Prompt 4: Drawing on Brian Upton's definition of narrative play, describe how your process of anticipation and interpretation.
Anthony Bonfiglio opens up his "metallic angels" game with setting up an anticipation of mystery and wonder by having the first words be "Nothing... nothing... more nothing" on a vibrant blue background. The next page lulls the player into an uncertainty by having this featureless ocean and completely blue sky. However, there is more anticipation built because there is "nothing except us". Who is this "us"? Delving further into the story, Metallic Angels sets up a narrative where there is a plane flying with bombs, but the plane is lost, running out of fuel, and has no hope. Metalic Angels heightens the player's initial uncertainty by adding stakes and danger. At one point, Metallic Angels gives the player the option of choosing between throwing all hope to the wind or picking up a map. I picked throwing all hope to the wind to see what would happen. Metallic Angels rejects this initial suggestion by encouraging the player to not give up hope. This builds anticipation that there may be a way out of the dire situation the game has set the character in. There are two possible endings to this story. The first is that the player flies in the direction of safety. The second, the player finds their target and releases their bombs. In both situations, the player does not find out what happened. Metallic Angles builds this anticipation as to the fate of the characters but leaves their ultimate fate left up to the interpretation of the player.
The clicking in this game is more than just to make the story proceed. It also determines how the story will develop. At the start of the passage where the game first offers the two options of clicking, there is actually only one option left for the player to proceed. And the other extra choice allows you to either get more familiar with the situation or ask yourself to give up such thoughts. What actually makes the clicking important is choices given when the person has lost its aim and objects and do not what to do. Now the choices of whether contacting his commander or not will decide what plots will show up next. Moreover, the choice of clicking is also involved with the trust that you develop to the commander through the reading, since the commander have already given the instructions of not contacting him while they are in the mission in the first place. The clicking in here also mimic psychological struggle, where you struggle to obey the orders or not when you run into a dilemma that your enemies are disappeared, and your fuel is almost running out. And the final decision made under pressure and struggle will determine if the battle will be successful or not. Thus, the clicking here actively engage the avatar to do things. Moreover, it also engages the player to make his own choice, which makes the clicking more meaningful.
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Prompt 4: Drawing on Brian Upton's definition of narrative play, describe how your process of anticipation and interpretation.
Anthony Bonfiglio opens up his "metallic angels" game with setting up an anticipation of mystery and wonder by having the first words be "Nothing... nothing... more nothing" on a vibrant blue background. The next page lulls the player into an uncertainty by having this featureless ocean and completely blue sky. However, there is more anticipation built because there is "nothing except us". Who is this "us"? Delving further into the story, Metallic Angels sets up a narrative where there is a plane flying with bombs, but the plane is lost, running out of fuel, and has no hope. Metalic Angels heightens the player's initial uncertainty by adding stakes and danger. At one point, Metallic Angels gives the player the option of choosing between throwing all hope to the wind or picking up a map. I picked throwing all hope to the wind to see what would happen. Metallic Angels rejects this initial suggestion by encouraging the player to not give up hope. This builds anticipation that there may be a way out of the dire situation the game has set the character in. There are two possible endings to this story. The first is that the player flies in the direction of safety. The second, the player finds their target and releases their bombs. In both situations, the player does not find out what happened. Metallic Angles builds this anticipation as to the fate of the characters but leaves their ultimate fate left up to the interpretation of the player.
Prompt 5: Describe the mechanic of clicking.
The clicking in this game is more than just to make the story proceed. It also determines how the story will develop. At the start of the passage where the game first offers the two options of clicking, there is actually only one option left for the player to proceed. And the other extra choice allows you to either get more familiar with the situation or ask yourself to give up such thoughts. What actually makes the clicking important is choices given when the person has lost its aim and objects and do not what to do. Now the choices of whether contacting his commander or not will decide what plots will show up next. Moreover, the choice of clicking is also involved with the trust that you develop to the commander through the reading, since the commander have already given the instructions of not contacting him while they are in the mission in the first place. The clicking in here also mimic psychological struggle, where you struggle to obey the orders or not when you run into a dilemma that your enemies are disappeared, and your fuel is almost running out. And the final decision made under pressure and struggle will determine if the battle will be successful or not. Thus, the clicking here actively engage the avatar to do things. Moreover, it also engages the player to make his own choice, which makes the clicking more meaningful.