Journey Podcast Reflection

https://eng101f20.davidmorgen.org/podcast/journey/

My Co-Producer Brady Dolan, says he didn’t do all that much, but I feel that he kind of carried hard on this podcast. He had such a great way of explaining the Journey game to me, so I wouldn’t feel left. Of course, I watched a let’s play, but it’s never quite the same as experiencing it for yourself. It was nice to have more insight before completing this final podcast. Having already completed the Portal podcast beforehand, this allowed me to breeze through the process as I had experience producing and editing the audio files and completing the transcript. I was proud of our group because we struggled the first time. Now, I can say that if needed in the future a podcast will be no big deal. 

The primary goal of this episode was to produce something that allowed the audience to experience a game like Journey without having to play it through because if you don’t have the right frame of mind, most will get bored. We wanted to emphasize the process of walking by yourself throughout the barren wasteland and make spiritual references to. The game indirectly showed players how to find a spiritual sense of peace through a desert of nothing. Much like today we are all getting through this pandemic, but without a sense of trying to become more emotionally or spiritually stable then it will be difficult. This game gives some of the tools necessary to find inner peace even though most will blow this off and focus on the colors presented, the absence of sound is more important which is what we emphasized the most in portraying the spiritual journey.

Portal Podcast Reflection

https://eng101f20.davidmorgen.org/podcast/the-cake-is-a-lie/

This was my first time ever as a Co-producer on a podcast ever. Before this assignment, I didn’t even listen to podcasts, let alone make any. I had my eyes set on doing the Portal Series because it is such a classic Valve produced game. I thought that hundreds of thousands that have played through without knowing what the game did for them. In this episode, myself and Brady delved into the strong female movement that was started by the Portal series. We as players go through the game trying not to die, but in this episode Brady and myself talk about the benefits a player gains without them knowing. These are specifically the life and death situations that you are put in constantly. We wanted to emphasize the quick decision making skills that can be learned without having the player realise he or she is learning. This we found was an optimal way for people to gain knowledge because it does not feel forced upon, even though it is blatantly there with a closer glance at the game’s design. Most people in the world do not care that they are learning in this style, but now I think it could be an effective way to teach to people in this world that are more stubborn. I understand this thought is borderline “re-education camp”, but I was thinking more so for students who feel that the traditional classroom is not an effective tool for them. These new thoughts about the class only emerged during this reflection, what a shame. Overall the process for writing the script was enriching for me to learn a new skill, as I tend to shy away from these larger writing assignments if given the option. I had fun, but worked hard on something I am actually proud of besides the fact that I hate listening to my own voice.