Howdy There Heuristics

This past week I have been focused on researching and expanding my knowledge on ARGs and TTRPGs that inspire my webcomic. Looking into ARG’s like The Sun Vanished and Perplex City people get invested in characters that they feel like they can help. Similar to TTRPGs, players love to feel agency and that their choices will have an interesting butterfly effect on what they do. I see the connections between my desire of having an active and involved community to these types of games and how I can bridge these ideas together. I really look forward to getting to work and seeing how the story expands from here! I have my social media accounts almost fully set up for the webcomic, so I am eager to get started.

I also continued to work on design sketches for characters in the story, as well began to explore how some would interact. Additionally I did some drawings of icons or logos that could be used for the webcomic.

Beginning My Project

To kick things off, this is my current semiotic square that is still subject to change. This shows what materials within my project are most important to what will be going into it.

Above are two images exploring character design after watching a Linked In learning video about character design. Thinking about how poses, clothing, and motifs in a character design can symbolize personality.

Lastly, this mash of random drawings are from following another Linked In learning video where I worked alongside the teacher to explore the drawing app I will be using to make my comics and all the features that it has to offer me. The video is a speed paint of what I did, which is fun to look back on and watch to consider how I can improve what I did for future projects!

Project Statement

A story that captivates an audience is one that pulls them in with attachment to characters and having a story that means something to them. In a fantasy setting, people like to explore these new worlds to escape their own, so that  they can empathize and worry about someone else’s problems rather than their own. Webcomics are an ever evolving and growing, why not emphasize this unique way of storytelling by bringing the audience further into the world and let their choices impact the story. By combining the elements of fantasy intrigue and audience interaction, I will make a webcomic that utilizes a secondary polling platform that the audience can actively vote on when a choice is available. Helping decide what a character should do when there is a fork in the road.