by Luke Schenker -

Narrative Environments From Disneyland to World of Warcraft/Atopia (on Vice City)

I thought it was cool how experiences have become more and more dependent upon users decisions in shaping the worlds as described by “Narrative Environments” because I had never really considered the players role in what the experience becomes. The “Atopia” reading was very different in that it described different environments as “topias” and ended up confusing the crap out of me. The only bridge I managed to draw was that in “Atopia”, Vice City is described as being a world which the user does not shape in the slightest. Nothing changes, you just do things and get things, as opposed to “Second Life” from the “Narrative” reading, which is entirely shaped by the users. Quite intriguing… indubitably so…

by Luke Schenker -

The Dark

You don’t have much juice left in your flashlight… just enough to take a brief look around. Anything you discover you can put to use, but discover nothing… and its lights out (PUN!) You progress through some building, but thats all you know. Hope you shine on all the right places!

by Luke Schenker -

The Face / Hills Like White Elephants response

The Face:

I thought the most interesting part was how much game developers use a characters gaze to direct or hint to the player. I hadn’t noticed that before. I guess thats a pretty good reason for making characters heads larger than they should be. The rest of the article was just about social cues, nothing new.

Hills Like White Elephants:

What did they want to do but didn’t do?! They talked about something that she didn’t want to do but kind of wanted to do, and he didn’t want to do it but wouldn’t mind if she did, and I never got what that thing was! Kind of a frustrating read, feels so unresolved.

by Luke Schenker -

Assignment Numbah 1

Idea #1: Cloud

You are a cloud. You have many decisions to make! Both out of necessity and just for fun. Being a cloud, you are moisture in the sky, and if you dry out, POOF! Gone. So, you must make decisions on where to travel to continue existence, for example…

Over the past week or so, you’ve noticed a slight dry spell. You’ve kept on surviving by absorbing smaller clouds in the area, but they’re all gone. There is an arid wasteland beyond, but past that is a storm running parallel to it. You can either wait and try your luck or brave the arid wasteland in hopes of all the moisture you’ll need!

But there are also cloud shenanigans! For example, you see a weatherman having a barbecue. Bet he predicted sunny skies, we’ll see…

Idea #2: Street Garbage

You’re just a lone recyclable bottle on a city street, with the dream that you might be made into another bottle to be used again! You do have the ability to roll, and roll you shall! You encounter many perilous situations, such as convicts with trash bags and dreaded street sweeps… some situations you might get into include:

You see a thirsty homeless person by a recycling bin, this is your chance! You can roll yourself into a puddle and try to look quenching, or roll on your way to a safer place… you can hear them street sweeps a comin’!

You see a girl with a ice cream cone on a bench. Suddenly, a young man in a soccer jersey comes down the road kicking cans. You could position yourself so you could be kicked into the girls ice cream, or roll into the bushes to avoid damage.

CYOA reading:

The one part of the thing that made me think about the reading was that in any reading, the reader wants a resolve and closure, and that not all CYOA endings provide a successful closure. Like if you die without resolving something thanks to a bad decision. That would at least leave me disappointed after taking the time to take the whole adventure, as opposed to a regular book where it has a SAFE conclusion. Hadn’t really considered that before 😛