Do I Look From These Eyes?

I have been chopping and changing my direction for the video game proposal that I will be coming up with. Indecision is something that often plagues me with my screenwriting, but I think I will employ the mantra of ‘go big or go home’.

In my last lecture for Interactive Media, we had a guest narrative designer come in and certainly I came away inspired to be as inventive and ambitious as I can. Also watching a cutscene of The Witcher III: Wild Hunt reminded me that I have that game waiting for me to play (I’m just waiting for a clearing in my busy schedule to really get stuck in) - I have just finished the first full novel of the series ‘The Blood of Elves’, which has really whet my appetite for some fantasy.

Plus the final season of Game of Thrones is nearly upon us (based upon my favourite fantasy book series ‘A Song of Fire and Ice’) which I get extremely hyped about... the point being, the lore of these worlds are so big and interesting, it would be remiss of me not to push my game along that path.

One of the main ideas I have had from the start involves a semi dual narrative, and I still aim on keeping that. Largely the story will be told from the perspective one character in 3rd person, but there will be other sections that follow a character in a more mysterious situation and in 1st person. The story will begin with 1st person character and initially it will seem like the 3rd person character is a flashback... only for a later reveal.

Perspective and expectation are some of the most fun things to play with when creating story. You know how the audience will perceive events. To a certain extent that is different with a game, as there is more freedom and control, but you can certainly plant thoughts in player’s head by utilising tropes etc. Now for some specifics.

Working Title: The Sky Disappeared

Platform: PS4 (but potentially Xbox One and PC)

As mentioned the story will be divided... The 1st Person Character will awake in a medical bay being tended to by an NPC, but will soon realise that it is an underground cavern or chamber with no way out... this section will be a combination of mystery and problem solving, but I still need to flesh this section out and note: this part of the journey will be told in small segments and act as a frame around the rest of the story...

The 3rd Person Character will be the member of a small village in a world which has been invaded by a technologically advanced alien species - who are always helmeted. They’ve landed huge tower like spaceships at major population hubs and taken control of the lands, forcing all able workers to mine a greasy black rock that is found in clusters over the world. The purpose of this unknown, but the people of the world are, of course, unhappy about this and rebels are beginning to fight back. The small village from which the main character is from is unaffected thus far, but naturally are dragged into the fold near the beginning of the story... It will be up to the main character to save the world and discover the truth and for the player to decide what that means. As mentioned, there will be a linkage between the two narratives.

In regards to way the game will function - it will be a action/adventure style game, probably not a true open world, but not obviously on rails. I do want the main draw to be the story and emotional connection to the decisions that are made. It won’t be all out ‘choose your own adventure’, but certainly some key moments will result in different paths depending on how you want to play the game. I might reign this if I get in over my head.

Over the next couple of months I will be developing a project proposal for my module in Interactive Media. There are a wealth of potential paths to go down for this project. So to focus my view, I’ve chosen to work on a concept for a game, since I’ve been a “gamer” for most of my life.

I’ve basically always been a Playstation player. One of my first memories is playing the PS1 version of A Bug’s Life, which connected me to the film in a whole other manner. Browsing my smallish collection of games reminds I played a lot of platformers as a youngster - such as Spyro. I got so many hours out of that game. The world felt so big and exploring areas is definitely something that I still appreciate even today.

Like a lot of high school kids, I had my phase in online gaming, but recent years I have got more into playing single player games that focus on story. Which makes sense considering I am studying screenwriting. Narrative design for games is something that appeals to me and it excites me that I have an opportunity to explore that area during this module.

Recently I have been rather busy, so haven’t played as many games as I would like, but two I’ve enjoyed recently are God of War and Detroit: Become Human. God of War is based on Norse mythology, an area I already had an interest in, so it was fun to have the myths weaved into the story with some changes that kept me on my toes. Detroit: Become Human is a game based around androids becoming sentient. The game utilised story branching, with certain decisions (often made in a split second) affecting the end result of the story. Both these games are action-adventure games, which I feel is the genre I enjoy most - so I hope to develop a concept that reflects this.

In saying that I enjoy abstract, almost surreal works in other forms of art and I plan on exploring a few more abstract games in the coming weeks. I would like to develop a game that forges an emotional connection, in perhaps a slightly more unique manner. But we shall see. Memory is a topic that greatly interests me. What shines brightest? What fades quickest? Small moments. Big moments. Perhaps tying into dementia. Exploring someone’s mind.

I have tendency to get carried away, but I’ll keep working on narrowing down where I want to go with this proposal. Thoughts are beginning to bubble.

This week I decided to explore Exoriare, which is a graphic novel/trans-media type project... to be honest I’m not completely sure, despite digging around the internet trying to work it out. On the website, there is a preview to a graphic novel and within that is an ARG (alternate reality game). There is an option to order a print version of the graphic novel, but beyond that I’m lost where the story continues...

However the preview of the graphic novel seemed to set up an interesting world with conspiracies, shady organisations and potentially some supernatural element at the heart of the mystery. Compounding the mystery (and the interesting twist in this experience) was a portal contained with in the graphic novel. By clicking on a flashing computer screen I was transported to a flash game resembling Zork - a text based game - that I had played many years ago.

Beginning in the open field, I was told to locate a red button, which I found easily enough in the house. I was given a final option to close my eyes to whatever truth would be unveiled to me... of course I pressed the button. At which point I was taken to another page and loading screen, which loaded and loaded and loaded, until I had to assume it wouldn’t work.

This was deeply frustrating as I wanted to see where it was going to take me next and how it presumably connect with the graphic novel story in some form or another.

I went back and explored the Zork style game a bit more - finding another red button (which I had the whole time) and some sinister figures who seemed keen on drugging me.

I figured doing a module in Interactive Media would open my eyes to some new experiences and avenues in a digital world... and here we are: at the start of a blog. My blog. I am usually quite adverse to writing exactly what I am thinking, but we will see. Maybe. I was directed towards an interactive project called ‘The Space We Hold’, based on a documentary called ‘The Apology’ by Tiffany Hsiung. The project concerns three women who were kidnapped and held prisoner in “comfort stations” by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II and used as sex slaves. Grandma Adela in the Philippines, Grandma Cao in China and Grandma Gil in South Korea - these three women, referred to as “grandmas”, have now decided to tell their stories, breaking past the shame and guilt that has kept them silent.

I had quite bit of tech problems initially - the page would load and then remain blank and unresponsive. This persisted despite my efforts and checking my browser had the necessary requirements... for no discernible reason it eventually started working (or so I thought).

After the initial intro videos had played, the project presented you with an option to listen to the grandmas stories. I’d be curious to know if anyone who had decided to watch this far actually said no? Anyway I clicked yes and Grandma Adela began her story. You had to keep the space bar held down throughout - I suppose the idea was to engage the viewer and make it feel like they were actively choosing to listen. But then if you are watching the video, you are certainly choosing to listen to it, as it is not exactly a pleasant topic, so probably most people won’t listen to it if they don’t want to. Maybe I’m overthinking it. It is what it represents.

After Grandma Adela finished the screen remained on her (still moving), but it just looped indefinitely - at first I thought it was supposed to, but then after ages I had to reload the page. After going through the intro again, I was presented with Grandma Cao’s story. The same thing happened again after, except when I reloaded I was taken by the Grandma Cao’s story. I still haven’t seen the final video. So not a great success on the technological front.

In terms of the actual message... well I can appreciate that these women’s horrible stories can be spread to such a wide audience and bring awareness to what happened during World War II - I had never heard of “comfort stations”, but for me, the recurring feeling at such stories is the feeling of numbness. There is so much suffering in the world, past and present, and regrettably future. You feel helpless, and ashamedly numb to this. Obviously I can make sure I am never apart of something so horrific, but presumably the people that do these things, aren’t spending the time to watch projects like ‘The Space We Hold’. Memories don’t stretch far, people forget and thus we endlessly repeat our past mistakes. A sadness that looms over the world.