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[mahashami]

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - A truly deserving Game of the Year.

Recently, FromSoftware’s latest gaming extravaganza was awarded with that rarest of mantles all video game titles dream of: Game of the Year. For the briefest and most frightening of moments, I believed (as I am sure game fans out there did) that the glittering GOTY Award would be handed to Kojima’s caravan of monotony: Death Stranding. Especially considering that Stranding was nominated for the most awards of any game this year (A travesty, I know). Thankfully, the moment of trepidation passed quickly, and I for one was surprised that the Game Awards were actually brave enough to give Sekiro Game of the Year, despite the backlash it received for its game journalist-crushing difficulty. And yet, I find myself eternally grateful for the recognition Sekiro has (rightfully) received. So now, allow us to delve into why FromSoftware’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a truly deserving Game of the Year.

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[mahashami]

Star Wars Short Fiction - Week VII - The Force Awakens

Ben Solo warred within Kylo Ren as he stared into the eyes of the man before him.

Han Solo, war hero, smuggler, legendary captain of the Millennium Falcon.

Father.

“I am being torn apart,” Ben said, heart pounding. “I want to be free of this pain… I know what I have to do but I don’t know if I have the strength to do it.” He hesitated. “Will you help me?” It came as a plead.

Han Solo took a step forward. Close enough for an embrace. “Yes, anything,” he said.

The helmet of Kylo Ren hit the metal surface of the bridge beneath them with a clang as Ben let go. He reached down to his belt, unlatched the unique cross-guard saber hilt. Hands trembling, Ben held out the hilt to Han Solo.

Han Solo studied the hilt for a moment, then tentatively wrapped his hand around it, as if to take it.

Silence filled the vast expanse of the interior of Starkiller Base’s thermal oscillator, thick between Ben Solo and his father as they both held tight to the lightsaber’s hilt.

In the grey, snow-filled skies beyond, the Starkiller superweapon finally drained the last of the light from the neighbouring star, darkness flooding the chamber completely.

In that jet-black silence, pain gave way to hatred within Ben Solo.

And Kylo Ren ignited the lightsaber, impaling Han Solo through the chest.

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[mahashami]

Star Wars Short Fiction - Week VIII - The Last Jedi

Luke Skywalker was dead.

Snoke was dead.

The past was dead.

He’d killed it.

Kylo Ren closed his shaking fist as the pair of chained, golden dice in his fingers vanished with a flicker of faint blue light. His father’s dice.

Something within him faltered. He should have felt exhilarated, euphoric… complete. He’d done it. He’d killed Snoke, all but destroyed the Resistance. He’d killed the past. Luke Skywalker was dead. He felt it. Projecting himself across the Galaxy through the Force had finally killed the Jedi Master.

And yet, for all his anger and rage and hatred, Kylo Ren still felt broken.

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[mahashami]

Star Wars Short Fiction - Week V - The Empire Strikes Back

A stream of light slashed across the black of space as the Millennium Falcon activated its hyperdrive and vanished into light-speed above the planet Bespin.

Standing on the windowed bridge of his Super Star Destroyer, Darth Vader watched from within the visor of his black mask as the small, YT model Corellian freighter, little more than a speck of speeding dust before the colossus of the Executor, evaded the howling TIE Fighters and made the jump to hyperspace.

Vader glared once more at the void beyond the ship, then turned away, striding from the bridge. He gave Admiral Piett a passing glance and nothing more, that alone being enough to drain the blood from the man’s face. Piett was right to fear Vader: there would indeed be retribution for his failure, but not yet. A pair of stormtroopers bowed as he exited the bridge, stepping aside to let him pass.

The Emperor would be awaiting his report, and Vader would be forced to deliver to his Master the news that Skywalker had escaped once again.

Skywalker. Luke Skywalker. Son of Anakin.

My son.

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[mahashami]

Star Wars Short Fiction - Week VI - Return of the Jedi

Sidious remembered killing his Master.

The Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Plagueis – Plagueis the Wise, as he preferred to be called – had been a cunning Master. And wise he had been. Prone to cryptic foretellings and premonitions, Plagueis had strung his teaching of Sidious with ruminations on the nature of the Force, the Jedi, the Sith, and how they would eventually rise to dominance again, taking their rightful place as the masters of the Galaxy.

“You will be a tool of this resurgence, my Apprentice,” Plagueis had drawled. “From the darkness we shall emerge, and into our hands shall be delivered a new Sith Empire. One of peace, prosperity, and absolution.”

“Yes, my Master,” Sidious had replied, as always.

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[mahashami]

Star Wars Short Fiction - Week V - The Empire Strikes Back

A stream of light slashed across the black of space as the Millennium Falcon activated its hyperdrive and vanished into light-speed above the planet Bespin.

Standing on the windowed bridge of his Super Star Destroyer, Darth Vader watched from within the visor of his black mask as the small, YT model Corellian freighter, little more than a speck of speeding dust before the colossus of the Executor, evaded the howling TIE Fighters and made the jump to hyperspace.

Vader glared once more at the void beyond the ship, then turned away, striding from the bridge. He gave Admiral Piett a passing glance and nothing more, that alone being enough to drain the blood from the man’s face. Piett was right to fear Vader: there would indeed be retribution for his failure, but not yet. A pair of stormtroopers bowed as he exited the bridge, stepping aside to let him pass.

The Emperor would be awaiting his report, and Vader would be forced to deliver to his Master the news that Skywalker had escaped once again.

Skywalker. Luke Skywalker. Son of Anakin.

My son.

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[mahashami]

Star Wars Short Fiction - Week IV - A New Hope

“…We will then crush the Rebellion with one swift stroke.”

The Imperial officers gathered at the table nodded their agreement, murmuring declarations of concurrence. Even the arrogant Admiral Motti, seated to Tarkin’s right and still recovering from Vader’s choking display of power, dipped his head towards the Grand Moff.

Tarkin stood, eyeing the officers. “You may leave us,” he said, sweeping his hand towards the seated men. “I would speak with Lord Vader alone.”

The officers rose from their seats, each giving Tarkin respectful half-bows before filing from the room, several of them shuffling nervously beneath Vader’s black, eyeless gaze. Once he and Vader were alone, Tarkin waved to the Death Star Troopers flanking the entrance to the conference room, who sealed closed the doors.

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[mahashami]

Star Wars Short Fiction - Week III - Revenge of the Sith

Fear.

Anger.

Hate.

SUFFERING.

Anakin writhed in it. He screamed as the surgical blades and needles pierced his charred flesh, slashing deep into his nerves. He thrashed on the table, the stumps of his legs and left arm thumping against the reflective surface.

The glowing, unsympathetic eyes of surgery droids clustered him, metallic features merciless as they drilled into his body, changing him, preparing him.

Padme… where’s Padme?

The image of her face was seared into his mind. Her eyes, her beautiful eyes, wide and full of terror. They pleaded. Pleaded as the pressure increased on her throat, Anakin choking her, squeezing the life from her with the raw power of the Force.

She betrayed ME!

“Anakin…!” she choked, hands at her neck.

Then Obi-Wan. “Let her go, Anakin!”

Obi-Wan. The source of all his pain, all his suffering. The man who turned Padme against him, the man who wouldn’t let him save him her.

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[mahashami]

Star Wars Short Fiction - Week II - Attack of the Clones

“I will never join you, Dooku,” Kenobi said.

Dooku raised his eyebrows, studying the young Jedi Master. To his credit, Obi-Wan Kenobi had a fierce will and a stubbornness to him that rivalled Qui Gon’s. Dooku admired that, and it was easy to see why Qui Gon had taken the young Kenobi as his apprentice. There was a discipline to this man, a resilience. Despite their differences, Dooku found himself liking Kenobi.

Such a pity, Dooku thought, that he has chosen the wrong side.

Qui Gon would never have been so foolish.

Dooku sighed, turning away from the imprisoned Jedi. At the door, he turned, meeting Kenobi’s stoic gaze as the young Jedi slowly rotated in the suspension field. Kenobi glared at him.

So like Qui Gon.

“It may be difficult to secure your release,” Dooku said.

Kenobi’s gaze remained unwavering.

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[mahashami]

Star Wars Short Fiction

Hello there.

To those reading this, I’m a big Star Wars fan, and since Episode IX is coming out in eight weeks, and there are already eight episodic films in the Star Wars franchise, I have set myself a little challenge in the lead up to the new release in celebration of the final film in the Skywalker Saga. Starting this week, I will write and post a weekly piece of short fiction (1000-2000 words) based in the Star Wars universe exploring the minds of its characters. Each piece will be a scene set during or around each of the eight films. These may be scenes you know, or scenes I have invented. Keep in mind this is purely fan fiction and just something I wanted to do to celebrate the release of the Rise of Skywalker, combining my love of writing and Star Wars. Enjoy.

This first week will be based on Episode I - The Phantom Menace, and for this piece’s character focus, I have chosen everyone’s favourite tattooed Sith acrobat: Darth Maul.

[mahashami]

Star Wars Short Fiction - Week I - The Phantom Menace

Maul waited.

The darkness behind his eyelids was absolute, yet it did nothing to darken the fire that burned within him. It was a maelstrom, a burning, searing tempest that gave him no rest, no respite. It was a roaring, unending furnace of hate.

It had been fear, once.

That was how it had begun. Fear. He remembered the first years of his training, bowed before his master, prostrate and obeying. Fearful. He remembered his years as a child, watching with wary eyes as Mother conversed in hushed tones with the figure in black, a man hooded and swathed in shadow. Power they had spoken of. Dark power. And wisdom, from an age and a people long vanished, long diminished. Maul remembered the fear.

He feared no longer. He had banished it, as he had banished the memories of his time before his training, before his master. Those times didn’t matter. They were irrelevant. Still, some memories seeped back, resilient, crawling their way into darkness at edge of his mind. Yet they did not quench the blaze, they only fuelled it.

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[mahashami]

Skills Sets: Having a Chat with a Painting – National Gallery

Brief

The best way to learn from great painters is to have a conversation with them. The best way to do this is to sit with their paintings and draw them. By this I mean intensively look and record your observations on paper, mark down what you see, unveil and feel with your hand eye, nervous system and imagination. You shall spend the day at the National Gallery using drawing to peel back the surfaces of paintings as you might peel back the layers of an onion to see and understand deeper levels, rhythms, tonal relationships, interlocking abstract shapes, the “music” of the image. You might recognise this from your experiences in sessions last term. The more you draw the more you peel back and the more you see and understand. To quote the painter Patrick Heron – to see the “abstract music of interacting colour (and) form’’.

By the end of the session you will have:

A Series of images in response to the National Gallery

An understanding of how the paintings work

A understanding of the worth of ”copying”

Increased confidence in drawing

An insight in how you might directly use some of the ideas you see in your own work

What I took away from this 

I fell really sick on this day actually so I only stayed for half the day. When I was there in the morning I found it interesting as I was drawing and understanding the whole context of the image and the composition of the drawing of a whole. I found it really useful because I was really studying the drawings in the Sainsbury’s wing of the national gallery and they were the types of paintings that I hadn't ever properly looked at (I realise that after the morning session). I am hoping to go back a few more times to continue with developing the idea of understanding composition to influence my own but also to complete the second half of the days activities.

[mahashami]

Skills Sets: Intro to UNITY - A Gallery in a Games Engine

The Brief:

A one day workshop introduction to Unity. You shall explore Unity by creating a virtual gallery space to show off your drawings, your own personal digital Tate!

In groups of 2 (with maybe an odd group of 3) you shall:

Explore the Unity interface to understand layout and definitions that help you navigate the space

Create an environment with basic elements

Take a look at lighting and colour

Import files (images) to place in the space

Learn how to move around the space as you would in a first-person game

Save and Export for later editing if required

Don’t be concerned with either the seeming complexity of the software (as it is only an intro) nor the fact you are in small groups, with introductions to software such as this 2 brains can be better than one.

About Unity:

You will now look at Unity. Unity is primarily known as a game engine. It allows for building and design of 2D and 3D game experiences or worlds, with which you can define parameters or rules that allow you to interact with the objects in the world in various ways (or more simply make a game). It can also link to creating content for VR experiences in hardware such as Oculus Rift. With the merging of design, animation, film language, games design and future tech such as VR; Unity is a great point at which many of these ideas converge.

My Opinion

I had no idea that a game engine could do so many things. This game engine, can be used to make animation, and could be used to film a scene (because there is a virtual camera) and it can it be also used to create a virtual world and can be used to make explore through a world that I have designed. Also you can Make mazes and stuff. I found this workshop really useful and I really would love to do this again. to continue to learn about unity. 

My game

I will upload a video of this game on here it is possible to do so.

[mahashami]

Lip Sync

The Brief:

In Pairs, create a sequence of animation (about 30 seconds long) that explores the use of lip-synchronisation in animation based on interviews from the Museum of Croydon.

Your characters don’t necessarily have to be human (or any other mammal/animal for that matter) – in principle they just need to have "facial features" and "mouths" (preferably lips, teeth and tongues - but not necessarily). Hands and/or limbs are also very helpful to strengthen dramatic effects by emphasising gestures and should be seriously considered.

Your timings are taken from your breakdown of the original soundtrack.

References 

[mahashami]

Skills Sets: Finding Your Natural Scale

The Brief 

•Warm up drawings

•Instigate a continuous expanding image ‘’that grows’’ through the session

•Breaking away from traditional perspective

•Building images over time

•Adjusting images as new possibilities present themselves

•Discovery of warped space through the process of looking and        responding

•to use mistakes, movement of people and changing of light (as sun moves across the day) to find and develop new ways of observational image making

What I learnt in this class:

I adored this class. I found it so interesting to see everyones work and the way that there are so many different ways of seeing and interpreting the world around us. Mainly, I learnt the fact that there is no one way to correctly make art. There is no ‘correct’ perspective and actually you can create depth in lots of different ways that are personal to each and every person that attempts it. 

What I want to take forward:

From the class I want to take away this idea of trying to encompass everything that exists into a room, but also persisting with a composition and pushing myself without the fear that anything is going to go wrong. I have also come away with the understanding that no drawing is ever ‘wrong’ and that each individual drawing has its own version of perspective that can never be wrong or right. 

[mahashami]

Speaking in Tongues

Our Word:

Our Word: TARSUST

tarsust (noun)

pronounciation: ‘tah- suh-st’

Definition: the dusty sediment that falls from burnt toast

In use: ‘I only changed my sheets yesterday and I’ve got Tarsust in them already!’

Friday Tutorial 30th November

During this tutorial we discussed the nature of our word ‘Tarsust’ which means the noun of the crumby parts that come off of burnt toast. The sound of the word or even the physical sound of scraping burnt bits off toast could be even more informative than the visual. I realized at this point that we could even try to incorporate the smell of the burnt toast. The smell of the burnt toast is so distinctive that I feel that people would understand what we were trying to communicate almost immediately with those two elements. We discussed maybe using the idea of burnt bits on a speaker to see how they move and how they jump. We feel that it would be a really strong idea because it shows the nature of the noun ‘Tarsust’ really feels. It also plays with the idea that is naturally in texture is very bitty and almost sandy. Made of small particles. We felt that the bouncing sound would be really clever because it shows this. We also made a couple of storyboards communicating our more basic and simple storyboards.

Tuesday 4th December

I was really unwell today but my group made a box folder with lots of tests that we made today. My group updated me and said that they went through some of the videos and tests we made and said we need to just refine them and make them nice and concise. We need to think about how to communicate each element of our work carefully and try to not make the word too obvious to guess.

Our Idea Progress & development 

We want to use toast to some how communicate our idea of tarsust. We wanted to physically burn the toast to either use the tarsust dust themselves or use the toast or both to communicate. We are also planning on burning toast physically in the room on the day of the crit so people are having to use all of their senses. 

Context and Referencing

Bruno Munari

Bruno Munari was an Italian artist, designer, and inventor who contributed fundamentals to many fields of visual arts (painting, sculpture, film, industrial design, graphic design) in modernism, futurism, and concrete art, and in non visual arts (literature, poetry) with his research on games, didactic method, movement, tactile learning, kinesthetic learning, and creativity. The post-World-War II period is marked as height of Munari’s creativity as he experimented with several art forms employing ingenious ideas. His early experiments altered the stereotypical graphic designing and typography.  Later he developed book-objects, transforming children’s books into attractive learning instruments. His books feature textured, tactile surfaces and cut-outs to make it easier for children to learn about tactile sense and color via kinesthetic learning.

In his book Alla faccia, Bruno Munari creates countless faces through different types of 'signs’. Each is different, yet they are all recognisable, demonstrating how a single concept can be infinitely expressed. I find the way that Bruno Munari thinks of wording and language as more than just a last minute thought is very interesting as he really considers texts and communication ideas. For example, underneath I have picked an example where It is almost like a puzzle to be able to understand what all the faces mean . Each and every face is expressive and communicates in a way that is clear and concise.

Something else that Bruno Munari is Speak Italian: The Fine Art of the Gesture (UK; public library) — a charming, quirky, minimalist guide to Italians’ expressive nonverbal communication originally published in 1958 as a supplement to the Italian dictionary, inspired by The Ancients’ Mimic Through the Neapolitan Gestures, the first collection of gestures made by Canon Andrea de Jorio in 1832. Unlike the hefty and sparsely illustrated 380-page original tome, however, Munari’s pocket-sized version features frugally descriptive text and ample, elegant black-and-white photographs of hand-gestures for everything from mundane activities like reading and writing to emotive expressions of praise and criticism. He said ‘We have collected a good many gestures, leaving aside vulgar ones, in order to give an idea of their meaning to foreigners visiting Italy and as a supplement to an Italian dictionary.’

This is such a gorgeous idea and concept because it’s personal to italian hand gestures and considers communication in a way that a lot of people do naturally when they speak but without even realising it. It is very relatable to me as I know I use hand gestures a lot

Pdf for project:

Crit Friday 7th Decemeber 

During todays crit, we presented our video and our pdf. In the pdf we showed our research and development and how we chose how we wanted to communicate our word paired with how we wanted to communicate the definition of our word. Some of the notable feedback was: 

Some things were highlighted during the crit. For example, whether it was necessary to have all of the different elements to our piece. For example, we wanted to burn the toast in the room to create the smell as well as the sound and imagery we paired it with in the video. The reason we wanted to have the smell of burning toast was to add an almost second tier impact. This would have been effective as we felt that it would give the suggestion of the noun we were trying to communicate even before the video. In this way I would stand by the decision of having smells and textures as a part of our presentation. We also got the feedback to perhaps incorporate a tune that creates more of a narrative, if we decide to take the definition down a slightly different route. 

What would you do with more time?

I think if we had more time we would try to expand our concept. Not in the sense that we don’t have enough tests for our word but rather there are elements of tarsust as a feeling and as a texture that are slightly unexplored within our project. We also feel as a group that our team would like to look into the development of a book. This would be to be able to show the really annoying places that tarsust gets, as is more about the narrative and relatable side of tarsust as compared to just the noun. 

[mahashami]

Language Workshop (Part 3) - Tuesday 27th November

This workshop was called umm..errr...ahh and was about how to convert words into my visual representations or depictions. It was a very interesting workshop that I really enjoyed as I found that it made me realise that there are simple ways to avoid having an art block even if it is just to act out a word. I made notes about how we converted each word we’ve been given for example over excited was seen as the colour yellow and the sound effect was eeeee. I shall attach images below of some examples of ways we communicated these words such as  overexcited, disappointed, moving from left to right etc.. I will also show some photos of examples we were given to refer to  before the brief.

Friday Tutorial 30th November 

During this tutorial we discussed the nature of our word ‘Tarsust’ which means the noun of the crumby parts that come off of burnt toast. The sound of the word or even the physical sound of scraping burnt bits off toast could be even more informative than the visual. I realized at this point that we could even try to incorporate the smell of the burnt toast. The smell of the burnt toast is so distinctive that I feel that people would understand what we were trying to communicate almost immediately with those two elements. We discussed maybe using the idea of burnt bits on a speaker to see how they move and how they jump. We feel that it would be a really strong idea because it shows the nature of the noun ‘Tarsust’ really feels. It also plays with the idea that is naturally in texture is very bitty and almost sandy. Made of small particles. We felt that the bouncing sound would be really clever because it shows this. We also made a couple of storyboards communicating our more basic and simple storyboards.