An invaluable collection of essays and interviews exploring the business of interactive storytelling, this highly accessible guide offers invaluable insight into an ever-evolving field that is utilizing new spatial and interactive narrative forms to tell stories. This includes new media filmmaking and content creation, a huge variety of analog story world design, eXtended realities, game design, and virtual reality (VR) design.
The book contains essays written by and interviews with working game designers, producers, 360-degree filmmakers, immersive theatre creators, and media professors, exploring the business side of interactive storytelling – where art meets business. Contributors to this book share their perspectives on how to break into the field; how to develop, nurture, and navigate business relationships; expectations in terms of business etiquette; strategies for contending with the emotional highs and lows of interactive storytelling; how to do creative work under pressure; the realities of working with partners in the field of new media narrative design; prepping for prototyping; writing analog and digital.
This is an ideal resource for students of filmmaking, screenwriting, media studies, RTVF, game design, VR and AR design, theater, and journalism who are interested in navigating a career pathway in the exciting field of interactive storytelling.
FOREWORD
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1: GETTING STARTED
WE ARE BUILDING A BRIDGE AS WE’RE WALKING ACROSS IT
By Ingrid Kopp
NARRATIVE DESIGN: A WINDING PATH, A WILD ADVENTURE
How to become a Game Designer
By Michael Yichao
AUGMENTED REALITY DESIGN
A brief How-To of Reality Creation
By Holden Holcombe
YOUR AUDIENCE IS WAITING
By Margaret Moser and Esjay Wonderly
PLAYING IMPROVISATIONAL THEATRE IN LOS ANGELES
By Josh Simpson
CHAPTER 2: STICKING IT OUT
NAVIGATING THE BUSINESS AS AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCER
By Lena Thiele
GOB SQUAD
Spaces are also Authors
with Sean Patten, Berit Stumpf, Sarah Thom, and Simon Will
TEACHING INTERACTIVE STORYTELLING AND GAME DESIGN
By Gundolf S. Freyermuth
THROUGH THE EYES OF
The Life and Practice of an Interactive Storyteller
By Paisley Smith
THE ARQIVE
Building a Digital Interactive Storytelling Platform for the LGBTQ+ Communities
By Cynthia Wang
CHAPTER 3: FINDING SUCCESS
SIXTY SECONDS YOU NEVER FORGET
Designing a Theme Park Ride
By Michael Rüger
THE EMPATHY MACHINE
Telling Stories with Virtual Reality
By Michael Grotenhof
SPACE AS INTERACTIVE STORY
By Yvette Granata
REAL MONEY IN IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCES
By Coline Delbare
SETTING UP A PLAY SHOP
By Yvette Murrell
CHAPTER 4: GETTING AHEAD
SIX DEGREES OF FREEDOM
By Liz Rosenthal
THROUGH THE DARKEST OF TIMES
Making a Digital Game about the Historical Resistance Against the Nazis
By Jörg Friedrich
STOP, COLLABORATE & LISTEN
By Zachary Vernon
BUILDING A TRANSMEDIA WORLD INSPIRED BY SCIENCE
By Amanda Tasse
INTERACTIVE STORYTELLING: FROM ANALOG TO DIGITAL
A Review of Contemporary Case Studies
By Carman Ng
CHAPTER 5: STARTING AGAIN
FLATGAMES
Videogame Zinesters and their Autobiographical Story Worlds
By Lee Tusman
QUEER TIME, PRODUCTIVITY, AND FAILURE IN INTERACTIVE MEDIA
By Lark Alder
ANY GIVEN MOMENT
Developing a Shared Language in Multidisciplinary Collaborations
By Carlin Wing and John Dietrich
ACTIVISM AND INTERACTIVE STORYTELLING
By Grayson Earle
COLLECTIVE WISDOM
By Katerina Cizek
CONCLUSION
ABOUT THE EDITORS
INDEX
Biography
Sylke Rene Meyer is a writer, director, media artist, performer, educator, and co-founder of the performance group Studio206 in Berlin (2007), extended in LA (2019). In 2018, she also co-founded the performance group "Family Room Collective" in Los Angeles. She is a Professor of Creative Writing and the Director of the Institute for Interactive Arts, Research, and Technology at California State University in Los Angeles.
Gustavo Aldana is a musician, media artist, and educator. Their projects have involved the combination of electronic music, interactive visuals, and the creative use and manipulation of myriad forms of digital media as forms of resistance. They are a graduate student in Television, Film, and Media Studies at California State University, Los Angeles.
"A fascinating set of essays that cover the gamut of interactive storytelling. With a focus on underrepresented perspectives and alternate approaches, it really expands the understanding of what interactive storytelling can be."
David Tarleton, Director of Graduate Cinema and Television Programs, Columbia College Chicago"PERFORM: Interactive Storytelling for the Screen is a treasure trove of resources for interactive and immersive creators. The essays range from the theoretical to the practical. This is a tool that belongs in the arsenal of every creator in the field."
John Bucher, PhD, Author, Storytelling for Virtual Reality
