Below are my 3 comments on my fellow BCM215’s pitch’s as well as some comments about the comments! Overall I really enjoyed watching these pitches and seeing how my classmates are going in their digital artefact journey!
Pitch #1
Samantha Mae – https://samanthadorigato.wordpress.com/da-pitch/
Comment (awaiting Moderation – see image)
“Hey Samantha! I really enjoyed watching your pitch and exploring your topic about aesthetics. I myself am a big person that finds the visual elements of games to be crucial to my interaction and immersion in games.
I believe that the use of Instagram is really smart too! The use of your profile with the 3 tile layers can be really handy in displaying your own particular aesthetics. Instagram is also really handy when you are using stories and reels as well! Maybe you can consider doing small aesthetic reel videos?
I do feel a little that you can relate your DA assignment to videogames a little more. Whilst I do understand that you are analysing the use of aesthetics in your Instagram, it has branched a little way from our class of game media. Perhaps you might be able to keep your plan of exploring aesthetics but you could possibly explore some in games, even looking at some games that might cater to the audience that you were originally intending. You could even look at exploring some games like this in Instagram reels.
There is a more casual article that you may find useful for your research. (https://mashable.com/article/feminine-gender-inclusive-game-design) It explores why feminine design is the next step to more gender-inclusive video games, whilst it is not directly exploring the “aesthetic” it does explore visual design of these games and branding so it is very relevant to the aesthetic of games (with a more feminine audience in mind as you had for your DA’s pitch!)
But overall, your pitch was enjoyable to watch! I really think you can make something that really stands out that still relates to our course. I am keen to see where this may lead throughout the semester!”
My comment for Samantha was one that was slightly more critical compared to my other comments. I was a little worried as I felt that Samantha’s pitch showed her steering away from the connection of her DA and game media as she wanted to look at aesthetics (something very relevant to the gaming industry) but was looking more into the side of fashion and other context. So my comment was just more giving a few suggestions as to how Samantha may keep her original idea but also veer back to the course content of game media and aesthetics. I also suggested a more casual source that Samantha may find useful for the more feminine side of game design as she spoke about looking into aesthetics that relate to younger individuals and feminine aspects. Overall I really enjoyed her pitch and am keen to see how she might take it moving forward.
Pitch #2
Axel Friedrich – https://axelfriedrich87.wordpress.com/2021/08/20/stardew-valley-reinventing-the-farming-sim/
Comment (awaiting Moderation – see image)
“Hey Axel! Just want to start by saying your pitch for your DA sounds so interesting! I myself am a large fan of the Stardew Valley game but most of all am guilty of heavily enjoying farming-sims in general haha!
I think presenting your DA via YouTube is the best way to go in terms of exploring these roleplaying games. If you had the correct resources and time, you could even consider livestream yourself playing these games and considering your questions, your YouTube videos could be where you look at these games on a more academic scale. Obviously this is all just suggestions however.
You did mention that you were aiming for your YouTube videos to be around 30 minutes total, as a note from someone who has attempted this in a few DA’s before, this can be incredibly straining. You may want to look at reducing the length of these videos to maybe have your content more clearly expressed nor long (in today’s generation of short attention spans!) But alongside this, it may reduce the time you need to take to edit which may be handy.
I like the games you are planning to look at, and I definitely recommend you look at the Harvest Moon games (you can find online emulators, this website is my favourite, the link leads to the SNES version but you can play most versions – https://www.retrogames.cc/snes-games/harvest-moon-usa.html ) I think this important because there was obvious inspiration from Harvest Moon which leads to how important it is as the impact Stardew Valley has had. As another smaller recommendation that is more recent, you could even look at the latest Sims 4 Game expansion which is called Cottage Living. This expansion allows players to literally farm produce and animals, from here they can sell it in markets and cook with it – this might be interesting to look at to show how games more recently have updated to fit this new trend of farming simulators.
I think your Timeline is laid out great and allows you a good amount of time to feel organised in terms of your DA! Overall I really enjoyed watching your DA Pitch and am keen to see where you head with this!”
I found that I was really interested in Axel’s DA topic and relation to farming simulators influence in the gaming community. Overall, I didn’t have as critical suggestions for Axel’s pitch as I did for Samantha, but I did give some personal suggestions into possibly shortening the planned 30min YouTube videos, not just for the sake of keeping audience attention but also for his own wellbeing of editing 30mins of footage! I did reference that Axel might consider livestreaming his videogames to experience them, and using his YouTube videos to analyse the games on a more critical aspect. I did also recommend a source where Axel might be able to play Harvest Moon for free as he did discuss that if he had the financial means he would play it – I often myself cheekily would play Harvest Moon online seeking my nostalgic feeling of being a little girl playing it on the Super Nintendo 64! This might be useful for Axel to have the experience of playing because of the influence it did have in the creation of farming simulators in the video game industries.
Pitch #3
Isabeau Rosa – https://isabeaurosa.wordpress.com/2021/08/20/representation-presentation-and-agency-of-female-video-game-characters/
Comment (awaiting Moderation – see image)
“Hi Isabeau! Starting by saying I really like your DA topic. It was where my own original idea for my DA began! (But mostly due to the fact that I have researched it a fair amount before I decided to change it up).
The relation between females and videogames overall is a situation that has had a lot of work done on it, and has a long way to go as well. As you have explored by your obvious and extensive reference list, there is so much research out there and that is thoroughly concerning enough as it is. Being a female in the 21st century I am proud to see so many people looking to this issue, but as you said, the fact these issues still consist today and have not been fixed is worrying also.
The use of streaming via Twitch is the obvious and most suitable choice for you during this DA journey! I like that you have organised a regular streaming schedule as consistency and interaction is important for those wanting to use Twitch as their platform. I do however love the idea of conversing with your followers via Discord. It is something that wouldn’t have come to my mind even though I am in at least 5 twitch channel Discord servers! But the further level of communication via Discord creates a place where you can share your research as well!
It seems that you have plenty of sources to look at for your research but one source I found useful during my research is a YouTube Video exploring some tropes, this particular one being the Femme Fatale trope. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjAKd-Lfmt0) It does reference in film, but can be easily related to videogames and their own representation of gender. Femme Fatale explores the whole trope of a woman being sexualised and used to be an object in media, a good example may be some of the female characters in the original Final Fantasy games, having a peak at how the characterisation has changed over time and if they are expressed to be stronger as the present day becomes closer.
Overall, I am really keen to see how you go streaming, if I have enough time between my own occasional stream and other work I will definitely be finding myself on your stream and watching! Can’t wait to see how you go and will be tuning in for your beta!”
Isabeau’s pitch was also thoroughly interesting! I myself have researched the same topic in a few previous DA’s and even wrote my HSC Society and Culture Pitch on gender stereotype and representation in RPG’s. As a woman in the 21st century and what I consider a gamer, I think it is very relevant to understand the community that we are in. As discussed in my comment, Isabeau had gathered quite a considerable reference list (I think it was about 20points long) with sources all related to female representation in videogames. Her use of Discord along side Twitch allows Isabeau’s to cater to a specific audience and share her information across a few platforms. As you can see, I did struggle to recommend sources due to her very intensive list but one thing that came out to me from when I did my own research was a YouTube series that explores female tropes in our modern day media, whilst looking at media as a whole, it can easily related to videogames, and the most important to myself is the Femme Fatale videos as it explores one of the most reoccurring stereotypes for women in videogames today (as long as they are not the typical weak, emotional girl). But I am overall excited to see how Isabeau goes with her regular streaming schedule and will hopefully find myself watching her streams and supporting her hard work!
Although I only commented on 3 pitches as we were required too, I found myself watching a few more of my peer’s pitches for their DA. Overall I really enjoyed seeing everyone’s topics and am excited to see how everyone goes before we all catch up with each other for the beta!
Till next time,
Alex 😀
Header Image Credit – Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash
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