4/10

Stack the deck for Andrade? One of the CART teachers is in this contest. Hook her up with a heart once a day.
https://www.schoolspecialty.com/crystal-apple

It's Fun Friday!

AM, work till 10am then play till dismissal

PM, work till 3pm then play till dismissal

No Baymiller

YOUR GAME IS DUE IN TWO WEEKS!!! You should try to have a fully working game by next Friday and spend the last week testing and polishing.

Start your day off with a Warm-Up!

Read these posts, look up something that sounds interesting and tell me why you might want to check it out.

3pts

One of my favorite media of all time is the game The Ghost of Tsushima. It’s one of the most beautiful games ever. It is about a samurai defending his home island from the Mongols, and along the way he has to break his code by killing people “unhonarably”. It tells a great story about this character and he has a ton of moments where it looks like he is unstoppable. The graphics and everything are beautiful too. At points it feels like you're watching a movie not playing a game. The gameplay is also fun, the combat system is honestly really good when you're fighting with a katana and bow, the only criticism I have is that it is a bit slow to discover new areas. 

I really like music in general ill listen to any type of music except country, but only a few genres have actually made it into my playlist artists like Travis Scott, lil uzi vert, and Kanye for different types of rap and pop music and then I have artists in completely different genres like Linkin Park, Slipknot, and Skillet. If I had to choose one artist as a favorite it would go to Travis just because ive been listening to him for the longest time out of anyone and my playlist is about 20% his songs. I didn't start listening to music a lot until around 2022 and my music taste was completely different then and I hate looking back on what I used to listen to but even in that stew of horrible songs Travis was still a part of my playlist. 

I really like Sonic the Hedgehog. I’m incessant when it comes to yapping about this guy but I'm gonna continue on about it because I can. I remember when I was little and I had an Xbox 360 when I was around 5 or 6 and there was Sonic Adventure 2 on it and I was captivated by the first level for hours because at the time, careening though a san francisco-like city was the most thrilling experience I had in a game so i would replay the first level over and over again (mainly because I couldn't beat it anyway). From there I just started to notice Sonic more and more in my mind whenever we went to the store or just outside in general. Whether it was merch at the mall or videos on youtube, my engagement with the franchise wasn’t like any other franchise I participated in. As time went on, it grew into my most special interest and I've been keeping up with the games, movies, projects from sega, and other sonic related stuff for more than a decade at this point. The character design is amazing, the games (at least the ones I grew up with) are great and the music is peak. Almost everyone alive has l heard a sonic song before and I think that's so special because the composers on team sonic are talented beyond this world and they are credited with being some of the best pieces of music in gaming period. Just listen to some of the top songs from sonic and go down the list, you'll find something that at least piques your interest (not to mention the mountain of fan songs and related media). I'll just make a list of some that are considered to be hits because I like them as well.

Open Your Heart

City Escape

Live and Learn

What Im Made Of

I Am All of Me

His World

Endless Possibilities

Undefeatable

Probably the movie Back to the Future 3, it's always been my favorite movie ever since I was a kid, I was originally shown the main 3 movies on VHS I believe. 

I would like to say my favorite media type would be horror. Specifically the amnesia franchise, my favorite game from the franchise would be Amnesia the bunker as it took a spin from how the game usually is and implemented some cool new things. In this game you can fight back against the monster while you can’t really kill it. You can make it go away and hide for a period of time which helps a lot with exploring the bunker. The atmosphere and sound design are so good for the game and how it just makes you feel like your being watched it amazing, the whole horror aspects are what make it great. I learned about this game from watching a video that was explaining the lore of the franchise/ retelling the game. Additionally I saw some videos of gameplay from some youtubers and other content creators. 

My favorite piece of media is Snoopy. I love Peanuts with my main obsession being with Snoopy and Woodstock (the little yellow bird). Snoopy is just so freaking cool. He’s just a chill dog doing his own thing, going on his own adventures. His best friend is the big Charles. Most of the time, Snoopy is less of a pet and more of his own person. I honestly just really really love his design and all of the stories with him. I’ve got 2 snoopy hoodies, woodstock socks, snoopy croc pins, TONS of snoopies around my room, and prolly more stuff I'm forgetting. I wanna go to the Snoopy museum because who fricken wouldnt… it sounds dope as heck… My profile picture on most socials is Snoopy and it has been for like… years.. Because I’m a REAL snoopy fan and I didn't just hop on this Snoopy bandwagon more recently. He’s been getting popular again recently but I’m a real og. 

One of my favorite pieces of media would have to be the Swans album “Soundtracks for the Blind”. I first heard of this band and album three years ago after I heard a large amount of praise for another one of their albums, “To Be Kind”, and was intrigued by that album’s length. (It was 2 hours long, and had a 35-minute long song on it.) At some point, I decided to get into the band by listening to their full discography in order, but I quickly decided to skip to the longer stuff to get them out of the way first. “Soundtracks” was two-and-a-half hours long (though there were no 30-minute songs on it), and I believe the reason why the album intrigues me so much is how each song sounds very different while still feeling connected, as well as the context in which the album was released. There’s a handful of traditional rock songs on here (a good chunk of them are actually live performances), and then there’s lots of ambient and drone soundscapes to fill in the spaces. I wasn’t a fan of every idea on the album at first, as there were a few tracks I found disturbing or unenjoyable, but they did eventually grow on me a bit. This album was also supposed to be the band’s final album (before the band was reformed fifteen years later), which makes this era of the band my personal favorite from them. This album, as well as the band’s previous album “The Great Annihilator” and the live album “Swans Are Dead”, have a certain feel to them that nothing else has replicated for me due to the knowledge that they were supposed to be the band’s final releases. 

My favorite piece of media is probably counter strike 2. It is my favorite because of the mix of the in game skin economy and the gameplay. I like playing the actual game and I like looking into the skins the game has, whether it's looking for cool trade ups to do, interesting rare patterns, or just opening cases. I like how the game skins have real life value and people are always buying skins. If I spend $100 on a skin I could theoretically sell it back for the same price if I need the money back. I love how the skins look and for my current inventory I am going for an all black and white loadout. I might do something like the CT side would be white and the T side would be white. I think that would be cool. They recently added some new gloves that would be perfect for this white loadout as they are fully white. The gloves are expensive though so it's still a future plan not for right now. 

My favorite song as of now is Crystallized by Camellia. I’ve played this song on 3 different rhythm games, those being Beat Saber, A Dance of Fire and Ice, and Rift of the Necrodancer and I’ve been grinding the song on the last game over the past week. This isn’t the first time I’ve listened to this song; the first time I heard it was probably about 3 years ago when I first played Beat Saber and at the time I just thought it was a pretty cool song, but it wasn’t my favorite, but it did introduce me to Camellia and I’ve been listening to her ever since. Now that I’ve been getting into some Rift of the Necrodancer this is the first time in a while that I’ve played it on rhythm games and it has made me fall in love with it. 

Since I have been limited to what is a single page, I’ll just talk a lil bit about a few things. Number one, I recently finished playing Sally Face for the first time and it was incredible. The writing, art styles, and music were all chefs kiss. There isn’t a crap ton of dialogue to guide you through some of the puzzles, so you have to figure things out for yourself, which personally I really enjoyed. Having those times without dialogue but rather the environment and previously given information to set the scene, giving players more one thing at a time rather than just spelling it out for them made me really happy. I think the creators did a very good job of doing “Show, don’t tell”. Not to mention some of the twists and turns in the story I genuinely wasn’t expecting, and the emotions the game invoked in me. I legitimately cried on more than one occasion while playing the game. That just tells me how good the writing is. Anyways, moving onto the next topic, is what I would say if I was gonna move onto the next topic, but really I’m gonna talk more about Sally Face. More specifically, the characters. They felt like they were actually fleshed out, having interesting backstories, dialogue that properly conveys their personalities, etc. Just wanna say again, the writers did an amazing job on the characters. Especially the arcs they go through, how the characters change and develop throughout the game. Not to mention, I thought there would be some kind of plot armor. I was very much so wrong when things started to happen to the main cast. ( I’m being vague because I don’t want to spoil anything). 

Anyways, I’m already at about 300 words, so I’m gonna close this off with saying Larry is my favorite character from Sally Face and I wanna go back through the game and 100% everything.

My favorite media is a show called How to Train Your Dragon: Race to the Edge. It has been something that has been with me for years. I can pretty much quote the entire show and be able to just listen to the show without looking at the screen and be able to tell you what is happening in the scene. It has been something that no matter what I am doing or what kind of head space I'm in , I know my day will be better because it still makes me laugh. When we aren't allowed to have our phones out that's what “music” I'm listening to because when I'm stressed out over the pieces in the game I am able to stop and listen to it and get a laugh out of it or think of what scene that it’s on. Or what im trying to do now is trying to figure out what episode it is because i can tell you the story but most likely not in the right order. 

I have a lot I could talk about, but I’m going to talk about one of my all time favorite games, Potionomics. Potionomics is a game about managing your time and running a potion shop. The gameplay loop consists of going into town, gathering ingredients for your potions, brewing potions, then haggling with customers to sell the potions for a high price. Each action takes time, so you have to keep that in mind when planning your day. On top of that, there are tons of other systems that enhance your ability to sell potions, such as bonding with merchants or sending out heroes to gather new ingredients for your shop. I really can’t do it justice in writing, but these systems weave so perfectly together with the overarching mechanic of time management that when you reach flow state it feels incredible. One time over summer I was staying up super late at night playing the game and I had no idea how long I was up until my brother woke up to go to his waterpolo practice at 5 am. I played for 10 straight hours and I didn’t get tired of it. It truly is an incredible game. 

One of my favorite pieces of media is a music video of Black Gryphon, the singing voice of Alastor doing a cover of “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile.” To me it really emphasizes that the way you’re feeling will change how you present yourself & it is often the most important thing that makes up your outfit. It’s also really cool how well his voice fits it. Sometimes when I’m sad or cheery I’ll sing a bit of it & often it makes me much happier. I learned about it when I started listening to a bunch of older songs such as “I Don't Want to Set The World on Fire" (1941),  “My Way" (2008, originally 1969), “Close to You” (1970), and  “Hey jude” (1968). 

My favorite piece of media is a website called Homestarrunner.com. It's an old flash website that has a bunch of cartoons and games featuring these cool characters. The creators originally wrote a children's book with these characters in like 97 that wasn't really popular so they started making cartoons with them in 2000 and those TOOK off, relatively. They reached a peak of popularity when one of the characters, Strong Bad started answering fan emails, and that series of cartoons is where MOST of the series’ running gags and most memorable characters were introduced. The sense of humor on this website is so unique and something I personally connect to really strongly. My older brother used to use the website in its peak in like 2007, and he showed me some of the Strong Bad Email cartoons when I was like 10 or 12 and I've been a huge fan ever since. I have t-shirts, dvds, and a deck of cards all themed around HomeStar Runner, and I was even featured in one of their halloween fan costume videos, in like 2021. 

As of recently I’ve been into these two shows, one is an anime and another is a TV series. I had two friends recommend these shows a while back and during break did I really start watching the two. One of them is called Jujutsu Kaisen, an action anime that I had watched a bit of years ago but never got to finish the first season. With the third one now finished, I definitely had a lot to catch up. The second show is called Alice in Borderline, and while I’ve heard the name before I didn’t know what the show was about until I watched the first episode. I’ve only been able to watch the first episode but I’m hoping to watch some more this weekend. 

I’ve really enjoyed JJK for the fights and animations and music it has, it’s really good in quality and the overall story is cool. For Alice in Borderland, it’s because of the story that makes me want to watch more. I really like to try and answer the puzzles alongside the characters in the show (though I can’t catch up because the puzzle for the first episode was a lot), and I want to watch more just to solve the weird games the show has.

Raging Bull is an old movie from the 80's about a deeply flawed man with a special talent, boxing. It is a deep and troubling movie filled with violence, jealousy and the dichotomy between weakness of a very strong man. The story is set in the 1950's and is about a real boxer named Jake Lamotta (Robert DeNiro) who is a married, up and coming boxer and his brother Joey (Joe Pesci). The story unfolds throughout his boxing career and although there is lots of boxing, it really isn't a boxing movie. The performances in this movie are as powerful as the themes and punches thrown thrown (in and outside of the ring). The movie was directed by Martin Scorsese but he did not want to make the movie. He turned it down multiple times because he had no interest in boxing and felt the story was nothing special or unique. Scoresese nearly died of a drug overdose and was "against the ropes" because not many movie studios were willing to risk their multimillion dollar films by putting them in the handws of someone with a drug problem, He accepted the job and created one of the greatest films ever made.

One of my favorite movies is Interstellar, specifically because of the music in the movie. When it comes to movies, I’ve always felt audio was one of the major ways for me to feel the emotions and tone of the scene. So, when I first watched Interstellar and the theme song came on, I knew it was going to be a good movie for me. The song fit the part perfectly and from the different drops and raises in volume and pitches, I could probably point out when stakes were getting high and when the problem was solved. I also just really enjoy the melody of the song and it’s also the only theme song from the movie that really stuck with me because of how emotional it felt. The instrumental behind the theme song reminds me a lot of a keyboard/piano, which makes me like it even more because I can actually learn to play it for myself whenever I get bored. 

What I believe to be the best song ever created is Dimitri Shostakovich - Waltz No. 2. The best immediately available rendition, which will probably be the first search result, is the one uploaded by The Wicked North on Youtube. 

One of my favorite pieces of media would have to be a game called Project Zomboid. The main reason why I really like this game is because it’s a really hard zombie survival game focused more on long term survival and even has a sandbox. I feel like most zombie games are kind of overdone and are more about the action in them. While Project Zomboid does have combat, there’s more of a focus on survival and customization. This is reflected where before you spawn into the game world you have to customize your character and have to balance positive traits (consume points if chosen) and negative traits (gain points if chosen). There’s also the tutorial which basically conveys to you that no matter what your character will eventually die in some way, so don’t get attached. The gameplay loop itself is fun, it’s nice to be able to learn skills that allow you to hotwire and unlock cars, build walls/furniture, set up generators after the power goes out, collect rainwater, and more. There’s also the fact that it’s a sandbox and allows you to customize your gameplay experience. If you want slow zombies you can choose that, if you want zombies that sprint at you, then you can also choose that. There’s a lot to the game, so that’s why it’s one of my favorites. 

Currently my favorite piece of media is a book series called Dungeon Crawler Carl. There are 7 books out right now and the 8th will be released in May. After hearing about it from my favorite podcast, Distractiable, hosted by Markiplier and his friends–Bob and Wade. In the podcast, Bob has started reading it first and mentioned it to Mark and Wade. Mark hopped onto the train and immediately got invested and could not stop reading it over night, and had the privilege too, since he was no longer hungover with his movie Iron Lung. He even read further than Bob. Wade was preoccupied with other books, but has recently gotten into the book series and is also quite hooked. I decided to go to the Barnes & Noble in Riverpark and get a book myself. From my personal experience, I was immediately hooked. The book just has a charm to it that makes you want to keep reading. I see it as an episodic series that I would stay up till 4am to watch and binge–(which I don’t this is just an exaggeration). I hope this gets adapted into a series, preferably animated since doing a live action series of this book would be very difficult to pull off. It has been adapted into a visual novel, so the steps are being taken. Anyways, the first book was amazing. And before I knew it, I was already on the 2nd book. Note: these books are hundreds of pages long, and they get longer each book. I wasn’t much of an avid chapter book reader, since high school I went into reading Manga, which is basically a Japanese comic book, so a lot of visuals and not that much text. But this series has pulled into a 180 and I just can’t stop reading. So now I’m currently finishing the 4th book into the series and oh man, the action keeps on getting better and more intense. This series has twists and turns and plot points that make this series genius. The author Matt Dinniman is a genius. The book series is not meant for kids, it’s definitely made for a mature audience, but it’s highly entertaining and I cannot recommend it enough. I would try and give details to get you interested, but I would want the book to speak for itself. 

My favorite piece of media is World of Tanks. This was the first video game I ever played and it was introduced to me by my Dad when I was around 6 years old. He had set up an account for me after I had shown interest in the game, and then I played up one of the many tech tree lines to get to my first Tier X tank called the IS-7. It is a Russian heavy tank with some of the thickest armor in the game, and it is incredibly fun to play because it is combined with very good mobility. World of Tanks is so good because it is incredibly strategic. Each battle is a 15v15 where you are pretty much on your own, and you have to take into account the make up of your team, such as the number of different tank types, the positioning of your teammates, the strengths and weaknesses of your teammates tanks, and extensive map knowledge to understand the best spots for whatever tank you are driving. For example, a lightly armored yet mobile medium tank with a good gun may not fare well in a close quarters situation with heavy tanks. At range however, it could prove to be incredibly deadly and useful for causing lots of damage to enemies trying to push through different flanks. Not all tanks fit exactly into one situation though as many can be dual purpose with different combinations of favorable stats. Sometimes you can have heavily armored medium tanks that have good mobility and decent guns, but then other times you will have lightly armored medium tanks with really good mobility and a much better gun. Neither of these tanks are bad statistically, but they both excel in entirely different situations, allowing for incredible amounts of strategical variety. 

I am an indecisive person so it is hard for me to say I only have one favorite piece of media but I really like music, movies, tv-shows, cartoons, books, and webtoons. I like listening to indie music like The Marias because they have a chill/sad sound to it. The song I have been listening to lately is Nobody New. I also like listening to BTS because it brings me comfort and nostalgia like the song 134340. I like listening to Right Now by Korn because it helps me get rid of stress and brings me energy. There is a folk rock band called Mago de Oz (Wizard of Oz) and I really like them because many of their lyrics sound poetic to me and they tell a story. I can’t choose a favorite song by Mago de Oz but the earlier albums are really good and a song I listen to a lot is Kelpie.

I like fantasy movies like Alice in Wonderland or Pan's Labyrinth because it is cool to imagine there is another world with strange but alluring creatures. I enjoy watching comedy tv-shows like Malcolm in the Middle, The Office, and Modern Family because they bring me comfort when I feel stressed and the same goes for cartoons like Regular Show. I enjoy books like The Hunger Games and a webtoon I like is Lookism because it is funny but entertaining.

My favorite media is a movie. I’ve loved this movie ever since I first saw it, as for its time, it was very amazing, and its graphics were just incredible. From the best fight scenes to deep, felt moments of sadness and hatred towards the enemies, this movie really blew my mind with how it made the aura of itself feel amazing. Also, the music they chose for it was great; it really boosted the movie's action scenes and just made it the greatest movie in my opinion. The movie I'm talking about is Pacific Rim; its storytelling, heartfelt scenes, and most importantly, fighting scenes really attracted me to the movie when I first watched it on DVD. I watched it so many times, and when they announced the 2nd movie coming out, I was so excited for it, but when I actually got to watch it in theaters, it was really disappointing in my opinion, so in the end, the first movie is and forever will be one of my favorite movies. I just got the DVD from my mom, who got it for us to watch. I didn't really learn about it. 

My favorite piece of media and especially my horrible siren is games. I love games and playing them. One of my favorite games that I love playing is Monster Hunter and its branch off game Monster Hunter Stories. I really enjoy playing them because there are so many different kinds of creatures/monsters inside the game. As the name suggests, you fight monsters. It’s fun seeing the monster designs because they are very cool and pretty unique. Every monster has their own kind of fighting style that you, the hunter, will learn while you slay the creature. When defeating the monster you gain parts which you can use to make materials to have better versions of your armor and weapons. It’s also cool knowing how the monsters and creatures in the Monster Hunter universe are similar to the real world in which all creatures are there for a reason and they have predators and prey that they eat. As for Monster Hunter Stories I also really enjoy playing it because of, well the story, but also since they thought, “what if we made those very monsters you fight, into your pet.” And that was a very great idea since tons of people enjoyed playing it. You can think of the play style like Pokemon and the older Final Fantasy games. I was introduced to this game through my dad and my first Monster Hunter game was Monster Hunter World. I was kind of put in the middle of it since my dad was like, “son, play for me. I gotta use the bathroom.” I think he said something around there. As for Monster Hunter Stories my dad also introduced me to it, knowing I’d like it. 

My favorite piece of media would probably be interactive media such as video games. There have been many times in my life where I would have a lot of free time on my hands. At a young age I loved playing old Mario games on the Nintendo DS. I found pleasure, enjoyment, and happiness in the gaming world. As I got older, newer sources of interactive media were being released, like the PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox ones. I personally grew up with a PS4 and the reason I got into that was because my dad offered me to play some games he had like the original Overwatch, Megaman, and Fortnite. He also taught me how each component in the PS4 works. This really allowed me to find new interests other than gaming like building a custom computer for gaming. I would suppose my upcoming favorite media would be the movie Project Hail Mary. I saw it last night and it amazed me how space in a movie can really come to life. 

My personal favorite media of all time is SMG4 (Skylanders is up there, but my ramblings on it are more nonsensical). SMG4 is a Youtube Webseries created back in May of 2011, ending in December of 2025 utilizing GMod and blender elements. This series is something I grew up with—albeit, its humor wasn’t always for the innocent minds of children. I started watching around back 2016 (maybe an episode or two a year prior), introducing myself to the start of their first ever genuine story arc, the Waluigi Arc. Although I had been there for one WOTFI before, this new arc struck passion into me, shaping me into the storyteller and artist I am today. 

To specify what SMG4 is, it’s easier to say it’s a Mario parody show. As this webseries features recolored Marios, and Mario characters themselves (most prevalent, Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Boopkins, and Bob Bobowski…though Bob was given his own name). Going back to the Waluigi Arc, it’s clear what it centers around, Waluigi. With its wonderful internet humor (its references to them, anyway), it allowed this arc to be both funny, and serious at times! Waluigi went on this large villain arc about not being accepted into Smash Bros [SMG4 has its own name for it for copyright reasons, but I can’t name it here—not PG13]. From this, he tries to discover his Ultimate Ability, that of which turns out to be the power of rejection. How this works is that he slowly gets more powerful the more he’s rejected, and (hilariously) turns into this large buff “god”. See image below:

Waluigi uses this staff of his to utilize his abilities, creating a “T-Pose Virus” that eventually goes incurable later in the Arc—everyone only being saved after a Sick Rap Battle (™) after a long game of WOTFI, where I believe SMG4’s crew originally won. Mind this, SMG4’s story arcs typically carry a Wotfi or some kind of short-film. Waluigi himself only gets defeated after an “in real life” (not actually) Super Smash Bros tournament with our newly introduced character, Tari. Tari is the one who found a godly remote to battle Waluigi, and with her gamer skills, finally defeats godly Waluigi and later forces him into a therapy session with Dr SMG3 (which is actually how most fans figure out SMG3 continued education compared to SMG4). 

I could talk about every arc and summarize to the very last story arc and WOTFI, but honestly the last arc was just a large Puzzlevision story continuation that not even the channel owner himself made a playlist for it. HOWEVER, there is the entire stupid series in one playlist that I’d recommend if you’d want to be on an emotional rollercoaster of laughter, tears, and resolution.

Can say for certain, I was sobbing and on an all downtime low when the very, very last episode came out. Ten years of my life, man. Oh my god. 🥺 perchance

My favorite game is Ghost of Tsushima. It was released in July of 2020, and received a PS5 upgrade in 2021. This game takes place in 1274, during the first Mongol invasion of Japan on Tsushima Island. I like that it takes place during a real time period during real events, even though the story isn’t real. It follows Jin Sakai, a samurai on a quest to save his uncle, Lord Shimura, from the clutches of Khotun Khan and rid his home of the Mongol invaders. Jin is rescued from the horribly failed battle on Komoda Beach by a thief named Yuna, who helps him on his journey.

I really like this game because it feels like a samurai movie that people like Akira Kurosawa would make, and that is definitely one of its inspirations. The way the story goes and how Jin must bend his moral code more and more to save his people and finally becomes the Ghost is one of my favorites ever, and it truly feels cinematic in-game. The gameplay itself is fantastic, with a huge open world to explore, and fluid, dynamic, and silky smooth swordplay. It is very parry and counter based, but it feels so amazing to pull perfect parries off and decimate a horde of enemies in minutes. It might be a challenge, but I believe that the hardest difficulty is the best way to play this game.

I also love the world. Discovering side quests and collectibles as you ride on horseback is exhilarating, and it always feels like an adventure that blends seamlessly into the world. There is no compass, but a guiding wind that blows in the right direction. You must follow foxes to get to shrines and yellow birds that lead you to side activities.

It also got a DLC, where Jin travels to the dangerous Iki Island to rid it of the Eagle Tribe, who have poisoned the islanders. Aside from that, Jin must navigate his past and the infamous legacy of his father, who led a bloody quest to cleanse Iki of its raiders. It’s my favorite game because of its story, swordplay, and world.

One of my favorite pieces of gaming media, right next to Sonic and Pokemon would be a multimedia franchise that had spawned multiple types of media, from anime, games, manga, and had even hosted real world collaborations and events, known as Umamusume:Pretty Derby. The main premise of Umamusme is that it features anthropromorphized horse girls (just simple human girls with horse ears and tails), taking actual real life horses that have been used for horse racing. and turning them into anime girls to carry on their legacies for when (or are about to) pass away. The stories of each girl (or horse in this case) focuses on the harsh realities of horse racing, with a mix of sports drama, as each career for the characters shown across the franchise that are based on real horses, have been thoroughly researched to where each girl matches the real horses, name, personality, and events that they had gone through. 

The reception for the series is very good, with people saying how wholesome, and good the story and characters are, often honoring each horse, to the point it actually motivates people with its emotional narratives.

Personally, I don’t remember how I came across it, other than finding about it in the summer of 2025 (around June or July) for when I came across one of the characters, known as Gold Ship. I immediately fell in love with the character due to how random and unpredictable she was. And when I did some research about the horse of the same name the character was based off, I saw how accurate the character’s portrayal was to the horse.

Surprisingly, I still have one piece of media that I haven’t shared in detail in a warmup yet: Nefarious, by Josh Hano. It began as an indie game released in 2017, where you play as a villain named Crow who aims to control the world by kidnapping princesses (and one prince!) and using the magic they hold within them to power a royalty-fueled death machine. Eventually, there was enough demand from fans for Hano to create a sequel to the game in the form of a webcomic, which is still ongoing today. It’s an absolute favorite of mine because it turns the classic Good vs. Bad trope completely upside down. Villainy and royalty/heroism are both treated strictly as business, with strict laws and policies put into place to ensure nothing gets out of hand. A lot of the “good” characters are also parodies of common video game characters, such as Dash the Bee and his sidekick Nails the Mouse, or turn-based RPG heroes Crosh, Fallon, and Rosstin. After both reading the comic and playing the game, I can definitely say that the comic has a lot more substance to it, with plot twist after plot twist every few pages, but the original game still has its charm. Mechanics wise, I’d say it’s pretty unique. You left click to throw a grenade and right click to punch. You’re able to add powerups over time such as making your grenades stick to walls and enemies or tripling the amount of fists you have. Once you get to the point of a level where you kidnap the royalty, you gain powers for as long as you hold them, such as jumping with half the gravity or being able to create temporary pathways to reach otherwise inaccessible parts of the map. Along the way, you’re able to collect three crowns scattered around the level plus one vinyl record of the background music to add to your evil airship’s jukebox (with each song granting $200 upon collection). I’ve always gravitated towards smaller passion projects more than AAA games, and this one holds a very special place in my heart.

Side note, Josh Hano is also releasing a new game this year called Neo Junk City, where the amnesiac protag has to solve a murder that they committed. Look out for that soon :-)

I’m not sure if this is actually my favorite piece of media, but my favorite video game is an RPG called Sea of Stars. It’s a very good game and has some amazingly detailed pixel art throughout the entire game. The combat is turn-based, but clearly takes heavy inspiration from the Super Mario series RPGs. The story also stays interesting throughout, which I appreciate a lot as the main reason I like RPGs is for their ability to tell a story in a similar way to books. The game also recently got an update that added some extra post-credits content and overall improved it. Another reason why I like it is that not many other people seem to know about it, which makes it feel more exclusive. 

Choosing one favorite piece of media to stand above all others is an extremely difficult task, especially when you take into consideration the sheer volume of media that exists in today’s day and age. However, I believe Pokemon has a special place in my heart. Pokemon is so incredible to me because it has given me so many memories. I fondly recall playing Pokemon Showdown against one of my best friends in middle school, though we now do not play together nearly as often. The Pokemon series is also responsible for the creation of many of my favorite pokemon like Rayquaza, Swampert, and Hoopa, among others. I do not remember exactly when I was first introduced to it, but I do recall owning a collection of Pokemon cards for a time, a few of which were given to me by my older cousins. Despite some of the controversy Game Freak has faced for creatures like Vaporeon, Chatot, Typhlosion, etc., I still love the series. 

It’s about an anime that I started watching 2 years ago. I saw a really cool character that was from the series I’ll be explaining now and I found the show, so I started to get into it. A Chinese manhu series called: “Scissor Seven”, it starts with a 21 year old boy named “Seven” who seems to be struggling with amnesia, forgetting all the memories. He was found unconscious and heavily wounded on the beach in Chicken Island. He was saved by two blue chickens: Xiao Fei and Dai Bo and now serves as a barber on the island. But… even still saved and alive, Seven is broke, so he must attempt to become a professional assassin.

That’s the main plot! So far there are 5 seasons so far, but I gotta say, there is a lot more to this series than just comedy and silly jokes. The deeper you go into the seasons, the darker it gets, the more foreshadowing there is, and much more lore that we didn’t realize until later on. You can watch this series on Netflix, no other streaming services sadly but it’s worth it. Absolutely amazing.

I also want to mention the character’s personalities, traits, and designs. None of the designs are bland at all! Each and every one of the characters have their own unique personality and design. While some of them may look a little bit hilarious and only exist for comedic purposes.. There are a lot more characters that have the most amazing character development throughout the series. That’s what I also love about the series. Please give it lots of love and try to watch through all the seasons, you won’t be disappointed.

My favorite piece of media is a book called Upon Wings of Change since it includes a bunch of awesome things like laser weapons, spaceships, weird alien creatures, and dragons. I really like it because the story takes place from the dragons’ perspective, and they act a lot like cats because of how small they are in the book. I originally discovered it after searching through a ton of other dragon related books, and this one is definitely the one I like the most because of how it merges sci-fi with an aspect that’s usually only found in fantasy. 

Game is due April 24, 2026

Why is it important?

It's time to come together and create using the tools you have explored

How do you show that you understand? What is the assignment?

You and your team will create a game based on one of the 4 poems from this unit. You can take creative liberties: turn “For That He Looked not upon Her” into a game with Sirens, a ship, and somehow a mouse, trap, fly, and flame. 

How you do this is up to you, your technical ability and your imagination! 

Game Requirements

15 Full Minutes of gameplay - 15 Points

English Standard: RL.11-12.4

• Literary devices found in poetry: simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration, juxtaposition, irony, imagery, analogy, symbol, tonal shifts, allusion, repetition, see Baymiller if you found others!)

• You MUST incorporate 3 DIFFERENT literary devices from the poem transformed into some aspect of your game:

  • Mechanics

  • Visual elements

  • Characters 

  • Level/environment design

10 original 3D assets (they must be 100 percent original and not based on someone else's work).  - 10 Points

English Standards: RL.11-12.4, RL.11-12.7

• 5 of your 3D assets MUST come directly from lines in the poem your game is based on (i.e. mouse, trap, fly, flame, speckled road scored with ruts, dasheen leaves, kerosene tins, rye & barley, reapers, knights, etc.) 

Your 3D assets must be as realistic as your talent allows and must include color 

If you complete your assets or the game early, create more. 

You will not be done with your game until the deadline.

Your game must have a purpose or goal (meaning you are not just walking around).

English Standard: RL.11-12.3

• Identify whether the poem portrays internal conflict, external conflict, or both.

  • If the poem’s conflict is internal, how does your game turn the character’s emotional or psychological struggle into something the player can actively experience?

    • If the internal conflict happens within the speaker (doubt, guilt, fear, desire, identity), how do your gameplay mechanics allow the player to engage with that inner struggle?

    • How does your game externalize the speaker’s internal conflict through mechanics, choices, obstacles, or consequences so that the player participates in the struggle?

  • If the poem’s conflict is external, your game must translate that power struggle into interactive systems. How does player interaction embody the tension between the speaker and the opposing force?

    • If the central conflict involves an outside force (another character, society, nature, fate), how do your gameplay mechanics allow the player to directly engage in that struggle?

      • What should the player feel when confronting the external force?

    • Do sound or lighting changes signal confrontation?

    • Does atmosphere communicate threat, tension, inevitability, or hope?

Points

Each day during this assignment, you will earn a participation point - 20 Points

You are expected to be working on your project with your team during this time. If you are on your phone, watching videos or otherwise not working on your project you will lose your point for the day.

40 Points Total