Tag: Twine

Linking Task 12: Speculative Futures (Joseph)

ETEC 540 – Task 12: Speculative Futures

Joseph chose to use Twine as the medium to explore the two different futures — a utopian “sweet dream” and a dystopian “nightmare”.

This was a clever design decision, as “Twine was a natural choice [to display two different viewpoints] as I could have a split narrative path to contain both of these options” (Villella, 2022).

In the opening of the game, the player is prompted to enter their name and location in the text box, in which it is used as the main character in the narrative. This already immerses the player within the story, in addition to the background music and sound effects.

Utopian “Sweet Dream”

The utopian viewpoint had a more upbeat, cheery background music that plays throughout the game.
The narrative is set in a world where nature and humanity thrive in harmony. There is emphasis on renewable energy and eco-friendly technology, which is seen on the air-hovering eco-Translink buses and the newest model of Meta Headsets powered by oxygen.

The storyline splits into two side quests, one is finding your “brother”, and the other is the journey to school.

The brother provides more context of the world through the dialogue you have with him. The player finds out that it is 2025, and personal assistant driod eRobots help with taking care of your everyday needs. There is reference to the continuing existence of technology moguls, namely Elon Jr.

On the journey to school, physical classrooms that afford collaboration still exists, yet with heavy utilization of VR headsets. The classroom environment is surprising to me, as one would think there would be complete digitization and heavy emphasis on virtual interaction with the ubiquity of VR Headsets, such that a physical classroom could be deemed unnecessary. However, it seems there is still a focus on human interaction and physical presence in the classroom, especially given the set-up of the desks to be conducive to collaboration.

Dystopian “Nightmare”

The dystopian viewpoint had a more somber and desolate background music. The narrative is set in a somewhat post-apocalyptic and barren environment, where humanity seems to have reach destruction and is in the process of rebuild.

The education environment has become a mere “virtual daycare” where students are there to be supervised as they learn digitally. Remnants of technology is strewn across the classroom, interspersed with analog methods of teaching, yet students lacking the literacy skills to successfully learn.

Through the dialogue between the player and an “officer” with the same name, context of the current world is given. The hyper-development of technology has broken down the geopolitical borders between nations, and the influence of politics has created fear and paranoia of cyber-information warfare, which in turn causes a regression of civilization to the early 2000s. When asked about the origin of this dystopian disaster, we are left on a cliffhanger and wake up from this nightmare.

Reflection

I thought the world-building was very interesting and reminds me of very distinct futures.

The utopian narrative reminds me of the vision of a solarpunk future. Solarpunk is an imagination of the future where nature and humanity are able to maintain an equilibrium without exhausting all natural resources, even proposing that technology can enable humanity to exist sustainably.

On the other hand, the dystopian narrative, “technology has replaced our own abilities” (Villella, 2022) reminds me of the grungy textures of dieselpunk , especially with reference to the “retro-futuristic” aspect of technology. It very much alludes to the downfalls where “humanity collapses on itself” and the unforeseen consequences of needing to revert to previous technology, yet without the ability or skills to do so, due to over-reliance on technological advancement.

Overall, one main aspect I really enjoyed in this Twine game is that the narration brings the player to explore both the utopian “sweet dream” and dystopian “nightmare” scenarios in a way that flows with each other; there are paths that return back to a previous point and allows the player to explore the other option, while staying cohesive to the overall structure within a dream.

References

Dieselpunk (n.d.) Wikipedia. Retrieved August 10, 2022 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieselpunk

Solarpunk (n.d.) Wikipedia. Retrieved August 10, 2022 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solarpunk

Villella, J. (2022, August, 3). Task 12: Speculative Futures. ETEC540 Joseph Villella. https://blogs.ubc.ca/jvillella540/2022/08/03/task-12-speculative-futures/ 

Linking Task 5: Twine Game (Jessica)

 

Task 5: Twine Task

Cardiac Arrest Management is a hospital simulation game where you are a nurse making your rounds, helping your patients stabilize in various  cardiac arrest scenarios.

Though it was a “text heavy game”, it was interspersed with many vital chart graphics and pictures. It also offered a lot of clues and hints when returned to a previous step upon a mistake. This allowed for the continuation of the narrative, while providing correct information without taking the player out of the scenario.

The bustling hospital environment and sounds of beeping machinery makes it a very immersive experience reflecting the day-to-day as a nurse in medical care.

This game is very much catered towards those with a background in medical care settings, as there is a lot of medical terms and jargon. One should also be literate in ECG charts and know what the visuals mean to make the right decisions of what to do next to save the patient.

Once the patient has been stabilized, the player can return to the main menu and move on to the next patient. The “onus was on me to ensure this virtual pathway through my game was well planned out” (Presta, 2022) given the details and true-to-life nature of the game, was an important detail to keep in mind.

Reflection

This was a very anxiety-inducing game, because 1) I am not from a medical background and 2) I don’t know anything about cardiac arrest management!

Only a few minutes in, due to my medical malpractice and neglect, I already had to perform CPR on Patient #2 and use a defibrillator with maximum of 360 joules and some injection to get him breathing again (ಡ‸ಡ)

That aside, I thought it was very informational, and though I don’t know how to read the ECG charts, I came out of the game with more knowledge about defibrillators than I had in the beginning!

Using Twine as a medium for this game was a great idea, as it co-creates a learning environment where the player is an active participant of their own learning through this hospital simulation game to manage cardiac arrests. I am grateful that Jessica took the time to share her medical knowledge in a step-by-step manner, making professional experience and information accessible in an interactive way!

References

Presta, J. (2022, June 13). Task 5: Twine Task. Jessica Presta’s Blog ETEC540. https://blogs.ubc.ca/jpresta/2022/06/13/task-5-twine-task/ 

Task 5: Twine Game

 

If “the Internet is a physical expression of hypertext” (Bolter, 2001), it couldn’t be more fitting to turn to the Internet to create a hypertext game! This game is based on some of the missed connection posts I have collected throughout the past few years from Craigslist Vancouver.

I browse the site once in a while for fun and I always find some intriguing posts. Most of the time it’s people wanting to reach out to someone that caught their eye in passing, and expressing regret for being too shy to initiate interaction. Oftentimes, I find people searching for long lost connections from their past, or recollections of fond memories with those who they are no longer in touch with.  Sometimes I come across very cryptic poetry!

As a preface and disclaimer, I did not write any of the content and do not take credit for the collective collaborative efforts of the Internet. I tried to keep most of the posts true to its original form and content as written by their author(s), with only minor stylistic edits for legibility.

One main challenge is creating the links connecting one post to another, as there is no start nor beginning to this game. Mostly, I’ve created the links by association, and players are able to follow the one that piques their interest.
Since craigslist posts are mostly text (sometimes with map next to it to show the location that it happened at), I did not embellish it with illustrations.

Below is a map of what the nodes look like:

The red nodes are part of the main narrative

Just as we tend to “conceive of hypertext spatially”, every missed connection post is a topographically and temporally grounded node that connects one event to another to “constitute a path through virtual spaces where the reader becomes a visitor or traveler in that space” (Bolter, 2001). This is the feeling I hope to evoke, an observer peering into the lived experiences of others.

I can’t really express or describe why I enjoy reading missed connections so much, perhaps it is something about the serendipity and invisible networks of the universe that creates opportunities for connection in strange ways!

References

Bolter, Jay David. (2001). Writing space: computers, hypertext, and the remediation of print. New York, NY: Routledge.

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