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Day 10, June 12th, Halloween

Today I woke up and started playing some of Night in the Woods. Mae was just waking up too. She had another weird dream though. I wonder what those are all about.

After Mae got dresses I went down stairs to say hi to my mom. She seemed a little moody and wanted to ask Mae why she dropped out of school. Can you believe that Mae still has not told her the reason why she left college yet. Like who does not talk to their parents about that.

After getting in a little argument with mom I left the house. The minute Mae walked outside you can notice that it is Halloween. Everything is decorated for the occasion. The developers did a really good job making the town of Possum Springs a stunning place.

After stopping in to see Gregg and Angus, both at their place of work, I headed home to get ready for the big night.

Going out was great cause I got to see the whole town together celebrating the holiday. There was a parade and a fortune teller and a water ballon toss. All fun things to partake in.

Soon after I stopped in to see Bae as her place of work was putting on a Halloween show. One of her coworkers didn’t show so Mae ended up saving her ass and playing the part. It was really fun to be in that performance.

Overall I’ve been more than pleased playing this game... even with the weird parts. I’d recommend this to anyone who likes to play video games with a simple story. It is a great narrative to interact with and be apart of.

Thanks for reading my blog! Stay tuned for one more blog once I finish the game in the coming weeks.

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Day 9, June 11th, Helping a Friend

Playing Night in the Woods is wild experience. I love it sometimes and other times it is real weird. Not bad but weird. It is a beautiful game and there are a lot of great moments in it. But sometimes the dialogue can be a little cheesy. Other times the social skills and intelligence of the kids is a little questionable. I will be interested with what I have to say once I have completed the game and can reflect on it as a whole.

When I hoped on last, playing as Mae, I decided to hang out with Gregg as I recently found out he was moving. Together, we went out on a bike ride and hiked into the forest. There Gregg got real deep about wanting to be good for Angus(his roommate) and being worried about the future. It was cool to see Mae and him bond as I helped him through it.

Moving from that scene we ended up getting into a knife fight. I know right? Dumb stuff where we played a game trying to stab each other in the hand. I don’t know why we did that but they talked about doing it as kids. Guess it’s not too weird to them but that’s kinda what I don’t like about this game. I feel the point of playing is to try to draw parallels with your real life and their virtual one. But who the hell gets in a knife fight for fun?

Thanks for reading! If you want to hear more check back tomorrow.

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Day 8, June 10th, Weird Dreams

So today I was playing Night in the Woods and  I’ve started to notice something a little strange. Every night when Mae goes to bed she has these weird dreams. These dreams are long and typically have no dialogue. Usually when I’m thrown into these dreams I have to wander around aimlessly looking for these characters each playing a different instrument. And when I say looking I mean really looking. It’s also usually really dark and I’m jumping around the outside of some mansion in the middle of the woods. It’s either stormy of gloomy and once I find all the characters nothing happens for a bit. The first dream I was in, it took me forever to get out of it. I believe once you’ve found everyone you have to go back to where the dream started but that doesn’t seem to always work. When it does work and I’m starting to exit the dream usually some real life animal hops into the background and covers up about half the screen. This animal usually isn’t drawn in the same art form at the rest of the game so I don’t really understand. Once the animal is in the shot, the screen fades blue, black, then white, and then to the morning wake up music with Mae sound asleep in her bed.

I have no idea what these dreams mean but they seem pretty out of the ordinary to me. I’ve also been wondering why the game is titled Night in the Woods because there aren’t many nights that are spent in the wood, except for in those dreams. Even then that doesn’t seem like the answer to why the game is named the way it is. I just hope to find the answer sometime throughout this play through.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for more! Thanks for reading!

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Video Games and Literature

Unless you have been living under a rock like Patrick Star, you have probably heard many debates or read articles about video games. People are criticizing them by saying how they are ruining the youth or are an utter “waste of time” (Meyer 2018). I am here to tell you that I believe those people are mostly wrong and they just need to give video games a chance. I have played many video games in my life and have explored a vast genre of interactive and narrative literature. Therefore, in this essay, I want to talk to you about a bunch of games that employ the bones of narrative literature. First let’s talk about the beginning, then let’s dive deep into how and why video games are able to create such impactful and insightful learning experience.

Over my 21 years of life experience, I’ve been playing video games ever since I can remember. I start by playing tons of flash games on addictinggames.com and I would agree that most of those games are a waste of time. There isn’t a lot of story or much importance to them. However, not all flash games are bad. One site in particular is coolmathgames.com. This website was the only game site we were allowed to play in school because it was deemed educational. All the games forced you to use your brain and think. Therefore, you learned some important math skills. Flash games are pretty much what brought tons of kids into the gaming industry. Thing is these are only simple flash games. There isn’t a lot of story behind them so how about we talk some bigger titles.

Why might video games be evolving to produce higher quality narratives? Because video game developers are known for pushing the boundaries on what is possible. Over the past 2 decades, a lot has evolved with storytelling. Stories are being written with more and more user input in mind. This means the player has more and more control over the outcome of the story. As stated in an article by Randy Joly, “For me, the main appeal of narrative video games is the sense of control you get from playing the game. What you can read about upon pages from a novel or comic, you can instead moderate for yourself. This provides players with a new relationship toward the characters and story that can’t be experienced through written means.” (Joly 2016). This is truly why I love to play video games. There is just something about putting yourself in a fantasized world and having complete control over a character and his actions that makes me love video games.

One game in particular that revolutionized the gaming narratives is called The Walking Dead by Telltale Games. I have played this game and what’s really cool about it is how your actions and decisions can directly impact the outcome of the story. Yes, it is a spinoff of the hit TV show but the story line isn’t similar at all. Throughout the game you come across what I’ll call branch decisions. As stated in Joly’s article, “what is exceptionally noteworthy about [The Walking Dead] is not the multiple-choice aspect but the extent to which these multiple choices can affect the game” (Joly 2016). Each one of these decisions is important and depending on what the player chooses the story can continue in two different directions. Lots of times these decisions have to be made in a quick amount of time, otherwise the game will choose for you. This forces the player to think about the consequences of each action. It also forces the player to develop a deeper connection with the main character as their decisions impact the outcome of the game.

Besides the Walking Dead, another game that pushed this boundary is called Life is Strange by Dontnod Entertainment and Square Enix. I never played this game, but I did watch a walk-through of it on YouTube and the story line is exceptional. In this game you play as a girl named Max Caulfield who is an 18-year-old photography student. In the game, Max learns she has the ability to rewind time, but she also has a vision about a huge storm coming to wipe out her town. Throughout the game she is forced to make tough decisions in order to save her town. Thing is, each decision you make has a different impact on the rest of the game. This is something they call The Butterfly Affect. This video game employed the back bones of narrative literature in an outstanding way. Using the Butterfly Affect the writers were able to create a vast and meaningful narrative for each player to experience for themselves.

Another game that used the Butterfly Affect is called Until Dawn by Supermassive Games. In this game the Butterfly Affect is described as “A tiny butterfly flapping its wings today may lead to a devastating hurricane weeks from now.” This game took storytelling to a whole new level as the Butterfly Affect was implemented even more closely in the horror genre. As said before, the real appeal of video games is the ability to control the outcome and partake in the gameplay. Your view on horror movies may be different from mine because I think they are hilarious. All the plots and scares are very predictable, thus is think they are really funny to watch. However, playing a horror game is completely different. I can honestly say playing until dawn was the scariest moment of my life. There is something about taking control of the character and putting yourself in the game that really amplifies your central nervous system. Being a part of the game truly creates a stronger emotion of fear compared to just watching it. Playing it creates the sense that you are there in the game, therefore your fear as the player is much more intense.

Now not all games use this branch decision tactic to convey their narrative. Some games are open world and give the player complete control over what and where the character acts. Have you ever heard of The Witcher book series? The books were originally written by polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski. These books were then adapted into The Witcher video game series. I was lucky enough to play The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and the writing in that game is incredible. The Witcher series is critically acclaimed and The Witcher 3 won best game of the year at the video games awards in2016. This goes to show that you can have a quality and worthwhile story in an immersive video game.

Now my favorite game of all time is The Last of Us by Naughty Dog. I have so much respect for Naughty Dog as I have never played a game developed by them and disliked it. Even ask IGN.com. IGN does countless video game reviews and at the time the game came out it was one of the first games ever to be given a 10/10. (ign.com/articles/2013/06/05/the-last-of-us-review) As stated in the review by Colin Moriarty, “The Last of Us seamlessly intertwines satisfying, choice base gameplay with a stellar narrative. It never slows down, it never lets up, and frankly it never disappoints” (Moriarty 2013). In the game you play as Joel, and the start of the game is the very beginning of a zombie apocalypse. In the first level you witness the death of your daughter. You might be surprised someone important dies right away in the story, but this sets the tone for the rest of the game. Later on you also encounter a girl named Ellie and through the horror you and Joel become very close. It’s this writing and the death of Joel’s Daughter that really allows you to build a strong connection with Ellie. Because Joel didn’t know Ellie prior to the start of the story, the player is able to build a stronger and more Immersive connection with Ellie and the narrative. I highly recommend you play this game.

Now I could talk about more and more games that increasingly instill the back bones of narrative literature all day, but I am running out of words to use. If you’re still curious about some other games I would look into the God of War series. Especially the newest one. Not all games are mindless wastes of time. God of War teacher you a lot of history about the Greek gods and their tales. It is games like these that are truly insightful to learn from. Being able to play a video game creates a more impactful narrative and experience for the player. Interacting with a story is something a book will never be able to accomplish. Interactive fiction and video games are the new and improved way to experience narratives.

Works Cited

Joly, Randy. “‘Video Games: Developing a New Narrative," by Randy Joly.” World Literature Today, 19 Dec. 2016, www.worldliteraturetoday.org/blog/words-thought/video-games-developing-new-narrative-randy-joly.

Meyer, Cole. “Video Games and Literature.” The Masters Review, 10 Dec. 2018, mastersreview.com/video-games-and-literature/.

Moriarty, Colin. “The Last of Us Review.” IGN, IGN, 5 June 2013, www.ign.com/articles/2013/06/05/the-last-of-us-review.

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Day 7, June 9th, Electrocution

Happy Sunday everyone. Today I played some of Night in the Woods and while playing I mostly hung out with Mae’s best friend Gregg. A lot of stuff happened while Gregg and I were hanging together so I want to tell you all about it.

When I first hoped on the game, Mae was just waking up from the night before. Mae went downstairs, talked with mom about a big sink hole that happen in town, and scurried on out of the house. This had not happened in the game yet, but when Mae went outside the weather was different. The world was a gloomy gray and it was foggy to make it seem like it was raining. I climbed up a big tree and hopped on the telephone poles all across town, exploring, until Mae reached the Snack Falcon where Gregg works. I went inside and greeted him and after that we very quickly dipped. 

Gregg ended up taking me to an abandoned car which had a tree growing through it. It was very old and rusty. Gregg handed me a baseball bat and then convinced me to beat the shit out of that car. I completely destroyed that piece of junk which then allowed us to take the car battery from it. However, something happened. When I went to take the battery out, Mae electrocuted herself and then had a near death experience. Gregg said she was only passed out for 5 minutes but it felt like much much longer to Mae. 

From there we took the car battery back home to Greggs place and built this big robot that looked like a frog. What was cool is I could put it together however I liked. After completion Gregg was really excited for Angus, his roommate, to get home and see it. However, in that time i also learned that Gregg is moving soon. Mae was kind of taken aback by this and I could tell she was a little disappointed but she did say she would be willing to visit. I think thats a really good thing because Mae really doesn’t want to lose her friendship with Gregg. They are close friends who really love to do dumb shenanigans together. In a way it is like they haven’t grown up yet. Hopefully that’ll change over time.

(As you probably know I was assigned to play this game for a class and write a blog over 10 days about it. Well, I’m enjoying this way more than I expected to so even if I don’t finish the game in the next 3 days, I WILL finish it eventually. And once it is completed, I’ll probably write one last blog to tie it all together)

Stay tuned for more!

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Day 6, June 7th, Mall Trip

Today I did the same thing as yesterday where I decided to play Night in the woods the first thing in the morning. It was a great experience again and I loved the piece of story I got to follow.

When I first logged on I was in a room with all my friends. It was where I left off last and Mae was deciding what plans she wanted to have that night. I first talked to Gregg as he seems to be a long term friend of mine. He wanted to go do some criminal stuff but I decided I wanted to talk with bae first before making and decisions. I talked with Bae and asked if she wanted to go to the mall. Bea is typically a very cynical and sarcastic person so she never really sounds to happy. For the most part, Mae gets the vibe that bae gets really annoyed by her but for whatever reason she said she’d love to. I decided to go out with her because I was really hoping to build a better relationship with her.

When we first got to the mall it was deserted. No one was there and most of the shops had gone out of business. We decided to go into one store and on accident I initiated that Mae would shoplift. I really didn’t want to take it but the game made me. Bae didn’t seem to happy that I did that but eventually Mae convinced her to try it herself. In order for her to be able to do that Mae distracted the store clerk. I wish we didn’t do that but funny enough when we were leaving the mall, Bae and Mae returned the shoplifted items. So I guess they both have good hearts.

Catch you next time.

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Day 5, June 6th, Exploration

Today, the very first thing I did when I woke up was play some of Night In The Woods. Considering how much of a morning person I am NOT, I was surprised at how relaxed and satisfying the experience was. It’s a really great game to start your day with because of how chill and upbeat the game makes you feel. Another funny thing was I ended up saving the game right after going to sleep, so I started off playing as Mea waking up from the sunlight glistening in through her bedroom window. It’s cool being able to draw those parallels in our universe and the game. It creates more immersion for the player.

As I went off exploring with Mae, I decided instead of traversing the town on the ground that I would travel by telephone cables. What I mean by that is Mae has the capability to basically hop on anything. Right outside her house she has a big tree and to get on top of the lowest branch you have to hop on the mail box. So from the mail box, Mea hops to the tree, up a couple of branches, and then she can hop onto the telephone cable. A cool thing about being up there is I found a dialogue cue where Mea talked about the view and her home when she was there last. It was interesting seeing her reminisce.

As I traveled further I came across one of Mae old teachers who I had forgotten I had previously talked too. I forget his name but when I first talked to him he invited me to visit him later in the week to see the stars. Mae was in one of his old astronomy classes so she was excited to be apart of it again. As we were up on the roof I got to look into the sky and see some constellations. It’s was really cool to hear the dialogue Mae and her teacher exchanged. The both love the sky. There is so much to explore. I’m hoping to see some more stars later on.

I love to share more but I don’t want to give it all away just yet. Be sure to check back tomorrow.

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This is Mae. The main character you play as.

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Day 4, June 5th, Art Design

For today’s blog, I want to focus on the topic of art design for the game Night in the Woods. It has a very interesting art style that’s very hard to describe so I am gonna post a picture of the games cover art to help you understand what I might be talking about a little better. 

As you can see above, the cat is the character named Mae and even though I might have previously referred to the characters in the game as humans, they are actually all types of animals. If you’ve ever seen the movie Zootopia, the game looks pretty similar. Everyone stands on 2 legs, walks around, acts and talks like humans. Giving animals human characters does not make it too hard for us to identify with them. It also gives animals deeper personalities making it fictionally more fun. Haven’t you always wished animals could talk? This is one way to kind of experience it for yourself. 

Now as you can see in the cover photo, the color tones are a little dark and calming, yet also a little ominous feeling. I’ve said this before and you seriously get that vibe while playing the game. It is drawn in 2 dimensions as well so as you play the game the camera follows you in a side scrolling fashion as you move from side to side.

As I briefly stated before all the characters are animals, but they are all unique in their own way. None of Mea’s friends are cats. Each one is a different species and they all dress in their own style. This creates plenty of variety in the games population. Keeping the game feeling fresh and lively.

I am sorry there is nothing about the story today. I was real busy but be sure to check back tomorrow if you want to read more.

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Day 3, June 4th, Starting Out

I have been playing Night in the Woods for about an hour and a half now and I am thoroughly impressed so far. Like I said before, I game a lot and this game is a really nice change in pace. Most games I play are shooters or have some pretty intense action but Night in the Woods is slow and peaceful. You can easily get lost in the town of Possum Springs, exploring and listening. 

The developers did an incredible job with the sound track for this game. I may be wrong but based off of what the music sounds like I am pretty sure the whole game has its very own original soundtrack. They did a great job making the game feel beautiful and alive with its music. It is very happy and uplifting most of the time, however, sometimes the music will even become a little ominous when you enter a gloomy place or are in a difficult situation. This really causes you to feel more immersed in their world.

For the story aspect of the game, not much has really changed since I last played. Mae’s parents are still happy to see that she’s home and some of Mae’s friends cant get over the fact that she is back either. However when I was last playing, Mae and her friends went out to a party and I guess Mae’s old crush was there. She ended up getting pretty drunk trying to build up the courage to go talk to him and ended up puking in front of everyone. She got pretty embarrassed about it so I’m excited to see how that plays out the next time I hop on. 

Catch you all tomorrow. :)

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Day 2, June 3rd, The Very Beginning

After sitting down to play this game for only 20 minutes I had to come to the computer and write about my first impression. It is magnificent so far. I have just been thrown into a genre that I have never experience before. It is simple, yet elegant how the developers throw you into a world full of things to interact with and control. The music and ambience of the game is very beautiful and uplifting as I listen to it while writing this.

The very beginning of the game is pretty sad as you read about Mea’s granddad who passed away in the year “we had the worst flood since 1998″. Besides the sadness, it was very cool how the second line of text could be manipulated and thus I decide what was said. With that power I chose for there to be a flood rather than a highway extension built and you could do this with lots of the lines of text being displayed. In this prequel’s text you also learn that granddad left you “an apple crate of books”. I believe I will be able to check those out later in the game and that there might be some greater importance to them. Literally just before granddad passed he also said, “this house is haunted”. I hope those words carry some truth as that might add a very interesting plot twist to the story.

Now as you begin in the world as Mae, you’re stuck in a bus station with nothing to do but get a feel for things. As you traverse the environment, the controls for Mae feel responsive and fluent and you are able to interact with some things around you. Here you learn some more things about Mae’s story and that her parents have forgotten about her. You also meet a handy man who is fixing a door blocking your exit. It was cool because you could interact and talk with this man by again choosing the different dialogues. Eventually he asks for you to fetch him a soda and once you've done that you are then able to leave and explore more.

I don’t want to tell you too much more, but I did want to give you a little taste of my experience so far. Be sure to check in tomorrow to hear more. 

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Day 1, June 2nd, Pre-Play.

Hello and welcome! I want to begin by inviting you to join me on a 10-day blogging experience. Over the next 10 days I am going to be playing a video game called Night in the Woods and blogging about my experiences playing the game. Night in the Woods is a story about a 20-year-old college dropout named Mae. In this game, after dropping out, she heads back to her home town, Possum Springs, in order to reconnect with all of her friends and family. Besides that information, I really don’t know much else about the game. 

I grew up playing lots of video games. I still remember the first time I ever got to play a video game. It was in kindergarten and I was instantly hooked. The first gaming system we got as a family was the Nintendo Wii and I played that thing until it failed and died... Literally. Then, when I was 15, after my first full time summer job as a lifeguard, I saved up enough money and was able to buy a PlayStation 4. Ever since then, I have been playing my own video games. 

When we were given this assignment, we were given two options. To either Blog about The Pickle Index or Night in the Woods. Never in my life have I been assigned to play a video game for homework. Thus, I had to choose this assignment. It was literally a dream come true. However, this video game is a not like any of the video games I normally play. It’s a 2-dimensional side scrolling game with simple puzzles, a world to explore, and people to talk to and reconnect with as Mae. Because this is a type of game I don’t typically play, I am really excited to experience it and see what it is like. Feel Free to join me on my adventure over these next few days as I live vicariously through Mae.

(also this should have been posted last night. idk what happened)

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Story in Non-Traditional Format

The story I want to talk about is from a video game called Battlefield V. In this game they have a single player mode where you can play a few short stories from the war. The particular story I want to focus on is the Nordlys War Story and I chose this because of how closely it follows Vogler’s Practical Guide.

The War Story begins by revealing some text on screen thus sharing the setting for the “ordinary world”. Act 1 of the story takes place in the snowy spring of 1943 in Rjukan, Norway. War is still raging across the globe and Western Europe has fallen under the shadow of Germany’s power. Rights are suspended. People Disappear. Voices of dissent have fallen silent. Every life is touched by the German occupation. “But the war is not over.” That line of text is what calls the hero to adventure. In this case that is the player of the game. For this story you play as a young woman name Solveig. The first thing you want to do when you have the opportunity to control your character is ski down to the plant where your mother is being held captive. After dealing with all the men that are around, Solveig is able to free her mother. Solveig tries to convince her mom to escape home to safety with her. However, Solveig’s mother and mentor refuses and begins to explain that this plant is creating something monstrous. She wants to find out what it is and put a stop to it… together. As states in Vogler’s book, “Once presented with a Call to Adventure, she can no longer remain indefinitely in the comfort of the Ordinary World.” This is Solveig’s call to adventure. She was a little reluctant at first but, in the end, agrees to help her mentor. By agreeing to help her mother, this is where Solveig crossed that first threshold and entered into Act 2. She left her ordinary world and set out on a quest to stop whatever evil was afoot. 

In act two, just as Vogler said “once across the first threshold the hero naturally encounters challenges and tests and makes allies and enemies.” Solveig and her mother began sneaking around the plant trying to gather intel on what the plant is working on. While playing you learn that the plant is making heavy water. This heavy water was essential to Germany winning the war because it is used to make really massive bombs. As the hero, it becomes your first priority to stop the Germans at this plant at all cost. Without the heavy water the Germans wouldn’t be able to create such devastating bombs. The tests you encounter are challenging and only Solveig and her mother are dealing with the countless deadly troops. Once you’ve overcome all your enemies Solveig makes a friend in the plant who is able to give them important intel on how to stop the Germans. With this new intel Solveig and her mother attempt an escape as more Germans are arriving. Further along Solveig and her mother encounter a roadblock while crossing a bridge. After a heated exchange between the two sides the two ladies lay down their weapons in what seems like defeat. However, Solveig ends of getting the intel and jumps off the bridge into freezing cold water far below. 

This is where Solveig begins to approach the inmost cave. She is freezing cold, on the brink of death and has to escape the German occupied territory. As she is trudging through the cold snowy night freezing, she is able to spot a fire in the distance. Upon approaching the fire she sees two Germans huddled around it. This was a big obstacle for her because she had to defeat them on her own while at a very low point in her story. It was a miracle but with a stroke of luck she won the fight. This is all leading up to the big ordeal where Solveig finds her mother again, boarding a submarine with a lot of heavy water on it. Vogler says, “This is a critical moment in any story, an Ordeal in which the hero must die or appear to die so that she can be reborn again.“ In this story, after a long drawn out fight where Solveig is trying tirelessly to save her mother and stop the heavy water shipment, the ordeal is when Solveig and her mom realize that both things aren’t possible. In this story the hero doesn’t die but someone very close to the hero does. Solveig’s mom saves the day by blowing up the submarine and herself. This halted the German’s production of the atomic bomb thus saving the war effort. However, Solveig lost someone very dear that day and it was a very transformative moment for her. 

This crosses over into act 3 where Solveig after transforming and recovering from her loss takes the intel back to her allied forces. The road back is a rough ride as she has to deal with her recent loss but in the end, she accepts the recent events for what they are. Without her mother’s courage the Germans could have won the war. This is a lesson that she will take with her for the rest of her life and she will forever cherish what her mother did for her and the rest of the world. 

This is just one story that follows Vogler’s Practical Guide. These stories make up an enormous part of our society. They are in everything: movies, books, games, social media, etc. Pretty much anything you can think of; a story can be pulled from it. This was how the Nordlys War Story is an example of narrative in our world today.