After reading the Principles of New Media, I choose 3 of them to analyse our Interactive 1 project “thieves between time” and explain the applications of them.
Automation
According to the reading, our project “thieves between time” is “low-level” automation. It is highly codified and rule-based, and the participants can’t communicate with the computer. Human intentionality can be removed from the creative process, at least in part. They only need to listen to the instructions and obey the rule.
As the werewolf sample game video shows, the aside is totally automatic too. But it doesn’t bored this game. Because in this case, the participants are competing with each other but not the computer. So the automation makes the game more convenient, as long as they obey the game rules. It is the same with our project.
So automation is an advantage for our project as a party game.
Modularity
This principle can be called the “fractal structure of new media.” Obviously, our project is separated into two modular structures. They are day and night. And they can be identified by the changing of light and the sound effect.
In our case, the most important about modular structure is how to make it more identifiable. How to make the day more like day and the night more like night. It is the difference between movement and atmosphere that makes the game more exciting. Let see a similar game called Dead By Daylight.
Dead by Daylight is an asymmetrical multiplayer (4vs1) horror game where one player takes on the role of the savage Killer, and the other four players play as Survivors, trying to escape the Killer and avoid being caught and killed.
It is satisfying and terrifying. It is the goal of our project too. How to improve scene settings to let participants have an immersive experience is the key to success.
Variability
“A new media object is not something fixed once and for all, but something that can exist in different, potentially infinite versions”
As to variability, I think the variable here are the time and the space. The time to change the day and night. And it is randomly set by the computer. The space can be everywhere as long as it is a place is dark enough. It can have many possibilities, in terms of the user experience.