Basic Premise:

For my final project, I intend to create an alternate-reality type of game based on “Choose-Your-Own-Adventure” style children’s books. However, instead of written, printed stories, the story is told through a series of audio files on CD or in mp3 format on an mp3 player. Each file will give some information or directions, and then present the player/listener with a series of choices, directing them to skip to another track/audio file in order to continue the story. The story begins at a specific, designated spot on the UB North Campus, and starts when the player begins the first audio track. From here, the narration begins and the player is given basic background information, directions, and a choice about where to move to. In this way, they physically take part in the story itself. The player is given specific information about where to walk, when to pause the audio, and when to skip tracks; this information is concrete and does not try to trick the player. Less solid is the storyline itself; the player must piece together what they are told with what they see in order to make choices to continue the story/game. Ultimately, the goal of the game is for the player to form their own conclusions about what was told in the story. Whether they choose to believe it or not, and whether to let it affect them and their perception of the place they are in.

The game and story will focus around the idea of events and the place and time they occur in. Time is a fleeting thing, and we do not often step back to consider the outcome of our actions in day-to-day life. Using this concept as a foundation, the game will in some ways serve as a simulation or re-creation of a single day, or possibly the days leading up to or following that particular day as well. The story for the game itself will be told as a sort of present-tense, first person journal entry, like listening to someone talk as they tell you about their day. In this way, the same events of a single day are preserved and by putting you in the places they may (or may not) have happened allows them to be re-enacted over and over. Time and place are linked together, along with  a certain sense of identity. The story itself is rather general in some ways; although the details may be specific, the identity and role of the speaker and the identity of the listener/player are not necessarily so clearly defined. At certain junctures in the story, the player will be presented with a choice which will allow them to take one of two or more routes to advance the plot. These choices may appear as something inherently positive or negative, or possibly entirely neutral, though how they will affect the outcome as a whole are uncertain. The outcome of each choice will lead to further choices, and so on. The choices themselves will allow for a certain “shift” in the sense of time in the story: the tense may change, or the plot may advance or possibly go backwards, depending on the choice of the player. The choices given may not always be so simple as mere choice in regard to actions - while the story in present tense may tell the narrator’s actions, one of the choice outcomes may branch off toward a completely different sense of narration, possibly ranting about a related effect or feeling or other outcome involved with the present-tense plot.

In some ways it would be logical to compare the concept and function of the game to the structure of a website and the way one navigates through it. A series of pages are available, but they do not necessarily have a chronological order or subject order - the order is determined by the reader as they make choices and as more choices are made available to them. The flow of the story in the game is similar to this, but rather than pages it is based on moments or events which the player selects when given the choice. Therefore, the story of the day is told in an indirect, player-driven way.

1. Objective:

The objective of the game is to listen to a series of parts of a story (told in a sort of “journal entry” type of format, or as though you’re listening to someone talk about their day) as you are guided on a walk across campus, and make a series of choices as you progress through the plot which will affect the place and time where the story ends. The walk isn’t a so much tour in the direct sense of the word, but more or less a re-creation of one day in the life of one student, possibly/probably told from my own perspective. The game ends when you arrive at one of the endings, which vary depending on the choices you have made. You are left to piece together what you may; when did this take place? Where? Who is this person? What happened? Why? What is the significance of the event that happened or the identity of myself or the narrator or the place I’m in or being led to?

2. Audience:

The project is specifically intended to target people who frequent the UB campus. They may not necessarily be students, although students will likely better identify with the project. They also may not necessarily spend the majority of their time on North Campus. Some familiarity with the campus is a plus as the story/concept centralizes around the place itself. The story and concept are fairly abstract, so in reality most anyone could take part in the game, but the location is important.

3. Research:

In order to further research this concept, I will research similar types of stories and games. The books the game is based on were extremely common when I was a child, and there seem to be many of them, as well as more adult versions of the same types of books. There are also online versions of the same types of books/games. Websites themselves are almost an identical form of navigation, although not necessarily based on storytelling. It would also probably be worth it to research old text-based computer games, which had no graphics and were entirely played through text, essentially a similar experience. The game world was constructed by the story given and the player’s imagination.

4. Medium:

The project itself will be presented almost as a sort of derive; a live, participatory experience. In order to play, each person will need a CD or mp3 player along with the proper audio files, as well as some paper and some type of writing device. From here, the experience is between the player and the audio. Little other instruction will be given. For class, the project could be presented either through documentation or actual participation, depending on the amount of time available for presentation. I also think it could be an interesting experiment to make the rules of the game and the audio files available online so that anyone on campus could also take part in the game. It would be interesting to see what types of responses could arise from these “third party” participants with little outside instruction about the project itself.