In Medias Resolution: Chris M. Yap Research Blog on Game Narrative

Games, Seriously Podcast Ep. 06 out now!

Reflections on Shadow of the Colossus (PS2; Team ICO, 2005), Pt. 1

Reflections on Carnage Heart (PS1; Artdink, 1997)

Why do I want a PhD in Game Studies?

I had a Highlander-esque Quickening moment this morning while I was ruminating on why I am pursuing a PhD. I'm speaking in somewhat general terms, but I do believe that those invested in a PhD-track program do not enter into this journey lightly, and those who may have done so mistakenly may soon find that it is not for them, which is a completely benign thing so long as said folks can transition successfully into whatever else is best for them. Now, more specifically, for th

"The Metallian"--the mythology of Judas Priest

I found this gem of a description in the wikipedia article on Judas Priest's 1984 album, "Defenders of the Faith," which describes the album cover (pictured below) in the following fashion: "The cover art by Doug Johnson (who also designed the Hellion in Screaming for Vengeance) depicts the Metallian, a ram-horned, tiger-like land assault creature with Gatling guns and tank tracks conceptualized by the band." Dammit, I WANT TO BE A RAM-HORNED, TIGER-LIKE LAND ASSAULT CREATURE

Hello Kittyについて

ぜんぜん重要ではないが、もし時間があれば、日本人の友達の声および意見を聞かせてください：最近（昨日ぐらい？）、日本で人気なアヴリル・ラヴィーンは下記のＰＭをユーチューブでリリース。そのあとすぐに、大勢な欧米人は「日本人に対してレイシズム」の原因ですごく反対していて（コメント、マスコミの議論などで）、ＰＭはすぐに消された。しかし、いらいらな方はほとんど日本人ではなかった。本物の日本人にとってどうかな。予想的に、僕はなんか問題なし程度かな？と思う。どうでしょうか？ #localization #japanese #otaku #subculture #musings

"To those who can hear me I say, 'Do not despair'"

I needed this. From Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" (1940): "You the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure." This sentiment, it is not at all where I am right now, today. But it is still true and I still want that for everyone. I needed this. #advocacy #gradschoollife #musings #personal #inspirational

Things learned in the last week

Things I learned in the last week: 1) 上記・下記　（じょうき・かき）-- refers to something directly above/below it, whereas 前述（ぜんじゅつ) could refer to anything that has been mentioned prior, even if on a different page. 上記の通り（じょうきのとおり）is a handy phrase that means, "As mentioned/As it is written above." 2) Watching programmers intelligently bicker about coding conventions is interesting, insightful, and sobering. The sobering part comes from realizing through their discussion just how much I

Don't Lose Perspective in Grad School

"It's easy to lose perspective while in graduate school. You are surrounded by so many other smart, hard working people that it is easy to feel inferior and lose self-esteem and confidence. But without an underlying confidence that you do have what it takes to complete a dissertation, it's too easy to drop out when the going gets tough instead of sticking it through. I found it useful to keep in touch with the "real world," to remind myself that the graduate student populatio

Purloin the Golden Egg

The study I just finished reading concluded that a game became harder when the difficulty level of that game was increased. I am trying to refrain from making my own conclusions that that study was empirically valid but somehow bankrupt of insight. To be fair, I will pore over it again, as I have more than just a sneaking suspicion that it is in fact my mood that is precluding me from the true meat of the article. The question laying heavily on my mind currently is just as ir

What does this icon actually depict?

Plain Box Interactive is participating in the GitHub Game Jam for the month of November. To that end, and to get some ideas, I decided to google "Game Genres" and then I got to the wiki page on game genres, but I suddenly found that the generic logo for "Series on Video Games" is somehow ambiguously vexing. I don't know what is happening here. It almost looks like I am either 1) Controlling an asteroid 2) Controlling an oyster 3) Plugged into a next-next generation console th

On 大恐竜時代(Daikyouryuu Jidai/Era of the Dinosaurs, 1979)

On 大恐竜時代(Daikyouryuu Jidai/Era of the Dinosaurs, 1979): This aired on TV back in the early 80's when I was bout 5 or 6 years old. I remember watching this movie about three kids who are taken by an alien and transported back into the dinosaur era, where they befriend a blue baby Triceratops and run for the lives from a malevolent T-rex. They learn a great deal about the dinosaurs of that time, and somehow are transported to some point during the development of early humans, w

On C. P. Snow's "The Two Cultures"

"The non-scientists have a rooted impression that the scientists are shallowly optimistic, unaware of man's condition. On the other hand, the scientists believe that the literary intellectuals are totally lacking in foresight, peculiarly unconcerned with their brother men, in a deep sense anti-intellectual, anxious to restrict both art and thought to the existential moment. And so on. Anyone with a mild talent for invective could produce plenty of this kind of subterranean ba

Pseudo-coding for clarity just makes me sad

Shadow of the Colossus Again

On Shadow of the Colossus: I am trying to justify this game to my professors as a good candidate for narrative analysis (and subsequently, the subject of the next conference paper) but, despite all my anachronistic verbosity, I cannot put into words why or how this game has succeeded in achieving such a depth of emotion for both myself and the many, many others who have experienced it. I am currently patrolling the Tube of You for game reviews by the accepted popular authorit

On Sophocles and the avoidance of Fate

My favorite Greek playwright, Sophocles, has come up in recent readings. It made me remember a strange story that one of my Classical professors told in class once about a famous Greek tragedian getting killed by having a crab dropped on his head by a seagull. As it turns out, I have got all the details wrong in this trivial anecdote. Apparently, according to some sources, it was Aeschylus who was killed in this fashion, and according to the wiki, it goes like this: "In 458 B

Street Fighter II: The Board Game

"The feasibility of adaptation from video game to board or card game depends on the game. In the 1980s, many popular arcade games were used for selling poor quality board games: this befell (among others) Pac-Man (Milton-Bradley 1982), Berzerk (Milton Bradley 1983), and Frogger (Milton Bradley 1981)." -from Jesper Juul's 'Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds' (2005) When I was at GDC 2013 this past march, at the Video Game Museum I saw "Zaxxon: the b

Overactive Imagination

I have an overactive imagination. I believe that this, among other things, has contributed to the way my life is shaped currently. And I like it. On the other hand, sometimes it hinders concentration. For example, when I'm trying to actually do work, searching ACM for the next viable conference target, and when I see: "NORDICHI 2002, The second Nordic conference on Human-Computer Interaction" I suddenly get this image of a bunch of Vikings and Nordic Necromancers attending a

The Quest

My field is an extended exercise in logical, eloquent speculation. My field is so young that none of the rules have been yet written, and nearly every gaze-able direction is a frontier daring others to explore it, to push its boundaries farther and deeper, and ultimately to understand it in some meaningful way. Due to the relative youth of the field, all current theories fall short in several areas, and often times these areas are not complementary to each other. In all earne

"You can settle for less than an ordinary life, or do you feel like you were meant for something bet

In truth, it is never too early to begin thinking about your Masters Thesis. That being the case, I have been trying to situate and define the scope, aim, and contribution of what I hope will become a Masters Thesis that I can present when the time comes and have it not only be admissible, but actually good. Then I start folding my thoughts in on themselves and I am suddenly asking, "What is considered 'good'?" Sometimes, when writing conference papers, I get all stressed and

GDC 2013 Recap

This post shall be re-constructed in no particular order from my half-notes and reveried insights... March 26th: 1) Small insight: No matter how often I hear it or it occurs to me, I am always surprised at how multi-form, ephemeral, and subjective the entire process of game design is. At DiGRA, this notion came up a lot whenever people compared the number and variety of game design curricula. At one point the conclusion was that game industry folks know how to make games but

Odd Ramblings while en-route to GDC 2013

Am currently at a cafe in 学園前駅, waiting for the airport bus. Two senior citizens, both sitting in different places and not acquaintances of each other (apparently), are conjecturing aloud to themselves. The one to my right raises a bit of a fuss because there is lettuce in her sandwich. As the staff apologize to her and take away the faulty sandwich, she mutters to herself that 1) it's like that everyday and 2) muses aloud to herself that "oh, they didn't put the lettuce in t

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About the Author

PhD Candidate in Japan, researching Narrative in Games. Responds favorably to Thrash Metal, Karaoke, and Dungeons & Dragons.

In Medias Resolution

A Christopher Michael Yap research blog

Game Studies. Narrative in Games. Digital Mythology.

Games, Seriously Podcast Ep. 06 out now!

Reflections on Shadow of the Colossus (PS2; Team ICO, 2005), Pt. 1

Reflections on Carnage Heart (PS1; Artdink, 1997)

Why do I want a PhD in Game Studies?

"The Metallian"--the mythology of Judas Priest

Hello Kittyについて

The first rule

"To those who can hear me I say, 'Do not despair'"

Things learned in the last week

Don't Lose Perspective in Grad School

Purloin the Golden Egg

What does this icon actually depict?

On 大恐竜時代(Daikyouryuu Jidai/Era of the Dinosaurs, 1979)

On C. P. Snow's "The Two Cultures"

Pseudo-coding for clarity just makes me sad

Shadow of the Colossus Again

On Sophocles and the avoidance of Fate

Street Fighter II: The Board Game

Overactive Imagination

The Quest

"You can settle for less than an ordinary life, or do you feel like you were meant for something bet

GDC 2013 Recap

Odd Ramblings while en-route to GDC 2013

Connect

Reading List

About the Author