| Description |
Breaking the Mold: Using Epistolary Architecture to Craft a New Type of Video Game Narrative discusses the uniqueness of classic epistolary literary works, such as Bram Stoker's Dracula, and demonstrates how applying the storytelling techniques of these texts can allow game developers to create a new style of video game narrative. The paper initially defines an "epistolary narrative architecture" (Reynolds) then moves into a literature review of books whose storytelling devices can be best translated into video games. Following the literature review, the paper employs a problem-solution model to examine archival storytelling, and the current oversaturation of narrative tropes throughout the medium of games. The paper also touches on the struggles and successes related to the adaptation of literary techniques to new media - specifically through the lens of interactive fiction. From there the paper analyzes recent "bridge" video games and literary methods which incorporate some of the epistolary storytelling elements previously discussed. The paper closes out by looking at Her Story, a seminal epistolary video game, which informs the considerations, advantages, and limitations of the framework discussed thereafter |
