Ziqing Meng

World-Building Immersion: A theoretical analysis of Imaginary Worlds

Introduction

This paper will aim to analyze the connection between Imaginary worlds and game narrative, world-building is one of the most important elements of a game, how world-building extends beyond storytelling, experience of fantasy as a performance that takes place between reality and imagination.

What is World-building? When you try to play a game, or watch a fiction genre, It Is the worldview setting is usually put at the initial stage of game world development, the story’s world is a crucial foundation to everything that takes place, is the orientation of fantasy world creation.

World Views are people’s general and fundamental views on the whole world and the relationship between people and the world.World View is the basic cognitive orientation of an individual or society, covering all knowledge and views of an individual or society.

For example, in “Micro world”, Lilliputians in Gulliver’s Travels may be the first thing that come out of your mind.

“A map of the world that does not include ‘Utopia’ is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which humanity is always landing”. By-Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man under Socialism.

Thesis

To Integrate the social issues into the game world, by showing the various social phenomena, players can have a deeper understanding of the society and culture, which they can have a positive impact on today’s life. Between World-building and narration, how do they interact with the audience? and present the whole narrative structure to the audience? What kind of values and perspective does the game wants to transmit to players? How does the fantasy world link to the reality? to examination of how narratives set in the same world can interact and relate to one and another.

Openworld type of games, visual space plays a crucial role in story world. In (VR), narrative structure is even more obvious.

5 Keyword: History and Culture, Aesthetic, Mythology, Storytelling, World View, speculative fiction

Research Questions

• What is High fantasy? How can fantasy inspire us to live in the real world?
• What is Primary World and Secondary world?
• How can culture connotation bring better sense of empathy to players?
• How fantasy tropes can be both empowering and discriminatory?

thesis

Create an outline of 3 Chapter

3 Key issue, ideas, questions to address 

3 Key quotes from your academic sources

3 examples that you can link to the chapter’s theme and key issue

Chapter1  primary world and secondary world

Chapter2 how can the fantasy world link into the reality?

While the player feel into the game while they can enjoy play the game, lead your emotion, what makes you want to keep immense into the game?

How to make a strong story telling but for the normal life 

The story telling of it takes two

An inquiry of the trait of the metaphor in the story

The extension between the story and the reality 

Important reference 

“Flow” (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi )in psychology, which make you state of great excitement and filling, flow is “a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matte.

“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.” (Albert Einstein)

Chapter

Chapter One: A theoretical analysis of Fantasy World

Worldview and Storytelling

World-building under Utopia and Dystopia

What is Primary World and Secondary world?

Chapter Two: World-Building within human cognition

How does fantasy inspire us of live in the real world?

History, Empathy, and Cultural Understanding

How fantasy tropes can be both empowering and discriminatory?

Media Analyze

Theoretical Texts

Humans have evolved special cognitive systems that enable us to participate in those worlds. we can, in short, pretend and deceive and imagine, have mental states about mental states.

Primary World and Secondary world

Primary world also defined as low fantasy, stories are set in the real world, or close to the real world, but contain some fictional fantasy elements. and high fantasy that is far from the real world. “The boundaries between a secondary world and the primary world are usually very distinct.” (Mark.J.P Wolf)

Bibliography

1. “Open world” is from one of the design of gameplay, Sefton, Jamie. The roots of open-world games .GamesRadar .July 11, 2007
2. “The Poetics of Space” by Gaston Bachelard，1884—1962  
3. “How Games Move Us” Katherine Isbister
4. “The production of space”
5. Storyplaying: “Agency and Narrative in Video Games” https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/24643
6. “Narrative as Virtual Reality” Ryan, marie-laure (2015) 2,1st Ed: johns hopkins university press
7. “Building Imaginary Worlds” by Mark J. P. Wolf First published 2012 by Routledge

The theme I pick

I want to pick up this theme is because I find out the element of Futuristic is very interesting, I can use my imagination and creation to create my scenes, according to many science fiction I have watch are very attract me. secondly i would like to create an archway as my part of environment.

Inspiration and Research

On above, I did some research on a Japanese cyberpunk, ”Battle Angel Alita”, it is a typical Cyberpunk style sci-fi, the ”Dark City” setting that tends to focus on a “combination of High Tech and Low Life”.

Silhouettes

Value Drawing

Research

A woman move to a old house, It was 1 am at mid night.

The room was dark and shabby, so she light a candle and look around.

She saw a painting hand over the wall, right in front of her. It was a portrait of a man, the painting was delicate, with realistic colors and well composed composition, especially those eyes… looks so real

while she lying in the bed, she can not fall asleep, She was terrified because she thought some one always staring at her. So she tired not to look at that portrait.

In the morning she woke up and walk close to the painting again, she feel goose bumps.

She realized, it wasn’t a painting, it was a window………..

Introduction

On this topic I would like to show my view about my upbringing. I will do a quick introduction about myself. My name is iris and I am a international student being study abroad in UK since I was 15. before that I start with my six years primary school and three years of middle school career In china, In my school, I would like to share my experience about my studying and felling, about my difficulty and how I overcome with it.

When I was in primary school, I was so poor in my studies that I nearly give up, Owing to the great pressure of study, there’s no kids love to play with me, a lack of contact with people, and poor ability to bear frustration, I almost have sociopath.

some questions about myself

• Why is study so hard for me and so easy for others?
• How to bounce back from failure?
• Do good grade matter in the future?
• Achievement and happiest which is more important?

mood-board

I post my graduation photo below, on the left are from 2012-2013, on the right are from 2017-2018

About my story

It use to be hard for me to be motivated on my study, when I was in primary school on my class, the most thing I fear from my teacher is” your study performance is still so poor and I feel shameful about you.” Yes, that’s right, in my memories If you are a worse students then the teacher will be sick of you and your classmate will laugh at you.

I remember once I got am 45% score for my English, my English teacher were scold at me and throw my test paper in front me, Even when I go home, my parents are being mad at me about my grade. and I cry all night.

And I realize my poor performance has no relation with intelligence, but has much to do with my laziness. I didn’t want to be worse than then, so I studies harder, and my English improved. I forgot how long I insist to making effort on my studies, in my end semester exam, I got an 98% score on the top of my class.

Final Evaluation

On this project, I am kind of enjoy the process when I draw my portrait while I remembered my childhood. although I mention that I tired so hard to overcome my difficulty. Getting good grades isn’t the hard part. consistently putting your heart in learning and understanding the material in the midst of challenge and failure is the hardest part. In our life, we will encounter lot of struggle, that we needs to past though. and that’s is the main point I want to explain In my story.

Research and Idea generation

Mood board

• 

• 

I took those photograph when I was in high school,

Mind Map

Sketches

Mood-borad

Wrath 

can be defined as uncontrolled feelings of anger, rage, and even hatred. Wrath often reveals itself in the wish to seek vengeance. In its purest form, wrath presents with injury, violence, and hate that may provoke feuds that can go on for centuries.

On my research page I have looking for the suitable outfit for my character design,  I refer to the culture of Maya civilization, I did some research on their behaving and outfit style. 

Character Inspiration

My inspiration was came from an Japanese animate call Angels of Death, the story was about an 13-year-old Rachel “Ray” Gardner is taken to a hospital for counselling after murdering her parents, but the catch is she forgot about it. However, she wakes up to find herself on basement Floor B7 instead with no memories apart from her name and the reason she came to the hospital. A series of mysterious broadcasts and scribbled messages on the wall set the scene as a game where each participant is designated a floor of their own, and anyone who trespasses on another participant’s floor has the chance to be killed.

Baphomet was one of the most famous Christian demons, the sheep-headed devil known today. The origin of the name is uncertain. It is said to be named after the Greek baphe and Metis, meaning “incorporated into occult.

Baphomet was the archetype of my character, and that’s how am I going to create my characters appearance. goat is the symbol of furious.

Line Art

A goat skull represent Satan. so I add the goat skull as his decoration, also I add more detail such as hides, feather and sickle. I didn’t decide which gender I will give it, because demon doesn’t have a gender. I mixed both feature and create my character.

Layout

I would like too show the different stage of my design, and I decide to add tan skin instead of light skin, because I think tan skin are more resemble to the Native residents of Mayan. in my final work I add the simple golden as a background.

Evaluation