Unit 05 Contextual Influences in Art and Design

Surrealism

Games Designed In a Surreal Form

Monument Valley

Monument Valley is quite a surreal sort of game. You have to make your way around while the map changes accordingly to where stairs or twists you will arrive at.

Super Mario Bros.

Super Mario is a surreal type game because of what is within it, them gomba's and baby Bowser's are fantasy like and create a lot of a surrealism to the game with a guy being Mario attempting to save a princess.

Final Fantasy

Surreal is basically in the name of Final Fantasy, with the word Fantasy. Surreal is based around entering the dream world possible corrupting them. The dream can be a fantasy. The creatures within this game are surreal in so many ways, they are abnormal and reach into the darkness of a dream world, Just like the explanation of surreal.
I feel this is surreal because of the enemies you encounter and their appearances. Their appearances are totally abnormal.

Dragon Age

Dragon age is a really surreal game, with the customization of your very own fantasy like character. You are able to be multiple classes and races of a fantasy world. Elves, Dwarves, Quinari and the normal humans. You have to travel through a olden age full of magics, archers, swords and shields. Fighting off dark spawn (being evil monsters) You make your way through the fantasy world and to fight off a deadly dragon.

Devil May Cry

DMC being Devil May Cry is a game about a supernatural guy and his brother fighting through enemies and bosses to be able to complete the game which killer guitars and destructive pistols you destroy monsters from a fantasy like world. You gain crystals etc. to buy different weapons.

My Surreal Art

This is a picture I had taken a while ago and I thought it was very surreal looking as I was in a mask and it looked quite scary. It reminded me quite some amount of H.R Giger's style work. I decided to use acrylic paint and made it into a painting of my own.

What is Surrealism?

Surrealism is an art movement which bases itself around the unconscious mind, feasting on the unnatural. It has the desire to push against the boundaries of socially acceptable behaviors and traditions in order to discover pure thought and the artist's true nature. Emphasizing on the mysterious, marvelous, mythological and irrational in an effort to make art ambiguous and strange.

Cubism

Minimalism

3D Missile Game

This game is fairly minimal because of what the purpose of the game is like. You just have to travel through gaining speed, just slotting through different obstacles on the way. You lose lives when you die.

Limbo

Limbo is a minimal game because its just a pure black and minimal game, you make your way through a dark map style fall of small obstacles.

Snake

Snake is minimal is because its a basic snake collecting these orb like things and you grow bigger and bigger.

What is Minimalism?
Minimalism is pure basic, its to create the simplest art know to man.

Art Now

Skyrim

Skyrim uses everyday art now in the character creation, in this day in age we have so many art styles that this game is also stuck within the surreal section since its got monsters, ghouls, dragons and old styled.

Dragon Age

Dragon age is also a everyday game because of the technology, the character development and monster development it contains a lot of concept art creation. 

Last of Us

Last Of Us is also a everyday game because of the technology, the character development and zombie development it contains a lot of concept art creation and to create the scenes uses everyday art now.  

Fluxus

Guitar Hero

This game is influenced by Fluxus because it uses human interactive of a real life movement style of playing guitar or drums. It has the use of music and art of the game to make the game as interactive as it is.

Just Dance

This game uses the art of dance to create this game. The game uses music and movement to be able to play and that is how this game is influenced by this art style.

Cytus

Cytus is a music active game in which you must tap buttons to go along with the music the more you get correct the better the score will be. This game is influenced because it uses music and interaction to win the game 

Fluxus is art that uses the movement of art  to create its art.

Suprematism

Tetris

This game is influenced by this art style because of its shapes, it consists of different geometric shapes and that is what this art style is about.

Geometry Wars

This game too contains geometric shapes, its even within the name 'Geometry' and so this gives off alot of evidence that it truly is based around this style.

Impossible Game

This game is influenced by this art style because of its shapes, it consists of two geometric shapes and that is what this art style is about. It contains squares and triangles.

Analysing Images

This is a painting and it fills the entire page using the same image just altering the colour. Its a realistic piece of a real life model which is generally natural but with the colours it consists looks unnatural. I am led to believe that it is in fact finished. I believe an artist called Andy Warhol created this piece. In my opinion I like the piece, I really like the pop art style and its use of colours. In my previous years in art at school. I in fact used him as an inspiration and made my world so much better.

Prezi

http://prezi.com/4litlvw2wzwu/present/?auth_key=pj0p405&follow=0kdkyo4hkgmx&kw=present-4litlvw2wzwu&rc=ref-122347369

Essay

How has art influenced video games?

Art today has changed so much since the beginning of its time, having a numerous amount of art movements has developed into what games have become today. Gaming not only has one sort of art style but multiple, many games contain different art movements, from Surrealism to Minimalist. It makes you wonder how you can get a game into a minimalistic form. Art has developed alongside society since the time it came out giving so much inspiration and influence in everyday life, so what stops it from influencing gaming. There has be a debate on whether art has an influence on video games but also is video games a new art movement itself.  It has lasted for around 50 years and will surely be carried on for some more.

A game being like Mario which was made in the 1980’s which being the oldest game I have played myself. Mario take a surreal form of art movement that has been included in this game, it takes on board the surrealistic form of art movement. Surrealism is probably one of the biggest influences with in the game industry, yet we seize to notice it since it’s pretty much normal in everyday life. You see that monster you just flattened, he was made up, fantasy like just like the meaning of surrealism. Surrealism takes on the dream like world and taking the out of the normal and put it into a realistic form.

‘’You can eat a flower that lets you spit fire, Walking Mushrooms, There’s a guy that throws armadillo type thingies, there are turtles that throw hammers at you and they are called the hammer brothers. Sometimes you can ride a dinosaur that poops eggs.’’ - PBS Idea Channel (Youtube Name) 2012, Super Mario Brothers Is The World’s Greatest Piece of Surrealism Art (Accessed: March 2^nd 2015)

Imagine explaining that to someone who had never played Mario, it would seem like the work of a madman. But it is not, it’s the work of surrealism. The game has a major influenced by surrealism from all of the above, in which you would never catch that in the normal real world. But since we’re so fond of everything being surreal including games, movies etc. We never seem to notice how everything is influenced by art including games.

After being told that in paragraph 3, you wouldn’t be wrong to call that a surrealistic piece. If you were what were you to call it. There is absolutely no other way you can begin to call it anything else, surrealism is its influence and will always be that, no one can explain such a game without sounding like a crazy fool and that is what the art movement surrealism does.

‘’Ultimately, whether or not interactive entertainment can be a legitimate art form is up to its practitioners’’ – Clarke A & Mitchell G, Videogames and Art (Page. 37)

I believe this statement is true, it is up to the player/viewer to notice whether it can possibly be an art form built from other forms of art. In my eyes art is to create emotion between the painting, sculpture and any other form of art and connect with the art piece getting lost within it. I see games being able to do that it has the forms of art to be able to create emotion between the player and the character. During a death scene of a character that has been throughout the story because of the emotional attachment between the character and person, you connect with the character in which being only a generated image which has been through a lot of development in character design etc.

Throughout the gaming industry it takes time to be able to create the character, scenes, props, everything to do with a game to become one entire final piece of art. An interactive piece of art being influenced by the styles of art movements. The developments before the game is made has major influences from the art movements. Whereas Call of Duty has been influenced by the realism form of war it still contains that concept of that movement it found itself upon. Whereas Gears of War used surrealism but also a part of realism to create a war game between unlikely creatures you’ll ever see in reality into a game (being the surreal part) but also using Marines, guns, war weaponry which you would see in reality being the realistic part. The great thing about games is that you are able to combine art movements into one movement itself, Games.

 ‘’The influence of video games is not negligible. Nor is its eventual acknowledgment as an art form. On completely practical terms, critics cannot rate video games as an art form based on what was art in the past. Art is changing with the science and technology that is only now emerging. And in that fashion, man is influencing art, and art must evolve as our knowledge grows.’’ – Arathorn A, (2011) Art: The Undeniable Influence of Video Games on Society www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=9076242 (Accessed: 24^th April 2015)

This quote is 100% correct, everything is updating which includes art. Not only life and technology, art will always prevail throughout life, whether passing on the next generation of games into an art form. Games may have begun being influenced by art but influenced enough to become art its self. Art has not only influenced gaming but I believe it has built a new movement in the art industry, moving on with the development of technology.

Not only has games been influenced by art as a drawing style but also art in a music style. Some games such as guitar hero is mainly focused on playing an interactive game that requires you to match the notes of a note which would be used in real life guitar playing or drum or so. Even from coming from a fake guitar to going to a game app, with using tap from fingers such as Cytus. Cytus being influenced by music and art with its imagery and its songs.

"If you get lost, refer to the metaphor as you would check a map on a journey. But don't mistake the map for the journey. You don't drive with a map pasted to your windshield. You consult it before setting out or when you get disorientated. The joy of a journey is not reading or following a map, but exploring unknown places and wandering off the map now and then. It's only by getting creatively lost, beyond the boundaries of tradition, that new discoveries can be made." – Solarski C, The Aesthetics of Game Art and Game Design, http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/185676/the_aesthetics_of_game_art_and_.php?print=1 (Accessed: 26th April 2015)

Art has no boundaries, whether it’s a concept art or a game. Art can be known for so many things besides just a drawing or a painting. It can be a building, a car anything. So what stops a game from being influenced by art. With its surrealistic features or its minimalistic style.

In conclusion I believe art has an influence with absolutely everything we do now. The thing I am using to type this right now has had some art developments towards it. I believe without art now we won’t have a single game to play because it took art to create a single character to then develop from that character into a masterpiece to soon develop into a game which the player can soon connect with the simple character developed by an art movement.

Interactive Art

What is interactive Art?

Interactive art is an art movement which consists the interaction of a spectator to have its purpose of an interactive art style. Some arts achieve its interaction by allowing the observer to possible walk in, on or around the art and it have some sort of interaction. Where as some art pieces actually contain human life within them to become the artwork. Many interactive art pieces are done with in the computer world with the help of sensors to create art pieces by using Motion, Heat, meteorological changes or any other inputs that have been programmed to give an output.

Maurice Benayoun

Maurice is an interactive artist who created the piece 'The Tunnel Under The Atlantic'. The piece enable to allow people of vas amounts to meet from both sides. It made people think of a linear crossing of our planet and to get the image of as if it was dug under the ground. I found this piece quite interesting because it does meet the interactiveness of the human person.  

The piece is quite simple, in terms that it doesn't require a hell of a lot to do this, I believe they used a projector of which uses  the movement of a person to activate its interactiveness.

Scott Snibbe

Scott Snibbe is an American interactive artist who had created the piece ''Boundary Functions'' in 1999 which was used in Tokyo. 

This piece is supposed to represent personal space. It functions by the interaction of the human bodies movement which sets a line between 1 person and another. This art requires 2 or more people for it to actually work as a solo person has all the space and basically making it inactive. When 2 or move people are moving on this the piece begins to divide more and more as the more people begin to stand on the piece. I find this piece pretty cool because of its personal space interaction, it gives people the free movement and shows you that as well.

Mechanical Flipbook

A mechanical flipbook was inspired by a mid twentieth century mechanised signs that were operating and would do the same motion as this.
The mechanical flip book uses peoples interaction and flips the book for you rather than using your hand and flicking through the book, you would turn a handle for it to show through the pages of the flip book.
If I had enough time I could possibly create this for my own flip books that I have created and have had more of a device for the human interaction.

Final Ideas

My initial idea was going to be just a real life interactive art style of simply flipping a book. A flip book, it was of one of my older interests which was karate. I found the experience fun and enjoyful to create such a thing. A flip book is a book that requires the interaction of a the human body for it to have its outcome, although it has a linear outcome it still requires the interaction of someone. I liked this idea because of what the possibilities I could have put within the flipbook. Flipbooks were around for 100's of years and is one of the earliest forms of an interactive media.

I videoed my brother flipping the book (Sorry for bad quality)

 Few pages of the karate guy doing his thing.

I didn't go through the plan because it was fairly difficult doing the play, pause and stop button for this. I then moved on to decide to make an interactive music player.

Music

After attempting to create my interactive flip book within flash, it was proven to be impossible so I had to come up with another plan in which being a form of music being its art and buttons being its interaction.It is called interactive because of the actions these buttons do, they consist of Pause, Play and Stop. Play does it says, it plays the music. Pause also does its job by pausing it at its paused place until played again, it won't change. The stop button stops but also resets the song back to its starting position.

Pause Button

Here are the properties for the Pause Button, the object of the pause button is to convert it to a symbol but in a button form. The instance name is has a major part in the coding as if I were to make it more complex and made a mistake within the code, it may be harder to sort out. I named this instance pause_btn.

 Pause button in standby.

Pause button when clicked.

Play Button

Here are the properties for the Play Button, the object of the play button is to convert it to a symbol but in a button form. The instance name is has a major part in the coding as if I were to make it more complex and made a mistake within the code, it may be harder to sort out. I named this instance play_btn.

Play button in standby.

 Play button when clicked.

Stop Button

Here are the properties for the Stop Button, the object of the stop button is to convert it to a symbol but in a button form. The instance name is has a major part in the coding as if I were to make it more complex and made a mistake within the code, it may be harder to sort out. I named this instance stop_btn.

 Stop button in standby.

Stop button when clicked.

I used this as my background because I thought it would suit the musical theme.

Importing the Music

First of all you had to import the music you want for this interactive art music piece to have. You will have to import them through your files into your flash library.

After importing the music you wanted, you had to get the properties of the imported file you had chosen.

Go into the ActionScript, tick Export for ActionScript and change the Class to a shorter version of the song that you will easily remember, because it will be required in the coding. I shortened it from THE UNGUIDED - Phoenix Down (Zardonic Remix) to phoenixdown. It will help me during the coding process.

As you can see here, the music file I renamed it to is used pretty early within the coding and is only used once.

Codes

Here is all the coding that is required to create my interactive art.

Printscreen of Final Outcome

Final Idea