Final Project

It's certainly been an interesting ride getting to this point, and now here we are.

My final project is an allegorical text that reveals certain aspects of my life I don't usually speak of openly unless I'm very comfortable with a person. In terms of plot, I'll leave it at that and let the reader explore.

I wanted to create, as best I could with my knowledge of Flash, a feeling of exploration. I thought a theme of ships and seas fit this idea of mine well, along with the inclusion of the monsters the reader encounters on their journey. There might also be some hidden corners for the reader to discover if they should feel inclined to look.

In terms of directions, there are a couple. Since this project is significantly larger than my previous one, i was not able to post it on the site i used last time. Instead, you would have to download one of these flash players (different from the usual one everyone has) Windows or Mac

Then, when the player is open, download my project and open it from within the player.

Once open, just click away. There are no formal guidelines unless a message appears. I hope you all enjoy it!

My files, like images and the sound I used, can be found here

Blog 9

For my final project, I'm going to write an allegory that may take on the form of a fairytale re-interpreted. I want to make a sort of "world" you can explore through interactivity and make it so that different readers have different experiences depending on how they choose too be about the piece.

As of now I plan on attempting to use Adobe Flash but it proves too much of a challenge, I will change to keynote and create interactive slides from there

E-Lit Review Series

Savoir-Faire

Emily Short

Text Genre: This text is a work on interactive fiction within the genre of a text-based puzzle game. A treasure hunt. 

It seems to follow the literary tradition of mystery novels or detective fiction. It presents you with elements of a story, snippets and clues, and also offers an objective you mean to reach. In this case, you are trying to find out what has happened to your father and sister as they are missing from your childhood home. As the story progresses, you find more puzzles to solve and clues to obtain that, overtime, make things (or should make things) clearer in the end. 

Textual Elements: The story uses a varied number of elements to create a pretty immersive environment. The descriptions given to you from room to room are short but give you exactly the right amount of information that you might need to proceed. Almost everything is able to be interacted with one way or another and many of them give you more clues or important items you'll need. 

One of the most interesting, and sometimes confusing, elements of this story was the "link" function. Basically, you were able to link certain objects that shared characteristics with each other making it so that when an action was performed to the one, it also happened to the other. For example, if you linked two boxes together because they were yellow or both had the same symbol on them, if you opened one box, the other would automatically open of its own accord. This was a sort of "magic" introduced into the story and ended up being very important in the endgame. 

All in all, these elements create a world where everything has a connection to something. Where no pin or loaf of bread is useless but can be used to solve puzzles that stop you from moving forward. However, it can also be more than a little overwhelming at first. This being a text-based game makes it difficult to keep everything in order without having to take copious notes. you have to imagine the world Emily Short is writing about very clearly to get a sense of what to do, but thankfully she does a good job presenting that world to you. 

Reviews: Overall, this work of interactive fiction has been received very well by critics as can be seen here in the interactive fiction database. 

"Savoir-Faire is an excellent game, featuring a strong sense of place, an innovative backstory & magic system, and a protagonist whose idiosyncrasies are charming"

Project 2

My project this time around was created using Adobe Flash. Honestly, Since I was so focused on actually using the program, I didn't write a long extensive narrative, but instead a simple poem. I've created "play" and "continue" buttons through the piece that you will be able to click on to move to thte next section. Trying to figure out the coding necessary for the buttons turned out to be a fairly infuriating process. It was very frustrations but eventually I was able to get it to work. The final product turned out to be shorter than I would have wanted but it took a lot of work and time.

Hope you all enjoy!

Autumn

Blog 8

I might be using a couple of different programs for my second project. I might make separate images in GIMP (a free program similar to photoshop) and then use those images in y Mac's movie maker program or I might just make an animation using adobe flash.

Content wise I think I might work with a poem I've written previously or use write a short fable-like short story (if I have time to write one on top of learning techniques for the programs)

One question is like to ask Dr. Flores is how he goes about choosing a program for E-lit projects and how does he learn how to use them effectively.

Blog 7

Blog 5

Abstract: A young man goes on a trip to paradise but finds that not everything is as it seems on the surface.

Tips: Feel free to explore. And never be afraid to go backwards.

The Garden