Week Fourteen: Final Projects Submitted for Review

Concept Art for Avatar Attraction at Walt Disney World

Deadline Tuesday Dec. 5, Final Project Presentations:  This week the final project is due.  Students will be asked to present their project orally in class for about 5 minutes each,  summarizing the central concepts and introducing us to some of the specific elements of the theme park worlds you have created. Your written project synopsis should be approx. 500 words and may include any maps, illustrations or other visuals you may like to help make your ideas clear. It is the written elements of the project that will be emphasized in the project review.  Presentations can be reasonably casual as they might be if offered in the context of a charrette. The written portion of your project must be posted on your blog by Tuesday morning. Students who have requested their final portfolio review for Dec. 5th must also have all their portfolio complete and posted on their blogs by Monday night, Dec. 4.

During class we will fill out the online course evaluations and prepare for the final portfolio reviews. 

Week Thirteen: Final Project Draft

Theme Park for Children's Literature Teddy Bear Annual, 1973

Draft Due for Final Project: The final project is to post a short pitch of approximately 500 words that will propose a theme park world along the lines suggested for the in-class Wonder Woman charette. The world you are proposing can be built around central attraction but should have the following parameters:

§Throughput of at least 2500 visitors an hour through each experience in the attraction. (Expected theme park attendance as a whole, 10 million per year)
§Area to be developed is about 9 acres with a budget of $400 million.
§Must be planned with inclement weather options.
§Design should be multi-threaded to provide different experiences for repeat visits.
§Queue lines should be integrated into the entire entertainment experience.

The theme of your world must be original with you or based on work in public domain. You may add pictures or maps if you wish. Please be as specific and concrete as possible, especially about significant elements. Please remember to be green and environmentally responsible.

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

Week Twelve: Building Diverse and Inclusive Worlds

World's first fully inclusive Water Park Morgan's Inspiration Island, San Antonio

Writing Assignment to complete before coming to Class: Following the design process we used last week you should write a paragraph that articulates the high concept of the theme park world that will become your final project for this class.  Publish the high concept on your blog before you come to class this week. Make sure your concept is original to you or based on properties in public domain. Be prepared to read your concept aloud in class.

During this week's class session we will be working with Dr. S.J. Sindu, novelist and faculty member from the Creative Writing program, on developing  your concepts in way that reflect diversity and inclusion. Come prepared with your laptop or tablet so that you can write in-class.

Mhysa the finale of Season Three of Game of Thrones

The Deatheaters attack the Quidditch World Cup

You can buy a hooded deatheaters cloak here, just over a $100.

Article on Deatheaters and the KKK

Reminder: No Class November 7

This week, November 7, there is no class.  Originally scheduled for a faculty professional day, the day will be used to make up Friday classes missed during the hurricane evacuation.  If you have Friday classes they will be meeting this Tuesday. I will see you again on Tuesday morning, November 14.

Week Four: Introduction to Planet Building

This week our guest lecturer will be Jeff Rodgers Provost of the South Florida Museum and Director of the Bishop Planetarium.  Jeff will be presenting a brief introduction to basic Astrophysics and will be available for questions. He will also be able to present the parameters for our planet visualization excercise. I will post the details for this coming assignment on the blog by next weeks's class. 

Writing Assignment before coming to class on Sept. 26: Please write your own take on the game design concept presented by table top game designer Ken Hite during our last class session.  You are invited to mix any historical event (large or small) with a "nerd trope," i.e. zombies, vampires, aliens, monsters, etc.  Post a synopsis of this alternate history on your course blog. 

Week Three: Wheres and Whens

This week we will begin with a film clip from Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. In-class we will have several writing excercises involving wheres and whens. And during the second part of the class we will review the worlds built out of the photo sets that were the homework for this week.  Next week we will have our first visiting lecturer when Dr. Doug Chismar comes to disuss issues in Space and Time. 

Writing Assignment: For next week's class we will have our first writing assignment to feature the full sub-creation of an original and/or public domain world. In 350-500 words write a description of a world in which time or space don't operate as they do in our own world. What are the rules of space and time in this new world? How does one exist in this world are humans modified or are all the residents non-human? If there are humans here, how did they get there and what special rules must they obey? If there are more than one states of space or time how do we travel between them? What is the conceptual framework that unites this world?

Week Two: Worlds and Archetypes

From Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes Electronic Arts

We will begin with reviewing the Oz travelogue assignments so please post your assignment on your blog and send me the blog address before coming to class on Tuesday.

We will discuss archetypal characters and archetypal roles, primary and secondary worldsm, the act of sub-creation and the Star Wars storyverse and its archetypes. And we will conduct an excercise in creating archetypal characters in class.

Literary definition of archetype.

Take a quiz to find your archetype here:
http://www.archetypes.com/
Avoid the spam and clickbait on this site.

Reading Assignment: Read Ransom Riggs Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. 

Writing Assignment: Ransom Riggs wrote his novel to various antique photographs that he had collected. Using one of the sets of photos on the Course Resource Page, write a synopsis for a theme park world you create based on the photos in one set. You don't have to use all the photos in the set. Your account does not have to include a narrative or storyline, but should discuss some of the characters, the settings, and interactions between characters and between characters and elements of the setting. What are the most profound attractions of your world? What roles do some of the characters play and what role do the visitors to the world play? Your characters should be designed so as to be able to play archetypal roles in any narrative unfolding in your world.