Kenneth Hite argues that the long-running, H.P. Lovecraft-inspired Call of Cthulhu franchise differs from traditional tabletop role-playing in its focus on suspense rather than character growth. Hite's analysis suggests that in its origins and emphasis on narrative structure Cthulhu is a highly literary game.
The source is the essay-review on www.electronicbookreview.com written by Kenneth Hite.
"A scenario in Call of Cthulhu can be organized like the layers of an onion. On the surface, suppose that the scenario looks like it's about a conventional haunted house. It might even look like a hoax. (...) The sixth edition version is slightly less proscriptive than the first, substituting "can" for "should," and being headlined "An Example of A Plot" rather than the sterner "How to Set Up a Scenario" from the first edition.The sixth edition also provides a sidebar with step-by-step guidelines for "Building a Scenario":(...)1) A mystery or crisis is posed. . .2) The investigators become linked to the problem. . .3) The investigators attempt to define the mystery. . .4) The investigators use the clues and evidence to confront the danger. . .5) The mystery or problem is solved. (Ibid., 136)."
The quotes was directly pulled out of the essay.
Culprit is a choose-your-own adventure screen-based game created using the interactive documentary software Klynt and inspired by the resurgence of interest in a genre that elit has seen as unsophisticated but is currently enjoying an uptake in popularity as interactivity goes mainstream both on handheld devices and livingroom televisions. A multi-modal murder mystery with five storypaths that intersect to provide for many more distinct readings, Culprit is set in a contemporary, urban North American city and anyone could be the murderer.
Sam Barlow’s 2015 computer game Her Story is barely a game. The interface is an obsolete police database stocked with seven videotaped interviews of a woman accused of a crime, broken up into clips of between ten and ninety seconds. The game is played by typing in words to search through the clips, and the database returns only the first five videos, chronologically, that contain the query. The player pieces together the mystery at the heart of the game in whatever order they choose – the primary cue that the game provides is an initial search term, “MURDER,” – and the game is ‘over’ only when the player decides they have seen enough. As they play, the game’s interface design, along with its thematic focus on liminal and reflective surfaces, incorporates the player into a system of cognitive apparatuses. Critical responses to Sam Barlow’s 2015 video game Her Story were rapturous. The Washington Post called it “the best the medium has to offer;” Rock Paper Shotgun said it “might be the best FMV game ever made;” and in their article proclaiming it the best game of 2015, Polygon’s Colin Campbell wrote “I don't think you will 'read' a better mystery novel this year.” The comparison to a novel is particularly interesting, because the game is in large part shaped by an absent text: the “digitally stenographed” transcript through which the player searches is never directly accessible, and is instead explorable only through the manipulation of video clips whose quality has been artistically degraded through lossy VHS transcoding. The transcript’s absence is compensated for by another text: the “three A4 pages of notes” that Rock Paper Shotgun’s reviewer describes handwriting himself over the course of his playthrough – an experience I shared. This presentation will trace out these two peripheral texts in Her Story – the paper notepad and the inaccessible transcript through which the user searches – alongside an examination of the game’s interface design and thematic concern with mirrors, windows, and other real-life interfaces, to explore how the game imbricates the reader into what N. Katherine Hayles calls a “cognitive assemblage” with itself as database and as text. This experientially unusual mode of ‘reading’ will be compared with traditional works of paper detective fiction, with a focus on how Charles Rzepka’s notion of the “puzzle-element” of the genre constructs a reading subject that is similarly imbricated with their text. I will explore the modes of subjectivity that both digital and virtual styles of ‘reading’ engender, with a particular focus on how the peripheral texts and the interface of Her Story blur the division between the player and the character - pictured only as a ghostly silhouette in the virtually simulated glare of a CRT monitor - as whom they play. Rather than recapitulating the argument that IF provides deeper immersion than traditional fiction, however, this presentation will explore how both media immerse their readers into a system of cognitive technologies, and what kind of consciousness that system might have.
The Wolf Among Us is an episodic interactive dark fantasy mystery graphic adventure video game based on Bill Willingham's Fables comic book series. It is developed by Telltale Games. It is canon with the comic book universe and is set as a prequel to the comic book. The game consists of five episodes, with the first episode being released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 worldwide on October 11, 2013, for OS X worldwide on October 14, 2013, for PlayStation 3 on October 15, 2013, in North America and on October 16, 2013, in Europe and Australia, for iOS worldwide on December 4, 2013, and PlayStation Vita before the end of 2014. Retail versions for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, and Xbox One consoles were released in November 2014.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Vicente Luis Mora is a literary critic and Spanish author of Alba Cromm, a book that takes place in a sinister dystopian future. It tells the events that lead to the capture of the infamous pederast, highly wanted by the National Police, NEMO, through a dossier. Utilizing the print form, Alba Cromm adopts the review structure through a variety of stylistic resources, such as diary entries, publicity announcements, and interviews. The obvious theme elapsed through most of the work is the fight with the embodied passions in the human institution, such as the protection fo the most vulnerable, like children.
Vicente Luis Mora escritor Español y crítico literário, escribió Alba Cromm, un libro que toma lugar en un futuro distópico siniestro. Relata la historia de los acontecimientos ocurridos que conducen a la captura del pederasta más buscado por la Policia Nacional, NEMO, por medio de un dossier. Utilizando la forma impresa, Alba Cromm adopta la estructura de una revista a través de una variedad de recursos estilísticos, tal como entradas diario, anuncios de publicidad, y entrevistas. Un tema evidente transcurrido a lo largo de la obra es el lidiar con las pasiones encarnadas en la institución humana, tal como el proteger a los más vulnerables, como los niños.
The Ice-Bound Concordance is an award-winning interactive narrative game where story pieces are as fluid as building blocks, and where endings are discovered with the help of a physical printed art book, The Ice-Bound Compendium.
(Source: Website)
The Ice-Bound Concordance is an award-winning interactive narrative game where story pieces are as fluid as building blocks, and where endings are discovered with the help of a physical printed art book, The Ice-Bound Compendium.
(Source: Website)
Gone Home takes place entirely in one environment—literally a home—and relies on found objects like receipts, personal notes, ticket stubs, and phone messages to further its plot. In doing so, the game goes beyond the story’s central mystery and delves into the inner workings of teenage rebellion, marital strife, and love. Gone Home’s intimate nature, strong storytelling, and ambitious scope has garnered heavy accolades for both the game and The Fullbright Company studio, including an IndieCade Audio Award, two Spike VGX awards, and a 9.5 rating on IGN.
Source:http://getinmedia.com/articles/game-careers/steve-gaynor-designing-gone…
Observer is a survival horror video game played from a first-person perspective. It is set in 2084 Poland following a "digital plague" that cost the lives of thousands, resulting in war and rampant drug use. The player controls Daniel Lazarski, a Cracovian detective of the Observers police unit tasked with hacking their targets' memories and fears with a device known as the Dream Eater. Equipped with augmented vision split into Electromagnetic Vision—which scans for electronic devices—and Bio Vision—which scans for biological evidence—he is able to analyse and highlight certain objects in his environment, which in a hacked brain is subject to active change. Objects can be interacted with and examined. A conversation tree is used for dialogue.
