#exoriare

My first real experience of graphic fiction was a module I took last year when I was an undergrad called Bande Dessinée or BD for short. BD are French and Belgian comic books/ graphic novels and are so prolific/ highly regarded that they are considered le neuvième art (the ninth art).

I loved learning about this new art form and discovering/ studying incredible graphic novels, including my favourite - Persepolis by Franco-Iranian Marjane Satrapi. So, when I started looking into Exoriare, I was excited for what was in store. However, to my surprise and despite the stunning visuals, I found the story hard to follow.

Image Source: http://www.exoriare.com

But of course, this is no ordinary graphic novel, but rather a transmedia experience. On p.13, in the bottom right hand corner, the user will notice a flashing screen which can be clicked.

A new window opens and a riddle-esque paragraph of fiction awaits the viewer, prompting a response. With each response, the user is fed a little bit more information - the aim is to find the red button in the house. 

Image Source: http://www.exoriare.com

I was intrigued by this as I am a huge fan of the incredible Mr. Robot and I recognised immediately that a similar choose-your-own adventure game is presented to both Angela and Elliot by Whiterose at different points throughout the various seasons of the series. I was so excited because I felt like I was in that world.

Image Source: Mr. Robot, USA Network

However, after finding the red button, I was presented with a ‘Loading’ page that, well, never fully loaded. I tried it both on Chrome and Safari, but nothing changed. I continued to read the comic in a separate tab, hoping for some clarity, only to be more confused than before.

Image Source: http://www.exoriare.com

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.

Deneb - Exoriare Aliquis Nostris Ex Ossibus Ultor

Deneb - Crux

Deneb - Trilithon

Deneb - Exoriare Aliquis Nostris Ex Ossibus Ultor

Public Intellectual Activity, Douglas Rushkoff is well-known for his insightful books and documentaries about how cultures, people, and institutions shape values in the digital age. Since his 1994 observational book Cyberia, Rushkoff has often been at the forefront of digital counterculture. His latest book, Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age, provides clear, actionable ways to master technology before it masters us.

Recently, Rushkoff collaborated with games production company Smoking Gun Interactive to create an experimental alternate reality game (ARG) and graphic novel “proof of concept,” Exoriare. After chatting very briefly about ARGs at the eBook Summit last week in New York City, I thought our readers would enjoy a more focused e-mail interview with Rushkoff about his experience with Exoriare, ARGs, and play.

Jane Doh: For Exoriare, even though you have the writer credit for the graphic novel, how involved were you in the writing or the design of the Darknet ARG? Was the development of both elements concurrent, or did one come before the other?

Douglas Rushkoff: The initial concept for the story behind the Darknet ARG was already developed when I came on. I ended up writing a graphic novel for which the characters of that story were more tangential than central; their plight was of concern to my characters, but I had another story going on. That story got adjusted a bit to accommodate my timeline, and my intentions for a story that was to span four to six graphic novels.

Where we did collaborate a lot, though, was on the role of the player/reader. It was important to me that my graphic novel end with the beginning of the game – the last frame is to be the computer screen on which the game is played, with the player as an active member of a resistance group, reaching out to others through the Darknet.

I wanted the reader to be more than an uninvolved third person, but someone with a stake in the story. I also wanted the story itself to give the player an idea of his or her own back story, or to be able to imagine one based on the timeline they experienced over the first book.

So the ARG had to support this notion of people coming together to fight a very new kind of war.

JD: What were your impressions of the collaborative creative process for Exoriare? How did the form of the content, its delivery, its interactivity, affect the course of development and creation?

via argn.com