A Challenging Pause

The Precursor Project has wrapped up with little issue. Development towards the end of it became a little hectic, due to a conflict of time with two major assignments and final presentations, but it's all done and dusted for now.

Everything is textured, lighting corrected and the floating text has been added. The text was easily done in Maya using the text creator, then exported as a model, and imported back into Unity. The one issue with the text are the recurring statements of where the text is placed - in front of the window for instance restating 'The window' which detracts a little. 

Living area window and desk

The living area from the doorway

Living area coffee table with journals and newspapers

Journals behind the table

Living area from the hallway

Living area from the foot of the bed in the bedroom

Bedroom from the hallway

The bed

Bedside table

Front door in the entrance

Key hook next to the front door

The hallway from the entrance

The hallway further from the entrance - note the ceiling sloping changing

The bathroom from the hallway

The hallway from the bathroom

Most textures simply use  a flat coloured shader applied, certain textures like the carpet and the wallpaper were applied for extra effect. The lighting also changed dramatically with the inclusion of textures, so this will have to be taken into account in terms of shaders textures are applied to and the environment. The floating text for most of the part worked very well, and the feedback I have received letting people have a go at it has been quite positive.

"What is level design and its relation to integration of narrative and game mechanics?"

At its core digital game level design is the design of vessels, in which gameplay exists and can be explored. Levels are environments for gameplay, digital playfields to facilitate rules; as a chessboard is to chess or lines for tic-tac-toe scribbled on paper. Levels have always been intrinsic to games, however the craft of creating levels as interactive environments, which facilitate both, story and play is fairly new. In this piece I discuss what level design of 3D environments is, and contemporary theories that explore the integration of game mechanics and narrative through levels. These include notions of levels not just as vessels for gameplay, but as digital environments; 'story worlds' and 'narrative spaces’ that facilitate story.

Byrne's recognition of game levels as constructs of convergence, and Nitsche's analysis of 3D level architecture, sees levels as spaces of both play and narrative containing a multitude of defining elements. The theories of Bizzocchi and Calleja draw on in the idea of levels not just as playing spaces, but as environments facilitating an 'experiential' narrative through self contained 'micro-narratives', and 'environmental storytelling' through a process of alterbiography and player synthesis. The idea of levels as spaces which offer multiple layers of narrative context though the containment of objects is investigated in Pinchbeck's theory of affordance and Mott, Lee and Lester's theory for goal recognition is discussed as a way to structure more complex, dynamic narratives contained within more open and freeform levels.

Through the discussion of these theories level design will be considered as a highly important factor in the integration of narrative and game mechanics; a bridge between developer and player and a point of convergence in game elements. The understanding of these theories will help facilitate the creation of more complex, multifaceted, convincing digital worlds and game experiences.

Level Design and Convergence.

Simply put a level can be defined as a 'container for gameplay', a world which houses game mechanics; the rules which make up a game and structural elements that make up a games design. Every game "takes place in an environment" (Byrne, 2005, p.7) and the design of levels is the fundamental process of "putting the 'ground' in playground" (Byrne, 2005, p.7). The rules and systems are the 'backbone' of every game, however the design of levels is the implementation of game mechanics and the application of ideas in a playable form. Level design is also the process of carving out environments, creating interesting visuals and spaces for the player to inhabit and engage with an interactive experience.

Level design in theory and practice is a point of convergence, disciplines of design, art and engineering funnel into the design of a level. As a piece of design levels are constructs for decision making, whereby designers "let players make the surface decisions while maintaining control of their ultimate destinations" (Byrne, 2005, p.4), or have players "guided along a narrative path" (Byrne, 2005, p.4).  Levels rely on the "art of illusion to create believable and enjoyable game spaces" (Byrne, 2005, p.4) in suspending the players disbelief, immersion and sense of agency within a problem solving environment. Scripting of levels is also utilised to provide a sense of believability to the environment, and create more elaborate situations for the player and creating an interesting play space. The technicalities involved in this convergence of elements must be taken into account; levels are where a games technical and design problems will also surface, in the form of errors and performance issues.

Levels are not only designed as spaces to facilitate play but as places that contain narrative, and are often setup up in such a fashion. Games which feature a form of story to draw the player along "use levels as a book would use chapters" (Byrne, 2005, p.11), dividing story into segments and allowing arcs. In many cases a level "is like a novella - a short, self contained story that has an introduction, a series of encounters and challenges, and a final resolution" (Byrne, 2005, p.11). As narrative is an important focus, the design of levels share similarities to building a movie set or describing a location in a book, but is set apart in interactivity; "the player has the opportunity to choose and alter the flow of events to his desires" (Byrne, 2005, p.8). Levels act as a storytelling space, which evoke narrative through the actions of 'play' in gameplay.

While the historical origins of level design as an "extension of early forms of playfield design" (Byrne, 2005, p.12) are still present, in serving a functional purpose as spaces for play they have increased in complexity. As a "convergence of materials into the final package that players experience" (Byrne, 2005, p.12), levels also function as storytelling environments; game worlds which converge game mechanics and narrative elements, integrating gameplay and story through the design of a space which is evoked through interaction.

Spaces, Architecture and Evoked Narratives

As forms of 3D space, levels are environments that contain a wide array of elements to engage the player. Nitsche believes in measuring key qualities of navigable 3D environments by looking towards the experience of play. Levels are recognised as play spaces, which "evoke narratives because the player is making sense of them in order to engage with them" (Nitsche, 2008, p.3). "Through a comprehension of signs and interaction with them, the player generates new meaning " (Nitsche, 2008, p.3). These signs contained within the level (architectural focal points, objects, animated cues) are defined as "evocative narrative elements" (Nitsche, 2005, p.3). Evocative narrative elements are described as not containing a story themselves but triggering important parts of the narrative process in the player, a "generation of a form of narrative" (Nitsche, 2005, p.3).

This narrative generation is an idea of levels containing a "concept of space and the spatial experience" (Nitsche, 2005, p.3); environments that are assigned architectural quality, and feature spatial structures the player can interact with. Within these 3D spaces players engage "not with the screen but with a fictional world" (Nitsche, 2005, p.3). Screen is recognised as an important layer in unfolding a digital world, however experience, comprehension and spatial practice are generated from the players cognitive awareness within the level environment. Because of the players awareness within this video game space in which narrative becomes a "form of understanding of the events a player causes, triggers, and encounters" (Nitsche, 2005, p.7). The functions of what a player may do in the game - how they interact, 'play' and the environments response is contextualised as a form of story within the virtual space.

Narrative "is a way for the player to make sense of the in-game situation" (Nitsche, 2005, p.44) and evocative narrative elements as part of the design of a level direct and inform the player. The implementation of these evocative elements, combined with the architecture of spatial structures encourages the player to create connections, and project meaning onto events that happen within the level. It is from these connections where players form their own narratives that refer to the game world. Be it a blood trail leading down a corridor and under a door or a broken vending machine on a train station platform, these evoked elements "generate context and significance in order to make the space and the experience of it more meaningful" (Nitsche, 2005, p.45). These structuralist elements that make up a 3D level are fundamentally designed to facilitate play; objects and architectural forms serve the purpose of player orientation, items, focal points. However they are also recognised as also being designed to facilitate narrative in providing meaning and connections to the games story.

A player uncovering the virtual space and their engagement in its events and drama through game mechanics goes "hand in hand with the gradual comprehension of events and objects into narrative context" (Nitsche, 2005, p.45). This means that through informed level design there can be a interconnection between play and narrative space. Levels can exist as places which contain story, play and meaning, through encouraging the player to interpret and decipher the environment, strengthening their involvement with the narrative and game mechanics.

Story-worlds and Micro-Narratives

The theory of 'story-worlds' recognises levels as environments within which the game in its entirety unfolds, transcending the separation of play and narrative functions and integral to the narrative framework. As story-worlds, levels are regarded as a "critical narrative parameter in game experience"(Bizzocchi, 2007, p.4) through the process of "environmental storytelling" (Bizzocchi, 2007, p.4). In environmental storytelling levels become a stage, which evokes "pre-existing narrative associations, embed narrative information within the mise-en-scene and provide necessary resources for the gameplay itself" (Bizzocchi, 2007, p.4).

The individual moments of play within a level change in context to set up fresh complications; problems framed as challenges for the player to overcome as they progress, as part of the process of gameplay. These moments of gameplay are part of the narrative development phase as "intermediate successes and failures"(Bizzocchi, 2007, p.7) that "act as interim resolutions and localized climaxes" (Bizzocchi, 2007, p.7). Defined as 'micro-narratives', connected moments as complications which make up a level are "smaller moments of narrative flow and coherence that occur within a broader context of gameplay" (Bizzocchi, 2007, p.4). Segments of gameplay act as self contained narrative arcs present in the design of levels, and are embedded within a longer narrative development "such as the fate of the mother and the baby carriage in The Battleship Potemkin" (Bizzocchi, 2007, p.7).

Examples like "the raising of the flag in Call of Duty" (Bizzocchi, 2007, p.7) and "individual missions in Starcraft" (Bizzocchi, 2007, p.7) are cited as micro-narrative examples. As part of the game and level design conditions, micro-narratives are at work through the experience of gameplay and fundamental to the believability of the story-world. Bizzocchi proposes that micro-narratives could have multiple gameplay conditions, that are trigged by player condition or failure within moments of play in the level. Levels with micro-narratives designed into them, become a story-worlds where " we no longer draw a distinction between game and narrative, but we see the two conjoined in an ongoing process of engagement" (Bizzocchi, 2007, p.7).

Experiential Narrative, Alterbiography and Synthesis

Calleja proposes within game environments there should be shift in emphasis from storytelling, "the dominant mode in literature and cinema" (Calleja, 2009, p.1) to "story generation" (Calleja, 2009, p.1). This is the notion of "experiential narrative"(Calleja, 2009, p.1), where the game narrative is "grounded in the specific qualities of the game"(Calleja, 2009, p.1) and contained within the levels play-space. The "cognitive dimension" (Calleja, 2009, p.1) of play is retained and story is fully integrated rather than detached.

This experiential narrative is generated through the process of 'alterbiography'; interactions with the level which "generate story though the players interpretation of events occurring within the game environment, their interaction with the game rules, human AI, entities and objects" (Calleja, 2009, p.1). This shares similar notions to Bizzocchi's theory of environmental storytelling and Nitsche's evoked narratives. However Calleja believes that story in games is generated primarily through interaction within the level itself, during gameplay. The concept of alterbiography is concerned with the design of levels for games which feature "spatially navigable virtual environments populated by entities and (or) objects with whom players can interact" (Calleja, 2009, p.2), citing Grand Theft Auto IV, Call of Duty 4, World of Warcraft and Half Life 2 (Calleja, 2009, p.2)as examples.

Levels are recognised as 'virtual environments', "computer generated domains which create the perception of traversable space and afford the exertion of player agency" (Callja, 2009, p.2). This distinction separates the design of levels as virtual environments to digital games such as Bejewlled or Tetris, that do not feature the 'contextual framework' of environmental back-story which facilitates narrative.

Defined as "scripted narrative"(Calleja, 2009, p.4), level designers implementing narrative that is written by the game designer is regard as a controlled 'push' mode of storytelling. Scripted narrative is separate to alterbiography's narrative generation during gameplay. Alterbiography is defined as having three separate focalisations; miniature (the player does not embody a single avatar, or is anchored within the game world), entity (stories relating to a single entity the player controls), and self (when players interpret the events are happening to them, commonly evoked in first person games). These focalisations help distinguish how alterbiography's narrative generation is designed as part of the level, in relation to appropriate forms of gameplay.

Alterbiography is the "construction of an on-going story that develops through interaction"(Calleja, 2009, p.5); the process of gameplay within the level that builds the narrative. The players own interpretation of "certain representational signs and the mechanical operations that animate them"(Calleja, 2009, p.5) is dependent on their own individual disposition.  What one player might find narratively stimulating within the level, another might find lacking in qualities that inspire story, or not be interested at all. This part of the processes dubbed 'synthesis', whereby a players mental construct is generated from the designers implementation of alterbiography; the narrative signs of a level, the rules of play and their own subjective interpretation. Synthesis is the "culmination of the effort between designer and player" (Calleja, 2009, p.5); signs and rules contained within the level are abstracted in combination to build the interactive experience and when interpreted by the player, their imagination fills in the gaps "adding to the on-going alterbiography" (Calleja, 2009, p.5).

Synthesis' process of connections and the alterbiography created by developers are concepts specific to game environments. When working in conjunction a sense of a "single, coherent text" (Calleja, 2009, p.8) in the combination mechanics and narrative is built. As the designer is crafts a level the players’ subjective interpretation and imagined narrative must be taken into account, a valuable consideration as part of integrating the two coherently. It is the level designers role to perceive the possibilities of the players imagination, generated by their construction of alterbiography within the digital environment; the level acts as a framework for story generation and imagination to create an experiential narrative.

Affordances and Homodiegetic Devices

The theory of affordance is used to understand homodiegetic devices as means of managing immersion and discontinuity in games. First person games are established as driving towards "unbroken immersive experiences with fewer breaks from real time delivery" (Pinchbeck, 2007, p.1) with greater complexity and depth. However these first person games also retain their "basic ludic structure" (Pinchbeck, 2007, p.1). This puts pressure on homodiegetic devices; such as objects within levels used to convey story. Homodiegetic devices are a form of narration to the player, who embodies the protagonist in first person. Sharing similarities to theory of evoked narrative, levels are described as 'content places’, which integrate narrative content into real time gameplay.

First person shooter Quake 4 is subjected to analysis as a game representative of the first person shooter genre, which commonly utilises detailed levels to create the illusion of a virtual world. First person shooters are generally based around a simple ludic structure; gameplay primarily involves moving and shooting throughout the games duration. However the increasingly complex depiction of worlds, require increasingly "complex sequences of action " (Pinchbeck, 2007, p.8) to sustain player engagement. This is measured by the concept of affordance; the visual clues and functions of an object that give it meaning. By interpreting the objects role of affordance, the meaning in its functions of play and narrative within the game world can be interpreted at a theoretical level.

Objects which hold ludic affordances "enable direct play action to take place" (Pinchbeck, 2007, p.9). A health kit when activated by the players place on it, affords a change of state in the controlled avatar. Objects that have no ludic affordance may "retain a function in terms of aesthetics, engagement or narrative" (Pinchbeck, 2007, p.9), however despite being oblivious to functions of play they "assert an active influence upon player behaviour" (Pinchbeck, 2007, p.9). Computer terminals, a common sight in Quake 4 are cited as static, passive objects which afford no play action, however yield a narrative affordance in the game worlds  "corroboration of the reality" (Pinchbeck, 2007, p.9). Other classes of objects serve a ludic and narrative affordance; 'Strogg health stations' are reflective of the world, offering a change in avatar state and act as cover for the player. Another class of object is one critical to the games progression; exit buttons, doors and 'goal objects' involve ludic action and are "mapped to narrative progression within the game" (Pinchbeck, 2007, p.10).

These homodiegetic devices vary in influence from directing and interacting with the player, to providing narrative context of the players place, providing believability in the world. The concept of affordance poses the notion that when designing levels "integrated content" (Pinchbeck, 2007, p.13) serves an important purpose in bridging story and gameplay through their various functions. What may serve a ludic function can have narrative implications. Levels designed as more sophisticated and detailed the environments, demand more well crafted and implemented content to "withstand the scrutiny of play" (Pinchbeck, 2007, p.14), and homodiegetic devices are at the core of managing a convincing play space.

Dynamic Narratives through Goal Recognition

The increased complexity of game design and increasingly complex narrative in games, demand more structurally complex levels to facilitate them. Levels described as "interactive narrative-centred virtual environments" (Mott, Lee, Lester, 2006, p.187) dynamically craft engaging story-based experiences for players "who are themselves active participants in unfolding stories" (Mott, Lee, Lester, 2006, p.187). Recent levels designed to be dynamic 'narrative environments' in games, are cited as lacking a key functionality that could significantly increase their ability to create compelling stories. Despite environmental complexities they are unable to recognise player goals as they interact with a virtual story-world. This is problematic in more freeform games such as Skryim and Red Dead Redemption. Recognising the players’ goals through the process of play, within a level is posed as a key challenge to "dynamically orchestrate plot elements and character actions, to create rich customised stories" (Mott, Lee, Lester, 2006, p.187).

Goal recognition is a plan integrated into the design of a level. This gives planners of game design and narrative the ability to accurately recognise the players goals and "ascertain whether a user's actions were threatening a plot" (Mott, Lee, Lester, 2006, p.187). The players’ goals to unfold the story and progress are inferred by three sources of information. These three sources are players’ actions dubbed "narrative goal recognizers" (Mott, Lee, Lester, 2006, p.188): narrative state (plot and story arc progress), user actions (interactions with the environment) and user location (precise locational information within the play-space).

Using this information and n-gram and Bayesian networks, a model of responsiveness between narrative states and action is formulated. Information sources represent the variables of a players state within the level. In response narrative states are triggered to influence the user to where they can perform actions and what actions they perform in that location. This model updates "goal prediction for each new observation" (Mott, Lee, Lester, 2006, p.190), and "requires only noting the previous prediction" (Mott, Lee, Lester, 2006, p.190), utilising the user data acquired from their actions within the level. The games narrative isn't rigidly 'pre-scripted' and flows in conjunction with the actions of play, the virtual environment that contains this dynamically responds to the players’ actions as they progress.

This model for goal recognition was evaluated in a '3D story-world' featuring a complex narrative, multiple characters and manipulable objects. Named The Crystal Island (Mott, Lee, Lester, 2006, p.190) players were tasked with discovering the origins of an unidentified illness at a research station. The level was designed around "three hundred unique actions the user can perform, and over fifty unique locations in which actions can be performed" (Mott, Lee, Lester, 2006, p.191).  Culminating in twenty unique goals. The play experiences of fifty-three college-aged subjects with The Crystal Island were evaluated and results suggested, "users clearly enjoyed their interactive experience"(Mott, Lee, Lester, 2006, p.191) despite the relatively high expectations in interactive entertainment. Based on the narrative structure within the game environment, player goals differed from session to session and players would continue to progress in order to reach a conclusion.

This reveals that level design that caters to the model of goal recognition, can craft story experiences that are more engaging through planning and prediction. By integrating the game mechanics and player choice as narrative functions, the player is participating in "dynamic plot construction" (Mott, Lee, Lester, 2006, p.190), and partaking in a far more personal story experience. Predictions of player action help facilitate narrative potential outside of pre-scripted confines, and enhance players’ sense of presence and agency in the game environment. Goal recognition can increase believability of story-worlds, integrating game mechanics and narrative through a complex model of level design and prediction. Design of the levels ensures narrative compliments action by assessing plot threats, interleaving narrative objectives and "ensure that steady plot progress is made" (Mott, Lee, Lester, 2006, p.192) without interfering with the act of play.

Conclusion

These theories inform my research by providing their own unique understanding, ideas and perspective in theoretical and practical integration of game mechanics and narrative, and the production of my research artefact. By understanding levels as a point of convergence in disciplines and game elements, proper integration of mechanics and narrative can be understood, facilitated and executed through level design. While functioning as elaborate playfields to facilitate game mechanics, it is evident that pre-existing levels largely contain layers of narrative elements, to inform the player and build a compelling interactive experience. These are defining aspects of level design that can be capitalised on in order to build a stronger sense of narrative intimacy, agency and narrative context to action and play.

These theories acknowledge that levels are spaces where the player is empowered and given means to interact; where narrative engagement and play experiences are at their highest. The game designer must understand and test the malleability of their designs and intended narrative experience through a levels design and production. Intelligent use of objects and space and their meaning in association with play mechanics and narrative, means levels can become functional means of communicating the story itself. Elements in the design of levels with practical functions; architecture acting as points for navigation, and homodiegetic objects with ludic properties populating these spaces, serve to facilitate play. However their presence within the context of a 3D environment inherently adds a layer of narrative, and provides a convincing level of immersion and engagement, even if the ludic structure of the game is simple.

This integration of narrative elements into the play space, made part of the act of play an integral process for levels to transcend existing only as spaces made for ludic functions, and become story-worlds and narrative-environments. Complex prediction methods of player actions can help build dynamic narratives within levels, and this concept can be utilised even in a simple practical manner of player prediction. By listing player verbs of interaction and the deliberate meaning and functions of environmental objects, player actions can pre predicted and addressed through the design process.

From this research a greater and stronger understanding of the larger scope of integrating narrative and play, and examples of practical implementation is attained. My theoretical understanding of the integration of game mechanics and narrative only exists to the player within these digital environments. These theories insights provide value in understanding how to communicate directly to the player through level design, and provide a compelling experience in which the differences in game mechanics and narrative are transparent.

References

Bizzochi, J 2007, “Games and narrative: an analytical framework”, Loading..., vol. 1, no. 1.

Busby, J, Parrish, Z & Eenwyk, JV 2004, Mastering unreal technology: the art of level design 1st ed., Sams.

Byrne, E 2005, Game level design, Cengage Learning.

Calleja, G 2009, “Experiential narrative in game environments”, IT-University of Copenhagen.

Crawford, C 2003, Chris crawford on game design, New Riders.

Mott, B, Lee, S & Lester, J 2006, “Probabilistic goal recognition in interactive narrative environments”, in Proceedings of the National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, p. 187.

Mott, BW & Lester, JC 2006, “U-director: a decision-theoretic narrative planning architecture for storytelling environments”, in Proceedings of the fifth international joint conference on Autonomous agents and multiagent systems,pp. 977–984.

Nitsche, M 2008, Video game spaces: image, play, and structure in 3d worlds, The MIT Press.

Pinchbeck, D 2009, “An affordance based model for gameplay”, Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory.

In its infancy the Internet was been seen as a bastion in providing people with unique freedoms. The

ability for users to express themselves through communicating, creating and sharing in a digital

environment without borders. Liberated from geological and cultural barriers, and unspoken rules of

 interaction face to face. However in an era of web 2.0 this ideal has been replaced by a 'radical

transparency'. Driven by commercial interest, social networking services like Facebook encourage

users to remove the divide between us and our digital selves, and store our digital identity remotely.

Bulletin board 4chan.org however stands as an important example of a technological opposition to

this trend. Cited as one of the "biggest online forums in the world" (Liu, 2010, p.1) and home to

"10 million unique visitors" with "705 million page views a month" (Grigoriadis, 2011, p3), 4chan is

made up of an almost entirely anonymous audience, and regarded as being a cultural driving force in

the digital landscape and influential in contemporary popular culture.

  I will discuss how as a communication technology 4chan's technological freedoms of anonymity have

enabled its audience to become creatively empowered as "producers and active participants"

(Turnbull, 2006, p.80). Through 4chan's the ease of sharing, saving and repurposing how an audience

has developed "connections among dispersed media content" (Jenkins, 2006, p.3) and defines itself

by the content its audience produces, shares and repurposes in representation of their "identity and

stake in the world" (Gauntlett, 2009). 4chan's technology has fostered "making and doing culture"

(Gauntlett, 2011, p.6) unique to the Internet, where consumers act as a "a form of universally

distributed intelligence" (Levy, 1999, p.13) in the creative process. As a result how 4chan's audience

acts as its own "culture industry" (Adorno, 1975 p.12) producing artefacts in the form of memes

without the consumer pressures of "the demands to interact" (Sterne, 2012). I will also discuss how

4chan's allows its audience to respond to adoption of user created content by the "forces of

commerce and profit" (Fiske, 1989 p.112) with creative "tactics" (Certeau, 1988, p.29) of resistance,

challenging "older notions of passive media spectatorship" (Jenkins, 2006, p.3).  That because of this

4chan.org stands as an important communication technology on the Internet.

  Identity through Anonymity

4chan.org's origin was an act of "textual poaching" (Jenkins, 1992). Since the late 1980s the tech

savvy has been involved in sharing and discussing anonymously, having risen in sophistication and

user numbers. One of the most popular is the Japanese Futaba Channel bulletin board (founded in

2001), where posting anonymously is norm. 4chan founder Christopher Pool at 15 years of age in an

act seeded in "participatory culture" (Jenkins, p.3, 2006) copied Futaba's free, public source code,

repurposing and creating an English speaking board to discuss Japanese anime and manga in a

setting with Japanese cultural relevance. While notions of the importance of anonymity were

not in the  creators mind Pool had participated in a culture of "making-and-doing" (Gauntlett, 2009),

interested in Futuba's fast communication between users and image sharing. In "contrasts with older

notions of passive media spectatorship" (Jenkins, 2006, p.3) The creators actions inadvertently

marked the foundations for 4chan's legacy; a participatory culture encouraging users to communicate,

express, share, create, reappropriate, and find creative solutions to problems.

  4chan's very raw and basic design and function is almost tailored to the idea of  'making is

connecting'. Users "connect things together" (Gauntlet, 2009), content and ideas, through posting text

and images. 4chan features over 50 'boards' tailored to a specific audience or genre of interest, such

as anime (/a/), politics (/pol/), video games (/v/) or random posts (/b/) - the most popular board which

accounts for 30% of the websites traffic. According to 4chan's demographic section users are

generally between the ages of 18 and 34, about 65% male and 35% female. Described as being the

'Wild West' of the Internet content only in violation of US law is moderated; users are free to post as

long as it stays within the boards topic and discussions. Unlike most online bulletin boards 4chan is

an 'image board', where posts revolve around the posting of images rather than being text heavy.

With every post a user may upload an image and every new 'thread' must have an opening image.

  4chan as a 'tool for thinking' encourages users to share images when they post and experiment,

which "can open up new perspectives" (Gauntlett, 2009) with the relationship between image and text.

This emphasis on image and text gives users what can be describes as presence; "through making

we can declare our identity and our stake in the world" (Gauntlett, 2009). With the use of a simple text

field entry and image upload the posters identity is defined and project into the content posted, which

is judged by a consumer audience.

  Gauntlett's notion of declaring identity and stake is further evident in each users post, due to the

lack of a requirement to login or register. Each post by default shares the title Anonymous and 90%

of users post anonymously. This lack of identity results in "traditional reputation systems being

unworkable" (Bertein, Hernandez, Harry, 2011, p.2) and 4chan's audience has devised its own

form of identification through language. To a first time visitor to the content on 4chan's most popular

board Random (/b/) would seem almost foreign. Tasteless content is frequently posted, and content

ranges from hardcore porn, movie posters, pet photos, food images, comic book pages to Japanese

anime and messages in threads "endlessly recycle inside references, catchphrases and fragmentary

punch lines" (Dibbell, 2010, p.4) : "herp derp", "newfag", "over 9000!", "serious business", "The Game

(you just lost it)" and "dubs" are a few of many. This is language known as 'Chanspeak', a derivative

of 'LOLspeak', a common way for users to identify each other due to the commonality of anonymous

posting.

  Humorous references and in jokes are a way of identifying "the authenticity of other users" (Mack,

2010, p.4) within the "virtual picture" (Levy, 1992). 'Chanspeak' allows a faceless anonymous user to

define themselves as someone who understands, and is part of the 4chan community, and acts as a

barrier to those who aren't. 4chan's user anonymity makes it a unique 'knowledge space', "a space for

meanings that do not exist elsewhere, representing a new generation of communication" (Levy,

1992). Those literate to  'Chanspeak' understand the language the audience has adapted within

4chan's framework of anonymity, removed from its context it loses potency and meaning. As a barrier

of entry, understanding the common tongue of a 4chan is a process of learning, and failure at some

point is part of the learning process.

      0The Freedom of Failure

In contrast to web forums which utilise pseudonym titles, the default posting a Anonymous means

there is no name or title for the user to be judged, and reputation and identity is not sustained.

Described as "radical opacity" (Dibbel p.03) in contrast to 'radical transparency' users can

communicate, interact and share without fears associated with judgement or social pressures and

ostracism. Described by its creator, "people deserve a place to be wrong" (Pool, 2010).

  4chan's freedom to fail means users can express themselves beyond fixed identities. A user posting

under a pseudonym may make an attempts at humour, If they fail other users may associate that

pseudonym with failure. This freedom encourages 4chan's audience to become "active participants"

and media "producers" (Turnbull, 2006, p.80) without the downsides of failure. The projection of one's

self into the content being posted, is a strong reason for 4chan's prominence in cultivating creativity

and not stifling the 'making and doing culture'. In a sense 4chan allows its audience to be creatively

liberated and free to experiment and share, in an web environment clouded with imposed user

identity. 4chan's function as a 'knowledge space' has lead to the creation of many popular inside

jokes, carrying meaning and value with its audience.

  A Creative Collective

As part of 4chan's ethos in communicating and sharing, the legacy of content posted is left in the

audiences hands. 4chan doesn't feature a system that archives content or posts, consumers are

responsible for documenting 4chan's history and perpetuating its content. Every board consists of 15

pages made up of threads, with newest threads on the first page. Thread popularity is measured in

posting activity; when users stop posting in a thread it moves upwards in pages and is eventually

removed from the 15th page. Once this happens all of the threads content, images and text is

deleted and as a result the "value of any bit of information increases" (Jenkins, 2002, p.140). Users

must be proactive in keeping threads 'alive' by communicating with each other, encouraging 4chan's

audience to operate as a self organised "collective intelligence" (Levy, 1999, p.13) whose interest in

threads, topics, discussion and content changes.

  This is amplified by the fast life cycle of threads on 4chan. The most popular board, Random (/b/) has

been described as "extremely ephemeral" (Bertein, Hernandez, Harry, 2011, p.2); threads on average

spend five seconds on the first page, and five minutes before expiring. Content of interest to

consumers has far more weight and value in such a climate, and such a rapid pace of content

creation and removal means user posts that stand out have an even higher value. This is exemplified

by consumers acting as "active participants" (Turnbull, 2006, p.80) in saving content in order to store

it, functioning as 4chans own audience based archive. The audience must be proactive in keeping

shared content, operating as a 'collective intelligence' in perpetuating content. This creates an act of

media repurposing; where content takes on a greater meaning as it increases its consumable

properties, and spreads from user to user.

  'Textual poaching' and repurposing is encouraged as part of 4chan's function and design. Such an

emphasis means 4chan's audience acts as its own 'culture industry', fusing the "old and familiar into

 a new quality" (Adorno, 1975, p.12) through repurposing content for consumption, creating new

variations at a fast and varied rate. 'Connecting through sharing' is very much 4chan's lifeblood, users

posting what they have saved has helped build the language of 'Chanspeak'. Users reposting

circulates content, if circulation multiplies then its popularity organically increases. On the surface

content may not have implied value, but through this process it is injected with meaning within the

'knowledge space' by the audience circulating it.

  This is when content circulated by 4chan's audience becomes an artefact. It has attained cultural

value within the "virtual picture" (Levy, 1992) with an audience who understands the content. Content

shared as "collective intelligence" (Levy, 1999, p.13) creates a connection amongst the 'invisible'

audience despite 4chan's default anonymity. Content deemed malleable by 4chan consumers

become "tailored in consumption for the masses" (Adorno, 1975, p.12). however, in contrary to the

idea of commercial interest behind mass consumption, they are tailored by a participatory audience.

Value and meaning manifests because 4chan's audience acts as content consumers and content

producers, injecting "meanings that do not exist elsewhere" (Levy, 1992). Through the act of 'making

and connecting' 4chan's audience integrates image content as part of its language and audience

 identity through repurposing. This interactivity between anonymous, active consumers working as a

collective, is evident in how memes are created and popularised.

Making Memes

Memes are popular jokes which can be repurposed and reused. Examples range from "I can haz

cheezeburger"; an image of a portly cat smiling with  'Chanspeak' superimposed, 'Rick Rolling' a

bait and switch where users provide a link to something of interest which is actually a Youtube video

of 80s pop singer Rick Astley performing 'Never Gonna Give You Up', and 'Rage Guy' a crudely

drawn face yelling expletives. On a surface level these jokes appear superficial, however, they hold

cultural value with 4chan's audience in their ability to be reproduced and reused. While highly  

consumable by 4chan's audience they are not "manufactured more or less according to plan"

(Adorno, 1975, p.12), they grow organically and circulate at the hands of the community. Memes have

capital within 4chan's anonymous community; they exist as cultural artefacts of it 4chan's history and

representative of the audiences creativity and capacity to share, utilising the technological framework.

  "I can haz cheezeburger" was bought to prominence by users of 4chan's Random board /b/. The

image of a portly ‘happy cat’ grinning had existed before being shared by an anonymous user on

4chan, however easy sharing functions it was soon 'textually poached' and given the super imposed

quoted 'Chanspeak' text. In an act of collective intelligence; "intelligence, constantly enhanced,

coordinated in real time" (Levy, 1999, p.13) users began to create and post their own variety of other

funny cat images featuring 'Chanspeak' superimposed such as "OM NOM NOM goes the hungry cat".

Random board /b/'s audience collectively dubbed Saturday 'Caturday' Posting cat images en masse,

effectively resulting in the creation of the meme LOLcats.

  The creation of the LOLcats meme is an example of collective "universally distributed intelligence"

(Levy, 1999, p.13), where an audience enabled by 4chan's technology, could engage with an image

as an impetus for creation of new original content, curated at the hands of an anonymous consumers,

united in humour without being "infatuated by the idea of self fame" (Liu p.1). Community identity is

cultivated through the act of  'making and connecting' and encouraged by audience responsiveness,

high turnover rate and a lack of archiving. Due to 4chan's very raw framework and anonymity users

were free to share and circulate creations and be involved in the joke, creatively liberated without

concerns of being associated with failure.

  Industrial Reappropriation

Contrary to belief that audience interaction is normalised and driven by commercial interest which

"demands to interact, to participate" (Sterne, 2012, p.3), there is no demand or commercial interest

involved in 4chan. 4chan does not run to commercial profit, featuring small banner ads and a lack of

advertisers who do not wish to be associated with the undesirable content posted by users. What

income it generates does "little more than break even" (Christopher Pool, 2010).

  Content produced by the 4chan's audience has no inherent commercial value, and there is no direct

monetization of the audiences participation. However content produced and repurposed by 4chan's

audience is not free from commercial interest, particularly popular memes which can be

sustained outside of the 'knowledge space'. 4chan's content which is product of its own "culture

industry" has been commercialised and "tailored for the masses" (Adordno, 1975, p.12) by the "forces

of commerce" (Fiske, 1989, p.10).

  The popularity of LOLcats spread outside of 4chan's confines, gaining popularity with audiences

removed from the 4chan 'knowledge space'. The humour could translate to a wider consumer

 audience, and the meme was soon commercialised in the creation of  Icanhazcheezeburger.com; a

blog featuring LOLcat images bearing the superimposed 'Chanspeak' text,  that were originally

'textually poached', repurposed created and circulated by anonymous users.

Icanhazcheezeburger.com reportedly receives 1,500,000 hits per day, and its creators have published

book (I Can Has Cheezburger?: A LOLcat Colleckshun) featuring the LOLcat images. The LOLcat

meme was an act of an audience participating as a 'collective intelligence', tailoring content for itself

within 4chan's technical confines. Inadvertently 4chan's audience was acting as a 'culture industry' for

a wider audience, providing content to be capitalised on for commercial interest. The

commercialisation of the meme by Icanhazcheezeburger.com monetized the anonymous audience's

creative input and social action, and in  an act of ownership branded the LOLcat images with a

Icanhazcheezeburger.com watermark.

  Commercial adoption of the meme in turn affected the meaning and value of the content with 4chan's

audience. On 4chan LOLcats meme served "two types of function, the material and the cultural"

(Fiske, 1989, p.112); As a joke which can be repurposed for social interaction, and part of the

audiences identity. The use of 'Chanspeak' as a social barrier, conceived by the audience for

determining a users authenticity was incorporated into the "dominant system" and "robbed of any

oppositional meanings" (Fiske, 1989, p.114). This was further evident in Icanhazcheezeburger.com's

implementation of a 'LOL Builder'. Users can generate their own LOLcats for sharing, 8000 are

submitted per day on average and a dozen are featured on the blog each day. Combined with

implementation of user commenting and ratings to  encourage site traffic, these "demands to interact,

to participate" (Sterne, 2012) have strong commercial intention; interaction and participation in the

meme itself had been capitalised on. What was repurposed and shared by 4chan's audience, a piece

of their anonymous identity and product of 4chan's function as a communications tool, has become

repurposed by the 'dominant system'.

  However, exemplifying the idea that "change comes from below" (Fiske, 1989, p.115) 4chan's

technological framework of 'making and connecting' allows users to also creatively resist popular

adoption. Certeau's idea of "tactics" are employed by 4chan's audience against commercial

"strategies" by utilising 4chan's capabilities. Ease of sharing at the hands of a collective intelligence,

means memes also pass through a 4chan consumer lifecycle; LOLcats and "I can haz cheezeburger"

significance and value diminished with 4chan's audience. When popular mainstream growth of

memes driven by commercial interest happens the anonymous audience responds. In 4chan's

'knowledge space' memes wane in and out the audiences popular focus, which is measured in the

rates of sharing and receiving audience feedback. Once popular memes become part of 4chan's

creative legacy, they have passed through what the audience has determined to be a cultural

lifecycle.

  Proactive Resistance

4chan's anonymous audience is also capable in employing creative 'tactics' in active resistance

against industrial 'strategies' outside of their domain. Meme "Rage Guy" received attention from

American clothing retailer Hot Topic, printing the image of a crudely drawn face yelling with the

caption "FFFFUUUUUUUU" on a t-shirt. Acting as a 'collective intelligence' 4chan's users quickly

 spread news of this through various boards, in a call to action dubbed "Operation Black Rage". Citing

the commercialisation of "I Can Haz Cheezeburger" as a reason to act, attention multiplied, 4chan's

audience rallied in an "effective mobilization of skills" coordinating in "realtime" (Levy, 1999, p.13). In

similar fashion to how the original "Rage Guy" memes was conceived, what was once product of

4chan's audience was retold as "Race Guy" with the intention of spreading disinformation. The joke

was repurposed in a deliberately offensive racial context by 4chan's audience, emailing Hot Topic

and news outlets en masse complaining of Hot Topic's use of a 'racist' joke. The audience's creative

tactics were initially successful and effective, Hot Topic responded stating intention to remove the T-

shirts from their stores. However Hot Topic re-strategized and revoked its decision; citing meme

database knowyourmeme.com's (in affiliation with icanhazcheezeburger.com) published record of

"Operation Black Rage" and 4chan's audience disinformation in the creation of "Race Guy", as reason

to continue selling the shirt; the "forces of commerce and profit" (Fiske, 1989 p.112) had won.

  The strategies employed by the ' forces of commerce ' may have succeeded, however it was also  

creative impetus for 4chan's audience. The technological framework of 4chan and freedom for users

to communicate, enact, create, 'textually poach' new material, meant new content for adaption is

always readily available. User creativity in itself is a 'tactical' response by 4chan's audience, who are

responsible as creators in keeping their culture and identity relevant ahead of industrial entities.

Creation and circulation of alternate memes play on 4chan's technological aspects, evolving

'Chanspeak' within 4chan's confines.

  "Doubles Guy" is an image of actor Christian Bale's character Patrick Bateman from the film American

Psycho pointing to the upper right. It is posted in response to another anonymous users number value

in their post. Each post on 4chan features a string of numbers, when a users post has a sequential

set of repeating numbers it is considered to be "dubs" or "doubles" (two), "trips" (three), "quads" (four)

etc. in 'Chanspeak'. "Doubles Guy" is usually posted in response with humorous intention in

deviating and distracting from a thread topic. Users have 'converged' a variety of media; film, image,

language and applied it to the unique context of 4chan's 'knowledge space'. "Doubles guy" meaning

does "not exist elsewhere" (Levy, 1992) and only resonates when being posted within 4chan's

environment for its own consumers. Removed from its context and it's an image of Christian Bale's

character in the film. This is an act of convergence which builds the language of 'Chanspeak' and in

itself creative tactic, in which industry cannot strategise and repurpose for a wider audience with

commercial interest.

  4chan as a communication tool allows its audience to adapt which "contrasts with older notions of

passive media spectatorship" (Jenkins, 2006, p.3) in retaining its identity as a web culture. Despite

tactics of resistance in "LOLcats" and "Rage Guy" failure, they proceeded to fade out of relevance

with 4chan's collective conscious. As artefacts of an audience whose identity is represented and

defined by their work in "making and doing" (Gauntlett, 2011, p.6), new effort is transferred into the

creative process, in cultivating an array of new memes. These new artefacts are exclusive to 4chan's

technology and anonymous "knowledge space" (Levy, 1999, p.5) and become part of its audiences

cultural barrier. What was once culturally relevant and important has become part of 4chan's legacy

and representative of its influence.

  Conclusion

4chan as a communication technology is an important driving force in contemporary popular culture,

evolved by an audience "united by the intangible" (Mack p.01). As a technological construct easy

posting system, sharing content, and the promise of true anonymity has fostered a participatory

audience of media producers connecting, sharing and making. By containing the users ‘identity and

stake’ in their content and providing the freedom to fail, the audience has become creatively liberated

as producers, forming a unique culture of making and sharing.

  The change in the representation of the individual’s identity, has redefined what the consumers and

audiences role is in the 4chan ‘knowledge space’. Content consumers’ acts as an archive, creators in

turn share, propagate and repurpose without ideals of individual fame. The audience cycle of creating,

sharing, consuming and propagating is organic; the audience acts as a collective intelligence without

predefined rules and constructs imposed.

  4chans success as a communications technology is evident in audience’s establishment of their own

dialect and artefacts. These are culturally important representations of community identity on 4chan

containing “meanings that do not exist elsewhere” (Levy, 1992), and evidence of users creatively

working in collaboration within the technological confines of a message board. Content quality may be

determined by the community, however the popular spread of memes is representative of its value in

communicating and translating its humour to a wider audience; an affect of 4chans own ‘culture

industry’.

When capital interests threaten to undermine 4chan’s technological advantages of ‘radical opacity’ in

reappropriating audience creativity, 4chan’s flexible nature as a communications technology enables

the audience to self organise, creativity resist and adapt. These technological implications of

interaction on 4chan have grown the audiences sense of worth as active participants, encouraging

community interaction as ‘collective intelligence’, despite having traditional of ideals of identity

stripped.

  Creatively enabled and very verbal, 4chan’s participatory audience is free from binds to historical

archives and perpetually looks forwards in in new creative endeavours. 4chan has challenged

"people's assumptions of Web industry", and is representative of being "so different from the way

other people were thinking about community" (Peretti, p.7) in a web 2.0 society. In an era of ‘radical

transparency’ 4chan’s technology has proven anonymity can thrive; a communications technology

that defies popular web 2.0 conventions in social networking, and the creative liberation of users and

the promise and ideals in that Internet represented.

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It's a first time experience properly using the Unity toolset, which turned out to be a much more enjoyable experience then what I was expecting. Generally it's a lot friendlier and intuitive then a comparable editor and engine toolset like the Unreal Development Kit, and importing assets and setting up projects has been a breeze.

Initial sketches toyed a bit with the use of space in the environment. By using the information discussed with project writer Mathew Stone (as outlined previously), and Jason Prentice's distinct low-fi visual assets, a sense of atmosphere and place could be drummed up. 

Asset list following into floor plan sketches

Space between walls and ceiling heigh were particularly important aspects to identify in setting the mood. Heights in rooms were planned to vary, and the corridors in particular feature slight inclines in ceiling height, heading away from the central 'heart' of the corridor, intended to increase the sense of distance and discomfort as part of the atmosphere within the space.

Floor plans were refined and object placement and negative / positive space was thought out

With floor plans established object placement came next, which was a surprisingly easy endeavour; the deliberate asset pool was quite defined and it was determined that a lot would come down to in-engine tinkering. So following this construction, asset placement, lighting, function and testing came into play. While assets and the environment is yet to be textured, the results were as follows:

Rendered 3D floor plan including lighting and objects. Rooms are as follows: Entrance - left, Living Area - bottom, Bedroom - top, Bathroom - right.

The Entrance

  The corridor from the Entrance towards the bathroom - distance is heavily emphasised, though travel time while 'walking' in first person isn't that slow

The Bedroom from the corridor doorway

The bed and possessions within the Bedroom

The bookshelf and additional possessions within the Bedroom - note the boots are the only object textured in this image

The Living Area seen from the Bedroom - keep in mind the spaces cotaining elements of comfort, distractions and the past being close together, and viewable. Also the window is deliberately visible from the bed, and the doors are missing (hinges remain).

The Living Area - keep in mind the positive and negative space, the 'lived in' aspects, and the lack of exterior assets and skybox outside of the window

The 'left' side of the Living Area 

Kitchenware in the Living Area

Bound newspapers and journals on the coffee table within the Living Area

The desk, couch and various possessions in the Living Area

The Entrance from the corridor beyond the Living Area and Bedroom

The Bathroom (close) from the corridor 

Finally, the Bathroom

While textures still need to be added, the mood and tone is pretty defined, and the environment is all traversable 'in game'. Thankfully it's also very easy in Unity to quickly build the scene and project, and deploy it as a .exe file for presentations and sending.

Unlike the earlier ideals Sterne references, such as Chrisopher Small’s (1977) vision of a world “where the distinction between musician and non-musician no longer existed”, and Jacques Attali’s 1985) imagined world where the means of creativity is inhered in each person; now active participation is seen to be a “privileged mode of consumerism”. Contemporary media has shifted with an increase in integration of audience based interaction; user response is an important form of commerce in today’s new media. In the rise of social media there is a demand for active participation driven by commercial intention, subsequently pressuring the user for it to become intertwined with their life.

Attracting the attention of audiences during the broadcast era was the goal for institutions in profit sectors, which has had “smooth continuity” within the internet era. Interest and participation has market value and subsequently it has become compromised. According to Sterne this is not democratic participation, rather any social good intended has become part of someone else’s business. Be it “agreeing to terms” or “retweeting”, the demand to participate can become ‘coercive’ and is pictured as exhausting the celebration of participation.

However Sterne believes that there isn’t a need for a “pure space from which to critique capitalism”, rather occasions for reflection and disengagement on people’s own terms. Rather than focusing and on distinctions between positives and negatives weighted between passivity and participation, Stern proposes the notion of audiences choosing not to identify with the interactive promise of new media from time to time. This is an act of defiance and empowerment of the individual, not the ‘active user’ interacting on the terms of software and machines steeped in commercial intention.

Personally I found Sterns points to hold weight and have quite a fair amount of merit; however I did find there to be a touch of irony; its place on the web, a comments section encouraging and facilitating responses and the implementation of a trackbacks & pingbacks counter, all there to drive site traffic. While in all fairness Sterne doesn’t dismiss the merits of interactivity even if pushed by commercial interests, I do think that the slant towards mass culture results in something less conclusive. Mass culture has slanted towards commercial interest well before the inception of the internet, and ideals of interconnection in past eras can be subject to a similar kind of scrutiny.

Those ideals of participation outside of commercial influence can be found on the web, places such as 4chan.org which fuel cultural change on the web thrive without commercial interests, involving a diverse global participatory audience. I don’t believe commercial alone primarily drives the ‘normalisation’ of interactivity in becoming the ‘new passivity’, it’s far more multifaceted; a combination of technological shifts, commercial interest, enabling and extending our own social nature. Commercial interest is a threat to itself in overexposure and over-implementation. Within a framework such as the web users are presented with choice in avenues of interaction and they may simply close, delete, log off and take their interactivity elsewhere.

Reference:

Precursor project:

A prototype of a detailed interactive environment, which acts as a space deliberately intended to create a compelling character which player inhabits (assuming control of them from the first person perspective), and develop a sense of a greater of a world where this location is contained, building a sense of scale from within the restricted environment.

One of the many highly detailed and carefully scripted interactive environments in Metro 2033

The setting is an apartment containing a multitude of personal artefacts and connections to the world outside of the apartment. The characters thoughts and feelings of the artefacts, particularly the impactions of them are overlayed as hovering text, and text textured onto the environment.

This explores multiple layers of storytelling, and is indicative of slow in games. The visual information that the environment provides, which a player can investigate provides a layer of characterisation of its inhabitant. This is environmental storytelling is similar to that in film (Alfred Hitchcock, Rear Window) and many first person games such as Half-Life, Call of Cthuhlu, Metro 2033 and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.. However this leaves much room in terms player speculation, of their characters true feelings in associating to the environment and emotional state, resulting in only a surface layer of characterisation.

Protagonist Jack Walters in a cut-scene, one of the many methods to convey story in Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth

First person ames such as Call of Cthulhu have addressed this by adding first person narration, however it was used primarily as a form of feedback in helping the player solve problems, than as a central method in developing protagonist Jack Walter’s character; usually relying on more traditional means in fragmenting the storytelling through cut scenes.

This is also similar in many third person games, featuring a controllable protagonist. In point and click adventure games such as Grim Fandango, the protagonist Manny will briefly quip through audio about an object clicked on. Information received is divvied between characterisation and entirely practical implementation, also encouraging players to hunt for objects with the mouse cursor, combing the screen for intractable objects. The result is something fairly impersonal and a sense of disconnect, despite offering layers of information.

Protagonist Manny Calavera in Grim Fandango

The added layer of suspended, descriptive and personal text in the precursor poject gives the player a far greater sense of perspective, and involvement in inhabiting the character, acting as a secondary layer of information in support of the first; added depth in creating something compelling. This gives objects far greater context in their place, purpose and role, as well as reflective of the character in reverse; resulting in a far more involved and personal interactive experience.

Views of the environment outside of the apartment, as well as artefacts directly related to this bigger picture will also play a role in defining the character, and the world they inhabit. Using basic audio cues and scripted events, action and animations in the environment outside may happen, creating the illusion of an active, breathing world, compared to the suspended time within the apartment.

Still a work in progress

Characters traits are:

Returned soldier

Suffering a form of post traumatic stress disorder

An extreme condition similar to an extreme example of anthropophobia and agoraphobia

Undergoing a form of rehabilitation

Was once in a position of authority within military ranks

Well read, articulate

Former journalist

In a vulnerable state, emotionally dazed

Lacking motivation, stuck in a cycle of avoidance that's comfortable

Removed from people they once cared about or for, and struggling with current circumstances

Apartment contents:

Medication (in a certain form, pills perhaps)

Window (single medium size, closed) with a view of the outside

Single bed

Very small bathroom, no mirror

Possible slight dilapidation problem of apartment

books, cluttered, many

locked 'war chest', half pushed under single bed, stuck half in half out

Empty wardrobe

large main door to outside (locked)

(not many personal affects, a few very deliberate ones)

Clock missing handles

Empty picture frame, or facing downwards (typical) on table / desk

Boots - military issue related, ever dependable

bathroom has no door, but visible hinges

Key hook near front door, no keys

Nothing in doorway

desk in front of window, rough illustrations on it, some crumpled (birds?)

stack of paper, unused, neat

pens all lined up next to paper, unused neat

one pen used next to illustrations

Bound journals on the floor near desk - closed and pushed the side

stack of newspapers, bound with rope near the desk

candle on desk, half burned

empty kitchen

Some books scattered in near piles on a shelf (rather than ordered), moved and roughly placed, spines disordered and facing incorrectly

Practical objects with personality, chipped mug, table with a short leg

cup wedged underneath it, unkempt bed

Very few objects linked to the outside world, pills being the major

A mail slot at the door for packages, and a mail tube in the wall near the door (where letters fall out into a basket beneath it).

Apartment architecture:

Relatively confined

Spaces: Bedroom (very small, wardobe, chest, bed), main living area (area of comfort, desk at window, shelves, few items - largest room), hall and entrance doorway (no items, no lighting), hall to bathroom on the other end opposite the hall opposing the entrance, bathroom contains small sink, no mirror, tiny shower (missing head), and kitchenette - attached to living area, few cupoards - no doors, 'minibar' like fridge amongst them, - sparse.

Corridors and ceiling elevation change. More suffocating towards the entry and bathroom - elongated hallways - living area has a wider space, higher ceiling, bedroom an in between.

Outside:

Cityscape with high elevation

View inside of other apartments opposite (Rear Window), implied activity or sounds within them, a voyeuristic aspect and heightened sense of removal and isolation within what is a populated location. However NPCs are not visible.

Implied distant activity within the confines of the urban environment, using predominantly audio. Possibly odd questionable sounds to create a sense of unknowing and passive uncertainty.

Plant life outside, cabling too – animated, a sense of wind due to the elevation.

Modelled to enhance a sense of vertigo, and textured to contrast with the apartment confines

Possible states of the apartment – exploring the characters troubled mental state through very passive environment changes based on world triggers. When the character moves to X location at Y interval, then Z objects in the world disappear, or reappear, or suggest change within the environment. This characterises the protagonist’s mental instability, forgetting objects or having an even more unstable mental state underneath the descriptive thoughts.

Visuals

Muted colour pallet, heavy on ‘dull’ colours – greyscale, brown, muted blue, possible minimal use of muted greens – yellowed horizon. This will result in contrast with the far brighter white framed with black suspended text, which can have gamma applied to its texture, for visual brightness.

Assets are deliberately low polygon, and textures are flat. The environment will be minimal in visual character in terms of texture, relying on text based description to provide further details, then player visual scrutiny, also fitting with the distortion in characters frame of mind.

An example of low fidelity visuals in Gravity Bone

Production:

Production should not be difficult, it requires modelling assets, writing text and then implementing it in engine (Unity), before writing a few basic scripts for the aspects of interaction.

Asset production is the major issue. Working as the designer, writing is collaborated with a creative writer, however they are not responsible for any implementation. It may be advisable collaborating with an 3D artist in modelling environment assets after determining the development time.

This could tie into the major project as a location, within the same setting and involving the same character. This is essentially a small experiment of one possible aspect of the project, in realising a layer of interaction and player involvement, when inhabiting the character, to be expanded on.

Letters – while a major part of the main project, letters in the precursor project offer a detailed window of the outside world, and characters other than the protagonist. Implementing functionality of picking up – and reading might be difficult, but opened letters with descriptive text could be doable. This can reveal both connections with other characters, as well as the protagonist’s thoughts about characters other than themself.

Alternatives:

A design document covering all of these aspects, and an illustrated, planned out environment, listing objects, written content related and the character inhabiting it.

Alternate avenues for exploration – To explore this prototype pre-production the idea of labelling thoughts onto projects using QR codes has been raised, as well as augmented reality software. QR codes being the easy alternative, when stuck onto objects they can be read, revealing‘invisible’ characters thoughts about that said object and offering greater meaning in its context within the environment.

Fans are viewed as being part of a ‘community of the imagination’, one difficult to study due to the invitation for the researcher to “invent his or her own creative solutions to fill in the gaps” (p. 182) when focusing on what is ‘not’ being said by participants. In order to study this audience of fans a questionnaire about ‘pleasure and enjoyment’ is utilised, noting recurring terms and patterns of response. This was chosen instead of contacting a group directly, which would have directed research as a “study of a particular kind of fandom” (p. 182). Of the 125 responses the frequency of emotional terms was assessed, resulting in the emergence of three thematic clusters; the ‘felt connection’, ‘emotional impact’, and ‘aesthetic rationales’.

Aesthetical rationales are judgements based on cultural and aesthetic frameworks, a visual interpretation and one weighted by expectations of fans. These act as creating preconceptions and distinct foundations to the emotional impact; the emotional connection with the film. This relates to affect of the experience in watching the film, such as  being described as ‘beyond words’ and rendering them ‘speechless’ and the emotional fulfilment which is experienced in return. This is associated with the notion of a ‘performative fan’ who seeks “immersion in a fantasy world in which one has powerful emotional investment” (p. 186). The inability to find words and recounting the film in relation to physical reactions comprises the felt connection, a ‘lived’ experience.

This level of immersion and connection is cited as being relative to the films length, and the broad range of emotions experienced as part of the film. However despite this level of engagement viewers remain critically aware, metaphorically keeping ‘one foot on the floor’ through self questioning and rationalisation. It is established that fans rationalise their reactions to the experience, and distinguish between a persona ‘emotional’ response to ‘intelligent’, “implying a hierarchy beginning with an embodied response and collimating rationalisation” (p. 187).

This raises the notion of the film being a “lived experience of the audience, an embodied, deeply felt, and emotional event” (p.188), a statement of affect as well as assessments of how these affects might have been achieved, via a range of filmic strategies and techniques. These are alternately osculating interpretations build the rationalisation of locating the source of pleasure, framing the act of “living through” Return of the King as an embodied and emotional experience as fundamentally complex, and reflective of the diversity of fans as social conscious. The fan experience is highly individual nature, very different to the misconception of fans as a group which can be easily generalised.

From personal experience I can agree with Turbull’s analysis and sentiments. While not involved in fandoms or being part of fan communities I personally know quite a few people who are; and they do not delude themselves when discussing subject matter they’re invested in. Many of which are actually quite critical of these pieces of media that they care about, which seems to be part of a heightened sense of attachment; emotional involvement and focus can result in scrutiny and a critical perspective.

In environments such as the web, fans can be viewed as taking this to utter extremes, blurring the lines between being participants, being highly critical of even creators, transcending their position into one almost of ownership. A prominent example of which is the divisions between creator George Lucas of Star Wars, and the fan reception of the ‘prequel trilogy’ of films; still evoking strong criticism within fan communities and rifts within the community itself.

  References:

Storytelling in games has proved to be a subject of challenge to designers, traditionally resulting in the separation of story from function, and recurring dissonance between written intention and design execution. 

In what ways can mechanical game design and narrative design be considered together as a way to guide audiences through experiences? Arising from this, what are the key considerations facing narrative designers working with contemporary play mechanics?