Category: Reflections

HerStory - Wikipedia

[Interactive Narratives] Game Review

April 20, 2017 / / 0 Comments

HerStory – Wikipedia

Herstory is an interactive video game where the player searches through a bunch of video clips from a database of police interviews to solve the case of a missing man, Simon. The clips show a woman, Hannah Smith who is the wife of Simon being interviewed by the police regarding the matter of Simon’s disappearance. The player could type down keywords that they think could lead them to the other video clips to find out more. From there the case would slowly unravel and reveal who the culprit was.

I have always loved playing games or reading books that involves mystery and thrill. Herstory lets me play as a detective trying to solve the mystery of the missing man, Simon. I had to listen attentively to Hannah’s statements. From there I have to pick out keywords so that green boxes will appear on the database. This was to show my progress of the investigation. I enjoyed the parts where the case was starting to make more sense as to why Simon went missing and then was murdered. I was very eager to find out what the ending was and played it for a long period of time. I felt that it was a creative yet challenging game where I had to find out all the clues myself and it felt like a role playing or movie scene.

It was not an easy game since I had to figure out what kinds of keywords I had to type so as to find new footages that I had not watched before. There were many times I had to rewatch the videos multiple times so that I could gather some clues on what keywords I had been missing out on.

I liked that the video showed the investigation scene, so players could experience the environment during the game play. The graphics were quite dull which was a slight turn-off but the content of the whole game made it mind-blowing and I refused to do anything else other than to solve the mystery. It is an addictive game. The controls were easy to navigate as it was just typing keywords and clicking on the videos to watch them.

Overall, I enjoyed the game Herstory as it gives me the opportunity to play from a detective’s perspective. The mystery and thrills of Herstory continues to linger in my thoughts after playing it.

Maze by Juan Pablo Bravo from the Noun Project

Reading: The Garden of Forking Paths by Jorge Luis Borges, Translated by Helen Temple and Ruthven Todd

January 27, 2017 / / 0 Comments
Maze by Juan Pablo Bravo from the Noun Project

Maze by Juan Pablo Bravo from the Noun Project

Summary:
The Garden of Forking Paths tells the story in the context of World War I where an Asian man, Dr. Yu Tsun, working for the Germans, found out about the ‘new British artillery park’ where the Germans were suppose to attack.  He was therefore chased by Captain Richard Madden, an Irishman working for England. Dr Tsui decides to go to his friend, Dr. Stephen Albert’s house to seek a place of refuge. His ancestor, Ts’ui Pen wrote a novel where a Labyrinth was mentioned. Dr. Albert explained about it having a symbolic meaning where there were various futures with many different possible solutions. It was a massive guessing game without using the word itself. Captain Madden arrested Dr. Tsui as the latter killed his friend so to convey the secret place name, Albert to his Chief in Berlin.

Reflection:

After reading the short story The Garden of Forking Paths, I was confused when I read it for the first time. I did not understand why the main character, Dr. Yun Tsun was running away from Captain Richard Madden and why he killed his friend, Dr. Stephen Albert despite the latter allowing Dr. Tsun to seek refuge in his home. In the story, different types of actions led to many possible outcomes or solutions. After I read it a couple of times to fully understand the author’s point of view and the reason of stating multiple possible outcomes, I found the story quite interesting. Readers remained in suspense over what was going to happen to Dr. Tsun. Additionally, there was a special meaning behind the labyrinth his great grandfather Ts’ui Pen was writing about in his incomplete novel which Dr. Tsun was reflecting upon.

The part where Dr. Tsun got pursued by Captain Madden was thrilling, since Dr. Tsun knew the secret behind which part of Germany was going to be attacked by England. As I read the story, I felt like I became the main character trying to escape from the other spy in order to get the information to the country I was serving, getting help from a friend to get away from the other person. In that desperate situation of trying to get the secret information out, I had no choice but to kill my friend to get on the news so as to reach the country I was serving.

The Labyrinth was an interesting part of the story as it mentioned that there were many possible outcomes or solutions depending on the type of actions taken. It was mind-blowing. Many times we think that if something were to happen, the outcome would only have one answer. However if we change our mentality from there being only one outcome to having multiple outcomes, it would create a guessing game.

In interactive narratives, having multiple outcomes of a story could spark the interest of readers to continue on reading. One would not be able to identify what would happen next since there are so many possibilities out there.

 

Proper Structure of the Plot

Reflection: The Internet Classics Archive | Poetics by Aristotle Part VII

January 23, 2017 / / 1 Comment
Proper Structure of the Plot

co-creation by Esther Se.Kim from the Noun Project

From the reading, Aristotle mentioned about the proper structure of the Plot having a beginning, middle and end. I feel that it is similar to English Literature having different Acts representing the three sections of a Plot. Each Act expands more of the story the author is trying to portray.

I find the reading interesting as the Plot is compared to ‘very small animal organism’ and ‘one of vast size’. It cannot be too short, as the reader cannot understand the structure of the story that will live them in confusion. However, if the Plot is too long one can be lost in the midst of it. Therefore it has to be of certain length for one to fully comprehend and appreciate the Plot.

I feel that the Plot does not need to follow exactly to the proper structure of starting with a beginning and finishing off with an ending. When the Plot changes or have an unexpected twist in structure, the reader will become more curious. This causes them to continue reading the story.

Sometimes we feel that to fully tell a story the plot has to be long. Many times we have to cut the length of the story to fit the amount of words. When the content is compromised, the reader is left confused and the fortunate of the story can change from good to bad.

Narrative

Reflection: The four concepts by Eric Zimmerman

January 18, 2017 / / 0 Comments
Narrative

Book by Junior Alvarez from the Noun Project

From the reading, I learned that written and published books are a platform where the digital age is created. In this age, we sometimes neglect how useful books can be because all the information we need is just a click away. With the benefits of technology, they could cause us frustration in many possible reasons namely, the lack of cultural sophistication in the game industry, the limitations and the lack of understanding it.

I also learned about narrative not being subjected to just a story but it has an initial state, a change in that state, and insight brought about by that change. There is a narrative misconception that I have which is a need for words.

Through the reading, I gain insights that the game of chess can be a means of narrative even though that have never crossed my mind. How can chess be a narrative isn’t it just a game of tactics? When I related it back to the definition of narrative it became clear. The pieces on the chessboard are the initial state. When the game commences, the players would move the individual pieces are the change in that state. As one of the players places the queen on the opponent side, the game shows an insight brought about by that change.

Many times I would ask if something was narrative. However the question Zimmerman pose on his reader was ‘in what ways might we consider this thing a “narrative thing?”’ changes how I would question an art piece in future.

Just a curious thought whether theatre play is a form of narrative?