Jasmine Law
- Apr 16, 2019
- 4 min read

Energy Retention (Midterm)

Proposed Work Info

Title: Energy Retention

Medium: Video/Interactive Game

Software Used: Unity, ShotCut

Review Panel Info

1. Discipline: New Media Arts

2. In 2 sentences give a brief description of your project (limit 100 words):

Energy Retention showcases the limitations that every system, humans, in particular, encompasses through a video recording of a 2D game gameplay. There is a capacity that every system has before the system overflows and malfunctions. In a capitalistic society where more labor is often rewarded, what happens when you are rewarded through the completion of less, but more worthwhile labor. Sometimes, in a period of optimization, the act of opting out is the solution.

3. Expanded Project Description (limit 500 words):

Energy Retention visualizes the limitation and capacity level that every body of system encompasses. Regardless of what the system is used for, there are restrictions that unconsciously produces a snag if not taken care of early on. A capitalistic modern society offers individuals, like ourselves, a period where productivity and labor are not socially allowed to coexist without each other. When an individual holds an occupation, the expectations are established prior to the initialization of her job acceptance. One would immediately think of job requirements to be what's expected, but it's more than just that.

The expectation of producing more than the status quo, in terms of labor. There is no end to the amount of labor one is expected to produce. In the United States, there's a minimum amount of hours required for most jobs, but come on job applications, there no maximum? Society has been accustomed to exhaust human capital with no concern to the limitations an individual possesses. The capitalistic system forces people to do ghastly things for the sake of living, yet to just continue living, subconsciously, within a toxic system.

Energy Retention is pursuing a vision where individuals begin to realize that there is no end to the volume of work that is piled up for us every day. Just because it is considered labor, does not make it be in perspective with meaningful labor. Humans are none other than a body of system themselves, who tends to overlook that matter; supplied with a limited amount of energy, one's energy should be conscientiously exerted in a manner that is more qualitative than quantitative. Yet routinely, humans seek out for more labor just for the rewards it provides―most of them monetary. In such a vicious cycle, labor is often accepted in ample amounts, in turn, what was once acknowledged as the fruits of labor mutates into an empty vessel.

Without the need for such rewards, individuals begins to seep the benefits of removing needless labor― similar to how a system runs faster after trashing dispensable functions that are unnecessary and extraneous. In a capitalistic society, where productivity is at the core of its functions, it turns out that the act of opting out produces far more meritorious labor.

4. Artist Statement (limit 500 words):

At the end of my undergraduate degree, you would assume that I would know how to manage my time right? Or at least have an idea of how? I thought I did, turns out I was wrong. During the fall semester, I packed my schedule up with taking up the max number of class I could take while managing a part-time job and internship along with it. Sounds like a lot. Let’s just say, it was, and things did not look so pretty when Midterm week came along. I ended up dropping a class and learning my lesson. Or so I thought.

Spring semester came around and thinking that it was my last semester, I packed my schedule, again, with six classes, as well as a part-time job and an internship. A week or two before Midterm week, I began to feel how taxing everything was. The level of work that I was putting out is not what I would consider my best either. Although I wanted to get rid of some of the work on my plate, I felt like I couldn’t. It was almost as if, if I did, it’s like I’ve failed or I was not productive enough. But in reality, the society we live in will always make us feel like there’s more that needs to be done.

Energy Retention is a 2D platform game that encompasses the question regarding how one’s energy is spent when trying to be productive. Since being productive is always expected in society, insufficient labor and taking a sick day tends to have a negative connotation. But what happens when productivity is actually the result of inaction, inactivity, and leisure. We’re only humans, and even we have a level of capacity. There’s a capacity to how much our bodies can handle in order to be productive, and productive in the qualitative sense, not quantitative.

Individuals oftentimes lose sight of themselves into the capitalistic system and carrying the mindset that doing more is always better. They do not stop to question whether or not the labor they are performing is in any way meaningful to them. A lot of the time, it’s not. When one decides to analyze as to what is meaningful and what isn’t, they’ll realize that the optimization of work will lead to having only less work to do, that is more meaningful.

5. Technical Rider:

Energy Retention requires a monitor and audio output.