Signs, Symbols and Ciphers. Decoding the Message.-Georges Jean.
Image and Representation. Key Concepts in Media Studies.-Nick Lacey.
Elements of Sociology.-Roland Barthes.
http://kotaku.com/search/Mirrors%20Edge/
Mirrors Edge Articles.
http://jodi.tamu.edu/noticeboard/cosign01.html
Computational Semiotics in Games and New Media.
http://homepages.mcs.vuw.ac.nz/~chikken/cgi-bin/research.pl?Semiotics
Video Games Values: Semiotics.
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/index.html
Semiotics; The Basics
Daniel Chandler
http://gamestudies.org/0301/kucklich/
Perspectives of Computer Game Philology.
“Taking the process of reading as a model for the process of playing might seem like an oversimplification, but this is not the fault of the critical analogy, but rather of our simplistic understanding of the interaction between reader and text.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiotics
www.youtube.com
www.google.co.uk
Tuesday 26 May 2009
Evaluation
In this project I have studied the key areas of Semiotics and Semiology and have explored more advanced areas such as codes. I feel that now I have a good understanding of this area but obviously there is a lot I have left untouched, mostly parts that did not pertain to games, and I would like to learn more.
I have tried to apply this knowledge to my study of Mirrors Edge and I think I have done this fairly well, touching on signs in character design, which is something I am very personally interested in, and also building semiotic codes into game design.
I have included a video and a fair amount of images into my blog though I did not edit my layout very much at all. This was partly to do with a lack of understanding, as this is the first blog I have ever created, but also to do with not really wanting to change anything, the simple design matches what I wanted created anyway.
To further this I would like to explore further into semiotic theory but also would like to compare mirrors edge against another game and see what conclusions I could draw from this.
I have tried to apply this knowledge to my study of Mirrors Edge and I think I have done this fairly well, touching on signs in character design, which is something I am very personally interested in, and also building semiotic codes into game design.
I have included a video and a fair amount of images into my blog though I did not edit my layout very much at all. This was partly to do with a lack of understanding, as this is the first blog I have ever created, but also to do with not really wanting to change anything, the simple design matches what I wanted created anyway.
To further this I would like to explore further into semiotic theory but also would like to compare mirrors edge against another game and see what conclusions I could draw from this.
Runner Vision, creating codes within a game.
Runner Vision is an innovative and accessible waypoint system within Mirrors Edge that highlights important objects and places to go in bright red. This is interesting from a semiotic point of view for a number of reasons. First of all the colour red gives off a variety of signs. It is indexical of both anger and warmth and is used as both throughout the game.
Red is symbolic of anarchism and revolution, matching the character Faith's ideals. The bright red colouring also stands out from the cities otherwise cold isolating colours, this adds to the feeling of reassurance when the player sees an object they can use to reach new areas. From a more practical perspective, Runner Vision also creates goals and a direction for the player and essentially turns the game, from being simply a run through the city, into a series of runs between checkpoints, which is much easier to navigate.
All of this, it could be argued, lays the foundation for codes to be created within Mirrors Edge. The player begins to associate this colour with new signs, red doors go from being symbolic of anarchism and indexical of a way out to symbolising mission objectives and level goals. This is certainly no accident and has been purposefully engineered into the game. The same can be said of almost any game, the cover system in Gears of War can be said to have changed brick walls into symbolising safety and protection. Piles of hay become appealing hiding spaces after playing too much Assasins Creed... Not that the old meanings of walls or hay are gone, merely that these games have given us new codes which we associate with them.
Faith's Character Design
This is Faith, the main character of Mirrors Edge.
She is designed to look tough and athletic.
Her gritty image is iconic of her being street smart and able to handle herself.
This is not Faith.
This is a redesign posted on Kataku by a fan called Torokun, who decided that Faith should look younger and prettier.
"There is always a huge complain from Asian gamers whenever Western developers design Asian female characters..." As Torokun continues, this is mainly because many Westerners' definition of what is considered as "Asian" beauty is very different from what Asians consider beautiful." - Kotaku.
What Torokun is not taking into consideration is that Faith may not have been designed to appear beautiful to a western or asian market. You could argue that the change in character design also changes the signs given off by the character. Faith's design gives her an athletic figure, making her look like a hardened street runner, which is the preferred meaning. This is lost with the voluptuous look of the redesign. The redesign's eyes are cartoonishly large to make her appear more approachable, but Faith is not supposed to be an approachable character. Years of having to fend for herself have made her cold and distant but to only a few close friends. Faith is supposed to look old and fairly weathered, she runs across rooftops for a living... Whilst Torokun may have made the character look more beautiful, he has completely missed the point of a character design that has clearly had a lot of work and thought put into it to give out some very specific signs.
Mirrors Edge Comic
Found this article on Kotaku about the Mirrors Edge comic book.
Thought it might be worth analysing it briefly.
Again there is a change in the art style, further separating the comic from the game. This art style is vibrant, like the gameplay, but still slightly muted like the cutscenes. The comic uses the games trademark red colourings, but only on the character Faith. This distinguishes her from the rest of the Mirrors Edge world and highlights her as a seperatist. Faith is doing things in the comic that players will have done in the game. This makes you naturally link the two together, the same way that the similar art styles between the comic and the cutscenes do.
Thought it might be worth analysing it briefly.
Again there is a change in the art style, further separating the comic from the game. This art style is vibrant, like the gameplay, but still slightly muted like the cutscenes. The comic uses the games trademark red colourings, but only on the character Faith. This distinguishes her from the rest of the Mirrors Edge world and highlights her as a seperatist. Faith is doing things in the comic that players will have done in the game. This makes you naturally link the two together, the same way that the similar art styles between the comic and the cutscenes do.
Mirrors Edge, Semiotic Analysis
In an earlier post I very basically analysed this image of Mirrors Edge gameplay as an example of Indexical, Symbolic and Iconic signs.
In contrast to the gameplay, the cutscenes in Mirrors Edge are very simple and almost cartoon-like, this style acts as an anchor to inform you that you are no longer playing.
Anchors are another way of semiotically analysing texts, they are often used in adverts in the form of a logo or brand name and act to anchor what you are seeing to the company. Often adverts can be so ambiguous that anchors are required just so that the viewer understands what going on.
The differences between Mirrors Edge gameplay and cutscenes can be cross-analysed semiotically. With this cross analysis, a greater understanding of why the developers chose these two different styles can be achieved. For instance the first person perspective during gameplay creates a greater depth of immersion for the player, whilst the more cinematic approach during cutscenes informs them that the story is about to advance. This is accentuated by the anchored, contrasting art styles. The two are also inherently semiotically different because gameplay is a two way experience, whereas the cutscenes you can only view. Also the vibrant colours during gameplay add to the fast paced feel, whereas the muted colours of the cutscenes accentuate the slow paced feel. Often the gameplay will be set outside on rooftops and the cutscenes often will be set inside or in darkened alleys. Again this sets two different tones and anchors them separately.
The two styles have obviously been purposefully engineered to be different and set the gameplay and the cutscenes apart. The slow moving pace of the cutscenes compared to the fast moving pace of the gameplay suggests that this choice was made to break the tension for a more enjoyable play experience.
In contrast to the gameplay, the cutscenes in Mirrors Edge are very simple and almost cartoon-like, this style acts as an anchor to inform you that you are no longer playing.
Anchors are another way of semiotically analysing texts, they are often used in adverts in the form of a logo or brand name and act to anchor what you are seeing to the company. Often adverts can be so ambiguous that anchors are required just so that the viewer understands what going on.
The differences between Mirrors Edge gameplay and cutscenes can be cross-analysed semiotically. With this cross analysis, a greater understanding of why the developers chose these two different styles can be achieved. For instance the first person perspective during gameplay creates a greater depth of immersion for the player, whilst the more cinematic approach during cutscenes informs them that the story is about to advance. This is accentuated by the anchored, contrasting art styles. The two are also inherently semiotically different because gameplay is a two way experience, whereas the cutscenes you can only view. Also the vibrant colours during gameplay add to the fast paced feel, whereas the muted colours of the cutscenes accentuate the slow paced feel. Often the gameplay will be set outside on rooftops and the cutscenes often will be set inside or in darkened alleys. Again this sets two different tones and anchors them separately.
The two styles have obviously been purposefully engineered to be different and set the gameplay and the cutscenes apart. The slow moving pace of the cutscenes compared to the fast moving pace of the gameplay suggests that this choice was made to break the tension for a more enjoyable play experience.
Mirrors Edge
Mirrors Edge is a first person action-adventure game with a unique “free running” element. To give a taste of the gameplay I have included this trailer...
Codes
In my post on categories of signs, I briefly mentioned a code as something which is often needed before signs can be interpreted. Signs depend on a code within which they are situated, codes provide a framework within which signs make sense. Basically signs can only be understood if you have a familiarity with what they are signifying. For instance to the western world a laptop is instantly recognisable but to less developed countries a laptop might appear alien and strange. In theatre this is called a cultural cliche and it refers to anything that is not instantly recognisable worldwide, anything that requires a code to decipher.
A perfect example of signs needing codes to operate is in the introduction of photography into the modern world. David Chandler quotes, "Even an indexical and iconic sign such as a photograph involves a translation from three dimensions into two, and anthropologists have often reported the initial difficulties experienced by people in primal tribes in making sense of photographs and films."
A perfect example of signs needing codes to operate is in the introduction of photography into the modern world. David Chandler quotes, "Even an indexical and iconic sign such as a photograph involves a translation from three dimensions into two, and anthropologists have often reported the initial difficulties experienced by people in primal tribes in making sense of photographs and films."
Tripartite Categorization of Signs.
The science of signs is a combination of the work of two separate men. Ferdinand de Saussure, who created semiology, and Charles Peirce, who created semiotics. Whilst Saussure described Signifier and Signified, C.S. Pierce came up with three categories of signs. Indexical, Iconic and Symbolic.
Indexical signs never show what they represent but rather have a relationship with it. For instance a picture of someone with tears streaming down their face is indexical of that person being upset. As is a recording of that someone crying.
Iconic signs show something similar to what they represent. For instance when we see a photograph of someone, we know that it is not the actual person but only represents them. Maps and other abstract pictures are also iconic as long as we understand what they represent.
Symbolic signs require an overall consensus about what they mean. Language is a symbolic sign as are roadsigns and certain colours. Symbolic signs often loose their meaning when they are removed from their cultural habitat. In fact, most signs are at least loosely governed by conventions of interpretation or codes.
These categories of signs help considerably in the decoding of images, for instance...
The police officer is being kicked by the main character, Faith, which is indexical of the two being adversaries.
The red colouring of Faith's gloves and boots are symbolic of revolution and anarchism.
The skyscrapers and developed buildings are iconic of a prosperous flourishing city.
Indexical signs never show what they represent but rather have a relationship with it. For instance a picture of someone with tears streaming down their face is indexical of that person being upset. As is a recording of that someone crying.
Iconic signs show something similar to what they represent. For instance when we see a photograph of someone, we know that it is not the actual person but only represents them. Maps and other abstract pictures are also iconic as long as we understand what they represent.
Symbolic signs require an overall consensus about what they mean. Language is a symbolic sign as are roadsigns and certain colours. Symbolic signs often loose their meaning when they are removed from their cultural habitat. In fact, most signs are at least loosely governed by conventions of interpretation or codes.
These categories of signs help considerably in the decoding of images, for instance...
The police officer is being kicked by the main character, Faith, which is indexical of the two being adversaries.
The red colouring of Faith's gloves and boots are symbolic of revolution and anarchism.
The skyscrapers and developed buildings are iconic of a prosperous flourishing city.
Signifier and Signified
In "Image and Representation, Key Concepts in Media Studies" Nick Lacey writes that "At the heart of semiotics is the study of language and how it is the dominant influence shaping human beings' perception of and thoughts about the world. Semiotics is also a wonderful tool for analysing images."
To me this sums up semiotics perfectly. The "science of signs" is a very broad field and there are many complicated aspects to it, a lot of which I won't be exploring in this blog as they do not pertain to game analysis, but at it's most useful semiotics is excellent at decoding texts of all kinds into signs, which we can then further decode. In this post I'll be talking about how semiotics defines these signs structurally.
In the study of semiotics, texts are broken down into signs, these signs refer to any form of communication including pictures, words and even taste or smell. These signs can be further broken down into the Signifier and Signified. The Signifier is how we perceive the texts physical presence, whilst the Signified is what we associate with the text.
For instance, without the concept of a keyboard (the signified), all I am typing on is a square of plastic with meaningless symbols painted onto it (this is the signifier). This is also true of the word keyboard. When we see these letters placed together the concept of a keyboard is signified to us.
Though we strongly associate Signifier and Signified, the connection between the two is often superficial. A keyboard could be called any number of things and that wouldn't change it's function or how we think about it. This is because the signifier does not determine the signified.
To me this sums up semiotics perfectly. The "science of signs" is a very broad field and there are many complicated aspects to it, a lot of which I won't be exploring in this blog as they do not pertain to game analysis, but at it's most useful semiotics is excellent at decoding texts of all kinds into signs, which we can then further decode. In this post I'll be talking about how semiotics defines these signs structurally.
In the study of semiotics, texts are broken down into signs, these signs refer to any form of communication including pictures, words and even taste or smell. These signs can be further broken down into the Signifier and Signified. The Signifier is how we perceive the texts physical presence, whilst the Signified is what we associate with the text.
For instance, without the concept of a keyboard (the signified), all I am typing on is a square of plastic with meaningless symbols painted onto it (this is the signifier). This is also true of the word keyboard. When we see these letters placed together the concept of a keyboard is signified to us.
Though we strongly associate Signifier and Signified, the connection between the two is often superficial. A keyboard could be called any number of things and that wouldn't change it's function or how we think about it. This is because the signifier does not determine the signified.
Introduction
For my critical studies project I have chosen to write about Semiotics, specifically in the game Mirrors Edge.
Firstly I have chosen to study Semiotics because, quite honestly, it interests me. Since our first couple of lessons on Semiotic Analysis I have been picking apart advertisements, posters and pictures and, pretty terribly, deciphering them. From an artistic point of view semiotics is a useful tool for understanding why a piece of art makes people feel a certain way, I've also found myself thinking about the meaning behind colours, objects and people when I've been sketching and painting and have tried to incorporate this idea in my current project.
I chose to focus on Mirrors Edge because it lends itself particularly well to a Semiotic Analysis. What makes Mirrors Edge interesting, is that as well as being a game, bringing up the argument of whether games can be fully analysed with semiotics, the cut-scenes and the main game are in two different art styles and interesting parallels and differences can be drawn between the two.
First of all I will explore the basics of Semiotics, then go on to describe Mirrors Edge and how it pertains to this form of analysis.
Firstly I have chosen to study Semiotics because, quite honestly, it interests me. Since our first couple of lessons on Semiotic Analysis I have been picking apart advertisements, posters and pictures and, pretty terribly, deciphering them. From an artistic point of view semiotics is a useful tool for understanding why a piece of art makes people feel a certain way, I've also found myself thinking about the meaning behind colours, objects and people when I've been sketching and painting and have tried to incorporate this idea in my current project.
I chose to focus on Mirrors Edge because it lends itself particularly well to a Semiotic Analysis. What makes Mirrors Edge interesting, is that as well as being a game, bringing up the argument of whether games can be fully analysed with semiotics, the cut-scenes and the main game are in two different art styles and interesting parallels and differences can be drawn between the two.
First of all I will explore the basics of Semiotics, then go on to describe Mirrors Edge and how it pertains to this form of analysis.
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