Here's my revised game plan for the final. I'm going to play Scratches, writing once as Michael Arthate (the main character), second in the footnotes by myself (a humble game-player), except fictionalized and enhanced. I'm playing the game, but it's drawing me in like Zampano and Johnny were drawn to Navidson's story. The footnotes will describe my "real life" as I progress through the game. A third level, which we'll call "the editor" is the actual me. It will contain all that academic, analytical stuff about the game from a real world PoV. In other words, the first level will be set in England with Michael Arthate. The second level will be in Pittsburgh, with Mike Kobily, the third level will be omnipresent and anonymous.
My implicit thesis will change from "Can we invoke raw emotions like fear though video games" to "HOW can we..." to "How DO we...". From the angle of the first level, I'll show how the game's story progresses. From the second level, I'll dramatize the effects that it has on the players of the game. From the third level, I'll analyze the narrative elements and explain why I had "Mike Kobily" do what he did.
1 comment:
It sounds like you already know what you want to do, Mike. I think your idea's solid, and I think the final result would be interesting to see.
The only concern I have is that I can't remember how long the 'novel' that Michael writes in Scratches, but I think I remember only seeing a few pages of it. Keep in mind I played that game a long ass time ago, but I just wanted to make sure that you're actually going to have enough to write on.
Maybe if the in-game novel is too short you could even try novelizing the events of the game, with Michael's comments as it unfolds, and your comments as you find the original novel, and all kind of...ridiculosity.
I don't know, just trying to pitch some ideas, get you thinking and whatnot.
Scratches was a badass game that no one has ever heard of for some reason, so your project better kick some ass.
-A
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