Forensic Science
As of finishing my degree on the 19th of June 2024, and graduation on the 17th of August 2024. You may view my scientific reports and ventures that are public under "archives" which demonstrate my capabilities.
My forensic course has taught me many skills I still hold today, down to legal ettiquette of chain of custody, crime scene ettiquette, expert witness ettiquette training and research, and critical analysis of forensic discipline versus ideology policy and bias. Scientifically, I have plenty of experience in labs having practiced precision based technique on handling hazards, chemicals, and delicate substances. I'm very error conscious, and focus heavily on sanitation for optimal lab results without contamination and fault. I consider myself to be a very capable in the lab, and I also consider my major combination to be valuable and pivotal to scientific disciplines as I can do the science, explain it, critically analyze it, and articulate it in the contexts of how it works and affects society.
I've grown up in a computer-friendly family. As early as 9 years old I began learning how to build computers and I regularly surfed cyberspace for inforamtion. I've learnt a lot of variety skills over the years from different coding languages, most specially R for purposes in data science. I have a very in depth relationship with understanding ethics behind forensic technique and understanding of social actors between physical and digital space in the contexts of crime and investigation.
The lab work I have accomplished are quite variable so I've devised a list:
- Quality assurance and error minimization
- Metrology
- Full body autopsy with in depth desciptors of physical features, procedure, and measurements
- Forensic Geochemistry investigating possbile counterfeit honey adulteration
- Forensic Gas Chromatography seperation testing thymol richness in Thyme samples and extracts.
- Structural Elucidation of an Unknown Substance using NMR and IR Spectroscopy
- Analytical Seperation of Samples using Gas and Liquid Chromatography
- Electroanalytical Chemistry
- Raman Spectroscopy
- Anthropology involving recognition and recreation of a human skeleton, recording bone/dental presence, identification of weathering and ante/peri/post mortem traumas.
- Pathology of various forms of death and characteristics.
- Gun Forensics down to ballistic dynamics, calibres, weapon functionality, and bullet origin triangulation by tragetory, beveling, angle, and distance.
- Crime scene investigation of blood spatter, arrangement and context clue interpretation
- And much much more
Social Development, Criminology and Research
The Sociology part of my degree is largely combined with my Criminology as they intersect often course-wise. I focused largely on understanding New Zealand History, Sociological Theory, Victimology, and Criminology, with a heavy focus in more recent years on the digital medium. A lot of my Sociology work was research, and I regularly took on leadership roles in group projects, wrangling folks even when their cooperation was questionable and lacking. It goes without saying, I loved doing this Research alongside my Forensic papers, it was a good Yin-Yang synergy of scientific perspective being able to do a science, and then explain the science's effects and relationships on the social and political level which I think gives me a very unique skillset in my field. Historically science, and forensic science has had a lot of hiccups in how it gets applied to world without much introspection before hand. I believe in cushioning, and ideally eliminating unexpected negative effects on the social sphere through effective critical thinking and communication without compromising otherwise potentially useful programs and systems.
You can find the works I've accomplished and quite proud of in the Archives section of this website. But to list some of my faovurite things I've done:
- Orchestrated Field research in post-modernist digital society within VRChat alongside analyzing real-world career parralells in conjunction to COVID-19 cirumstance.
- Made a comprehensive comparative family demography between Estonia and Finland considering various population variables and current-world issues like the Russian hostilities to their neighbour countries.
- Did an analysis of effects of colonialism in the evisercation of common cultural meaning and value in the context of money and the dissolution of the USA Gold Standard.
- Analyzed early progenitors for perceptions of criminal behaviour as "heresy" and the early adoption of a criminal legal record keeping and procedure in the form of a authority called the "medieval inquisition"
- Interpreted and Critiques early forms of criminal explanation theory in the contexts of NZ relative to Corporate and common folk crime with Mertons Strain, Labelling, and other theoretical bases.
Yarntales
Yarntales refers to my most treasured creative work effort that is ongoing since 2019. It leans into my game development heavily, but it is also relevant in my casual book writting, and regular Dungeons and Dragons games, which have since been getting more and more updates and evolutions to the art style I employ, and systems I use. It has its own website elsewhere (that is currently being reworked), as it alone, would not be suitable to have here due to the project size.
Game Development
The Paraxis Project
Originally started in 2017, Paraxis was begun as a top-down shooter with the intention of me and two fellow high-school students working together to make a neat little game. Although the involvement, admittedly was minimal on that part of the two companions as their literacy at the time with GMS (Game Maker Studio) was minimal and thus stuck to roles less poignant to the functionality of the game.
The premise followed three intersecting storylines of anthropomorphic animal humanoids with advanced space faring technology fighting against an intergalatic horror that sought to bring about the destruction of the "Macron Gates" that allowed for intergalatic travel. It would involve ship combat akin to the old arcade shooter 1945, as well as a top down shooter bulk that encouraged clever combat engagement, problem solving, and resource management.
The project has been deprecated for some time, but the files I still have. I have no desire to continue this project further, but at the time I was thoroughly proud of the progress and techniques I learnt from the development process. I discovered how to make a functional shadow/lighting system, a basic artificial intelligence including detection and stealth, minigame integration, destructibles, command systems, HUD, UI, Dialogue system, game saves, and various attention to detail systems that I still think about and use today. It was also a big leap in my artistic capacities to draw and compose music as those were laos some responsibilities I adopted for the project.
There exist two old Dev Logs at the following links:
Dev Log Alpha 1.5
Circuits
Originally started in 2018, the Circuits game was a recreation of another game that I lost to time. At the time, it was made for a high school psychology project, as we had to design a psychology research project, pass ethics, source participants, gather data, assess and conclude our findings against our hypotheses as well as identifing research issues. Circuits was about matching colours on a limited grid space board with the timer that'd spawn more circuits eventually clogging the board and preventing the player from being able to move thus ending the game. The research investigated the phenomenon of "panic art" which is art designed to induce a sense of discomfort and fear to see if one group without the panic art present would be more effective at playing versus its presence. I remember finding minor results in favour of the non-panic art players having higher scores.
As of writing, I established a reboot of circuits one more time in 2024 which sought to reimagine the game from a research project game, into a actual puzzle time passing arcade game potentially for mobile and PC. The reimagining would have more than just colour matching such as powerups, new obstacles, game events, and modifiers as well as a main menu for settings and player interfacing. Although regular work on this project was regularly delayed due to the nature of University obligations.
The game is functional and has a page on Itch.io that can be reached below. Many of the planned features are yet to be integrated, but development is not a priority at the moment as I'm more focused on my Forensic Career desires.
Skimming the Skye
Began in early 2022 as a combat-platformer with a variety of equipment. The game was to focus on the story of a "incrementor" whose job is to lift a city using old tech with an energy called ecos on an annual basis before the Lings from the underground come up. Lings, were these creatures known for mass consuming Ecos, and oftentimes killed people for thier ecos, hence the need for avoidance, as extermination wasn't possible with their breeding frequency let alone with concurrent technology. Although it is this very technology the player can use to solve time-sensistive problems and discover secrets of the world. In the meantime, the player inbetween adventures would return to the town of Skye to connect with friends and family of the town, as an incrementors training is long, resulting in changes in the town and its inhabitants leaving the incrementor to reconnect with their roots.
For the sake of avoiding spoilers, the game which I plan to work on more in time was meant to be heartbreaking and hostile to the players emotional response to some of the events the happen therein as a sort of impromptu challenge. This would be the stories centerpoint from the voice of an otherwise uncaring diety whose connection was recieved through the old technology. As of current, the games based features at in place, down to an inventory system, leveling up, stats, platforming, many many art assets and a framework for combat all of which were workable for any actor NPCs and PCs.
There only was one small problem. The project is ambitious, and I am willing to follow through, albeit the programs I was using for 2D animation (namely DragonBones) were ineffective and hindering progress, and an alternative called Spine which fully encompassed what I needed was entirely out of financial reach and still is. However art assets, writing, and code is still being regularly dedicated to the game until I can get spine, using DragonBones as merely a testing ground for 2D sprite animation cohesion.
