---
tags: projects, video-games, english
---

# ll-project-video-games-storytelling
ENG189vg: Video Game Storytelling

potentially two separate projects:

1. support for gif-centered close reading of a mechanic from a specific game
2. support for final presentations (which will involve slides and hence complex multimedia)

## potential LL events

- play together nights (4 PCs, say, set up for recording)
- sample of developing game logic, mechanics, 3D
-
-

## questions

- when does something become a game?
- like move from being a story to a game
- attention and scrolling

## games

- Dys4ia
- Depression Quest
- Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
- controller mechanic
- Gone Home
- Everybody's Gone to the Rapture
- set in rural England and unconventional because of that
- Her Story
- reconstructing something after the fact
- Firewatch
- Return of the Obra Dinn
- Novena
- Untitled Goose Game
- Disco Elysium: The Final Cut
- scifi, detective who lost memory and needs to figure out what's going on
- Life is Strange: True Colors
- The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxse

newly added:
- [depression quest](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depression_Quest)
- [the Stanley Parable](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stanley_Parable)
- [doki doki literature club](https://ddlc.moe/)
- may be added
- [jump scare games](https://www.webtoons.com/en/thriller/chiller/bongcheon-dong-ghost-horang/viewer?title_no=536&episode_no=22)
- http://kentuckyroutezero.com/
- stardew valley
-

## reference

[matrix video essay](https://www.canva.com/design/DAEteRjpVR0/gMbHRq0WwLmjfzu7yIcNGQ/view?website#2:between-the-dolly-the-zoom)
[video-game-fonts-and-elements](http://resources.learninglab.xyz/simple/help/video-game-fonts-and-elements)

# USING VIDEO GAME FONTS AND ELEMENTS IN FCPX

Today we received a request from a student hoping to create something like the following in Final Cut Pro:


The student indicated an interest in incorporating fonts and graphics that felt like retro 2D video game elements. So we pulled together these resources to get things started!

## FONTS

[Google Fonts](https://fonts.google.com/) is a reliable and safe place to go searching for fonts, and for this project, their [Press Start 2P](https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Press+Start+2P) looks promising.

There are also quite a number of free font sites you can check out, just be careful! We've had pretty good luck with [dafont](https://www.dafont.com/) and [1001fonts](https://www.1001fonts.com/). [Joystix](https://www.1001fonts.com/joystix-font.html) is available on these sites and is free for commmercial use.


Just download the fonts, unzip the `.zip` file, and drag the font files into "Font Book" on your Mac to install them.

## OTHER ELEMENTS

You can find reference stills from all the classic games all over the web, but another interesting option would be to record a screencast of yourself playing one of the many web-based classic game emulators, like [this version of PacMan](https://www.webretrogames.com/pacman-html5.php).


Go ahead and start up Quicktime, select `File => New Screen Recording`, and play away.

## PUTTING THINGS TOGETHER IN FINAL CUT

Once in Final Cut, you'll be able to create text in any of the fonts you've installed, and you can use Final Cut's built in tools to recreate some of simple elements from these games, or to crop and manipulate found footage and stills. Here is a short video tutorial to get you started:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X-dPWTKPgVY" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

And that should get you started! Like we say in the video, please get in touch with any more questions you may have!