Good Early Morning Guardians,
Today I wanted to preface this post with a message regarding a quick reflection about a work of Interactive Narrative Fiction that I produced earlier this week for my Writing for Digital Media class. Lore is always an interactive way for game developers to intertwine story within the universe of their game. Bungie does a great job with creating this adaptive universe around various characters, weapons, and historical events set in the world of Destiny. This narrative is presented as lore that characters can scavenge, achieve, and decipher throughout the game.
Recently, the devs released a DLC that follows the storyline of the Drifter. A Rogue Light-bearing Guardian, whose intentions aren't entirely known to the Vanguard safeguarding him within the confines of the Tower. This narrative was extremely interesting to
me upon the release of the latest DLC.
I wanted to further indulge myself and explore further into this realm of narrative by coming up with my own characters and perspectives of the story being presented. With this comes the creation of my Mysteries of Aunor Interactive Narrative Fiction piece. Upon following that link you will be transported, via space magic, to a webpage that will guide you through your adventure discovering the world of Destiny and its latest conflict of characters.
The piece introduces ways that you, the reader, can explore an delve into a story that revolves around the choices that you allow your character to make. Some are good. Some are bad. Some may even result in the death of your character. However, there is little way of you knowing until you try it out yourself! I hope you enjoy the piece, I enjoyed the time I spent working on it, so much so that I actually ended up posting this assignment slightly late.
I apologize again Prof. Landrigan, I don't mean to be a pain in your butt.
Good 'Morrow Guardians,
I hope you enjoy the piece!
-OVBDavid
Saturday, March 30, 2019
Friday, March 8, 2019
ULTIMATE MEGA MASHUP EXTENDED EP
I had a few inspirations in originally making this style of piece. I wanted to mix up a few media outlets as well as trying to get as much emphasis on aspects of games that I love most. Originally my project was supposed to be centered around one specific game, and was supposed to be a blast to the past with incorporating previous incarnations, as well as focusing all of the energy towards criticizing some of the flaws within the game itself. Firstly, as much as I wanted to entertain myself and create something around flaws I found within a game I loved, I simply couldn’t. Not because it was a criticism toward the game itself, but I felt like I was doing a disservice to a hobby I’ve had for decades. Almost two full decades actually.
I started playing games when I was about three years old. Skating and Video games. Those were the two things I grew up doing, and I can never regret any of it. Thus, what I can do is to look back on positive things, and remembering all the different types of games I’ve played. However, there’s an unfathomable amount of content that surrounds the production of a game. And with all that content, I became inspired. First it started with the viewing of a video I still frequent to this day. It was made by a YouTube creator known as Dunkey. Within this video:
I found the importance in being consistent. This means looking at both the positives and the negatives of life. With this I resorted to the place I knew best for this assignment. The YouTube comment section.
Obviously, this isn’t the first time someone has used the comment section under a YT video to create an original work, but that’s the point of this project, isn’t it? Anyways, so what I tried to do was mashup as much as I could into a collective piece turned Selective Remix. I wanted to combine multiple platforms and forms of stimulation. So for the complete, final, rendition of the project, I made a review of another YT video. The point of this was to add and remove the comments to my liking, and then create what I feel would be the best representation of a review for the video. This review will be about this video here and will have been created from the comment section of the sequel video. And this. THIS VIDEO. It has to be one of the greatest remixes of all time. It perfectly incorporates everything I’ve come to enjoy in my life. From movies, to games, to music, to anime, to memes, shows, and so so much more.
With this, I hope you enjoy the detailed review I left for the video below.
"To date I’m glad I was born in this generation.
I can’t believe u did this
I’m crying and shaking rn.
These videos don't end
they just stop moving.
Year is 2050
kid asks what the early 2000s were like
Me: this video.
Me to friend: dude, have you seen this song?
Friend: no, what genre is it?
Me: ALL OF THEM.
I showed this to my milk
Now it's a protein shake.
Better than youtube rewind. when my grandkids ask me what type of music i heard when i was a teen, ill just smile and show them real music.
why did this song make me emotional....
i have serious issues.
I think we can all agree that adding shooting stars to any song makes it 1000x better.
Things like these make me so proud of this community...
This has been the best 9 minutes of my life. I'm sad it had to end.
Grandson: grandpa, I found this in your old liked videos. What is it?
Grandpa: sit down, son.
Grandpa: *crying* I will tell you a great story.
Friend: What genre of music do you listen to?
Me: Yes
Top 10 anime crossovers
This definitely needed to be YouTube rewind... I mean youtube rewind has good editing, but this is just different
The Shooting Star was executed perfectly
Good Bye to a World into Smash Mouth into Firework all while Shooting Stars play.
Well played
so many emotions.
I know these are memes but... This is actually beautiful
I take it you like anime?
You're a man of culture as well
this is not a mashup.
this is not a song.
this is not a meme
this is not a groove.
I T I S A N E X P E R I E N C E"
I hope you will all enjoy this as much as I did. And just to do Dunkey a little dirty, I made sure that none of this was consistent. Nothing could be less consistent, not even a little.
Friday, March 1, 2019
Mashing Up the Competition
Good Afternoon,
Wow. Stunning, but let's kinda settle back down into our seats and unpack what it is we just saw. When talking about remixes, the topic online can be a bit controversial. Everyone always discusses the notion of citing where it is you may have gotten information, or if you're displaying the work of someone other than yourself. It has been taboo within the creative community to steal the content of others, and display it as your own.
However, today we leave these controversies behind as we discuss an original work created by Bungie Studios and the production of this new DLC's Video Documentary (Vi-Doc). As you've now seen within the video, there are various forms of art all mashed-up together within the video to insight some HYPE within the audience.
Being able to provide an intense mix of musical production, as well as video production, mixing further the process of interview style cinematography and actual gameplay allows for greater insight and immersion into the game's universe. With the center of the video being to sell and inspire purchase of the new DLC, its focus relies heavily on incorporating as many cuts, pans, and commentary it needs to visually, audio-ly, and mechanically.
Bungie does this perfectly by combining all various forms of cinematography. Flashing between interviews with designers working on the game, whilst simultaneously displaying combat and new items within the game immerses the viewer into enveloping themselves into the new content.
This opportunity combines that use of multiple forms of cinematography to create a truly magnificent product. Consider me HYPED for Season of the Driftor, and I look forward to seeing you Guardians on Tuesday.
Alright, Alright, Alright...
- The Driftor
Ladies and gentlemen, we return this week with a normal scheduled programming you've come to love from my TWWD.
With the new Season of the Driftor we have a lot to discuss, and some unpacking to do. But first, to get a sense of what I'm talking about, please feel free to grab some popcorn and get ready for the visual mashup of a lifetime:
Wow. Stunning, but let's kinda settle back down into our seats and unpack what it is we just saw. When talking about remixes, the topic online can be a bit controversial. Everyone always discusses the notion of citing where it is you may have gotten information, or if you're displaying the work of someone other than yourself. It has been taboo within the creative community to steal the content of others, and display it as your own.
However, today we leave these controversies behind as we discuss an original work created by Bungie Studios and the production of this new DLC's Video Documentary (Vi-Doc). As you've now seen within the video, there are various forms of art all mashed-up together within the video to insight some HYPE within the audience.
Being able to provide an intense mix of musical production, as well as video production, mixing further the process of interview style cinematography and actual gameplay allows for greater insight and immersion into the game's universe. With the center of the video being to sell and inspire purchase of the new DLC, its focus relies heavily on incorporating as many cuts, pans, and commentary it needs to visually, audio-ly, and mechanically.
Bungie does this perfectly by combining all various forms of cinematography. Flashing between interviews with designers working on the game, whilst simultaneously displaying combat and new items within the game immerses the viewer into enveloping themselves into the new content.
This opportunity combines that use of multiple forms of cinematography to create a truly magnificent product. Consider me HYPED for Season of the Driftor, and I look forward to seeing you Guardians on Tuesday.
Alright, Alright, Alright...
- The Driftor
Friday, February 22, 2019
Original Guerrilla
**A quick warning for those that normally come to this blog for weekly updates regarding news relating to Bungie and their Destiny 2 Title. This post is a required project that I completed for my Writing for Digital Media class.**
Here lies the beginning of a tale I've rarely told. For my Guerrilla Lit original work, I was inspired by the narrative piece of Kate Prosachik, Talisman. Her narrative was formed through the use of an online resource known as Quizlet. A popular site used as a study tool for the masses. There you can create sets of flashcards and focus on studying for anything you may desire. However, as an original work, she chose to tell a story through words that impacted her.
Today, I post with an inspired piece derived from an idea I had while viewing her original work. I, myself, am currently tri-lingual. I speak English, French, and Italian. However, during the time of my visits to Italy, I could never fully speak it. I was able to follow conversations easily, but could never formulate sentences in the ways that I wanted to without sounding like a broken italian speaker. So, with that in mind, I decided to form a Quizlet set of flashcards, much like Kate, and based it around conversational pieces that held significance to my travels within the country of Italy. From spending time with family, to summiting mountains, to being on the other end of an unfortunate breakup. I decided to create a narrative piece from that entire experience. I formulated the study set as a means of understanding common conversational phrases that I heard during my time visiting, but based the definitions around the narrative backstories that surrounded those phrases for me.
It was with little difficulty that this style of Guerrilla Literature sprang out to me. Kate had done an incredible job in surrounding her vocabulary set around an emotionally moving narrative. The idea of creating a "study set" around something that may be foreign to others, was a perfect segway for my narrative creation.
This style of narrative allowed me to introduce something foreign to an audience, who most likely doesn't speak Italian frequently, and provided a story around the definitions of the phrases presented. Throughout this post you'll see links to photos I took during those trips, and a vista to the landscape I surrounded myself with.
Upon reflection with this piece, many things stood out to me. I realized that it had been a while since I had organized a narrative around my life. Personally, I am fairly an introverted individual and the idea of telling "my story" despite it being a small fraction of it was slightly jarring for me. Remembering various parts of that part of my life was slightly cathartic. It provided an insight to a rhetoric I had not really explored myself.
The platform provides a unique ability to provide a "definition" to the study material provided. However, the uniqueness stems from the author's ability to create their own definitions. In short, the author creates a definition that best suites their needs to understand a specific material. In this case, this was the medium I found most beneficial for myself to express the narrative.
Below are links to various photo albums I created during my trip expressed within the narrative.
https://tinyurl.com/y28xqgrz
https://photos.app.goo.gl/hQeRyzQCrysyr4in7
https://photos.app.goo.gl/DMmBUZz6ypmWwyK89
https://photos.app.goo.gl/oEWx6XMw6yxHpje19
https://photos.app.goo.gl/KhmBDdVoMjVMoBfr9
Here lies the beginning of a tale I've rarely told. For my Guerrilla Lit original work, I was inspired by the narrative piece of Kate Prosachik, Talisman. Her narrative was formed through the use of an online resource known as Quizlet. A popular site used as a study tool for the masses. There you can create sets of flashcards and focus on studying for anything you may desire. However, as an original work, she chose to tell a story through words that impacted her.
Today, I post with an inspired piece derived from an idea I had while viewing her original work. I, myself, am currently tri-lingual. I speak English, French, and Italian. However, during the time of my visits to Italy, I could never fully speak it. I was able to follow conversations easily, but could never formulate sentences in the ways that I wanted to without sounding like a broken italian speaker. So, with that in mind, I decided to form a Quizlet set of flashcards, much like Kate, and based it around conversational pieces that held significance to my travels within the country of Italy. From spending time with family, to summiting mountains, to being on the other end of an unfortunate breakup. I decided to create a narrative piece from that entire experience. I formulated the study set as a means of understanding common conversational phrases that I heard during my time visiting, but based the definitions around the narrative backstories that surrounded those phrases for me.
It was with little difficulty that this style of Guerrilla Literature sprang out to me. Kate had done an incredible job in surrounding her vocabulary set around an emotionally moving narrative. The idea of creating a "study set" around something that may be foreign to others, was a perfect segway for my narrative creation.
This style of narrative allowed me to introduce something foreign to an audience, who most likely doesn't speak Italian frequently, and provided a story around the definitions of the phrases presented. Throughout this post you'll see links to photos I took during those trips, and a vista to the landscape I surrounded myself with.
Upon reflection with this piece, many things stood out to me. I realized that it had been a while since I had organized a narrative around my life. Personally, I am fairly an introverted individual and the idea of telling "my story" despite it being a small fraction of it was slightly jarring for me. Remembering various parts of that part of my life was slightly cathartic. It provided an insight to a rhetoric I had not really explored myself.
The platform provides a unique ability to provide a "definition" to the study material provided. However, the uniqueness stems from the author's ability to create their own definitions. In short, the author creates a definition that best suites their needs to understand a specific material. In this case, this was the medium I found most beneficial for myself to express the narrative.
Below are links to various photo albums I created during my trip expressed within the narrative.
https://tinyurl.com/y28xqgrz
https://photos.app.goo.gl/hQeRyzQCrysyr4in7
https://photos.app.goo.gl/DMmBUZz6ypmWwyK89
https://photos.app.goo.gl/oEWx6XMw6yxHpje19
https://photos.app.goo.gl/KhmBDdVoMjVMoBfr9
Friday, February 15, 2019
Collaborations - An Importance
The saying has always been, "Two heads are always better than one"
This week, I want to take the time to showcase two individuals involved within the Destiny community, which have been recognized by both Bungie, as a corporation, as well as the individual Devs of the company.
The two spotlights will be placed on Nic and Miss ram-shakle (you can click their names to follow them on Twitter). Respectively, two highly respected members of the Destiny 2 community for their contributions on both a Digital level and a Graphical level.
The first showcase is Nic, and his amazing Destiny 2 Infographics that he made during his spare time. Every week there is a "Reset" on all the activities within the game, and they act on a rotation. Nic, was godly enough to make beautiful templates that perfectly displayed everything a player would need to know going into each weekly reset.
Already, as a community, there was mass-praise and awareness spread as both Youtubers and Twitch streamers began displaying this content and praising Nic for his incredible work!
A clever blogger named Ram-Shackle, created a digital news platform, in the form of a blog, that would help players be notified of literally anything they could think of. As always, you can follow the link to the site HERE. Here Miss Shackles takes time out of her days every week to make sure any and all players are updated with the latest Destiny 2 news. This could be interactions by the Devs, TWABS output by Bungie, and even just comments people bring up on reddit about the game. You want to know? She's got answers. It's volunteer collaborators like these that promote a positive community outreach and allow welcoming access to all players!
Thursday, February 7, 2019
Guerrilla Warfare....I mean...Art!
Good Afternoon Guardians,
This week with David, we're gonna be discussing something that has been needing some large addressing. Sadly, I had taken a week off last week, and I apologize for my lack of communication. I had some personal stuff going on, but we'll be moving forward from here on out!
Anyways, back to the topic of today's post...Guerrilla Art! Long, have I raved about the quality that comes from this blog's main topic of conversation, Bungie. More specifically, the Bungie.net platform they use to communicate to their ever expanding audience.
With their CRIMSON DAYS event, gearing up for this year's Valentines Day, there is no better time than now to give some love to the amazing ways Bungie has incorporated/advocated for Guerrilla art.
Web 2.0 has been an ongoing discussion in web-based development teams looking to find greater ways to get an active audience to interact with an online product. The perfect example would be the early PDA's back in '02-'04. Bungie makes this really simply and that's through the use of their Companion Mobile App. But that is much smaller compared to their Creations Forum.
It's no secret that I'm no creative genius. A lot of the digital art that you see on this page is actually tied to the made creations that are posted to the Bungie Community Creation Forum. Every day. Every hour. Every minute. You can find an individual posting something that means something to them, and can forever leave their mark. Although not completely anonymous, users can find ways to manipulate the submission system to create works such as this:
And if you think that was incredible, there is so much more to be seen, so definitely go check some more pieces out.
See you Guardians, Starside.
- OVBDavid
This week with David, we're gonna be discussing something that has been needing some large addressing. Sadly, I had taken a week off last week, and I apologize for my lack of communication. I had some personal stuff going on, but we'll be moving forward from here on out!
Anyways, back to the topic of today's post...Guerrilla Art! Long, have I raved about the quality that comes from this blog's main topic of conversation, Bungie. More specifically, the Bungie.net platform they use to communicate to their ever expanding audience.
With their CRIMSON DAYS event, gearing up for this year's Valentines Day, there is no better time than now to give some love to the amazing ways Bungie has incorporated/advocated for Guerrilla art.
Web 2.0 has been an ongoing discussion in web-based development teams looking to find greater ways to get an active audience to interact with an online product. The perfect example would be the early PDA's back in '02-'04. Bungie makes this really simply and that's through the use of their Companion Mobile App. But that is much smaller compared to their Creations Forum.
It's no secret that I'm no creative genius. A lot of the digital art that you see on this page is actually tied to the made creations that are posted to the Bungie Community Creation Forum. Every day. Every hour. Every minute. You can find an individual posting something that means something to them, and can forever leave their mark. Although not completely anonymous, users can find ways to manipulate the submission system to create works such as this:
And if you think that was incredible, there is so much more to be seen, so definitely go check some more pieces out.
See you Guardians, Starside.
- OVBDavid
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Location-Based Narratives
Good Day Guardians,
Unlike last week's post, this one is going to be a bit different. Specifically, with today's post I will be delving into the world of Gaming, and how the focus of this blog intertwines the concepts of Social Media, with that of a Location-Based Narrative.
However, there is quite a drought of narrative content when it comes to community managers on social media platforms, specifically ones that focus on interaction between people. The most common platform for communication, however, leads us to Twitter and Reddit.
A lot of the focus is placed towards referencing to creators themselves. When Bungie, as a company, wants to communicate to its player-base, much of the storytelling is done by referencing creators within the community. The "Location-Based" narrative begins to stem off into the various community members around the world. One's person story may be in reference to the game, but the narrator, themselves, are shaped by their own culture surrounding their beliefs toward the game. This may be influenced by their environment, and would, in turn, influence their narrative.
Each platform then allows the creator to develop their own language and tone toward a subject. Their communities absorb those narratives and begins the cycle anew.
Unlike last week's post, this one is going to be a bit different. Specifically, with today's post I will be delving into the world of Gaming, and how the focus of this blog intertwines the concepts of Social Media, with that of a Location-Based Narrative.
However, there is quite a drought of narrative content when it comes to community managers on social media platforms, specifically ones that focus on interaction between people. The most common platform for communication, however, leads us to Twitter and Reddit.
A lot of the focus is placed towards referencing to creators themselves. When Bungie, as a company, wants to communicate to its player-base, much of the storytelling is done by referencing creators within the community. The "Location-Based" narrative begins to stem off into the various community members around the world. One's person story may be in reference to the game, but the narrator, themselves, are shaped by their own culture surrounding their beliefs toward the game. This may be influenced by their environment, and would, in turn, influence their narrative.
Each platform then allows the creator to develop their own language and tone toward a subject. Their communities absorb those narratives and begins the cycle anew.
Thursday, January 17, 2019
Reset Day
Good Early Morning Guardians,
You're probably all wondering why this post is being delivered at approximately 1:30 a.m. Well, let's just say I recently woke up, and felt inspired. As you may know, it is currently early Thursday morning, which means we got our weekly update two days ago from Bungie's Twitter:
On top of this week's reset, there were a few achievements completed by some players within the community as of late. To celebrate them, I wanted to share them with you. xGladd is renown Speedrunner and a marvelous PvE (Player vs. Enemy) player within the Destiny 2 community. Part of the notorious Redeem Destiny clan, they undertook the challenge of being the first team in the world to complete the latest major expansion raid back in September of 2018. The total challenge took a total of 19 consecutive hours to complete.
**Upon further editing on my part, the clip does contain MATURE language, view at your own risk**
xGladd's ahievements don't stop there however, this past week, Bungie had a controversial release when it came to the opening of the game's newest weapon forge, Bergusia.
**A quick editorial note, I have yet to figure out how to embed Twitch Clips into this Blog, so for now I will have to leave you with a link to the completion of the clip itself. Hope you enjoy nonetheless!**
Overall, the opening of said forge took over 30 HOURS to complete. A non-raid activity took over 30 HOURS. This wasn't even a three-man job. This community challenge undertook over thousands of people pouring into Gladd's stream to view and support him, as well as the countless members of the r/raidsecrets community and Discord. In total, the total team collaboration was able to complete the opening of the forge, and provide the world's first in receiving the newest exotic Ghost and Hubris of Niobe emblem.
Upon great collaboration across various social medias (Twitch, reddit, Twitter...) Gladd was able to complete this accomplishment as well as relish in yet another World's First completion within the game, this makes it a total of well over 10 WF achievements within the game.
As always, may RNG be in your favor in farming this week.
See you all next time.
-OVBDavid
You're probably all wondering why this post is being delivered at approximately 1:30 a.m. Well, let's just say I recently woke up, and felt inspired. As you may know, it is currently early Thursday morning, which means we got our weekly update two days ago from Bungie's Twitter:
On top of this week's reset, there were a few achievements completed by some players within the community as of late. To celebrate them, I wanted to share them with you. xGladd is renown Speedrunner and a marvelous PvE (Player vs. Enemy) player within the Destiny 2 community. Part of the notorious Redeem Destiny clan, they undertook the challenge of being the first team in the world to complete the latest major expansion raid back in September of 2018. The total challenge took a total of 19 consecutive hours to complete.
**Upon further editing on my part, the clip does contain MATURE language, view at your own risk**
xGladd's ahievements don't stop there however, this past week, Bungie had a controversial release when it came to the opening of the game's newest weapon forge, Bergusia.
**A quick editorial note, I have yet to figure out how to embed Twitch Clips into this Blog, so for now I will have to leave you with a link to the completion of the clip itself. Hope you enjoy nonetheless!**
Overall, the opening of said forge took over 30 HOURS to complete. A non-raid activity took over 30 HOURS. This wasn't even a three-man job. This community challenge undertook over thousands of people pouring into Gladd's stream to view and support him, as well as the countless members of the r/raidsecrets community and Discord. In total, the total team collaboration was able to complete the opening of the forge, and provide the world's first in receiving the newest exotic Ghost and Hubris of Niobe emblem.
Upon great collaboration across various social medias (Twitch, reddit, Twitter...) Gladd was able to complete this accomplishment as well as relish in yet another World's First completion within the game, this makes it a total of well over 10 WF achievements within the game.
As always, may RNG be in your favor in farming this week.
See you all next time.
-OVBDavid
Friday, January 11, 2019
A New Guardian Enters the Tower!!
A new year brings new light, which brings new Guardians. Hello, welcome to my home, The Last City, where today I will be introducing myself.
My name is David, and currently I'm a university student studying at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. The reasoning for the creation of this blog, yes, is for a class, however I do not wish to treat it as the typical every-day assignment. I plan on incorporating my thoughts and feelings into discussions that will be updated regularly upon this site. Hopefully, I plan to discuss the futures of new tech/gadgets, but I will mainly be keeping my focus towards Bungie and the respective development cycles for their game and their community as a whole. Specifically I will be using platforms such as: Twitch, Youtube, and Twitter as sources of my information, but I will also be researching various topics if need be!
I started University with a passion for computers. Completely tearing down old ones. Refurbishing them, and making them run smoothly. A mechanic for a car lets say, but for computers. However, I ran into some trouble at school as I started my career as as student in Computer Science...I hated coding. For hours on end, I would struggle with "simple" assignments that could take some of my classmates the last 15 minutes of class to finish.
Needless to say, there were some ups and downs, and ultimately the decision came to be that I knew my passion was with computers, but it wasn't necessarily within the language of computers. More importantly I discovered new passions and hobbies. As an escape from my struggling reality I would come to play a game called Destiny 2, from the developer Bungie. Here is where I found another love in my life. A truly masterfully produced game, Destiny 2 continues to bring me hours of entertainment a week and place where my friends and I can play online with one another.
I later began to do research into the company and decided I would make it my goal to one day work for them. Whether it be in QA with bug testing in early dev builds. Or working alongside community managers to be able to relay information to a broad audience that loved the game.
It is from here I decided to follow my dreams, and to focus on school with a major in Multimedia and Digital Culture. I wanted to educate myself and learn about what it means to have an online presence and to be able to interact and effectively communicate with those I meet online. Whether it be behind the scenes at a workplace, or up front on the face of a weekly blog, I aim to make my dream a reality.
I look forward to updating you all more, and I hope you look towards growing with me and my plans on dominating the online blogging community!
See you starside.
- OVBDavid
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