Arianna White

Hello!

My name is Arianna White. I grew up on Kauai before moving to Kapolei to continue my education at the University of Hawaii West Oahu. At Kauai Community College, I earned my Associates in Creative Media along with Certificates of Competence in both Animation and Graphic Arts. When I'm not designing or creating, I spend time with my beloved cat and dog, who bring joy and inspiration to my creative journey. My love for art spans both traditional and digital mediums, with a particular passion for character design and visual storytelling. I would be an artist's palette because just as a palette allows colors to blend and transform into something new, I find myself constantly combining different influences, techniques, and ideas. While I already have all the colors within me, it's through careful mixing and experimentation that true artistry emerges.

Research Topic: Character Design and Storytelling

Research Question: How Character Design and Storytelling Impact Player Perceptions in Visual Novel Games?

Abstract:

This research explores how character design, storytelling, and player interaction shape emotional engagement and moral perceptions in visual novel video games. Despite their storytelling focus, academic studies on their narrative impact remain limited. Through examples from various visual novels, it highlights how empathetic or menacing characters influence players’ perceptions, often challenging moral expectations as the story unfolds. The medium’s non-linear, branching narratives uniquely enhance character development and storytelling, offering a powerful platform to examine morality, human nature, and interactive storytelling.

Capstone Project: Visual Novel Video Game

Project Title: The Mystery of Beaumont Manor

Capstone Proposal:

CREATIVE PROCESS:

The concept of creativity has come a long way. The Old Greeks would call those creative forces muses, other religions referred to them as God. Today people still mostly treat creativity as an aha moment outside the area of influence. However, just by looking at the creative process one can tell, that creativity and creative work is more than just that one "Aha-Moment" (insight). It is clear that generating ideas demands planning and preparation, identifying something of interest like a problem, an opportunity or a challenge, doing research. This then leads to thinking of a solution, allowing time to incubate and iterations before arriving at something “complete.” Students learn that hard work is what makes their ideas come to life and sticktuiveness is what helps them get better.

DELIVERABLE:

This senior capstone project explores the intersection of character design and narrative storytelling in the visual novel genre. Arianna creattes an original visual novel to examine further how character aesthetics, personality traits, and visual cues influence a player's emotional engagement and understanding of the story. Through iterative design and audience feedback, she evaluates the extent to which character design enhances storytelling, offering insights into how visual elements can deepen narrative impact in interactive media.

To play the game: https://beaumontmanor.itch.io/the-mystery-of-beaumont-manor

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