Week 7 - More Research and Scripting

18.03.2019

After consulting with the team in order to make sure that everyone's on the same page, we've came to the conclusion that we're going to hold open auditions for anyone that would like to play the part of a voice actor in our game. This would give me the opportunity to explore more areas of the role as a casting director and producer, being able to shift through an amount of applications in order to make the perfect picks for the roles at hand.

Following my previous research on what to include and what not when creating the roles for the actors to sink into, I started forming out the well-needed character descriptions and script of the whole play. With this in their hands, the potential candidates could ideally see a character that speaks most to them and get a feel of the role at hand. Even though I've had a couple of references at hand to give out in regards to portraying these characters, I've refrained of adding them into the descriptions, although if I was asked for some, I was ready to dish them out.

The main reference I've had in mind wrapped around the main character, naturally. Hope. The vision of her particular character and the way I would've liked for her to be pictured had spawned during the very process of writing the script. While she was going through this emotional journey that is supposed to see to her character growth, I thought it would be necessary to refrain from depicting her as the usual teenage girl of an either too "edgy" emo lifestyle or a completely innocent school girl. Even though she doesn't have much of the needed experience, she is going through the most turbulent time of her lifetime. Therefore, it was only natural for her to display a set of different emotions that not always correlate to each other, the stumbling of which with the real world would form her into a better person. A grown person.

For that reason, my idea of Hope as a character was that of an outcast/"nerd". Not exactly fitting into a particular stereotype or group, she is supposed to find use of her already obtained skills in society, while not always nailing all the social cues and conventions, or simply being oblivious to them. I thought that was a good pilgrimage to the upbringing that a lot of gamers go through, where their interaction through the internet with other people do not always work out the same way when they are being applied in real life. Judging by personal experience, I was intrigued to include something like this in the game, which could potentially play off as a mirrored view towards anyone the players themselves.

As a reference from real life, I was hoping to have the person acting as Hope play her as Aubrey Plaza, or, rather, her character in Parks & Recreation, April Ludgate. Apathetic, showing no sign of specific interests or personality, sometimes mean, sometimes kind, with no real motivation. The occasional snarky comeback, and not much. However, her journey and development throughout the series had brought her to be a very smart young woman with strong values and a desire to help people in her own personal way. She’s learned all the tricks of her job, putting to use all the awkward and unconventional qualities of her character. Her character development flows perfectly from seasons to seasons. Every step of the way was natural, every development earned, every lesson learned. Which is exactly what the original game designer wished to portray in the game, and what I, as a writer, was glad to unravel.

The rest of the characters followed as supplementary and complimentary to the main character and the story, in order to carry on with the story.

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22.03.2019

Continuing my previous duties, I've lined out the necessary character descriptions and sorted out the narrative into a readable script, both of which were advertised on Slack and other social medias to all the Games Design & Art and, overall, WSA students. Here's to hoping that someone replies and responds to the inquiry, although I've lined out a back-up plan with the course mates of my year.

You can find the character descriptions here and scrip here. I've included the choice-based mechanic in the latter, despite it probably seeming confusing to the actors. Still, I wanted them to get a feel of the scenes at hand and the circumstances their characters are stumbling upon, in order to better prepare and, therefore, execute their role.