Playthrough of Gravity Bone

Consider hearing my final comments at the 18:21 mark.

 

Brendan Chung, the creator of the first-person adventure games “Gravity Bone” and “Thirty Flights of Loving”, unveils two entirely different plots. Playing both games produced by the same creator furthered my understanding of Brendan Chung’s purpose in developing his game concept.

Some differences were clearly apparent after playing both “Thirty Flights of Loving” and “Gravity Bone”, with respect to their style of gameplay. “Thirty Flights of Loving” contained a non-linear plot with flashbacks in different time sequences that makes the reader connect the narrative. Personally, I found it to be more of a film than a game because of the minimal gaming interactions presented in the gameplay. “Gravity Bone”, on the other hand, is an interactive game that allows the gamer to control the actions of the protagonist. Embedded clues in cards, briefcases and audio hinted instructions for the gamer to act accordingly to the game’s storyline. This game challenges the gamer’s expertise and skill to unravel the objectives and to strategize the obstacles for a successful mission completion.

In my opinion, the interactive aspect of “Gravity Bone” frustrates non-gamers, like myself, because we are not well equipped to encounter challenging gaming obstacles. Overall, Brendan Chung designs both of his games oriented towards strategic gamers, who can decipher the underlying messages embedded in the gameplay. Additionally, to understand the plot of both games, readers will need to ponder each character’s specific actions and the itemization roles. At the conclusion of both games, gamers are left wondering how or why it ended. This leaves the gamer to evaluate the purpose of each character because both games were based on a spy protagonist.

 

 

 

Works Cited

Gravity Bone. Dir. Brendan Chung. 2008. Blendo Games.

Thirty Flights of Loving. Dir. Brendan Chung. 2012. Blendo Games.

 

Revision of Nicci French’s “Your Place and Mine”

“Your Place and Mine” by Nicci French Review

A digital story with two authors

By Anthony Kwan

Imagine acquiring the superhero ability dating coaches dream of—mind reading the perspectives in a relationship. The digital story “Your Place and Mine” by Nicci French is a psychological thriller that illustrates two different perspectives in an intimate relationship. Nicci French is in fact a hybrid of two people: Nicci Gerrard and Sean French who narrate the relationship of two co-workers named Lawrence and Terry over a span of five days, each writing an hour long. As the story unfolds, Terry becomes too attached to Lawrence; however, Lawrence does not reciprocate similar feelings for her, leading to an unexpected turn of events. Although the plot may seem straightforward, the main ideas are inadequately presented due to the obscure format.

The creation of a story by two authors depicts a high level of difficulty for the reader. Since the digital story is presented in a live-time sequence, it can be challenging for the reader to interpret both Terry’s and Lawrence’s thoughts. Nicci French’s digital story makes the reader not only uncomfortable, but also encounter extreme measures to understand the story. The split screen style of the blog consists of two authors writing in tandem tracks of dialogue. This visual reading format creates a sense of discomfort for readers who are normally used to a traditional story telling style. Personally, I would prefer an individual author writing a traditional narrative, which facilitates accessibility to the thoughts of the main characters.

Likewise, from a reader’s point of view, the natural approach to read this story is by alternating the dialogue between Terry and Lawrence, which disorients the readers because of the gaps involved. To moderate this challenge, the format of the dialogue can be individually presented, without breakages back and forth, thereby the two different perspectives would be better presented for the reader. Reading the thoughts of each character without having to jump between two columns would improve the flow of the reading experience.

Concerning the technical page layout, the navigational tools appear to be substantially outdated and frustrating. The story itself is presented in five links that cause navigational inconvenience for the reader to maneuver and connect the pieces in the storyline. To negate the navigational issues, I suggest the format to be offered as an archive; therefore, readers can scroll through each day instead of managing five window tabs. Similarly, in the conclusion of day 5, French frustrates readers by providing an obscure additional link with critical supplementary information on the outcome of the relationship, while at the same time not providing the reader with a focus or sense of directions. The link “Canal Body Identified” was defective with unprocessed pictures and unfinished articles (French). For example, if the link is faulty, the reader will be prevented from making connections back to the main story.

However, if I had been involved during the initial live process and witnessed the character’s day by day disclosure of their thoughts and feelings when it was first published, I would consider the digital format innovative and had been more engaged. Certainly, the digital story incites curiosity, specifically with respect to the suspenseful titles demonstrated under each link of the days. For example, the forming of the titles conjugates into a sentence that exhibits “something’s begun the morning after it was all going so well but then…” (French). This ultimately intrigues the reader by foreshadowing not only a deteriorating relationship, but also the deaths in the newspaper article based on the storyline.  With technological advancements, the format of this passage can be improved upon by resolving for its technical fallbacks. Since the digital story contains suspenseful titles and a black, mysterious background, the tech-savvy reader visualizes the digital story as a captivating type of story telling. While the message of the story is perceived through both characters’ emotions, I learned that love can bring the best out of someone, or it could be regarded as dangerous and cause a person to execute actions out of the extraordinary.

Bibliography

French, Nicci. “Your Place and Mine.” 11 April 2008. We Tell Stories. Blog. 6 February 2017. <http://www.wetellstories.co.uk/stories/week4/&gt;.

 

 

 

 

Literary Map of Kari’s Cold Case

The abundance of celebrities residing in Los Angeles contributes to its notoriety as one of the most well-known cities in North America. Jill Hilbrenner, a writer for Guardian Labs, created a branded content to help advertise Season 2 of Amazon’s new hit television show “Bosch”. Hilbrenner’s article, “A murderer attacked a Los Angeles teen in 1980 and got away with it”, portrays the detective difficulties posed when technology was lacking. With the assistance of my online literary map, it not only helps the detective but also the reader, to pinpoint the critical locations involved in Kari’s murder. Technically, my map provides an investigative tool for detectives because it contains the necessary functions that ordinary maps cannot display. For example, I can change the present landscape to the 1980 murder landscape. This is significant for detectives because Los Angeles has urbanised over the past 37 years, and overlooking the skyscrapers and buildings at the time of the murder can lead to meaningful clues towards solving the case. From my map analysis, the distance between Detective Marzia and the murder scene of Kari is approximately 5 KM. Since Detective Marzia was attending a concert during the night of the murder, it is possible that Kari and the suspect were in attendance as well. This can be critical evidence to catch the suspect because Detective Marzia could examine the concert’s database for Canadians who purchased tickets from Canada, since the suspect is from Canada. Overall, police procedural work is a tough task that would benefit with the help of a tool like my literary map.

 

Feel free to pause the video to read my descriptions!

Google Earth file is upon request — anthonykwan@live.ca

 

Works Cited

Hilbrenner, Jill. “A murderer attacked a Los Angeles teen in 1980 and got away with it.” The Guardian (2016): 4.

Critical Analysis of “Siwash Rock”

Predominantly didactic Pauline Johnson’s digital stories are structured using a story within a story format. She begins by introducing a Vancouver setting or point of interest using highly descriptive language including personification and similes. The reader soon discovers that the use of personification is particularly important because the origins of the point of interest were human to begin with. In Johnson’s outer story, a question is raised regarding the historical events around a local setting or site. Then a question is posed wherein the answer begins a second story that explains the point of origins from an ancestrally based First Nation narrative.

Johnson’s “Siwash Rock” highlights the importance of a father figure in humanity and the cultural influences that First Nations have on the monuments in Vancouver. In the second narrative, The Tillicum relative introduces a soon-to-be father who prepares himself for his child by “swimming” away his uncleanliness. Johnson illustrates the enigmatic meaning of a “clean fatherhood” through the defiant actions of the soon-to-be father, a father who demonstrates that he should be able to have the courage to fight for his rights and his future children’s rights. The father encounters so called “Gods” that ordered him to cease swimming, but he refused. Here, the most important theme that stood out to me was not only the idea of courage, but also how a child can bring out the bravery in a father. The father actions transformed both him and his family into a natural monument. It is not surprising that Pauline Johnson uses reverence descriptive to pay respect to her fellow ancestors.

Siwash Rock in the 20th century

Works Cited

Johnson, Pauline. Legends of Vancouver. Vancouver, 1911.

Pinterest of “21 Steps” by Charles Cumming

The awareness of being stalked is a fearful experience, especially when your life is endangered. In the interactive story, “21 Steps”, Charles Cumming highlights a regular man who stumbles upon a thrilling adventure that he unravels. “21 Steps” is based on an old classic novel called “39 Steps” which correlates the same theme – an innocent man that is mistakenly accused of a crime. The protagonist, Rick Blackwell, experiences an ordinary day, when suddenly, a dying stranger, Jack Kalba, mysteriously instructs Rick about a mission. Throughout the story, the most important materialistic items that were given into Rick’s possession are: the USB stick, a Nokia phone and a vial of venom. The mysterious USB stick portrays a sense of urgency for Rick, who perceives his life as endangered due to Jack’s disappearance. The Nokia phone plays a significant role in informing Rick’s mission procedures because it is the only source of communication between Rick and the antagonist. The venom is the most compelling piece of interest because it provides the focal point in the mission; Rick must smuggle this without being detected. These three items represent the sequential events that intensify suspense throughout the short story. Although pictures are displayed in the story, I found them to be vague and I required further clarification. Embedded with a symbolic meaning, these items assist readers in understanding that in solving a problem it is in the details that contribute to the plot of the story.

 

Works Cited

Cumming, Charles. “Charles Cumming: The 21 Steps.” We Tell Stories, Penguin Books Ltd., 2008, www.wetellstories.co.uk/stories/week1/.

 

Critical Analysis of “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl

Marriage is a disaster when disloyalty leads to the powers of betrayal. “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl begins with an aging husband, Patrick Malony who unexpectedly informs his wife, Mary that he is leaving her, giving him initial power. Patrick’s disclosure provokes a six-month pregnant Mary to react by murdering him with a lethal leg of lamb. As a result of Patrick’s betrayal, Mary no longer feels powerless towards him because now she establishes control by betraying the marriage. Here, the most important theme that stood out to me was not only the idea of betrayal, but also how betrayal can be a reciprocal event leading to a “perfect crime scenario”. For example, when the husband betrayed the marriage, it prompted a transfer of power to Mary. The piece of lamb symbolizes a hidden innocent object that plays a key role in the deception of Patrick’s murder. As “a wife of a detective”, Mary exhibits the skills of a composed and methodical mindset when she practices her dialogue to the butcher in front of the mirror and later has an alibi from her visit to the butcher. Another important factor that caused betrayal in their marriage was the lack of communication. In the beginning of the story, Mary says “hello darling” and Patrick replies with a curt “hello”. This indicates an unhealthy relationship because no additional dialogue ensues. In addition, Mary is always initiating the conversation with Patrick, while Patrick shows displeasure, which implies a struggling relationship. We can consider that Mary is a dynamic character that undergoes a significant change in attitude. Overall, Mary arises from a submissive, domestic housewife to a protector of her child.

 

Mary wielding the lethal leg of lamb that took Patrick’s soul.

 

Works Cited

Dahl, Roald. “Lamb to the Slaughter.” Harper’s Magazine, 1 Sept. 1953

Literary map of “The Reunion” by John Cheever

New York can be a complicated place that is a state as well as “The Big Apple”. John Cheever’s, “The Reunion”, illustrates how a young man’s idealized memories and high expectations of his father’s image shift downwards when he observes his father’s obnoxious behaviors. During the beginning of the story, the son mentions that he is traveling from Adirondacks to Central Station in New York. As a Canadian foreigner, I was unfamiliar with the locations that were mentioned. With the addition of my literary map, it helped me visualize the character’s commuting distance which highlights the separation between the son and father as well as explains how the son never had a chance to connect with his father. This can be related to one of the biggest relationship facts – long distance relationships always fail to work. From my map analysis, the distance between the father and son is approximately 384 km, which is almost the width of the state. Furthermore, the father indicates wealth throughout the story, as he had employed a secretary and claimed to own a club near the 60^th street. When I browsed over the 60^th street, the neighborhood was prosperous with skyscraper buildings. These buildings could be a lofty metaphor for the father’s condescending attitude to people that are smaller than him such as waiters and newsstand clerks. From the son’s perspective, the father’s wealth and his appealing capital indicate the idolizing mentality of the son who becomes disillusioned.

Feel free to pause the video to read my descriptions!

Google Earth file is upon request — anthonykwan@live.ca

 

Works Cited

Cheever, John. “Reunion.” The New Yorker, 27 Oct. 1962, p. 45.

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