While I didn’t have the chance to do much reading over the break, I did get asked quite a few questions about how my studies were going, and thus had the chance to reiterate my ideas for a thesis to an outside audience. I’ve found that even away from the go-go-go frenzy of last semester, I like my idea and can see myself devoting four months of my life to doing little else. Which is good, considering the circumstances.
I’m also coming to the conclusion that I’ve now reached a point in the development process where I should start thinking about what stories I actually want to tell. In an interactive narrative, the world(s), characters/personalities, and genre uniqueness should ideally influence the types of decision-making a reader is able to do, and therefore developing plotlines and narrative arcs will allow me to figure out precisely what skills I need to have on the technical side to translate my ideas into playable choices.
If I really want to delve deep into how player choice can influence narrative, it would be beneficial to also look into the psychological reasons for how and why choices are made. I want to do some research on how point of view influences reader empathy as a basis for my narrative choices, as well as what kind of choices readers expect, so I can both meet and subvert said expectations. I’m very excited to stake out my own little sandbox to play around in, and even if my folder of downloaded research is already a little intimidating, I might have to dive back in and hunt around for more.
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