Today I experienced the online, interactive, fiction work called Will Not Let Me Go.
It was the first project of the kind I experienced (that I can think of )- it was entirely story based, whereas most other interactive fiction media that I think of falls into the ‘open world’ category I discussed earlier, where a central narrative is lacking. It chronicled the musings and experiences of a man- Fred, with Alzheimer’s, and you (the player, or interactor) control his decisions and movements as if you are him. It is heartbreaking. The ‘game’ was made on Twine, online software for non-linear storytelling that I had never heard of but am so happy to have discovered. It is a ‘Choose your own adventure’ of sorts, but it feels wrong calling it that. You are lead through situations and make the consequent choices that Fred has to make.
The best way to describe it further is to quote a reviewer, Catacalypto- “Its mix of narrative voice and mechanics that support its story is exactly what I love in narrative design. From the opening indication that the story will remember your place, which fades out until only “remember” lingers, it’s a thoughtful and sometimes painful exploration of Alzheimer’s and dementia.” The way the words are presented and the way they disappear work in conjunction with the unreliable narrator to emphasise the sense of disorientation Alzheimer’s causes. It’s a very effective piece of work.
In terms of the principles of New Media that I have discussed most in the past- Modularity and Variability, it is both of these, but just to a degree. While there are separate components of the project, they all need to be experienced within the project. They do not exist outside of the project. Furthermore, while there is variation in the options you may take and the consequent narrative you may form, there is a very strong and consistent theme communicated through the project that won’t really change between users.
It is similar to Jess and my project as it is a branching narrative, giving readers/users multiple options, which will then lead them to another scenario and another option and so forth. However, it is much more seamless. Jess and I are building ours on a blog- which, as a small-scale project is definitely okay, but it would be beautiful if it was built on Twine, which does not require any new tabs or pages refreshing. It all happens on the same webpage, allowing the narrative to be smooth and flowing. Having said that, I don’t know if Twine supports the videos, pictures, and links that we are putting in our blog narrative. Something to think about, at least.
Something I’d like to find or see more of is interactive narrative in video format, rather than just games or the heavily wordy experience of Will Not Let Me Go. On the New York University blog, Future of New Media (that I mentioned previously), there is an interesting article about interactive web video, and it touches on how they are different from interactive games. The author,
Who knows? Maybe the Choose Your Own Adventure (that I seem to be obsessed with) will venture into movies.