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From the complex city-planning game SimCity to the virtual therapist Eliza: how computational processes open possibilities for understanding and creating digital media. What matters in understanding digital media? Is looking at the external appearance and audience experience of software enough—or should we look further? In Expressive Processing, Noah Wardrip-Fruin argues that understanding what goes on beneath the surface, the computational processes that make digital media function, is essential. Wardrip-Fruin looks at “expressive processing” by examining specific works of digital media ranging from the simulated therapist Eliza to the complex city-planning game SimCity. Digital media, he contends, offer particularly intelligible examples of things we need to understand about software in general; if we understand, for instance, the capabilities and histories of artificial intelligence techniques in the context of a computer game, we can use that understanding to judge the use of similar techniques in such higher-stakes social contexts as surveillance.
Every night, legions of zombies scratch at the outer walls of Dragon City, trying to claw their way into the grim and gritty metropolis ruled over by the Dragon Emperor, the mighty beast that keeps the hordes of hungry dead from storming the place and tearing it to the ground. Inside, ex-adventurer Max Gibson — now "Freelance" — tries to keep his head down and enjoy his early retirement, but something keeps digging up parts of his long-buried past. First he has to rescue an old pal from murder charges. Next he has a run-in with the corrupt Imperial Dragon's Guard and the dwarven mafia that run the city's under-mountain. After that, things get much worse, and Max soon finds himself wrappe...
This book provides the first detailed and comprehensive examination of all the materials making up the Star Wars franchise relating to the portrayal and representation of real-world history and politics. Drawing on a variety of sources, including films, published interviews with directors and actors, novels, comics, and computer games, this volume explores the ways in which historical and contemporary events have been repurposed within Star Wars. It focuses on key themes such as fascism and the Galactic Empire, the failures of democracy, the portrayal of warfare, the morality of the Jedi, and the representations of sex, gender, and race. Through these themes, this study highlights the impact...
"Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce Far Horizons, a sourcebook for Colonists making their living at the galaxys fringes in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire. Far Horizons offers new options for Colonists, along with new gear, spaceships, and species that all players (and GMs) will find useful." -- Publisher website.
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