Self-Isolation: Week Seven
This week I finished off playing the remainder of The Last Of Us, which was fantastic, including the DLC ‘Left Behind’, which was such a beautiful sister project to the main franchise. Very much looking forward to The Last Of Us 2 later this summer, and the HBO show that’s in development (but probably on pause for production given everyone’s current situation).
I documented my journey with Ellie and Joel here. I’ve also been reading a lot of Chris Ware’s graphic novels, specifically his Building Stories, which are wonderful, and so beautifully designed.
In ‘Left Behind’ I loved just spending time with Riley and Ellie in the mall, and those tender moments of friendship are so rare in video games. Plus the revelation around Ellie’s sexuality and relationship with Joel made the main journey that much richer. Inspired by a co-worker’s recommendation, I’ve started the Uncharted franchise to keep the Naughty Dog vibe going (plus all four titles are currently free in the Playstation store).
I lived streamed on YouTube for the first time, something I really enjoyed and would love to do more often. No-one watches but that’s just the way I like it. This week I lived streamed the weekly reset for 4 hours in Destiny on Tuesday evening. I also hit 1000 power for the first time ever. I’ve earned every single one of those levels over the past 6 years.
Something I very, very rarely do is make physical objects, but I made a number of actual postcards based on some recent designs I did. I’m hopeful to be able to send them off in the mail to some friends this week.
I thought a lot about Alex Jones this week.
I created an identity system based on the runners and riders of last year’s Grand National. I love the visual language of these symbols, and the lineage and history they individually represent.
I’ve started a larger scale project around creating a vast 16-Bit adventure games based on the Oryx Design Lab’s sprite libraries. Much more to come on this, but here’s some early progress.
