Animal Crossing: Mini-Games Within a Simulation

The Animal Crossing franchise is among Nintendo's most popular brands and has been a part of every Nintendo system's lineup since the Nintendo 64 as a result. But what is it that makes the series entertaining? The original Animal Crossing was a game without any conflict outside of a passive compulsion to pay off your house's debt and collect things to decorate it with. The game itself is entirely based around collection, which is reserved for side quests in other games. There is no end game, character progression, or punishment for doing poorly. These things make Animal Crossing abnormally difficult to define and make describing what makes it entertaining difficult. The word 'fun' is not one that can be used in tandem with Animal Crossing, because it is not truly a game. Animal Crossing's closest relative, The Sims, can be defined as a game, but also as a simulation. Although it contains mini-game elements, and is well designed, Animal Crossing differs from The Sims in that it is purely a simulation. Animal Crossing is its own breed of simulation where the goal is discovery and experimentation for the player's own benefit rather than for the benefit of a game system.

The original Animal Crossing is a well designed experience whether it is a game or not. The town is relatively small, but a town map is provided to assist in navigating it. After playing for a short time, the player rarely needs to check their map. The controls are very intuitive, and rarely rely on any buttons other than A or B. The A button is used the most consistently and it can be pressed to achieve almost anything, from talking to people to digging and fishing. The constant use of A ties the player's thumb to that button. While many true games provide a 'run button' or a 'punch button', the A button acts more as a unified 'reaction button'. When a player runs into a mysterious character in their town, they impulsively press A and await what happens next. When the player falls into a pitfall in the ground, they repeatedly press A to escape without thinking at all. There is some general direction initially; when the player first gets a shovel, the store keeper tells them to press A to use it. But these reminders are almost unneeded and lack of direction in button use introduces the player to experimentation. The experimental nature of the game removes its ability to access the player's expectations initially, which is what first truly separates Animal Crossing from a game.

The player is thrown into a world without rules, which is initially fairly shocking, and does not support an obvious mental model. At first glance, the player has no idea what they are about to experience or how they can affect the world around them. A short tutorial is provided in the form of a job at Nook's Cranny, the local store, but there is no actual instruction involved. The storekeeper, Tom Nook, tells the player to go meet all of the villagers, change into a work uniform, and plant flowers, without actually telling them how to do any of it. It may have made more sense to include some indication that there was a menu outside of the game screen, but the purpose of omitting this is clear. The user must figure out how to talk to people by pressing A, and they must find the menu with START in order to accomplish the tasks in front of them. These things are very easily figured out, but they reveal to the player what kind of experience Animal Crossing is going to be. Nintendo purposefully removes the player's ability to form a mental model, in order to force them to experiment. This taps directly into what Animal Crossing is all about.

Tracy Fullerton describes a game as having three key aspects: it must be “a closed, formal system”, it must “[engage] players in structured conflict”, and it must “resolve uncertainty in an unequal outcome”. Animal Crossing is a closed, formal system, and there are many uncertain situations that end unequally, but it is not structured. It is purely a sandbox, with no lose or win conditions. There are environmental reactions that could be perceived as negative by the player, but these things have no bear on the system itself. The Sims is a life simulation, but it is also a game because the player can lose. If a character dies, they are forced to make another character and start again from the beginning. There is little in the way of winning, but the losing state renders all other states 'winning' states. Animal Crossing, on the other hand, is entirely about exploration and experimentation and is never about winning. Webster defines a simulation as “examination of a problem often not subject to direct experimentation by means of a simulating device.” This definition is a perfect one for Animal Crossing. In the same way a flight simulator allows someone to experience flight without fear of repercussions, Animal Crossing allows them to live a separate life without the fear of loss or regret. This does not mean that Animal Crossing is not rewarding though.

The feedback that Animal Crossing presents mostly takes place in the shape of collecting trophies that reward the experimentation and exploration that the simulation presents with its other features. Players who fish at different times of the day and in different weather conditions are rewarded with various types of fish. Players who talk to various villagers at different times are rewarded with fetch quests that result in furniture and clothing. The sheer number of items and collectables in Animal Town is staggering which leaves a lot of room for exploration. The true reward though, is discovering the many events throughout the year that Nintendo has planned out.

Staying up very late can result in meeting Wisp the ghost, while rolling two snowballs together can result in meeting the Snowman. Additionally, holidays introduce characters like Jack, the Czar of Halloween and Jingle the Reindeer. There is a huge cast of characters to meet and each reward the player with special items or services. In addition, every character has a unique task that the player must perform to receive their reward, making meeting exciting and rewarding. Events like these are what truly drive the experience and invite the player to play each day and explore in hopes of meeting new, outlandish personalities. These events are fairly game-like in that they have win/loss conditions, but a player is free to experience them or not without any negative impact. There are other game elements that sway Animal Crossing slightly down the gaming path however.

The simulation features fishing, which is performed somewhat like a mini-game. The player casts out a line and waits for the fish to pull their bobber underwater. They must then push A at just the right time to pull the fish in. The player who fails to push at the right time, loses the fish and must move somewhere else before another one returns. Likewise, players who wish to collect insects that are perched on trees or flowers must do so in one swipe or suffer a similar fate. These activities are the closest that Animal Crossing gets to being a game due to their structured win/loss conditions, but their inclusion is not enough to call the entire package a game. They are optional mini-games within a simulation and their simplicity and seamless inclusion with the world remains consistent with the rest of the experience. In a similar vein, the original Animal Crossing featured collectable NES games which could be played from the player's house. Again, these were distractions within the simulation and are not enough to call the entire program a game. However, they are significant because of their comparison to The Sims.

In The Sims, players could direct their character to play a video game, which their character acted out. In Animal Crossing, the player walks over to the NES game and plays it directly. The Sims treats the player's characters as separate from themselves. They are people in the care of the user. Animal Crossing acts as if the player character is a version of the player in a virtual world. The Sims features interact-able game objects that act like people, while Animal Crossing features an avatar through which the player can live out a separate life. This is an important distinction between a life simulation game and a pure life simulation.

The life that Animal Crossing presents is fictionalized and idealized, much as an amateur flight simulation program simplifies the complexities of flight. Therein lies Animal Crossing's purpose. It is an idealized life that a user can live separately from their own. It cannot be considered a game because it lacks the typical win/lose structure of one, but that does not mean that it is not worth experiencing. Those who inhabit its charming world are able to let go of their lives in the real world for a time and experience another version of it where they are completely in control and where exciting things happen all the time. Animal Crossing is a well designed simulation that happens to feature a few game elements, but is just as entertaining as a game.

Sources:
Fullerton, Tracy, Christopher Swain, and Steven Hoffman. Game Design Workshop: A 
     Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games. Burlington, MA: Elsevier 
     Inc, 2008. Google Books. Web. 6 Dec. 2011. .

"Simulation." Def. 3b. Merriam-Webster's Student Dictionary. Merriam-Webster, 
     2011. Web. 6 Dec. 2011. .

Internship Blogs!

For the past couple of months, I've been working at an awesome SEO (Search Engine Optimization) company in Atlanta as a blogger. I now have other responsibilities in addition, but blogging is still my favorite so I thought I would share some of my blog posts here. Because, y'know, it's a blog.

My supervisor, Adam, posted one of my better posts on a special site here. It's about edible gold and even has a little note about me from Adam at the end.

More of my published work can be seen here or, alternatively, I posted some of my favorites below directly on Barley Wind for your perusal. Aren't you lucky?

Disclaimer: I am not paid in gold bars as Adam claims. They would have to be very tiny.

Why Trees Are Better Than You at Getting Revenge

A Fig Tree Waiting for Revenge

Trees and plants are often regarded by the average person as static objects for human use. They are objects that create shade, provide building materials, and make surroundings nicer to look at. Whether you like it or not, that’s how you perceive them. You jerk. Well, you may want to call someone else to take care of those trees when you hear how good trees are at exacting revenge.

First on the list, straight from the plot of M. Night Shymalan’s The Happening, are the plants that have friends in high places. Tobacco, corn, and cotton plants, when being preyed upon by caterpillars, can emit a chemical signal that attracts predatory wasps. Not only can the plants jump up a rung on the food chain and summon their friendly neighborhood predator, they can sense what kind of  caterpillar is nibbling on them and call exactly the wasp that likes laying parasitic larvae in their stomach. That little bit of nibbling gets you revenge in the form of being eaten, slowly and painfully, from the inside out. That’s like bringing a gun to a tickle fight.

How are you with figs? Fig fruit are meant to be eaten so that the plant can spread its seeds. However, the trees are not intended to be cut down and they don’t like it very much. Plants like fig trees are the reason tree services make money. When fig trees are cut into deep enough, they emit tree sap. Tree sap is, in many ways, equivalent to blood in humans. It is released upon injury and it clots at the wound to prevent invasive organisms from entering. However, the blood of a fig tree is mixed with a kind of latex and the latex contains licin. Licin is a type of defensive enzyme that can cause phytophotodermatitis, which is an extreme rash that is often confused with chemical burns. This is no ordinary rash. The symptoms include hypersensitivity to ultraviolet light, permanent alteration to skin pigmentation and, in some cases, boils the size of teacups. Yeah. They lace their blood with that stuff. How’s that for revenge?

There are many other types of plant revenge that are pretty diabolical. Many plants lace their own tissue with poison to kill predators that take a bite. Take for example, the deadly nightshade, which  poisonous enough to kill after consumption of just one leaf or three or four berries. Many types of human hallucinogens are toxins from plants like these that have been prepared for human consumption and can cause serious psychological damage. So next time you’re out in the yard, pruning some trees, burning some firewood, or eating leaves, watch your back. Plants are dangerous.

Image Courtesy of ~Prescott/Some Rights Reserved

Selling the Golden Rule as a Paradox

You begin reading an article. It begins detailing what would happen if you were reading it. Instead of detailing content that you'd be interested to know about, it tells you things that are occurring in the present, and that you already know. You continue reading, only to discover that it is still recording your actions as you follow it across the page. You wonder to yourself whether the blog post is ever going to actually progress to the topic that it presented in its title. Yes.

Of course this is a completely hypothetical situation. If that were to happen, you would have encountered a paradox. An article that details your actions as you follow its actions. The post is only true if you are reading it, but if you are not reading it, it has no purpose. A paradox is a statement or phrase that seems true, but defies logic when certain situations are applied to it. For example, the phrase 'If this sentence is false, then the sky is gold.' The sky is not gold, which means the sentence is false. However, if the sentence is false, it claims that the sky is gold, which it is not. This is a paradox. And now I'm going to attempt to sell you the Golden Rule as a paradox. Because it is.

The Golden Rule, or 'do for others as you'd like them to do for you.' From your perspective as an individual person the rule of gold makes sense. You're going to strive to do things for me that you'd like me to do for you. For example, if you wanted me to sell you gold, the metal, you would offer to sell me gold first. However, the Golden Rule assumes that you want others to follow the Golden Rule. If you didn't want others to follow the Golden Rule, you would not follow the Golden Rule yourself. So, if you direct the Golden Rule at me as was spelled out before, you want me to direct the Golden Rule back at you. Lets say that I want you to sell me silver. But, if my want is for you to follow the Golden Rule then I must do that.  So I want you to do what you want me to do, -- you following me? -- meaning that I must do that for you. I must do what you want me to do for you. I must sell you gold instead of sell you silver like I wanted. But this is not the Golden Rule anymore. I am doing what you want, and you are doing what you want. By using the Golden Rule, I have achieved a state that does not apply to the Golden Rule. The Golden Rule only works if both people want the same thing.

In conclusion, if everyone in the world just wanted to sell gold, then the Golden Rule would work. This solves a number of problems. You are now either very confused or you want to kill the author and I don’t blame you. He’s a jerk.

Maya Evolution Demonstration

A few scenes I composed in Maya for another project. They are meant to demonstrate the process of evolution through some cartoony creatures that I concocted. I'm particularly fond of the fish in the middle. Very basic, but a necessary process if I'm going to learn how to use the program properly.

Growing Up - An Experimental Text Adventure

You can download the adventure here.

You feel the sun for the first time as you burst forth into a strange new world. Years pass unevenly as if they were distorted seconds and you perceive many different scenes simultaneously. Plot and survival replace puzzles in this experimental miniature interactive fiction that focuses on identity and the long term effects of seemingly insignificant acts.

Due to complications with the file size, I couldn't actually feature the adventure on my blog, but it can be downloaded from the link above. Enjoy! The walkthrough is included because I'm told it's fairly difficult to complete. It is not a finished product by any means, but it's a draft that I'm okay with showing. Stay tuned for updates to it and the rest of my projects!

A concept image for a group project that I'm working on. It's a social media site for pet lovers, and this is a 'Pet Profile' that owners can create to share pictures of their pets with their friends and plan pet related events.   The site is not my idea, but I designed the page.

Beginnings to a Game of Questionable Significance

A simple sprite for a game that I'm currently working on.

The main character, Gloria.

And a screenshot from the game. It will be a platformer/beat em' up with retro graphics (aka I'm lazy) and an interesting gameplay twist. More to come in the future.

Level Design Example with Spore Galactic Adventures: Something in the Mist

As you passed by an uncharted planet, you received a distress signal from the surface. Upon landing, you discover a mysterious neighborhood shrouded in mist and in the middle of nowhere. It seems it is eternally Halloween here and no one seems to know who sent the distress signal... Something isn't right.

A silly Spore Halloween horror comedy created by Andrew Van Deventer. Enjoy a fun little adventure in a Halloween themed town. Go Trick or Treating, capture the moon, and run for your life. Everything was made by me with the exception of the trees in the opening walkway and the streetlights which were created by Maxis. The music also belongs to Maxis, but the program does not give the option to provide your own music. I do not own the rights to any of the candies mentioned, but I certify them to be delicious.

Here's a link to this adventure as well as my other adventure, Dinosaur Hunting, if you own Spore Galactic Adventures: http://www.spore.com/sporepedia#qry=ftr-adventure%3Ausr-Chikken21%7C2262942375

Final Project Process and Rough Drafts/Ideas

My original version of the Mario fridge raid ad. Due to comments from my critique squad, I fixed the final version to remove emphasis from the fridge. I do like this version because of how clear Mario looks, but there are very few who could tell what was going on in the image

This is the base image of Mario before he was edited into the refrigerator picture and given a shadow and crumbs.

I actually really liked these two old designs (above and below), but I realized late in the game that the 3D effect is only on the top screen  

An early sketch of my pants idea. The right pocket reads "I Couldn't Contain It", referring to the slogan of my ad campaign, but I decided later on that this could be taken the wrong way. I prefer the simplified design of my final product.

Top Left :

3D Without the Glasses

No. Really. 

A rough mockup of an idea I had while working on my current one. I couldn't figure out a way to incorporate it or turn it into its own campaign, but I still kind of like the idea. Trying to use the DS as glasses just tickles my funny bone for some reason. The idea of 3D without glasses still strikes me as unbelievable, and this played into the disbelief around which this image is based.

See the previous post for the end results of my final project.

Final Project End Results

Here are my 3DS pants. I wasn't able to actually add the 3DS logo in a way that looked good, so I edited it in instead. The Link face upon which the left pocket is based is shown in the advertisement below. The hat coming out of the pocket is meant to make comment on the 3D effect of the system.

This is the first of my basic advertisements. The font for the slogan on the left (on all of them) is based on Nintendo's traditional font so that it blends well with the picture. Instead of their typical red, however, the letters are green in this picture to fit Link's color scheme. The slogan and the logo are slightly rotated to appear broken and chaotic.

The text is changed back to red for Mario's edition of the commercial.

The Pikachu edition of my advertisement. It is based on the same color scheme as the advertisement above, which is why I didn't show it in class, but here it is.

Here is what Pikachu would look like if he were in a magazine. 

My billboard prepared advertisement on its billboard. The raw image is below.

The owner of the 3DS in this picture was unable to contain the intensity and so Mario is pictured escaping after having food from the fridge. This is based on my blue color scheme. 

Standby for rough drafts and process sketches in the near future.

Another Prototype

Two Screens.

Three Dimensions.

Can you contain it?

This is a mockup of a simpler version of my ad, without the before-after gimmick. It maintains the 3D effect for the bottom screen and gives a hint at mario on the top screen. Not certain exactly which direction I'll go with this idea, but it's a nice template for a backup.

Third rough concept attempt

Nintendo 3DS

Fixing the Third Dimension

This is my third attempt at constructing an ad based on my idea, featuring the Nintendo character link and my green color scheme. This is perhaps my favorite of the three so far. I really like the glass effect. Again, it's kind of hard to tell what the top screen is trying to say. My concept may need a good bit of tweaking before the final draft. I also wasn't really able to add the earthy browns and the blue included in the color palette that this was based on, which is a shame.

Red DS ad

Another rough mock up of my final idea. I think, for consistency's sake, that I'll include a different Nintendo character in every ad, as opposed to having generic exciting things happening in the bottom screen. Not sure if this ad is quite as effective as the last one though. I like the pokeball popping out, and I think I'll incorporate some sort of character related symbol into the '3D effect' for each one. However, the emphasis is meant to be on the man's eyebrows, because they're much larger (poking out) on the bottom picture, which is hard to tell. I may try to fix this later with just a picture of one eye from each person. That may make things more apparent. I also need to fix the broken glass effect and add a broken 3DS symbol beneath the crack. This ad incorporates my red color palette from last week. 

Concept ideas/Rough draft

Here is a rough mock up of my final idea. The 3-d effect needs work, but I like how the rest of it turned out. It is utilizing my blue color scheme from the previous post. I added some color to the bottom half of the add to differentiate it from the blandness of the top. The tagline will be added later.

Nintendo 3DS

Fixing the Third Dimension

The images below will hopefully guide my progress into the final version.

I've always liked Burger King's/Coke's abstract art ad on the side of their disposable cups. It does a very good job of looking delicious. Hopefully I can incorporate art close to this style in my 3-d effects on my ad. Alberto Seveso, will also serve as a source of inspiration (see previous post). His art does a good job of blurring outlines. An example of his art:

Color Palletes

These are my palletes:

http://www.colourlovers.com/photocopa/94690/Unnamed_Photo

http://www.colourlovers.com/photocopa/94754/Unnamed_Photo

http://www.colourlovers.com/photocopa/94757/Unnamed_Photo


And this is a showcase of a bunch of current 3DS advertisements. All of them are very blank, with the models wearing all white to emphasize the system and their expressions. This has been a pretty consistent trend with Nintendo from the Wii on and so I will likely implement a great deal of white in my color schemes.

http://www.destructoid.com/elephant/photo-m.phtml?photo_key=167028&post_key=192127#prevnext

Advertising essay

 a quick look at the content of Nintendo's handheld advertising then and now reveals how the target audience has grown alongside the company's progress: from 90's kids to college age nerds

The topic of my advertising campaign will be Nintendo's newest handheld gaming system the 3DS. This is not because of my attachment to the system itself, but because of my attachment to its predecessors and what they meant to me as a child. My memory of the day I got my Gameboy Color is at the same time very clear, and covered with the yellowish 90's filter of my childhood. I don't remember how old I turned or what kind of party I had, but I do remember the adorable glowing face of Pikachu, my new best friend, staring back at me from his bright green handheld frame. That gameboy followed me everywhere from then on and sheltered me with my own private world to escape into. When advertisements for the Gameboy Advance began to appear I was unsure what to think and I tried to convince myself that  games would keep coming out for my beloved Color. I was wrong of course and I eventually got my own Gameboy Advance, but I refused to get rid of my dear green friend and still carried it everywhere. I never played it and kept it in a bucket with the rest of my old games, but I just couldn't let it go as if doing so would hurt the game's feelings as much as it would hurt mine. However, one day, my brother and I were rough housing and I fell right onto my game, crushing it's screen and rendering it useless. Instead of pitching a fit or crying or any other emotionally triggered outburst, I simply stared at it for a second and decided it was time to move on. I threw it away and grew up a little bit on the inside. That game was more a blankie than any real blankie had ever been to me and every time a new handheld system comes out, I fight a little internal battle and remember what it was like to be a kid and what it was like to grow up. Nintendo's handheld lineup has grown up with my generation and I will do their newest handheld justice in an advertising campaign targeted towards adults and kids. How I will do so is a little trickier than that.

the signature randomness of the most recent Old Spice campaign provides entertainment in advertising

In today's media addicted society, marketing has to stick out. The constant stream of advertisements being pushed on the everyman by television, the radio, and the internet makes such things nuisances that are skipped over or tuned out. It is the advertisements that are disguised as entertainment that are watched and remembered. The best example I can think of is the current Old Spice mascot, Isiah and his impressive stream of single-shot randomness about what your man should be. The Old Spice campaign is one of the best known advertising campaigns in a while and its content has become a phenomenon, with users voluntarily viewing specially made installments of it on YouTube. Because of these commercials and other similar humorous entertainment campaigns, such as Apple's 'Mac vs. PC' commercials, I intend to base my advertising in the humorous, but to maintain simplicity. The humor will therefore need to be entertaining for children but also for their parents and so will need be simple but charming. It is likely that the color scheme will be bright and full of diverse colors.

the simplicity of the environments of Apple's mac vs pc commercials both enhances the focus on the characters and brings to mind the simplicity of the all-white Apple logo

Palette

My attempt at recreating the colors from my warm/cool Itten's contrast. The oranges aren't arranged in the
same fashion, but the medium-hued orange smeared across the middle is meant to represent the missing orange layer. I couldn't really get the colors exactly how I wanted them, but they are somewhat close to being  correct in relation to each other.

Test Task 2 and 3

The last two practice tasks using Peter Piper Palette Picker. The top one is intended to use the illusion of overlapping colors while the bottom takes advantage of Itten's warm-cool contrast.

Monochromatic Test Task

Here is my attempt at creating a monochromatic piece with Peter Piper Palette Picker.

Final Collage: A Slave Obeys

A less blurry picture of my final project outside its frame. The blood and age stains are intended to capture the dark, gritty mood of Bioshock. I intentionally put images, such as the biplane, the two men in overcoats, and the newspaper to give a 50s feel due to the very decade emphasized setting in the game. I dislike the biplane more and more and may try to recolor, remove, or replace it just for my own satisfaction later. The message written in red "A Man Chooses, A Slave Obeys," is a quote from a very dark moment in the game and is central to the plot. It is scrawled in red in an attempt to replicate the many plot details written in blood on the walls throughout the game.

A lower quality picture inside the frame.

Collage Process

The process of building my collage. I outlined the scraps of paper with orange, stained, and burned portions of it to create the illusion of age.

Silhouette

Here is my silhouette for the collage project. I am concerned that it is too complicated or that its imperfections are too noticeable so I may try out a second silhouette later as an alternative.

Alberto Seveso

The images above were created by freelance illustrator and graphic artist Alberto Seveso. He was born in Milan, Italy and taught himself to be an artist without any formal schooling. He has developed a photoshop technique that allows him to create the illusion that the human body is made up entirely of vector shapes.  His art breaks apart or hides parts of his human subjects while maintaining their human shape to create a kind of mysterious, surrealist feel, while still maintaining some form of realism. Often he plays with color in his photographs as well, forcing the audience to focus on certain shapes and oddities as he presents them. Most of the end products are amazing and their manipulations of the human appearance make them very entrancing. Seveso jokingly calls his technique 'sperm shaping' because the vector shapes that he creates often resemble sperm (bottom).

Original Picture

This is the original image that I based my cover art off of. Kudos to whoever originally created it.

Or... Of Something Else

Here is the final version of my Album Cover project (right). On the left is a rough draft. The letters were moved to make sure that the diagonal pattern remained unbroken until the word Else to emphasize the meaning of the phrase itself. Light background smoke was also added in the background to add depth and fill up the vacant space left in the rough draft. The song 'The Man Who Isn't There' by Oren Lavie provided inspiration for this cover due to its sad, creepy mood and its use of unconventional instrumentals.

Value Relationships in Music Art

 

This is an example of an achromatic album cover. 

 

A very high key album cover.

 

A low key album cover.

 

And finally... this music video is about as chromatic as it gets

Zoom Out

The first screenshot is taken from Robbie Dingo's Watch the World and the second is from Henry Selick's movie entitled Coraline. Robbie Dingo's video recording his creation privileges the viewer with a tour through through through various stages before it culminates in its final zoom out (pictured on top). This zoom out changes the viewer's perspective and its resemblance to Van Gogh's Starry Night adds meaning to the whole composition. Similarly, in Coraline, the viewers are taken through the magical Other World garden before the main character carries them into the sky to see the whole picture (pictured on bottom). The garden's resemblance to the main character is a stunning and awe inspiring moment of the film. It is this that the two pieces have in common. The viewer is captivated at first by exploring the world that they are presented with, and then, in a morph of perception, they are given the whole message. However, while the first piece is made entirely digitally, the second is made with in analog with stop-motion. Coraline's face is made up of hundreds of tiny paper flowers and other props and it took a very long time. Robbie Dingo's work is made entirely of 3-Dimensional models by just himself over a relatively short period of time. There is a certain charm and place for both.