Apophenia Evolved

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Tuesday, February 26, 2008

The Beauty of "Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou"

Sometimes you stumble across something that unexpectedly touches your heart in a way you didn’t think was possible. What I found was the old Manga “Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou”.

It is a heartwarming yet lonely story about robots, old people, and children who grow up. Set in a nostalgic future Japan after civilization has fallen where the streetlights of old sunken cities still illuminate the night. The story tugged at my heart as I followed the everyday experiences of the robot Alpha. On the surface the story was simple yet it resonated deep within me reminding me of friendship, loneliness, and hardship.

It is a quiet lovely story which I recommend. You can find out more about it here or here. You can also find translations of it online if you look around.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

How I currently plan to play Spore

There are plenty of reviews out there for Spore so I won’t waste my breath trying to explain what the game is and why it is so cool. Instead I will point you to www.spore.com for anyone who doesn’t know what the game is about.

Instead I want to explain how I currently plan to play the game when it comes out in September. Since the game allows you to record your gameplay I plan to record my entire game from beginning to end. I then plan to blog about what is happening in my game while providing commentary.

From their meager beginning to their final end I want to create a story from the species. Using screenshots and videos I want to bring it beyond a game and into a story. That said, I haven’t decided what story I want to tell with my species. Like the species my story will evolve to become something different then I think it will be.

I have put some thought into how the story starts. Currently I plan on evolving the creature as an omnivore and playing a middle of the road strategy, however as the game, and the story, progress that will likely change.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Themes and ‘Dark’ stories

When I was younger I felt the allure of action flicks and my favorite genre was fantasy. Adrenaline filled, roller-coster like, combat sequences and chase screens can entice many people. However as I grow older I continually find myself enjoying both action flicks and fantasy less. I still enjoy an occasional action show or fantasy novel, but at the end of the day they aren’t what has left an impression on me.

I continually find myself drawn to shows that have deeper meaning. The genre which is currently my favorite is science-fiction. That isn’t to say that science-fiction doesn’t have it’s share of action flicks, but science-fiction tend to have more
‘Dark’ stories then the fantasy genre does.

While I say ‘Dark’, the word is ambiguous. I mean stories that deal with psychology and emotion. While this doesn’t exclude fantasy or modern fiction, I believe that science-fiction allows the challenging of reality and humanity more then in other genres. Reality is questioned and humans bask in technology that should never have been developed. Those stories are the ones I enjoy the most.