Landmark and My Thoughts (Little Controversy)

Well hello everyone! It's been a while since I last posted and that's because I've been working on my Landmark scholarship build a lot. It is coming along very nicely in my opinion! I am working on getting half of it done so I can take a screenshot of that half for the scholarship but I will finish it even after the scholarship due date has passed! Here are some screenshots of my progress! I'll put a before picture so you can see how much I have done in the past few days!

This was in an earlier post, but this is what I had 2 posts ago. Flat land with a few houses. Nothing too interesting.

And this is where it is at now! As I said it is only half way done, but I like it so far! 

This is the view I will use for the screenshot I think. It shows how the town feels and also reveals how it is centered around the clocktower. 

I just love this picture. Landmark is such a beautiful game. Knowing I can make something that looks like this is very cool for me.

Of course you have to make it blow up :D (No buildings were hurt in this process)

Well that is how my build is going so far! Going smoothly I think! I really like how it is turning out and even if it doesn't win me the scholarship at least I had a good time making it in the process. That's what I like about designing things. It may not turn out how you or the company wants it to, but while you are creating it it is enjoyable.

As the title of this  post says I am not going to be talking about just Landmark. I just wanted to take some time to voice my thoughts. There won't be order to this and there won't be any end point that I am getting at! Just me saying what's on my mind.

Well as many people who are interested in video game design know, the best place to be is California. I've been having some thoughts on that and I cannot tell whether or not I am excited or scared of moving that far away? I live in Indiana so it is quite the trip. My initial reaction is that of curiosity. I think of it and want to know more about what it is like to live far away from home. To live without any connections. From this I also get a bit scared because it's a huge jump. Going from knowing a lot of people to suddenly being alone in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people around you. A part of me feels like I'll be like a ghost for a long time until I have friends at where I work. Another part of me makes me think I'll feel like Xerath getting jumped on my Akali. 100 to 0 instantly. But there is a larger portion of my mind that thinks about it and gets an almost giddy sense of wonder at the thought of being on my own for once. Taking care of myself completely without relying on my parents too much and making my own. It's a very...peculiar topic for me right now. It's on my mind a lot and I think I'd like it to come true? I would hate to be so far away from home, but I also want to follow the path I think will be good for me. And I think that is where I am eventually going to be.

There is also the whole girlfriend concept that runs through my mind. I'm sold on her as is and I have every bit of confidence that we will get married. That is not my issue. My issue is removing her from her family and whisking her away to a foreign land with me. I am so torn on this. A part of me feels it is so unfair for her to be taken away from her family because of me. And I don't want her parents and sister to see me doing it as an act of finally getting her all to myself...I don't think they will but I still fear it! We have talked about this already and I am sure it will come up again. She does sometimes check in on my dorky blog posts so she'll probably mention something to me about it.

Enough about California! Onto...music! Music in video games to be specific. Of all the music in the world, I think video game music is my absolute favorite. It's all orchestra music, but somehow game developers make it work? Most people don't listen to orchestras all day, but if you play say Skyrim for eight hours...well you just listened to Jeremy Soule's composition for eight hours! And he is a fantastic composer. I just recently, being tonight, discovered a group called Adiemus and I am enthralled by their music. They are not in a video game, but if you are looking for easy listening music then check them out. I have no idea what they are saying, but I don't even care. I discovered them from a guy known as Pantera in Landmark so thanks Pantera! You don't read this but still thanks!

I think I want to write about something controversial but I can't decide what. I was going to state my mind on the whole GamerGate/SJW groups are stupid, but I'll leave that for some other time I suppose(or not because I'm about to go on an unintended rant). I shouldn't say stupid. Overly zealous perhaps. They all just need to calm down and find the middle ground. All extreme people should take a step back and view the pros and cons of each side and then they can equalize and find the middle ground where they can all settle on an agreement of sorts. Nobody will get exactly what they want so quit acting like you will. The only reason why I thought of this topic was because Twitter was blowing up over the whole "National Cleavage Day" and the SJW group got offended by LionHead Studios posting of a picture of one of Fable II's tavern signs. It was a sign that said "The Foaming Jugs" and had a well-breasted woman holding foaming beer jugs. So they complained and LionHead took it off Twitter. Then GamerGate got all rallied up and bombarded the SJWs with a lot of hate. Both groups in my opinion are in the wrong. LionHead has every right to post what they want, especially if it is from a game of theirs. No group of people with a very narrow mind frame should think they have the right or power to control what LionHead does. Now on the other hand GamerGate should not respond to the SJW response with such zealous hatred. That's not how you solve problems? You don't put out a fire by throwing gasoline on it? That's just insane! Now I'm not going to say that one group is right and one group is wrong because honestly both are right to an extent and both are wrong to an extent. Yes the tavern sign could be offensive to some people. That just means you don't look at it? Yes the actions of a group can be infuriating. That just means you block them? Quit acting like children and approach the issues with some maturity.

Since I'm already ranting I might as well bring up what I think about the sexuality of girls in video games since it's an interesting topic to look at. I will say that I do not want to be offensive to anybody and if I do come off as that then please comment or email me or something and let me know. I don't want to be sexist in any way I just want to look at it from my perspective. Now many woman are fine with this but there are certain woman that think that woman are overly sexualized in video games. I agree with that, but to an extent. I do believe that video games make woman extremely "hot" or "sexy" looking, but I will also say that they make them that way for multiple reasons. For one, it is a good marketing strategy to use against guys because if we see a hot bodied woman then it will interest us slightly more. That is not something we take pride in at all. It is just a simple fact. Over sexualizing woman is a very touchy topic to approach for game developers. If they make extremely "sexy" woman then they get hate for being overly sexual. However if they make an average girl they will get told that they are giving woman a bad image. I personally have to say that woman are over sexualized in video games. I utterly agree with this statement. However in all honesty I don't look at the women that are created. I'm not interested in a hot girl for how she looks in a video game. I find interest in them for what they do. What powers do they have? What is their background? Honestly my character could be the ugliest girl in the world and I wouldn't care one bit. I'm just going to cover her up with armor so even if she's hot I won't see her? In my opinion, the overly sexualized women in video games argument falls flat for a lot of gamers because we're in it for the game not the characters. There are select gamers that are a bit off and are in it for the hot chicks but that's a tiny group of players. I am sorry to anybody who read this and felt offended. These are my opinions and I felt inclined to share them. If you have an issue with it contact me and I'll hear you out. I might not agree with you but I will not say you're wrong. Opinions vary from person to person so I don't expect everyone to view this like I do.

Ok well I think I have had enough with writing this time around! I hope you all enjoyed my pictures and what I had to say. I'll keep writing in this manner I think. I enjoy just free writing my thoughts out. I hope you all have wonderful days! I'll talk to you later!