Author: Will Crownover

Eliza Effect

This program reminded me of Siri on the iPhone.  The only difference really is that Siri has a hole search engine behind her that she can access and provide a possible answer to a question.  I caught on right away to the programs style of rephrasing questions and I was surprised that it could fool individuals for a significant amount of time.  I was also surprised that the creator of Eliza was not as pleased that he had fooled people into thinking it was an actual artificial intelligence.  He seemed to think that human capacity for interaction would always exceed computers, which I would agree with.  But interestingly humans are able to create technology that can “think” and computer greater than the human mind.  Could humanity and computational ability be combined to create a supper force that was capable of reason and theorizing greater than any individual human or computer.

Waiting for Godot

I was nto so impressed by the plot but there were a few moments in the dialoge that got me thinking.  To start the two characters epitomize my view of theater ignorance.  I feel there is a tendency to have two characters reacting to different situations and avoiding natural human interaction in order to create a more unusual situation.  Estragon needed help with his shoe, Vladimir would not focus on his friend.  Instead he discussed the bible and other philosophical nonsense.  This would not happen in real life but makes for an interesting interaction.  Also the rest of the play could have been condensed into about 10 lines of dialoge if it were written for modern times.  I was not a fan on this play but I attempted to understand the situation and these characters, to no avail.  The one line I liked in the whole thing was Pozzo’s talking about how there is only a set amount of tears and laughter in the world and that our population had increased.  Does this mean there are more tears and laughter in the world or more people without any serious emotional reactions to life.  I would suspect the latter.  Can someone hog either of these emotions?  That could make for an interesting story.

By William Crownover

http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/wlc/Bang.html

Enjoy.

CYOA

I tend to be a very visually oriented person and seeing breakdown of these choose your own adventure books was rather fascinating and raised good questions about their video/digital counter parts.  Some of these novels were meant to be read and find the ultimate ending, the best outcome.  Like many video games today, there is a lot of dying and sub par plots, but there is always a time when you know you made it all the way.  The question it raised for me was, If you found the “best” ending, woud you go back knowing that no conclusion you found now would beat it?  I liked the authors last example from UFO 54-40 where the true ending has no connection to the choices you make.  It is the ultimate loop hole to keep a reader interested and frustrated.  However, I came to wonder if this is even possible in a video game?  It works as a physical novel because the Ultima ending and the rest of the story exist in a universe where you can step out of it at any time and scramble the story to reveal new information.  I believe this is a unique trait to these CYOA novels.  In a video game everything the player does directly effects the character and environment.  There is no way besides hacking the program to shift the story so much as to find a hidden conclusion that the game designers intended.  If it is possible, I am having a tough time imagining what the experience of that game would be like.  There are plenty of frustrating main stream games, but none designed well enough to provoke the player to delve deeper into their own thoughts and search for an unexpected conclusion.

The two ideas I had sprang from a common thread of following the paths of molecules/atoms.  Bang is about the first atom to escape into space after the Big Bang.  Drip Drip follows a water droplet from a leaky faucet all the way through many uses of water and its power on our planet.

Bang

Emptiness, nothing and everything at once.  You decide to break the silence.  It all began…with you.

Bang

BANG – Accelerating as fast as possible, the brink of light, time stops around you as your journey begins.

Alone                                    Collision Course

ALONE – The edge, surrounding particles speed farther and farther away.  You can see it now all set in motion.  You won’t be part of it.  Their brilliant light fades to a dim and then darkness.  Can you find something new…you wont see any of them again.

COLLISION COURSE – Fusion, together with a counter part.  Mass times two and growing exponentially.  Transforming from gas to solid.  Growing to a new energy state.

Internal                        External

The idea I am exploring here is the possible journey of the very first atom out of the big bang.  Does your atom fly into nothingness or can you grow into a devouring black hole, resetting the events that you began.  There is always the option to stay small.  Maybe initiate life on a new planet or spend your eons radiating as a giant red dwarf.  Choose your path.  Combine with your surroundings.  Slow down or keep your energy up.

 

Drip Drip

The sink is leaking again.  Drip drip.  Where do you fall?

Down the Drain                        Onto the Floor

DOWN THE DRAIN – Thru the pipe works and out the house.  You are swept away into the filthy sewer system churning.  The stream diverts.

I smell salt                        I smell chlorine

ONTO THE FLOOR – You splash there resting for hours.  Slowly you loose weight and eventually drift upwards and out the window.  The suns warm rays pulling you higher.

Into the Stratosphere                        Caught in the breeze

The life of a water molecule.  Think about it, water does not have one life, it is versatile.  Liquid form, gassy clouds, frozen polar caps.  Or it can be filthy, fresh or salty.  Water can be destructive, corrosive and erosive.  While also nourishing and beneficial.  Water is a powerful element that could potentially have many narrative elements if applied to a game structure.

Hi everyone,

My name is Will.  I am a senior Self-Defined major in Digital Production.  My major covers many areas from film, graphic design, photography, industrial design with digital fabrication methods, 3D modeling, animation, rendering, programming, and architectural works.  My original major was Architecture.  My job at the moment is working as a monitor in the Architectural Digital Fabrication Lab.

Some Skills

• Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premier Pro, After Effects
• Processing Code
• 3D modeling, Rhino 4.0, learning Maya
• Vray Rendering, learning Mental Ray
• dFab Equipment, Laser Cutter, CNC Mill, Vaccuform, 7-Axis Robot

Yeah, and I love to learn new skills.  So if you can teach, I can listen!