Ben’s presentation on ‘live-action gaming’ and interactive narrative was great. The concepts discussed were really interesting and his explanations of real-world games were particularly useful as my group is currently planning to create an ARG for our final transmedia project. Below I’ll discuss some of the ideas Ben introduced to us… Emergent Narrative: An emergent narrative is one which can…
Author: Aidan Tai-Jones
[WATCH]: ‘TF2 Expiration Date’
Team Fortress 2 is a team-based online game created by Valve. The game itself has a very limited narrative, however in an interesting move, Valve has given the characters and universe of TF2 a fairly detailed history and personality. They have achieved this through the production of a range of web-comics and animated short films (such as the one embedded below).…
Story Lab [part 12]: Project Planning
With our transmedia project team now formed we’ve been able to start figuring out how we’re going to achieve the creation of our interactive crime-mystery narrative. It’s been really useful to start exploring and discussing the project’s potentials with everyone. The different ideas each of us have brought to the table have so far made developing the narrative quite a…
Story Lab [part 11]: Web Series
I’ve decided that both the best & worst part of this course is the constant exposure to awesome narrative content. I’m more of a movie person (who very likely avoids TV shows subconsciously due to a uncontrollable bingeing habit), BUT through our screenings of Sherlock and this week’s Web-Series selection I’ve been sucked into a range of longer-form tv/web narratives. After…
[READ]: ‘Portal 2 – LAB RAT’
Give the Portal 2 Comic a read. The Portal 2 ‘Lab Rat’ comic is an excellent example of a transmedia storytelling strategy. Published just prior to the release of the anticipated Portal 2, the comic builds upon the mysterious and incomplete world that Valve has created through it’s Half-Life and Portal game franchises. It also fills the gap between the original Portal…
Story Lab [part 10]: Writing about Agency
This is the first time I’ve become really interested in an essay topic, and I’d largely attribute this to the fact that video-games, new-media and VR are all areas in which I can see myself working in the future (especially VR). I came across some really interesting readings and I finally found an academic application for some of the podcasts I…
Story Lab [part 9]: The Marvel Cinematic Universe
“Mr Stark, you’ve become part of a bigger universe. You just don’t know it yet…” The Marvel Cinematic Universe is possibly the largest and most significant narrative beast that cinema (and storytelling as a whole) has ever hosted. While I’m personally experiencing a period of superhero fatigue (induced by Age of Ultron), it’s impossible not to Marvel (sorry) at the…
[PLAY]: ‘Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger and the Terribly Cursed Emerald’
I don’t know if anyone actually reads these…BUT if you are for some reason, then let me suggest that you play this game. Created by the designer of ‘The Stanley Parable’, ‘Dr. Langeskov’ (have fun trying to pronounce that) is witty, self-aware and highly interesting. I won’t spoil anything because playing through the game for the first time is a…
Story Lab [part 8]: Story Smash
Wednesday’s ‘Story Smash’ activity turned out to be a really interesting and valuable brainstorming/writing experience. The process of breaking apart and combining aspects from each of our 3 story concepts proved to be quite difficult, however I think we approached the challenge in an effective and open-minded manner. We started by taking the characters from 2/3 of our individual concepts and…
Story Lab [part 7]: Interactive Games
Parallel: Parallel found a way to present its dual storylines in a somewhat interesting way, however I never felt like I had been given any chances to properly interact with the story at all. The juxtaposition of the male and female characters was executed well enough, however there was no real aspect of the experience that allowed the ‘player’ to…