should know explicitly what they are trying to accomplish with it. And perhaps more importantly, it is possible that different elements may work better with different genres. For instance, maybe "games" are an innately visual medium? I still need to investigate this part further.

However, I should point out that this is all subject to change, and out of everything it is the "Genres" section that I am most unsure about.

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I wish I had an answer for that, sorry. I did some searching around for educational game development websites, but couldn't really find any that would be appropriate. You could try posting it to indie game development sites (like Indiegames.com), artist forums and the like, since they sound like they'd be your intended audience. Thanks for answering my questions. Wish you the best of luck in completing this!

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Main Website * Tumblr
Play: In This Dream of Ours (5/7/2012)
Working on: Skylines, Dream's Dénouement, The Girl in Red
ouroborosconnect.com

Thank you.

I shall look up related sites.

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I think you need subdivisions for each category so you can better address the differences between them.

For example, certain types of poetry would have a Still Visual using text to illustrate a picture or an idea. Just as certain visual novels have a spoken element to them. Just as certain plays use static visuals.

It works generally, but it should be addressed.

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"How do you know my name? Damn, this can only mean one of two things: Either we have met, and you are telling the truth, and I just can't remember it, or you are a spy." ~Setou Kenji (Katawa Shoujo)
Status: Thinking. Planning. And playing Phantasy Star Online 2 JP.

But that's just it, that's a good example!

This project is about how those six basic elements can be combined in different ways. I would argue that adding an illustration to a poem can potentially completely change the piece's impact on the audience.

Although this does raise a couple of good questions... for example, what constitutes a single work of media? Is a collection of short stories one piece of media, or several? Does the creator's intent matter? And who counts as the creator if there is a team making it? Sorry, I'm rambling now.



Also, as an update - I removed the "Genres" section and added the "Tentative Table of Contents" and created this mock-up of what the title screen might look like. It still needs illustrations in the right side.

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