Month: February 2017

Done by David Paliwoda and Jesse Williams, Distance to Mars illustrates the Earth (100pixels) and its relative distances away from Mars. The webpage takes us on a virtual journey towards Mars, which is 428,000pixels away (by scale).

Check out the website here!

This is a simple webpage done to illustrate the realistic distance between Earth and Mars. While it is only based on one fact and may not have a strong narrative behind it, I feel that the travelling experience it provides is rather interesting and unique, and perhaps, has the potential to expand into a whole solar system.

Flat vs Realism is an interactive story and game website that illustrates the battle between flat design and realism, in 2013. Created by inTacto, the webpage tells an epic story of the kings – flat and realism, leads to a classic video game battle, and ends with a peaceful reconciliation and a new year greeting from the company.

Check out the website here!

This webpage has awesome graphics and animation that clearly demonstrates the difference between flat design and realism. The personification of these design styles as kings and the physical (but virtual) battle between them helps build an immersive experience for the players.

Gods Will Be Watching is a survival concept game with pixelated graphics. The back story involves a team conducting research on a certain virus, which then went wrong and left to fend for themselves in the wild. The aim of this game is to survive 40 days along with your comrades, and fix the radio in order to send a message to your headquarters.

Click here to play!

The player tries to survive, along with 5 other people and 1 dog. Each of those 5 characters has his/her own profession – psychiatrist, doctor, engineer, soldier and a robot. You can choose to interaction with these characters differently, by making use of their skills to help the group survive, to talk, or to kill.

What I like about this game is the challenging aspect of it – players need to ration (only 3 actions per day) and strategize in order to survive. It also brings forth moral issues and prompt us to analyse the situation carefully before making a move (cause the gods are watching!). E.g. Is is necessary to kill the weak in order for the rest to survive, or is it just easier?

NoStranger (available on GooglePlay!) is a user-choice-driven narrative that revolves around having a conversation with a stranger. By conversing with the stranger, his/her name, background story, motivations and intentions are revealed, bit by bit. The player gets to choose between different actions to take after finding out certain information about the stranger. Through the browsing of blogs, websites, social media and related contact profiles, bits and pieces of the whole story can be put together.

This game captured my attention due to its unique form of interaction and its relevance to the issues faced by the current society. As the nature of the story is slightly dark, topics like suicide and violence are involved, along with several moral decisions that the player has to make.

“The Grudge site was created to promote the film, “The Grudge”, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar. Rather than a traditional production site, the client wanted an immersive, frightening environment that would evoke the spirit and tone of the film and generate interest throughout the target online demographic of males/females aged 18-24.” – https://www.adforum.com/agency/22110/creative-work/50944/the-grudge/the-grudge

Click here to check it out!

This is a horror-themed interactive narrative story that provides an all-rounded experience for the player to immerse in – from its dark, flashing creepy visuals to the eerie background music.

Apart from its excellent visuals and audio, one thing that really struck me was the build up of suspense throughout the story. The inclusion of the player’s name and initials made the game even more immersive, as though placing the player right at the centre of the story. As someone who has never seen or read about the movie “The Grudge”, I felt that the story had a strong start, as the mood, theme, setup and location of the whole story was neatly portrayed. The player is guided throughout the game by small notes with clues and instructions as to where to go or what to do next, e.g. go to the laundry room and mum’s room.