https://jasonjsnell.notion.site/Mood-Board-00156a452f5c4f4cbd405e7a30df3c0a

I missed the official first group session last week, so will be making up for another one next week.

This group session was really helpful to me, a lot of useful feedback from Ai, Chelsea, Jheanell, and Beth.

I discussed my crisis in finding a focusing point to dive in for a thesis, and started with talking about the previous project on Swastika symbol. During my presentation of the previous poll project this time around, I realized I got a little better in presenting the project, and really telling what the project is about, without intended to misdirect audiences. I have a tendency to misdirect people in reading my work in the past, it’s unclear to me why and when it became a habit, but I have to constantly reminded myself to stay sincere and honest when I present. I’d say I did a decent job this time around.

Some feedbacks I got is that they appreciate how my works invite difficult conversations into the room, topics like this can easily gone wrong, be careful of creating  “dog whistling” unintentionally. The humanity and acknowledgement of ignorant are also what’s appreciated in my previous works. As for participants, it’s also fun to learn about the different reactions based on the same project.

Another interesting point is how I describe things, the amount of self-analysis and criticism in front of the audience is almost a project idea itself. Can maybe look into that. We also got into some discussion on the confederate flag usage in the south as an example of how symbols mean very different things for different people.

Post to reply to Rothberg’s 2/14/23 email about finding inspiration.

I often jump to parallel or adjacent mediums for a new perspective. For example, I often make music. So I might go to a gallery of paintings and see a Rothko and wonder “what would this visual image sound like?” or go into nature and see droplets flying off of a waterfall and wonder “if those were notes in a song, what would the composition be like?” or in a science context, looking at DNA protein and think of “what sound would a muscle building protein make as opposed to a cerebral / brain protein?”

Switching mediums myself also helps my ideas stay fresh. If I feel burned out on making music, I can make some drawings or small paintings (doesn’t matter if I’m good at it, just draw anything like a daily practice, get ideas out, get used to a new way of expressing ideas, even if its scribbles). Also switching tools helps me. If I’m always making beats with a drum machine, what would it be like to make a beat with just synthesizer sounds instead? Or just using field recording samples?

Another key elements is restriction. It’s one of the best ways to get my mind to think more creatively. Imagine the task of “make a painting” and it may be hard to choose a subject or style. But what about “make a painting with one color” then I really start to be creative. Let’s say I choose red. Is it all the same red? Do I cheat and add a little black or white paint to get different tones of red? Do I cover the canvas all with red, or just make a red shape? Suddenly I have way more ideas than if my palette is unlimited. Same with music: make a composition, vs make a composition with one instrument, or one drum sound. It pushes me into a place where I need to be creative with my problem solving.

Another great meeting with Sarah. I feel like I had a lot of discombobulated thoughts in my head and she was able to help me straighten them out a bit. She gave me the courage to start creating a framework for iteration, then actually doing it in terms of the game that I want to make. And in that process, I could find the “thing” that I’m looking for or resonates.

She also helped verbalize this feeling I had of “is creating the art for it’s own sake, or making that feeling of connection enough?” The past week I’ve been struggling to imagine what the setting would be for my game because I wasn’t really sure if there was a deeper meaning I was explicitly trying to express alongside with thinking of innovative ways to use video games and networks within them to create an emotion.

My next steps are to think more about this framework and some more janky games, which was a struggle for me before. I also want to continue looking into Jane McGonigal’s work, check out the materials for empathy in games Sarah sent me, and schedule a time to speak with Margaret!

Fun session with Beth and co today. They suggested some games with really simple mechanics such as Universal Paperclip and this one about catip: [https://kittensgame.com/web/](https://kittensgame.com/web/)

This made me think about the simplicity of gameplay – games like QWOP and Getting Over It introduce difficulty not through multiple controls but the level of difficulty in those controls. Or just thinking where the difficulty may lie:

– is it a matter of practicing it over and over again? like getting over it?
– is it a matter of having to collaborate with others? a bit of pico park (synchronously) and death stranding (asynchronously)

Also loved listening & talking to Chelsea, Jheanell, Sehmon and Jaye about their projects – got a lot of insight into their thought process and how they’re doing right now!

Hiya!!

Hope all is well!

Just finished up with our peer group meeting with Beth, Sehmon, Ai, Jheanell, Jaye and myself. It was so much fun! We each went around and discussed our thesis ideas and it was super helpful getting feedback! It was also inspirational listening to everyone’s ideas! New inspirations are blossoming for sure! I have plenty of new things to think about but for now I am solid on my idea and cannot wait to see how everything develops!

Until next time! 🙂