Date of Defense

4-17-2020

Date of Graduation

12-2020

Department

Music

First Advisor

Carter John Rice

Second Advisor

Christopher Biggs

Abstract

In place of a true Honors Thesis, I did a capstone project for my Multimedia Arts Technology major. For this project, I created a visual novel (which is a video game-esque computer program popularized in Japan with a heavy focus on text, although art and sound play a major part as well) entitled Ink Spots. Because of the medium’s inherent mixture of various other mediums, this visual novel is intended as a showcase of the many disciplines taught in the MAT program, from music production to computer programming to sound design. As my first full-length visual novel, Ink Spots contains numerous influences from all types of media that helped me realize my vision along the way, from other visual novels to video games, electronic dance music, and modernist literature. The work itself also contains numerous thematic concerns related to ongoing societal ills (such as the rise of the Alt-Right and American nationalism along with the predominance of late-stage capitalism, among other things) along with my own creative frustrations pertaining to my desires to create something more realist, even while creating this more predominantly surreal visual novel. Working in conjunction with my Thesis Chair, Dr. Carter John Rice, I pushed myself into a great array of many different artistic endeavors which were purposefully slightly outside of my usual comfort zone, from creating all of the artwork to producing primarily electronic music to handling all the art and sound effects by myself. As a result, I have created something that, even if it is not entirely perfect according to my own creative standards, I believe stands on its own, and I also learned the depth of my creative abilities as pertaining to the MAT program, including both my strengths and my weaknesses in the various fields of art design, sound design, and music production.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Restricted

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