Month: January 2017

Text: Eric Zimmerman’s 4 Naughty concepts.

 

Eric Zimmerman conveys the need to understand that concepts and terms must be agreed upon with before further progress may be made in the development of games.

 

Narrative

I think to sustain interactivity, there needs to be a form of narration. I mean that’s how games work. Eric listed three areas of consideration of what narrative is but then again, do we confine them to what we perceive of narration. Taken, that there must be a series of varying events over time, but do we only limit the narrative to viewers of should we also explore narration executed by the user? And how far are we to go with narration?

 

 

Interactivity

I think bearing in mind the 4 types of interactivity that was highlighted, the most familiar one would of course be explicit interactivity. But it opened my mind when I read about the other three that Eric mentioned. I felt that we all sort of know what the different types of interactivity components are but aren’t learned enough yet to be able to theorize them. So, this was a useful read.

 

 

Play

Play, as Zimmerman puts it, would refer to having a proper system in place to allow for the components of narrative and interactivity to give a context to the game which then allows for the freedom to explore (or how one would call it, play). And I agree with him because of for a proper game to take place, there needs to be boundaries and limits to bring it to a level where the grounds are fair. So, unless there isn’t any system in place, no game would proceed smoothly.

 

Games

The hardest of them all to define, games, as I would understand from his text, is the combination of narrative, interactivity (explicit) and play. It is a conscious effort on the human brain for such a “game” to take place, with the considerations of the limits set in the first place.

 

Zimmerman shares that this whole idea of narrative interactive is but debatable and dependant on what one thinks of it and what it is. Games as it is, is already a narrative but what elements it involves, allows for the interactivity of the game.

Interactive Narrative project

 

Idea:
Linear plot, online based using a website creator. A simple web-based interactive graphic narrative that challenges the notion of gender equality and the very basis of human conscience. The story of two love birds and how your decision will affect their relationship with each other at 8-10 scenarios which will ultimately lead to an outcome: Continue in their relationship or breakup.  

Plot: 

This will begin with simpler decision that involves low risks and will gradually increase as the narrative proceeds. It starts out with the couple at the infancy stage of a love relationship and will progress to a more stable one, dependent on the decision you make. 

A more detailed description. What are the risks involved and the decisions one needs to make? 

A love life that is completely unorthodox. Pushing the boundaries of the very basis of human interaction and conscience between two individuals. How the way the male protagonist treats the female lead will determine a specific outcome for her: The better he treats her, the greater the extent of self-harm inflicted. However if he treats her badly (of course subjected to the extent) there will not be any outcome and the relationship continues. How this works is that the storyteller, you, given the scenario of what is to happen, will be deciding between treating her badly or good. For example, a particular scenario could be that the male lead offers to shelter the female character (Good) or he could tamper with the umbrella by cutting holes (Bad) and offer it to her. For each scenario, the outcome will also be listed in the section for the good deed. (If male lead offers umbrella, female lead will cheat on him with a one-night stand). The whole idea is for the story maker weigh the extent of the outcome, through which we are then able to understand how much of a risk taker they are and the kind of person they are most likely to be. 

Purpose:

The purpose of this is to see how much one is willing to sacrifice in a love relationship, which tackles issues that couple face from very trivial matters to grave ones that will end a relationship. This is in hopes to raise awareness of the social norms that we form as a society of “love” and the struggles that couples may face. Ultimately, this is to determine how bad of a person you are.

Key details in a gist:

– may have 2-3 outcomes so that it may vary between multiple users
– There will be short narrative in between decision making points
– what are the choices? what are the actions?
1. Choose between taking her out for dinner or she makes dinner for you, sacrificing her only free time she’s got. If you take her out for dinner, you will quarrel because she won’t be able to decide on where to eat. She eventually chooses an expensive place and expects you to pay for her.
– There may be one or two more characters involved, could be parents or a third party involved.
– data of the choices will be collected and findings will be published in a report after finals
– References suggested: until dawn (game)

 

 

As she looked over to where the sound of papers flipping were coming from, the silhouette of a man