Blog: mapping out the possibilities

[benmiller314]

Here we are: it's time to develop executable proposals for a collaborative final project that will allow you to integrate – and extend – what you’ve learned about composing digital media.

You can directly reference an idea from the first or second brainstorming blog, or start fresh. The question is essentially the same:

What games or branching narratives come to mind as you consider the digital media skills you've developed in this class? (The default option for the collaborative unit is to work with Twine.) Or, to come at it from a different angle, what further possibilities of digital media composing might you want to explore in connection with other people, that would consolidate or build on the work you've done so far?

Where I'll push you a little farther now is to think about the role that collaboration might play here: what are the component tasks of this project, and how might two or three partners work together to achieve them?

As always on the forum, replying directly to each other is optional but encouraged: just use the @ symbol to flag someone by username.

[abrous]

I honestly do not have any original thoughts or ideas for this project. When he has mentioned deciding which rooms were available and then each choosing actions for specific people I thought about doing something with a dog person, cat person, both person options but I have no further thoughts

[ZAR17]

DISCLAIMER: This project won't be hard.

Background: Similar to the Nintendo Uncle game; escape room

Plot (open to changing it): A group of kids 6 kids sneak into a theme park after it's closed so they can ride all of their favorite rides, they split into different directions to ride different rides. The user picks who they want to go with. A group of two kids go one way, another group of two goes another way, and then there's the one rambunctious kid who wants to go somewhere spooky but doesn't have anyone to go with.

Note: Paths have the ability to cross halfway through so its not as boring as having the one group always escape and the rest don't

(Idea came from an R.L. Stein book I read as a kid)

[tessasayers]

background: similar to the nintendo one

There is nothing like summer nights when you are a kid. You get to stay up late with all of the neighbor kids, often running around the neighborhood like you own the place. There are ten “regulars” all together. Every night you meet at the house on State Street and when the clock strikes 8 you pick who will be it for your nightly game of jail break.

This night is a little different, something doesn’t feel right. As you run the quiet streets of a small Pennsylvania town looking for your friends, you aren’t sure what you will find, or what will happen to you.

The user can pick from a list of kids and be taken on an adventure, whether they are the hider or the seeker, they’ll be in for a thrill.

[christyh310]

Background music: monster's inc related music, kinda repetitive 'scare floor', work office music, changing in key moments

Plot: Finding Boo Remember when, in the main Monster's Inc movie, Sully finally gets to see Boo after Mike W painstakingly recreates her door? Well, sadly, Randall's relative, Scandall, has demolished the door with a chemical called DoorBeGone... so, it seems to have irrevocably disappeared. Will you partner with Sully to help him find her again?

Things to think about: how much time has passed in the human world as Sully has aged in the Monster world? Will Boo even remember him? Will Sully be able to find the right door?

[mpalko]

Disclaimer: Not really sure where I am going with this, so if it does not make sense right now, I apologize.

I just saw the movie Us, and I really liked the idea of outsmarting your own self and trying to figure out who you really are. I am not going into more details because I don't want to spoil the movie for those who haven't seen it. But I think the idea of the pathways of the movie could be fleshed out into a game.

[jennyaimei120]

I don't really know what to do for this project, but i did have the idea of maybe doing something similar to black mirror. I wouldn't think that it would be too difficult since we looked at some examples during class. I don't know what the plot would be yet, but it is a start.

[tyllerbarner]

Chevron: For all your years at Pitt you have avoided going up the Chevron stairs. You've heard horror stories about the treacherous hike that many have had to face when walking up. However, one day all upper campus shuttles break down and you have no other choice but to make the trek up Chevron. Will you decide to stay on low campus? Will you brave the journey and walk? And if so, what will you find?

Mood: I was thinking that this could kind of lighthearted and funny, not so much scary.

[bcy5]

As someone who grew up browser games, when I think of "choose your own adventure" games, what comes to my mind are time constraint horror games where the player must choose a series of quick decisions in a stressful horror-movie like scenarios. The story will ideally have multiple endings based on the path chosen.

[jlherrle]

To be honest when we were talking about the project and looked at other websites with similar ideas, nothing came to mind when we were asked to start thinking of ideas. I feel like to personally be able to create an idea, I need to take more time to sit back and get more familiar with the software we are using and the project itself. After being more familiar of what we are being asked to do I believe then I will be able to get an idea of the type of plot I want to create. Although I do not know the exact plot I want, I do know that I enjoyed the examples that created a sense of suspense. I would like to be able to create the same with my plot.

[eaj34]

I was thinking of a concept along the lines of the other games, a choose your adventure. I thought up of an adventure where a family, or a couple, or a single person (not exactly sure) would be on a cruise. The cruise would stop in some popular town or city and the family would have about 5 hours to get activities in before the boat leaves port. The adventure is choosing (and risking) how many activities you do in those five hours. You want to experience everything, but you don't want to be stranded in a different city. There will probably be three endings: making it back to the boat with time to spare, missing the boat, or making it back just in time. So the idea of the game is: how much fun are you willing to have?

[benmiller314]

Since we're aiming for 6-7 groups and we have 7 proposals here with clear plot options (vs. genre preferences already covered in the other proposals), I just wanted to add one more option to increase your sense of choice: Re-imagine a soundscape narrative as choice-based game.

The idea would be to take sounds you've already recorded and divide them up into segments. Instead of carrying your listener along a path you've already decided, you would stop at various branching points and give them options. Depending on what they choose, you could either include or exclude tracks from the same soundscape, or you could jump them into a different segment, or maybe they could go sideways into another soundscape altogether. It all depends on who joins the group, and what sounds/narratives you therefore have to work with!

[RYRATT]

I didn't have a pitch but this morning as I was getting ready I realized I had brought a book of short stories and a couple plays with me to school so I could do a project like "The Griffen and the Minor Cannon."

[ghost]

I still am all for a choose your own adventure. I really liked the Bandersnatch TV show and thought it was super cool how the viewer can choose what happens. There would be five different "stops" where the viewer makes their decisions and decides where the adventure goes. There would be risk and reward according to whether or not you choose a certain decision. The adventure I have in mind is something that is kind of a thriller or horror story. I liked one of the examples that we had in class the first day of this unit and when it's exciting, it's engaging for the viewer.