This week’s lesson took a much more creative route, which I much appreciated as it broke up the intense information dump that each week’s lesson usual brings with it. I explored both the simple Space Frog game and the more intricate A Tale of Crowns narrative. Both Twine games showcased how hypertext can provide individuals with the ability to build worlds out of (somewhat) simple commands. As I am more familiar with the video games you find at the store, it was very cool to see that there is another avenue for this type of media. As the lesson mentioned, Wikipedia is a great example of Hypertext’s use. The non-linear connections between pages showcases how Wikipedia is one of the last remaining relics of websites not overruled by algorithms. I remember that this format was particularly useful for my friends and myself to create a game that could get us through computer class in elementary school. We would start with a random page and someone would shout out what page we should get to by only clicking through the links on the Wikipedia pages-whoever reached the designated page first won. I’m happy to now know that I can thank Hypertext for providing hours of entertainment to my peers and I. I’ve also had experience with editing a Wikipedia page before. After spending an entire month working back and forth with other Wikipedia editor, I can assure you that the information on a well edited Wiki page is much more reliable that your high school teachers would like you to think. Having to spend time linking the page I was editing to other Wiki pages has given me and appreciation for Hypertext and how it can reduce information overload so significantly.
When I was first learning about Twine and its abilities, I immediately though of the game Alice is Dead. A simple point-and-click game, Alice is Dead took the player through a complicated story line surrounding Lewis Carroll’s original characters from the novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, but with a twist and a very different world. The story tree that the creator of 57 North used to create his Twine game gave me an idea of how the back end of Alice is Dead was created and how it was able to branch so far of with each decision the player made. Similar to the Twine game examples in this week’s lesson, Alice is Dead gives the players simple choices that takes them through different avenues of the story. Clicking through A Tale of Crowns, the memory of this game came rushing back and I was glad I could connect the context of hypertext to something I’ve played in the past. I must say that Beneath the Floes are a more similar world and atmosphere to Alice is Dead than any of the other example Twine games. Although the game doesn’t use Hypertext like the Twine games do, I can see how the function for Alice is Dead was born out of the Hypertext format.
Going forward, I hope to explore hypertext-based narratives, because I feel as though it brings more interest to genres, like fantasy, that I have grown bored with in the past.
Posted In: Reflections