GameBridge

Game Bridge is a transmedia storytelling project that combines multiple media modalities to create a more immersive experience into a storyworld. Game of Thrones was used as a test case to explore the possible applications of transmedia storytelling for long form television narratives. 

This project was published and presented at the 2016 tvx conference in Chicago; the full project and a video description can be found here: http://etv.gatech.edu/gamebridge-transmedia-storytelling-through-gameplay/

*Spoiler Warning ahead for show watchers still behind Season 2 (get on it people)*

problem space

Long form narratives across any medium present issues of interactor comprehension and memorization. ultimately reducing the understanding of the story and character motivations. To address these concerns, our team developed a game to bridge the various media modalities experienced in the Game of Thrones Universe. 

Before joining a team, my initial project idea was to create an interactive map that could be used to explore the complex (and notoriously confusing) storyworld of Game of Thrones to help visualize the path of characters and story arcs. This idea was later combined into a larger scale project when I joined a group with others who were interested in media applications for Game of Thrones. 

Process

Our team wanted to keep the large scale of the storyworld, while still offering multiple entry points for the user to explore storylines at their own pace. The design was to release new game updates synchronously with the television show, highlighting characters from that week's episode and allowing the player to learn more about them and related stories.

We made use of storyboarding and examining the original television sequence when developing our own parallel narrative; for our prototype, we selected a scene from Season 2 Episode 5 where a major character dies, and the viewer sees an extremely intense reaction from a character they have just met, and know little about.

This chapter of our game puts the player into the shoes of a character we created (with inspiration from the books), able to interact with major and minor characters in the books and show. We also outlined the broader view of where our gameplay would fit into the larger narrative arc of the TV show.

This example is ideal to illustrate one of our goals to improve the additive comprehension of the narrative by viewers; taking a confusing moment and transforming it into an enlightening one that deepens the viewers understanding of the show.

My role

My roles were as content strategist and creating the design and prototype of the game. This involved many conversations and ideation on how frame our story within the larger established narrative, and writing the dialogue for the script. 

After the script was written, I helped to implement the game, forming and editing scenes I was responsible for, as well as smoothing out transitions and bugs in the game narrative. 

Testing + Publication

The final stages of the project included user testing, which showed our game was improved comprehension of the narrative and helped viewers be more invested into the storyworld.

Finally, our group members each wrote sections of a paper, which were compiled and editing by a team member to submit for publication, which you can learn more about here: 

https://www.id.iit.edu/tvx2016/program/full-and-short-papers/