tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28423781319919182022024-02-07T00:13:39.016-08:00One Response to LiteratureAprilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11067929135876403912noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2842378131991918202.post-36817616083979161182010-05-05T13:41:00.000-07:002010-05-06T16:50:39.957-07:00Stitch ‘n CreateShelly Jackson’s hypertext, "Patchwork Girl" is an interesting piece of fictional literature. At right is a screen shot of the 'title' page of "Patchwork Girl." <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiREg09tKvQ9eXw8QBgeejGHhIWwe3kleabPNPU2ASRKAFhbR-O2TX237SPKCEfNHygPIVty3GNs52JLwT7xYPp3IPqgaMRq8T6lV_B6n-JfdJh_HyM0kveI-CkCfrxS2P55rWN9o1tqs6s/s1600/screenshot.14.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 198px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiREg09tKvQ9eXw8QBgeejGHhIWwe3kleabPNPU2ASRKAFhbR-O2TX237SPKCEfNHygPIVty3GNs52JLwT7xYPp3IPqgaMRq8T6lV_B6n-JfdJh_HyM0kveI-CkCfrxS2P55rWN9o1tqs6s/s320/screenshot.14.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467889704469141122" /></a><br /> The hypertext has five main sections within it: Graveyard, Journal, Quilt, Story, and Broken Accents, each with their own different storied to tell. The main storyline of the entire hypertext is that Shelly Jackson uses Mary Shelley’s novel, "Frankenstein", as a foundation to create her own monster, Patchwork Girl. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfqN6_PkvEu2xOVOAMUF0BUp4SDW8PPoif1F06VusQ5sFeo0jYAW_ATeOe7IuNr8bAQeV6Hh_3XH5uA8CCFTe53quKvXjFKgasBlparsW7P7jFzCRBZYPbdyrzNh6wjMjFoIIrQeoLGROD/s1600/screenshot.8.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 293px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfqN6_PkvEu2xOVOAMUF0BUp4SDW8PPoif1F06VusQ5sFeo0jYAW_ATeOe7IuNr8bAQeV6Hh_3XH5uA8CCFTe53quKvXjFKgasBlparsW7P7jFzCRBZYPbdyrzNh6wjMjFoIIrQeoLGROD/s320/screenshot.8.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467889698748369922" /></a> Through the different sections of the hypertext, the interactor can experience how Patchwork Girl, the monster and the hypertext, was put together, read excerpts from "Frankenstein," and see the story of Patchwork Girl after her creation. The main theme of the hypertext is that of finding one’s history and how a person’s history really makes up who that person is on the inside. <br /><br /> The Graveyard section of “Patchwork Girl” is my favorite because of the stories that are told about Patchwork Girl’s body parts. The first screen shot at right shows the title page of this section. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgshMD3DOKhFxRHldZAuWQE93Lgof2iXKaVm-6LLsQ871U-XVkMvRseeHSuo75jeV9xIyun5aBpGyobWayIw9meIssORrwrI_DmvxfuNjpqKVzhgedwfk_AF8ZpcCcJMNjpyqYXjQO3DebU/s1600/screenshot.18.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 269px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgshMD3DOKhFxRHldZAuWQE93Lgof2iXKaVm-6LLsQ871U-XVkMvRseeHSuo75jeV9xIyun5aBpGyobWayIw9meIssORrwrI_DmvxfuNjpqKVzhgedwfk_AF8ZpcCcJMNjpyqYXjQO3DebU/s320/screenshot.18.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467994607951361058" /></a> The second screen shot, which would be the lexias that the interactor normally would see after clicking on the pervious screen shot. This is an important screen shot, but just not important to this section, but to the whole understanding of hypertext because of what it says: “I am buried here. You can resurrect me, but only piecemeal. If you want to see the whole, you will have to sew me together yourself” (Jackson graveyard). The lexias basically gives the interactor a description of the whole genre of hypertext. This is because of the way that the interactor has to use hypertext, <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGMJ8a9VIGvqJmGxNGtvrM-6wUyY8oz0SuGVvCnj3tnsxGWOzQO2VsnUOKrNEdv_e-VikzTqH6ApzglXYCgCg4PfFxXnnsfv5J3f0M-Fo16qB7TekP9xpAm_RTydG_9we3JBS_Yz7d3cSf/s1600/screenshot.19.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 155px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGMJ8a9VIGvqJmGxNGtvrM-6wUyY8oz0SuGVvCnj3tnsxGWOzQO2VsnUOKrNEdv_e-VikzTqH6ApzglXYCgCg4PfFxXnnsfv5J3f0M-Fo16qB7TekP9xpAm_RTydG_9we3JBS_Yz7d3cSf/s320/screenshot.19.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467994603610171682" /></a>they ‘sew’ their own story since one person will click on something that other person would not click on. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNu3rLe-GlAGEoy9HtSgMvnj51GTHX9pdBfWSX0uQKbxxD_jcvQal_b19jmm13EjciPVM90Y-oojlbXVgdDYKx6Xcr9N4q119g6CxhzcZ2WUrMkLm6Jn2gaMFCP7d1xnLLMQevBwr_7NJK/s1600/screenshot.27.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 291px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNu3rLe-GlAGEoy9HtSgMvnj51GTHX9pdBfWSX0uQKbxxD_jcvQal_b19jmm13EjciPVM90Y-oojlbXVgdDYKx6Xcr9N4q119g6CxhzcZ2WUrMkLm6Jn2gaMFCP7d1xnLLMQevBwr_7NJK/s320/screenshot.27.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467994598157133618" /></a> In “Navigating Electronic Literature,” Jessica Pressman quotes Jay David Bolter while explaining how everyone reads a different piece of literature when they read hypertext because “‘[t]here is no single story of which every reading is a version, because each reading determine the story as it goes. We could say that there is no story at all; there are only readings’” (Pressman 6). This quote completely grasps the idea of hypertext, since interactors will experience the same text, but in different orders, creating a different story/reading for each user. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdW3cYDF6gpv2GkR92w9plUgXTeCqvleOOakDC4KGOSqEDCSHIF0meCT1MOMPh6GAKwoZpH6-n7JKYvtTUncZTvlMjvTZWuZ1VrwHbJsOCM7Y3P58Whlez2Ecs_cRi6gunr2CpPcWSNB6O/s1600/screenshot.4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 202px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdW3cYDF6gpv2GkR92w9plUgXTeCqvleOOakDC4KGOSqEDCSHIF0meCT1MOMPh6GAKwoZpH6-n7JKYvtTUncZTvlMjvTZWuZ1VrwHbJsOCM7Y3P58Whlez2Ecs_cRi6gunr2CpPcWSNB6O/s320/screenshot.4.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468233081091262482" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZwuY5HZzbnq6gkcLPnrs4-7b6z8UAx0AEK2nfgAcSZxlQfzR7xlHtZ8r1JF5daGT9i0bDnvC3Xz680HE86VkI7UjH7xq07e3i3eTnvijeRCx5ve0bXrelaUXQN4c-Vh0oPFxtk8PZjXRD/s1600/screenshot.5.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 230px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZwuY5HZzbnq6gkcLPnrs4-7b6z8UAx0AEK2nfgAcSZxlQfzR7xlHtZ8r1JF5daGT9i0bDnvC3Xz680HE86VkI7UjH7xq07e3i3eTnvijeRCx5ve0bXrelaUXQN4c-Vh0oPFxtk8PZjXRD/s320/screenshot.5.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468233089816403074" /></a><br />The Graveyard section of “Patchwork Girl” is similar to another piece by Jackson called “my body – a Wunderkammer” (screen shots are above). The two pieces of hypertext are similar because they both talk about how body parts make up a person. In Graveyard, the body parts literally make up Patchwork Girl, but she does not have a history of her own, instead she has the history of the body parts; like how her trunk belong to Angela who was a dancer and her right leg belonged to Jennifer. In “my body,” Jackson talks about her own body, through which she makes the statement that how a person is today reflects different things that happened in their past, whether it deals with the physical body or mental ‘body.’ Also both hypertexts use the method of clicking on different body parts to hear about their history, which helps the interactor follow the story and points that Jackson makes in both of her creations. <br /><br /> The Journal section of the hypertext shows the interactor the journal of Mary Shelley, the character that Jackson creates based on the real Mary Shelley, who physically creates Patchwork Girl. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyDo_V43Tm5KmIoVzLFMCW2PBpjBnylbqG4oVRuHS-vcSnBXnD59EyQE34M0_fsnAif1BjP5hYC39XWFKe4ftT-BfDlwPQBfap1SHpy7Yfa2TLHbM1eczlNWdNXkztL6RRiT3R6OucQFXK/s1600/screenshot.6.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 263px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyDo_V43Tm5KmIoVzLFMCW2PBpjBnylbqG4oVRuHS-vcSnBXnD59EyQE34M0_fsnAif1BjP5hYC39XWFKe4ftT-BfDlwPQBfap1SHpy7Yfa2TLHbM1eczlNWdNXkztL6RRiT3R6OucQFXK/s320/screenshot.6.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467993330065095314" /></a><br /> Also through the journal, the interactor is able to see Mary Shelley’s feelings of a creator, friend, and mother to her monster. This section shows the difference between Mary and the characters in her novel. This is because the creator in her novel does not care about his creation once he is made and Mary loves her monster as if it were her own child. Also in this part, Jackson come in to the picture as the ‘author’ of Patchwork Girl (both monster and hypertext), as the screen shot at left shows. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzJvg5_YaVDj6uaIaMzmuUQjiHolPM9dh-tJ5JVKXQPoeeGIHb_obm2O30Ax1zipospmWONOdkNM2Tm45z56XUazGuQgxYYYAPL88A36DUlRGg3cCmuT8kfcGh2V9neabTBlk22yOqY2DK/s1600/screenshot.11.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 234px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzJvg5_YaVDj6uaIaMzmuUQjiHolPM9dh-tJ5JVKXQPoeeGIHb_obm2O30Ax1zipospmWONOdkNM2Tm45z56XUazGuQgxYYYAPL88A36DUlRGg3cCmuT8kfcGh2V9neabTBlk22yOqY2DK/s320/screenshot.11.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467993337288500162" /></a> Although that Mary is the monster’s physical creator, Jackson claims herself as the monster’s literary creator. This is shown in the way that Mary says that she feels as if she is writing when she is stitching Patchwork Girl together. Through the lexias, Jackson is showing her existence in the hypertext through her writing that Mary feels as if she is writing while creating the monster. I feel as if this is a stroke of genius on the part of Jackson since it shows that people (in the physical world) effect who a person is by their upbringing (or in the case of Patchwork Girl, her creation). <br /><br /> The Story section of “Patchwork Girl” <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4CvOneGiickCozaOiwbCvjaJNi72e4ENVPVI_UhWbu9J2eXCoZ_I-MSrytN2oeB2LyHyKIrnR05qwfhPyUFPuBEwS40qSQIFe_-rMUJQ6f3FTFFKLlUOWVBJ4SXYKPGikVdV2PnqP69Gb/s1600/screenshot.37.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 271px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4CvOneGiickCozaOiwbCvjaJNi72e4ENVPVI_UhWbu9J2eXCoZ_I-MSrytN2oeB2LyHyKIrnR05qwfhPyUFPuBEwS40qSQIFe_-rMUJQ6f3FTFFKLlUOWVBJ4SXYKPGikVdV2PnqP69Gb/s320/screenshot.37.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467998036181603666" /></a> uses actual pieces of writing from Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” to compare Frankenstein to Patchwork Girl and how the loving environment that the later was ‘brought up in’ made her who she turned out to be. Also in this section Patchwork Girl gives light to her own thoughts and thanks those who gave her life – those whose body parts make her up. Also she knowledges the pasts of the body parts, but she wants her own past, which is the reason that this section also shows her buying a woman’s past.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV8Y4QF5jqxs1qVUyFsO9_UaOSTno_gt_O5RbTjMXXFHhH7NTWTdiKlzF6w3bkmsba6ZuiAbqS-UfzQgTxTh77v3jleIXY1oVN84meZrwwIi4bkNMopKgJAOXBg2TmOfXq611NZXFcKwLj/s1600/screenshot.39.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 222px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV8Y4QF5jqxs1qVUyFsO9_UaOSTno_gt_O5RbTjMXXFHhH7NTWTdiKlzF6w3bkmsba6ZuiAbqS-UfzQgTxTh77v3jleIXY1oVN84meZrwwIi4bkNMopKgJAOXBg2TmOfXq611NZXFcKwLj/s320/screenshot.39.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467998033339636658" /></a>The bought past, although that it is not her own, gives Patchwork Girl a semblance of having a real life since she has never been able to fit in with her scars and large build (as seen in the “birth” lexias). <br /><br /><br /><br /> The Broken Accents/Phrenology <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb-8HQu5wiIZILhQ8-qSGDN4i50jNs4w9Fk9pGBSuYcQnv8IwDtmaXLAP0pJrTL5MPi43eQf0SsqslLFa6ubgeWyRki9mfMJKyJImqw-nkzR3auGUoZUsxmpbEyKJzDrEhuGHusOSmV3VM/s1600/screenshot.54.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 314px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb-8HQu5wiIZILhQ8-qSGDN4i50jNs4w9Fk9pGBSuYcQnv8IwDtmaXLAP0pJrTL5MPi43eQf0SsqslLFa6ubgeWyRki9mfMJKyJImqw-nkzR3auGUoZUsxmpbEyKJzDrEhuGHusOSmV3VM/s320/screenshot.54.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467999005921018178" /></a><br /> section tells the interactor about Jackson’s experience with writing with hypertext, as seen with the screen shot at left labeled “this writing.” Also in this lexias, Jackson mentions that she has gotten lost in hypertext (both reading and writing) and that with a book it is easier because once you up a book the reader knows where they are, what page they are on,<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj91m_K4qpq9KlzJUiYCvVvnog9Q8vPrTe8WiMBV6Hi6dtYckgSLaGRsog2uzxLCDr85cKithyE_BpY1wE-pWs-LcIg9MRI-AvDNHjfNcTgGORbL6uN3Ez0fbRE1e-oaLOHfp9dBf-dzAp2/s1600/screenshot.12.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 311px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj91m_K4qpq9KlzJUiYCvVvnog9Q8vPrTe8WiMBV6Hi6dtYckgSLaGRsog2uzxLCDr85cKithyE_BpY1wE-pWs-LcIg9MRI-AvDNHjfNcTgGORbL6uN3Ez0fbRE1e-oaLOHfp9dBf-dzAp2/s320/screenshot.12.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467999010954843074" /></a> but she feels as if writing with hypertext fits her better because it allows her to jump around from topic to topic. I feel as if “this writing” lexias does not just fit “Patchwork Girl” or “my body” (which it seems to pertain to more so than the former), but all works with hypertext. This lexias in particular makes understanding the reason to write with hypertext easier to understand. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> The Crazy Quilt part of the hypertext shows the different <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUfUPaBf7JF-VZVvukMt2b_O0yW2oKBHHlNaqrS85G1-iAWT9-5dWTppaNtAvD4e_mqVbaJwQgxDbLRFpfY8KsCV9zekHgyaTwi1vcut3nc6_haPvKIH2wPcXbgZH0U6DConNoouT3d7rO/s1600/screenshot.49.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 285px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUfUPaBf7JF-VZVvukMt2b_O0yW2oKBHHlNaqrS85G1-iAWT9-5dWTppaNtAvD4e_mqVbaJwQgxDbLRFpfY8KsCV9zekHgyaTwi1vcut3nc6_haPvKIH2wPcXbgZH0U6DConNoouT3d7rO/s320/screenshot.49.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467994951220104066" /></a> sources that Jackson either took text from or borrowed ideas from in order to create “Patchwork Girl.”This section has two parts to it the first part being shown at left. The second part, as Carolina Sanchez-Palencia Carazo and Manuel Almagro Jimenez state in their essay, “Gathering the Limbs of the Text in Shelley Jackson’s “Patchwork Girl,’” the quotes [from the sources that Jackson used] used are not documented or presented with different typographies as they are in the first part (scrap bag). “ However, <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj681ctIurruAOuNF2zWZHMaQBUs2AMf3s8W1mLG8Xmkk-rdG4N1juDTmNiVaA9W-WI3TRDD1QyFRVxk2CSnreq9PnLnBUpALb16ZHIuqyA-cdDzRapDLqVA6r9RR4rk2UTwCv625gf0zB2/s1600/screenshot.51.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 201px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj681ctIurruAOuNF2zWZHMaQBUs2AMf3s8W1mLG8Xmkk-rdG4N1juDTmNiVaA9W-WI3TRDD1QyFRVxk2CSnreq9PnLnBUpALb16ZHIuqyA-cdDzRapDLqVA6r9RR4rk2UTwCv625gf0zB2/s320/screenshot.51.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467994941165910658" /></a>the lexias are presented with different colours in order to evoke the idea of that ‘crazy quilt’” (Carazo 117). I have never been able to see this in my experiences of interacting with “Patchwork Girl,” but the idea of the crazy quilt, which is a quilt that really does not follow any patterns or rules other than it has to be crazy upon the senses, especially sight.<br /> <br /><br /> It is hard to write about hypertext for the similar reason that it is difficult to write about interactive fiction since each person that interacts with them receives a slightly different story because of the order they click on the links. The hypertext format works really with “Patchwork Girl” and “my body-a Wunderkammer” because of the ability for the interactor to create their own story with the text that Shelley Jackson created with a certain experience that comes from writing in the hypertext genre of literature. <br /><br /> Works Cited<br />Carazo, Carolina Sanchez-Palencia and Manuel Almagro Jimenez. “Gathering the Limbs of the Text in Shelley Jackson’s ‘Patchwork Girl.’” Atlantis 28.1, 2006. Web.<br />Jackson, Shelley. “my body – a Wunderkammer.” <http://collection.eliterature.org/1 /works/jackson__my_body_a_wunderkammer.html> <br />Jackson, Shelley. "Patchwork Girl." Watertown, MA: Eastgate Systems, 1995. CD-Rom.<br />Pressman, Jessica. “Navigating Electronic Literature.”<br /><br /><br /><br />Thank you for this class. It has been an amazing experience to be able to learn all that we have learned. Thank You!Aprilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11067929135876403912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2842378131991918202.post-79554658080236533592010-04-14T12:34:00.000-07:002010-04-14T13:00:21.664-07:00An Interesting Experience with Creating “It Had to Happen, Right?”First and foremost the main experience that working with Inform 7 showed me was that I have a new found respect for those people who create large scale Interactive Fiction (IF) literature, especially for fun. I created a very small IF, entitled “It Had to Happen, Right?,” which created so much hardship, that I really understood the topic statement of the class that dealt with IF: “How do they do this without throwing the computer out the window!?” I was close to this point various times during my own IF creating experience due to my own lack of knowledge of writing IF. Although that working with IF is tedious and quite frustrating at times, it is very rewarding when you are able to test your IF and the error sign does not show up, as is shown at right. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmJyIb6C-iy_EYbYp0z3xgRU-ZMxzOYa7rMdv6U7T9gAzy1n-fehYSIW3bPPsn1O1f2sNIV0Vhyw6i2U2wqTL_T9fHCiWiD6JdCsoPadaOaGpkAXDxoamOUBn0sYX-9FMKfDH3R53hB7MT/s1600/screenshot.22.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 139px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmJyIb6C-iy_EYbYp0z3xgRU-ZMxzOYa7rMdv6U7T9gAzy1n-fehYSIW3bPPsn1O1f2sNIV0Vhyw6i2U2wqTL_T9fHCiWiD6JdCsoPadaOaGpkAXDxoamOUBn0sYX-9FMKfDH3R53hB7MT/s320/screenshot.22.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460081981135210626" /></a><br /> <br /> Storyline <br /> The basic plan that I had in mind for my IF was that I wanted to create an interesting and somewhat challenging puzzle-based IF. The basic plot of the IF was that the player character, Roxana is reliving experiences in her memory about events that already happened, trying to see if there was any way for her to try and save her lover from having to run away from the guards that were chasing him. Henry, Roxana’s lover, is a non-character player that I have yet to bring to life, but his story is that he is in love with Roxana, but he is a commoner and she is noble born. They feel as if they found true love, but yet her parents do not see it that way so they have sent guards to find, capture, and kill Henry so that they would be free to marry Roxana off as they wanted for political gain. Roxana and Henry have supporters in the castle, Ellen the cook and Samson the butler, who try and help Roxana and Henry to find the path that leads to their true love. At left is the opening part of my IF. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRP1bdtO2MlcvX6_ws4iraroYwtt760g7pziwtcyUtKRgYXEVYgsKzaQ0n9i8o7xAhLws_1ZawJ5UTJ_eTjgbOjzaAtMC3cmqCW3ioshpc4Osl6H43WV8DLuljDxwNebD8AUANjVtN5LXo/s1600/screenshot.21.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 227px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRP1bdtO2MlcvX6_ws4iraroYwtt760g7pziwtcyUtKRgYXEVYgsKzaQ0n9i8o7xAhLws_1ZawJ5UTJ_eTjgbOjzaAtMC3cmqCW3ioshpc4Osl6H43WV8DLuljDxwNebD8AUANjVtN5LXo/s320/screenshot.21.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460080988883126482" /></a><br /> I hoped that an interactor with my IF would be able to move about the five rooms in the castle and talk to the various non-player characters that are about the castle. I also wanted to have different ‘puzzles’ for the interactor to figure out, like how Roxana and Henry can run away to be together without being killed. As a ‘reward’ to the interactor for figuring out the puzzle that would really encompass the whole game, I wanted to have couple of different endings that the ending that the interactor would receive would depend on the way that the interactor played the game and the choices they made, similar to Aaron Reed’s “Whom the Telling Changed” (http://collection.eliterature.org/1/works/reed__whom_the_telling_changed.html). <br /><br /> Experience <br /> The software of Inform 7 was difficult to work with at first, but once I learned how specific the program needed the text to be, it was easier. I am quite sure that I did not find or use all of the relevant capabilities of the program, but I looked around the software in effort to try and help myself understand the codified language that was needed of the program. In order to even start understanding the software, I needed the help my professor, my classmates, and “The Inform 7 Handbook” by Jim Aikin (http://www.musicwords.net/if/i7hb.htm). Also what was helpful was talking about different issues with my classmates, though normally we talked about the aggravation with the software but in those conversions, we learned about the mistakes others made and the solutions to the problems or vise-versa. Through the various sources of help, specifically Shauna’s help, I was able to leave the Library and create my other rooms, after trying to figure out different ways to declare there were other rooms. I was able to basically figure out most of the functions, I just did not completely understand the codified language of the software.<br /> The software opened up creative possibilities in the way that the author needs to make sure that they are giving enough details about various things in order to make the IF work properly and to allow the interactor to know the various hidden clues about what to do next. Also the software allows the creator the opportunity to only have events really take place in one room at a time, so it allows the creator to just focus on that one part of the game a time. Although that software opens up some creative possibilities, it also prevents them from happening since if a creator cannot make sense of how to do format an idea they have, most likely the creator will forget the idea. This happened to me in the way that I wanted to put a piece of wood on the fire in the fireplace in my IF, but I could not figure out how to word the text just right to manage the action. Most of the limiting of creativity that takes place in IF is due to the lack of understanding how to deal with the software or at least it was in my case. <br /> My lack of clear insight with Inform 7 also played a part of me not reaching my initial thoughts of what I wanted to complete in my IF. Out of my initial thoughts I came nowhere near to completing those goals I had set because at this point in time I cannot even possibly begin to fathom how to make different endings for a puzzle-based IF. The main thing about working with Inform 7 that frustrated me was the error messages, especially when you think that everything is correct. The other events that lead to my frustration was the way in which a creator would have to write in order to make the IF sound linear and believable (or at least believable in the world that has been created to house the IF world). <br /> Writing If is vastly different than writing a short story on paper or Word Document mainly because of the simple difference that with a short story dialog is easy to write, as are different descriptions. In writing IF, one needs to be so specific that it manages drive the author a little crazy at points when the error message comes up and reads that it cannot mention something because it is not located in a room, but yet you have said it is in that room; this happened to me many of times in my Inform 7 experience, as you can see at left.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWVs9Qb4wjQ_U_AXpzJD2otbIyiXyZ-BJBTuZmvqd30u72hKnuBreSGeqEnWvygfsugUbTiUfO7pSBuDFpj6ZzriXYL79T_YBzMfNjot9__WINCe4t0olcZxD0RX2Ra7tgPFrWhgysb2Ar/s1600/screenshot.12.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWVs9Qb4wjQ_U_AXpzJD2otbIyiXyZ-BJBTuZmvqd30u72hKnuBreSGeqEnWvygfsugUbTiUfO7pSBuDFpj6ZzriXYL79T_YBzMfNjot9__WINCe4t0olcZxD0RX2Ra7tgPFrWhgysb2Ar/s320/screenshot.12.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460082695831108690" /></a> The main difference is that IF can talk back to you, while short stories are quiet.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLswYOSuSJrVA4ljTInKcXW_QLdQSNO8Y0PRmGRMHTbexJ_Se1WmwLoB4BOI3-qkm1yRumGz_r0zucOfopv5IG2-iQ57XgMgAoL7JUZg9HDM8smAjgaBGzY3qAJshahJU82gliE82Dq4S8/s1600/screenshot.23.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 52px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLswYOSuSJrVA4ljTInKcXW_QLdQSNO8Y0PRmGRMHTbexJ_Se1WmwLoB4BOI3-qkm1yRumGz_r0zucOfopv5IG2-iQ57XgMgAoL7JUZg9HDM8smAjgaBGzY3qAJshahJU82gliE82Dq4S8/s320/screenshot.23.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460082699920975634" /></a>Also with short stories, although that you keep your audience in mind, you do not have to think about them too much when writing other than making sure that different thoughts and events are clear to the reader. Where as in IF you always have to keep in mind what the interactor might happen to do in the game and be prepared (in certain circumstances) for what they would like to do or what they are thinking. Having to keep the interactor in mind while writing the IF is the hardest part (other than actually writing the text) because each interactor has their own though process, so the creator needs to think of the most common and uncommon inputs that the interactor would want to use, just in case. Keeping the interactor in mind is difficult, but yet it allows the creator to clearly see where they need to make changes before they publish the IF. This is done by finding a trustworthy, good friend and having them play the game with the Transcript function on so that we they are finished with the IF, you can see what exactly they did in order to reach the end. One such transcript is show at left. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Czs7PNlYMD4zrQYlsmZYvypKUKBEUjYFqQbyQ6UTNmUTOJcH5UUlty6A1vsGv3yjEs7und_eGnmo8CXdw2OUaYsDPygAJLl0sG5uMa-R8ZjPW334hd8MsstC7R9UN8qEVuooIDJ1pqmd/s1600/screenshot.26.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 114px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Czs7PNlYMD4zrQYlsmZYvypKUKBEUjYFqQbyQ6UTNmUTOJcH5UUlty6A1vsGv3yjEs7und_eGnmo8CXdw2OUaYsDPygAJLl0sG5uMa-R8ZjPW334hd8MsstC7R9UN8qEVuooIDJ1pqmd/s320/screenshot.26.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460083843378964770" /></a><br /> Although that writing an IF is harder than writing a short story on a page, I found that IF was more inspiring to write because if things ran smoothly (no error messages) it gave you a reason to continue working with the IF story, whereas I sometimes become bored by writing a short story on paper where you have no real feedback unless you give it to someone to look out. <br /> All together the Inform 7 experience was not as horrible as it could have been. Also by using the program and trying to create my own IF, I see how those that create IF become addicted to it, once they learn the ins and outs of the program and how to set up everything correctly the first time. Towards the current ending point of my IF, I realized that I like writing the story and thinking about how the interactor will perceive the piece, though I am by no means addicted – I need to learn too much to become addicted at this stage. If someone wanted to use Inform 7 to write an IF piece, I would suggest to them that they need to have the “The Inform 7 Handbook” (http://www.musicwords.net/if/i7hb.htm) <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEaCNjGuMFDTDA_XCHFh4UGLNtq7__x4iL5S6FpqO6sm2wUZxgcTIgpwkETsySvaB-UW6Z8GFx2xQdQxD5ucvg6ib487ykhv3YrWisH1JHgqyyDtba8b5jsnR0BT-x8CNM5asHizFblsTW/s1600/screenshot.27.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 159px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEaCNjGuMFDTDA_XCHFh4UGLNtq7__x4iL5S6FpqO6sm2wUZxgcTIgpwkETsySvaB-UW6Z8GFx2xQdQxD5ucvg6ib487ykhv3YrWisH1JHgqyyDtba8b5jsnR0BT-x8CNM5asHizFblsTW/s320/screenshot.27.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460084861223901586" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNP6ssCiyW7buKFOc8KlZLQiCGpUj_qAinMLN1aGhuGNdM0SfH6GqeSe83pidBg5Kh8jnpiYGg6ky7h5Ieo68uuJ-oZQtpcJZBfp4nUNAegzT8wGdVuTeLi5P14bqlrWM9zIBtfT63Yug3/s1600/screenshot.28.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 279px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNP6ssCiyW7buKFOc8KlZLQiCGpUj_qAinMLN1aGhuGNdM0SfH6GqeSe83pidBg5Kh8jnpiYGg6ky7h5Ieo68uuJ-oZQtpcJZBfp4nUNAegzT8wGdVuTeLi5P14bqlrWM9zIBtfT63Yug3/s320/screenshot.28.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460084855954363378" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjahufUrELvo1KowGuylPYAWzykY8Ms4ALPIKcWTxt8x_1VnNuPbfzi2zsgi5IdqPDGXEXoc0ve4nLEhJLIkBg4tCNnB1O9CWEqAluwdMcAMZqeUvvaUv__g3pHvZGl2hDTsuiDau-qhzyt/s1600/screenshot.29.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 258px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjahufUrELvo1KowGuylPYAWzykY8Ms4ALPIKcWTxt8x_1VnNuPbfzi2zsgi5IdqPDGXEXoc0ve4nLEhJLIkBg4tCNnB1O9CWEqAluwdMcAMZqeUvvaUv__g3pHvZGl2hDTsuiDau-qhzyt/s320/screenshot.29.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460084853089502642" /></a> nearby, but better yet to know what they wanted to try included in their IF and read those specific sections in the Handbook, taking notes, since the Handbook save my class’s sanity and computers. Reading the needed sections of “The Inform 7 Handbook” will most likely stop you from having to make sure that the insurance on your computer is still up to date in case of it growing wings and flying out your window.Aprilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11067929135876403912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2842378131991918202.post-35345312771603170682010-03-31T14:20:00.000-07:002010-03-31T14:45:04.626-07:00“‘May the story bring you what you seek’”Aaron A. Reed’s interactive fiction (IF) piece, “Whom the Telling Changed,” is about a tribe that has to make a decision about how to handle the newcomers to their land; whether to fight them or to talk to them. “Whom the Telling Changed” tells about the journey that the tribe goes through and how different characters are affected by the decisions of a few. The IF, although that it is written as a fictional story, really makes the interactor think about their own choices in life and the choices of others around them, especially those choices made by people in power.<br />There are quite a few ways that “Whom the Telling Changed” can be understood, since it depends on the type of person that the interactor is; if the interactor is a pacifist (or trying to set the player character on a certain path in the game) the IF will have a different ending then if the interactor is more warlike. Each of the different possibilities that are in-between the two spectrums are also accounted for in the final situation of the IF. In my own interaction with “Whom the Telling Changed” I seemed to take the more pacifist route in the IF or at least more so leaning to that side in comparison to the more warlike side.<br /><br />The opening of “Whom the Telling Changed” started off giving the interactor brief instructions on how to interact with the IF, which is helpful to the inexperienced interactor. After going through the instructional screens, the IF looks like the screenshot at right. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii-aF9uhjg1Ek2JRMSG8Jey4N0uHlYfUKM3f0Bu3ORE6jIczp_OwDlYBQZXUtpP7zLex1k7_At7UYSMThKqrdvfE9im2E3xyaciQO-wtdJ-kFOeBAUrBIBxEyz9aUk_k0l45qon9-zOuez/s1600/screenshot.7.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 220px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii-aF9uhjg1Ek2JRMSG8Jey4N0uHlYfUKM3f0Bu3ORE6jIczp_OwDlYBQZXUtpP7zLex1k7_At7UYSMThKqrdvfE9im2E3xyaciQO-wtdJ-kFOeBAUrBIBxEyz9aUk_k0l45qon9-zOuez/s320/screenshot.7.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454911777771166962" /></a> From that screenshot, I looked around the tent and noticed the medicine bag and copper dagger, <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4h2EZ0GYEv3wbHMWkcAJeugX4GjwGelAYFNMEZwD8bin5UwZ6ww527O5gMQfQv10f4-lb9uOmyL_HSzfROIQwQzlaF3SySFrpM86ZDI0R6_mD5wSYAsWSpCesxORy6oLE5SGgGHUh70mw/s1600/screenshot.9.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 52px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4h2EZ0GYEv3wbHMWkcAJeugX4GjwGelAYFNMEZwD8bin5UwZ6ww527O5gMQfQv10f4-lb9uOmyL_HSzfROIQwQzlaF3SySFrpM86ZDI0R6_mD5wSYAsWSpCesxORy6oLE5SGgGHUh70mw/s320/screenshot.9.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454912031634578770" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKV0m7GT2XbpI7H1f6i8gZZPG3cios9e3UO5WNc4cXYfNrToorGNZj17SG-pc6t4cFbV8_erKStvNGitBDthSWghG1viE75bZKmdWkAPrVFFB-WChnwgvWn7MmW7ZEGI0tAXWtcAtzFzT-/s1600/screenshot.8.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 58px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKV0m7GT2XbpI7H1f6i8gZZPG3cios9e3UO5WNc4cXYfNrToorGNZj17SG-pc6t4cFbV8_erKStvNGitBDthSWghG1viE75bZKmdWkAPrVFFB-WChnwgvWn7MmW7ZEGI0tAXWtcAtzFzT-/s320/screenshot.8.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454912028330338290" /></a>but then I could not figure out what to do next so I went around the tent examining each the different items in the tent and finally realized that I could go outside and received the following output: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqPZgZowR2D4kV4VMzeID2MJVEfelLWtu9R2QwqSYMRG-crgdK5xwjMwoydBKhz44h-nRFObGOOuaYnt0HnffCCArNouaAzhkbZQ002aevHJarQe0TBKDqlMXQVrTas_hXeEzX-vn2cZ9U/s1600/screenshot.20.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 51px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqPZgZowR2D4kV4VMzeID2MJVEfelLWtu9R2QwqSYMRG-crgdK5xwjMwoydBKhz44h-nRFObGOOuaYnt0HnffCCArNouaAzhkbZQ002aevHJarQe0TBKDqlMXQVrTas_hXeEzX-vn2cZ9U/s320/screenshot.20.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454912469837541298" /></a>After which I commanded the player character (the character that the interactor is playing/telling what to do) to pick up the first dagger and then the medicine <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZCJU1_hquGHjyh__GBi4upqbcMeRfECdRDrnGkeMhfXy7PSk7DJouTfRDkhstXMm9kH3Nty_5zFpZSXwS-u8v0COrcpEMxy2srWERofDXVnCST-gfWp0xt4nWb8_qYkH2iITXIzL_1OZz/s1600/screenshot.21.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 112px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZCJU1_hquGHjyh__GBi4upqbcMeRfECdRDrnGkeMhfXy7PSk7DJouTfRDkhstXMm9kH3Nty_5zFpZSXwS-u8v0COrcpEMxy2srWERofDXVnCST-gfWp0xt4nWb8_qYkH2iITXIzL_1OZz/s320/screenshot.21.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454912484817521746" /></a> and to leave the tent.<br />After going outside the following exchanges took place.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI8zJzKGZJlg-ztszK7rlTabDv5VJrcoh54GeOy-jBU0DFSQXzB9Br8CvDtClj-Pf4XtrCwXYHppIexkSY9Vpw7wExzw9G1BDpiGvLOiFtFKCk9q6BMDhK6rHZXgJ-rlqCpwVMSnF4lW25/s1600/screenshot.22.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 181px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI8zJzKGZJlg-ztszK7rlTabDv5VJrcoh54GeOy-jBU0DFSQXzB9Br8CvDtClj-Pf4XtrCwXYHppIexkSY9Vpw7wExzw9G1BDpiGvLOiFtFKCk9q6BMDhK6rHZXgJ-rlqCpwVMSnF4lW25/s320/screenshot.22.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454912485546001730" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfzU3N14G4G1TqGKeRWC4jIRL3bZqv3kLHw2A-5lUaboJOZWkVgFZX0peSmR5yW83oofJ6oyPclyIkvGjKqUjlKTVQcMMKPah2X5WfQumJhGB0BcvIWGfCQ7HTJRZAKJ57mRD2YuEPqQ8d/s1600/screenshot.23.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 191px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfzU3N14G4G1TqGKeRWC4jIRL3bZqv3kLHw2A-5lUaboJOZWkVgFZX0peSmR5yW83oofJ6oyPclyIkvGjKqUjlKTVQcMMKPah2X5WfQumJhGB0BcvIWGfCQ7HTJRZAKJ57mRD2YuEPqQ8d/s320/screenshot.23.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454912493629155698" /></a>During this contact with Sihan and Saiph, the interactor chooses who their lover is and who is the enemy. This allows for different choices and undertakings to take place in the rest of the IF. In my session, I, as is seen in the pervious screenshots, made the unknown decisions to have Sihan (female) as my lover and Saiph (male) as my enemy.<br />Following the contact with two non-player characters (Sihan and Saiph), Sihan and the player character go to the village’s firepit <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDoK76-7eMzsBTKpewisFxmt1P4nPcJdsx8rlXLozrVJPCG1G6aIW4HsrMSJ2F0QSy22BDa4d7gVo5iIuEEEKZDCACSwQ76mrMBp3yfvBWUF-us_KEuw-g7uAaqh7A6os8ZXBYgw1JsWZu/s1600/screenshot.27.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 158px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDoK76-7eMzsBTKpewisFxmt1P4nPcJdsx8rlXLozrVJPCG1G6aIW4HsrMSJ2F0QSy22BDa4d7gVo5iIuEEEKZDCACSwQ76mrMBp3yfvBWUF-us_KEuw-g7uAaqh7A6os8ZXBYgw1JsWZu/s320/screenshot.27.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454912505787403522" /></a> and I talk to Isi, who is the player character’s aunt. Isi tells the player character that he has to give the circlet of office to the storyteller, which leads the interactor to another decision that has to be made in the game: who is the storyteller? In my interaction with the IF, I gave the circlet to Nabu, the player character’s uncle. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX2R-OYv4UGbmnlmbHFwgA5NosxgSv-D7Wuk6iKsmxQ439ek-IgoFAQu6YxC7nugPw83Oc8U1kA4_ejVok9ugEyiUiOFGUxnDM_3ISapf9lqr6auTO4zw9fkKHiS2Gsvr4h_4rVDGpH8lG/s1600/screenshot.29.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 139px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX2R-OYv4UGbmnlmbHFwgA5NosxgSv-D7Wuk6iKsmxQ439ek-IgoFAQu6YxC7nugPw83Oc8U1kA4_ejVok9ugEyiUiOFGUxnDM_3ISapf9lqr6auTO4zw9fkKHiS2Gsvr4h_4rVDGpH8lG/s320/screenshot.29.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454913407549604562" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7v1TzEEhQ1OEkXsLLnlvhvDW-Z7pUyS2ZQckZXvYPQwtdHPekvdNjRKkLc5V1oPKCissbAfloOv28i481ctAu8eJgR_yfzJ1C50Ssj2xJ_CLTjLBMn-fZbGvVOixfdvnC2XQWHL43U5G2/s1600/screenshot.31.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 89px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7v1TzEEhQ1OEkXsLLnlvhvDW-Z7pUyS2ZQckZXvYPQwtdHPekvdNjRKkLc5V1oPKCissbAfloOv28i481ctAu8eJgR_yfzJ1C50Ssj2xJ_CLTjLBMn-fZbGvVOixfdvnC2XQWHL43U5G2/s320/screenshot.31.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454913423779761906" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2V0hQCh4QBStgSrQtqGqc4Tc9OtzJkVNJWVZ-sG5Kz9R_jZSb5QkxfcYeLZj4V5FVDL4xTYTkPwSZD5OWAlJOlkmKY_rBkMce7FjS9kZITiUUauCsYvb3XnA_zaaeshYpUZSjgfl9jwjz/s1600/screenshot.30.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 48px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2V0hQCh4QBStgSrQtqGqc4Tc9OtzJkVNJWVZ-sG5Kz9R_jZSb5QkxfcYeLZj4V5FVDL4xTYTkPwSZD5OWAlJOlkmKY_rBkMce7FjS9kZITiUUauCsYvb3XnA_zaaeshYpUZSjgfl9jwjz/s320/screenshot.30.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454913412336852866" /></a>Once the player character gave the circlet to Nabu, Sihan came over and talked, but soon left since she likes “to hear the stories by herself” (Reed). <br />After Sihan leaves, Nabu asked the villagers if they were ready to hear the story during the time of needed guidance with the decision pertaining to the newcomers. <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXkmIiCtFc0OgD8hyNOdWATTXtmq4YQ5sPtFlO6DS7flbXPb-YOqyi8i6VlirW7JMHyt7_DtUjZSWnNhyphenhyphenkllFu0rcTH-um25NAFFlJ4LwSWxcqEujJBfEH-AC_xIsZJ4BSA7JV0OCLuCoN/s1600/screenshot.33.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXkmIiCtFc0OgD8hyNOdWATTXtmq4YQ5sPtFlO6DS7flbXPb-YOqyi8i6VlirW7JMHyt7_DtUjZSWnNhyphenhyphenkllFu0rcTH-um25NAFFlJ4LwSWxcqEujJBfEH-AC_xIsZJ4BSA7JV0OCLuCoN/s320/screenshot.33.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454913428289474786" /></a> <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEPMIzY5-6vWzRkKAIy7JEBWXiUydxl8zrGKgNcFCa3o9KOq04FFUdIbvXsmrYCsDF5TpTrFYny-SMGkWAfSG8dffdeVG1oZblyjmB7DB9kN8SJoUQTRro4zfC9FDa4EaaCmenE5XuWsDU/s1600/screenshot.34.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 149px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEPMIzY5-6vWzRkKAIy7JEBWXiUydxl8zrGKgNcFCa3o9KOq04FFUdIbvXsmrYCsDF5TpTrFYny-SMGkWAfSG8dffdeVG1oZblyjmB7DB9kN8SJoUQTRro4zfC9FDa4EaaCmenE5XuWsDU/s320/screenshot.34.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454914238855022498" /></a><br />For the next 56 cycles, which is “one input and all the output that follows it until the next input” (Montfort 25), Nabu tells the story, with a few interruptions from the villagers, mainly Saiph, but after the intermission of the story telling (once I figured out that I could make the player character talk during specific points of the story due to the words that were listed in the header of the window), Saiph and the player character both talk for the last part of the story. <br />The story that Nabu recites and shows to the audience in their minds is that of the adventures of Gilgamesh (King of Uruk), Enkidu (Gilgamesh’s friend and companion), and how their gods played a role in the events in Gilgamesh’s life. The story, before the intermission, tells about Gilgamesh and the gods’ gifts to him of life, courage, and leadership skills. When the story turns to talk about Enkidu, Saiph asks Nabu about the friendship of Gilgamesh and Enkidu, <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPt1D5zqjCRZZb293HnscvYbUS5rif05gWPJJ9cARQuoEpaYWhYcSAjQ7nOdLvVhoZFOKrdNIe8ib5p6ePkvhl5O8zffu6hqD5ehe7vvz5REthnUFwdBVfN1oEOiA2xIDFGaI1ScRs0-wC/s1600/screenshot.42.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 243px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPt1D5zqjCRZZb293HnscvYbUS5rif05gWPJJ9cARQuoEpaYWhYcSAjQ7nOdLvVhoZFOKrdNIe8ib5p6ePkvhl5O8zffu6hqD5ehe7vvz5REthnUFwdBVfN1oEOiA2xIDFGaI1ScRs0-wC/s320/screenshot.42.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454914246238769282" /></a> which seemed to me as I was playing the game foreshadowing an outcome of the IF, especially since I have yet figured out how to ‘talk’ during the story. <br />The next part of the story or basically the real plot of the story is the challenge that one of Gilgamesh’s gods’ makes him, <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqYhpq6eM6Z-398bDIZkr02-xZTqM_UCa3ZwWJqrOPP3w-cRYCYLxDZtqr23jl-HUHAjOpZw6cTJaNbxoYv1KF4RFViFJUdXeWjP53sx0aGP6PVZV3AFRNpf4qMOjPIdaZs5O33_K0Sohu/s1600/screenshot.43.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 154px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqYhpq6eM6Z-398bDIZkr02-xZTqM_UCa3ZwWJqrOPP3w-cRYCYLxDZtqr23jl-HUHAjOpZw6cTJaNbxoYv1KF4RFViFJUdXeWjP53sx0aGP6PVZV3AFRNpf4qMOjPIdaZs5O33_K0Sohu/s320/screenshot.43.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454914255244966962" /></a> to which Saiph asks about the monster that Gilgamesh is challenged to kill. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiALuKlsHfGF67OUpRoFE2f_9DP1EA0ozukNeFL7MlIkeLZmHJBwFxPu4WqGJthilYzL7ekpltVEDuqqzPysEMEi3Q3iIFOJcn3_LXbZt06vrLkc9ZfkEYjWBRuQ6eaHGnfd2D1dDFAwJPH/s1600/screenshot.44.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 148px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiALuKlsHfGF67OUpRoFE2f_9DP1EA0ozukNeFL7MlIkeLZmHJBwFxPu4WqGJthilYzL7ekpltVEDuqqzPysEMEi3Q3iIFOJcn3_LXbZt06vrLkc9ZfkEYjWBRuQ6eaHGnfd2D1dDFAwJPH/s320/screenshot.44.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454914271150257858" /></a> So Gilgamesh and Enkidu set out to kill the monster, although that Enkidu does not want to kill the monster. Nabu goes on to tell about the making of their weapons, the sacrifices, and the travel of the two warriors to the Cedar Forest. While Nabu goes on to tell about the travel, the intermission part happens when Saiph comes over and talks to the player character <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9yksiEiVtR4JjHswCAxhc7SKswPEKNviYl1SRgwomeyNbJZ2NJLAbuwSDk0ZJj1X9SD23dZVvzi25LCFftdjCAh_VNZxXo1KAOp734ZzLwW76o_rw4g4L92CKHyVAcRIv8_RHONSA3UGn/s1600/screenshot.61.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 126px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9yksiEiVtR4JjHswCAxhc7SKswPEKNviYl1SRgwomeyNbJZ2NJLAbuwSDk0ZJj1X9SD23dZVvzi25LCFftdjCAh_VNZxXo1KAOp734ZzLwW76o_rw4g4L92CKHyVAcRIv8_RHONSA3UGn/s320/screenshot.61.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454914273050574450" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOsHr9PLk7jQ1GaL5ZO1kXjZTdtbBWMyz3K9NNx3Ih90zr_6R3rrK0VSt4H_fZ3BRUiB7zb-YhMRfUZ1Xg8eS_VddfTidxMOvpeSEuiG2DkGg2GDAPGLc9UxFxDGr1tXNOV6EE7cdebeVi/s1600/screenshot.63.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 82px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOsHr9PLk7jQ1GaL5ZO1kXjZTdtbBWMyz3K9NNx3Ih90zr_6R3rrK0VSt4H_fZ3BRUiB7zb-YhMRfUZ1Xg8eS_VddfTidxMOvpeSEuiG2DkGg2GDAPGLc9UxFxDGr1tXNOV6EE7cdebeVi/s320/screenshot.63.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454915024998673938" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCJ2et2CEE0n6KpZmmRyDmGN2r2nnPzWYROjl78y6iN1zG0i1eAMqwdA5NYPnO-5qC-RreIEK6ptkwGc64fhfvviRDqyK6urzNfYLdi-y9xH1-Bd7tKGeiSjXGed5nCQgFu4tLf7iMrbNN/s1600/screenshot.62.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 102px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCJ2et2CEE0n6KpZmmRyDmGN2r2nnPzWYROjl78y6iN1zG0i1eAMqwdA5NYPnO-5qC-RreIEK6ptkwGc64fhfvviRDqyK6urzNfYLdi-y9xH1-Bd7tKGeiSjXGed5nCQgFu4tLf7iMrbNN/s320/screenshot.62.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454915020087716114" /></a> where, during my session, they seem to form a fragile treaty to do the best thing for the tribe rather than just whatever they feel like doing. <br />After the intermission, I command the player character to talk in response to the story. Below are some of the examples: <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJANXzmZwCc6W5lbLlFCevtOacPYy4xWHEK_X1x6lVzSlm-6XwxoMG0IeDd3xxEYKenxTogIXiZsPKzQfMlYEFf2K4HG7PWCc8gsx5OFVHJRVgsUTkNpaZ-aM5ssqDNH7WfHH6wHzu6kEH/s1600/screenshot.65.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 122px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJANXzmZwCc6W5lbLlFCevtOacPYy4xWHEK_X1x6lVzSlm-6XwxoMG0IeDd3xxEYKenxTogIXiZsPKzQfMlYEFf2K4HG7PWCc8gsx5OFVHJRVgsUTkNpaZ-aM5ssqDNH7WfHH6wHzu6kEH/s320/screenshot.65.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454915636062141138" /></a> <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_wKJUNyrHbxX0lVffQhDM_6UcAFFARIILh8uJiTOPe_lc53ELjIwxGi5FVvIk_85ss-w5LByILT-sKAsP-Gs2O67unkb9fUoi6sPEuzvMZFMPhZ_4o27FMQbzhfmkcJSfwoScCep1yLI1/s1600/screenshot.68.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 154px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_wKJUNyrHbxX0lVffQhDM_6UcAFFARIILh8uJiTOPe_lc53ELjIwxGi5FVvIk_85ss-w5LByILT-sKAsP-Gs2O67unkb9fUoi6sPEuzvMZFMPhZ_4o27FMQbzhfmkcJSfwoScCep1yLI1/s320/screenshot.68.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454915637933206690" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUy8Yh2ITijiQeNav6J6AtQfErB0b_5MwOej7jRcTxrsqC1rK6ijCpaVOwitjTj2rySupi-MCBLfUvAaqyMPAmlHu5zKt82mdfIVGI6wgSOLUXrWgb0jno2BLBwdadntlLf_ABKLxOcHyM/s1600/screenshot.70.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 85px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUy8Yh2ITijiQeNav6J6AtQfErB0b_5MwOej7jRcTxrsqC1rK6ijCpaVOwitjTj2rySupi-MCBLfUvAaqyMPAmlHu5zKt82mdfIVGI6wgSOLUXrWgb0jno2BLBwdadntlLf_ABKLxOcHyM/s320/screenshot.70.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454915643120455458" /></a> <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir9pRECk3gibXnjYrkLE4mJTPqyvJfMcIlDZlU5X_1KEiwxqsGceIqCR7XFeFmT1RR8shynXjnq06bi6xpKTttBde9NAmWAcOIronfWp36t-90bgnrmy541ZaCO3LJuhRveAh8G6XDXzrP/s1600/screenshot.82.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 173px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir9pRECk3gibXnjYrkLE4mJTPqyvJfMcIlDZlU5X_1KEiwxqsGceIqCR7XFeFmT1RR8shynXjnq06bi6xpKTttBde9NAmWAcOIronfWp36t-90bgnrmy541ZaCO3LJuhRveAh8G6XDXzrP/s320/screenshot.82.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454915646606305794" /></a><br /><br />Soon after the warriors reach the monster, Humbaba, where they fight, and threw a net over it and captured it, but it asked Gilgamesh not kill it<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6R6TcXe4dixywttUtmJhSKuVeX2oCcNSi4sPUgu8L28jEm9z_WMqD0ROc7UUOAiI257sWtc695nHN0DcZOVOlYyVoFhDkk3zDyD9XBdTwehT4R7DPtvPVYmdXa39muxzKfV3um7h7TCZY/s1600/screenshot.84.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 153px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6R6TcXe4dixywttUtmJhSKuVeX2oCcNSi4sPUgu8L28jEm9z_WMqD0ROc7UUOAiI257sWtc695nHN0DcZOVOlYyVoFhDkk3zDyD9XBdTwehT4R7DPtvPVYmdXa39muxzKfV3um7h7TCZY/s320/screenshot.84.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454916310385984818" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz1BYRu7zaBOHGv5gqye3CGAyB8Q2ySnabWsLMuwOZMsZKbSGobR5aWIfD8VPaSzqygWKoF23e_14VDPdsvEYDlNNwI2ZCD3Z2lEh5N4coGonCcPPNJFroWn9JlcsXh12G3B0YT281lABE/s1600/screenshot.85.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 86px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz1BYRu7zaBOHGv5gqye3CGAyB8Q2ySnabWsLMuwOZMsZKbSGobR5aWIfD8VPaSzqygWKoF23e_14VDPdsvEYDlNNwI2ZCD3Z2lEh5N4coGonCcPPNJFroWn9JlcsXh12G3B0YT281lABE/s320/screenshot.85.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454916318580410562" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxDiq_xFiY_kpPavuq8d8nszv1fpdGcxFfeYUIpw0pYEd4VXEm7h6u1G7SYN24HSuodZJfXh6purhaIY1DR5BM5TwAVEFCN446XJ50diNWN9T9WjNE-Xe3Y5gqvtn62SbPFkKThi4jNLnk/s1600/screenshot.86.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 119px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxDiq_xFiY_kpPavuq8d8nszv1fpdGcxFfeYUIpw0pYEd4VXEm7h6u1G7SYN24HSuodZJfXh6purhaIY1DR5BM5TwAVEFCN446XJ50diNWN9T9WjNE-Xe3Y5gqvtn62SbPFkKThi4jNLnk/s320/screenshot.86.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454916320637889874" /></a><br />Gilgamesh was unsure what to do, but before the storyteller is able to finish the story, the newcomers enter the IF <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifzovPDAjrNQCc_9gAUVZ6wrZYG7zB1O3KSb4B0_48IIe2dNW_tlbGRMmkdnWhSzz35ic8llWLcb1aqLB84HfVFRr3RnmMzG9pnMqmxjFBsPL0BnTZErY7PNtc9kcvAXPZiIJaP9xEb3mH/s1600/screenshot.91.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 188px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifzovPDAjrNQCc_9gAUVZ6wrZYG7zB1O3KSb4B0_48IIe2dNW_tlbGRMmkdnWhSzz35ic8llWLcb1aqLB84HfVFRr3RnmMzG9pnMqmxjFBsPL0BnTZErY7PNtc9kcvAXPZiIJaP9xEb3mH/s320/screenshot.91.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454916834635243330" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1j4pR5ymikQKbzxMB4ZL3S7ZtR7Q2C43k2UJ_ygQsW9IzLn9-LwVb_9MurIKOnecZgjx5asC6PVE-TL5LZfuJFuqjsC5576BPc34nQzt2AgRmGhuFMHs0J6mcc5eT2evSdKVn6LtrZ0zN/s1600/screenshot.92.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 123px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1j4pR5ymikQKbzxMB4ZL3S7ZtR7Q2C43k2UJ_ygQsW9IzLn9-LwVb_9MurIKOnecZgjx5asC6PVE-TL5LZfuJFuqjsC5576BPc34nQzt2AgRmGhuFMHs0J6mcc5eT2evSdKVn6LtrZ0zN/s320/screenshot.92.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454916828776818034" /></a><br /><br />At this point in time the pervious choices that the interactor chose through the IF come into play. In my session, Saiph ends up laying down his spear, which the leader of the newcomers does not, but they talk - no fighting happens, at least I am lead to believe since it seems that my player character fainted or was knocked unconscious because my cycle went from talking to the newcomers to waking up and no one was around. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7g7UA4sRh-Wu2FdfXv-pPGsedXeLAX2SEXqe8glhaFGwtrdCL4CzmEkbHyelTkLYSFID66TerXioIQI5Ppd9h4SFZV_Zkijk5Gtl2qj7gWEIeo6Flk71p9ueH7FOlRqSVWDo7MUY61lnL/s1600/screenshot.95.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 242px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7g7UA4sRh-Wu2FdfXv-pPGsedXeLAX2SEXqe8glhaFGwtrdCL4CzmEkbHyelTkLYSFID66TerXioIQI5Ppd9h4SFZV_Zkijk5Gtl2qj7gWEIeo6Flk71p9ueH7FOlRqSVWDo7MUY61lnL/s320/screenshot.95.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454916821628344994" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf8Tr806HROBuCuYfUvskLNsHKzWLVggZM9DK7b3tqfFA-mbtcwEyhSJmhc4Eg5cd6B95GY9azY8gzYvRyXW1Z4Ie2KHE_teHUxNrzMTxJQ0LygrSIOa5illC0gQVMkMGAP2Kuw8SLEqIx/s1600/screenshot.96.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf8Tr806HROBuCuYfUvskLNsHKzWLVggZM9DK7b3tqfFA-mbtcwEyhSJmhc4Eg5cd6B95GY9azY8gzYvRyXW1Z4Ie2KHE_teHUxNrzMTxJQ0LygrSIOa5illC0gQVMkMGAP2Kuw8SLEqIx/s320/screenshot.96.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5454916815728012626" /></a><br /><br />There are few puzzles in “Whom the Telling Changed,” most likely because it is not a puzzle-based IF, but more as a story-based IF. The deference between the two IF forms are that puzzle-based IF has many various puzzles that the interactor has to figure out in order to be able to further themselves in the IF. An example of puzzle-based IF would be “All Roads” by Jon Ingold, where the interactor has to figure out how to get out of a room and get past a guard in order to go anywhere or do anything in the game. A story-based IF, like “Whom the Telling Changed,” is mainly driven by text seen by the interactor during a session of IF. I feel that if “Whom the Telling Changed” was made into a puzzle-based IF, it would not have been as good as it is in the story-based IF format. The few puzzles that are in the IF are simple puzzles like what to grab as the player character’s symbol, who is going to be who in the player character’s life, and who to give the circlet to. With the few puzzles in the IF, it allows it to be more of a literary piece of art work than a digital.<br /><br />In my traversal of the IF seemed to go all right throughout the whole of the IF, once I figured out the little differences mentioned above. One thing that I did not care for about the IF was how I went from standing there talking to the newcomers to being passed out near the firepit. I really enjoyed playing “Whom the Telling Changed” since it leaves its interactors reflecting on their own lives since, unless the interactor is trying to bring the player character down a certain path, the choices come from the interactor’s own personal feelings. The story-based IF format of “Whom the Telling Changed” works really well and allows for the interactors to gain the most from this labor of love that Aaron Reed put together.<br /><br /><br />Works Cited<br />Ingold, Jon. “All Roads.” <http://collection.eliterature.org/1/works/ingold__all_roads.html>. <br />Reed, Aaron. “Whom the Telling Changed.” <http://collection.eliterature.org/1/works/reed__whom_the_telling_changed.html>. <br />Montford, Nick. “Twisty Little Passages: An Approach to Interactive Fiction.” <br />Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2003.Aprilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11067929135876403912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2842378131991918202.post-58292893278906349772010-03-03T11:49:00.000-08:002010-03-03T14:24:32.349-08:00A Creative (and Aggravating) JourneyUsing Microsoft Office Power Point to try and make a flash poem was an interesting experience to say the very least, but yet it was also fun. The hardest part about creating the flash poem, at least for me, was what poem best suited the genre of flash poetry. I went through various poems that I have written before (and one I tried to write in cento form), but in the end I settled on my poem entitled, “Ribbons.” The reason that I found it so difficult to pick a poem was due to the fact that what I imagined the flash poem to look like, did not turn out the way I wanted it to when using Power Point, most likely because I was learning the different functions of the software. One poem that I tried to create as a flash poem was called, “Castles in the Air,” a poem that I had written for a pervious class and thought it would make a good flash poem. What I soon found out was that I had too high of expectations of what I wanted to create because of all the images that were threaded into the poem. Although that I did not continue with “Castles in the Air” as a flash poem, it might a poem that I might go back to and try working with again. Here are a few screen shots of the part of the poem that I did work on:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBE7GJoiMXHBPywCC76BwYqiI-6YqqB5zTF9Znli7uaYirC3mtMMcJy6Ki8cr49qDduX3J8WGZa4o_RcroY1f10XKIHkwGzIiyhHewgJ0gcRN8dLBkq-WxBc8afLEnlQWhBdLrIY3NogsD/s1600-h/screenshot.1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 162px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBE7GJoiMXHBPywCC76BwYqiI-6YqqB5zTF9Znli7uaYirC3mtMMcJy6Ki8cr49qDduX3J8WGZa4o_RcroY1f10XKIHkwGzIiyhHewgJ0gcRN8dLBkq-WxBc8afLEnlQWhBdLrIY3NogsD/s320/screenshot.1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444499418792350930" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc4jZyc32ZEiRFrQWTkk7dab4GMRdRAAS2-XkfX4Ggp5dhM5rggw5N7QyLCiUCvqhIjBRHfa1jnxW4VXbVMiP2nENUfTjxfMSc2pHG6ngr_jNipanaSPCGJ2QRyXYHIPn_35YsRL5om-0C/s1600-h/screenshot.3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 172px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc4jZyc32ZEiRFrQWTkk7dab4GMRdRAAS2-XkfX4Ggp5dhM5rggw5N7QyLCiUCvqhIjBRHfa1jnxW4VXbVMiP2nENUfTjxfMSc2pHG6ngr_jNipanaSPCGJ2QRyXYHIPn_35YsRL5om-0C/s320/screenshot.3.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444499424368784594" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHreMxpZBqf6Mg5zsqSbEaVTa_UClHyUZaLw4NxvC4PUxgHJsA3JtxhlOLI26m-Awxm2xOtbJjV4eA8EVdj_2Q5H6z20mwrY_GstSjyVU3dDUao1jTQ6oiGGfDetCIEkUXiKW0wufgtKdz/s1600-h/screenshot.8.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 90px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHreMxpZBqf6Mg5zsqSbEaVTa_UClHyUZaLw4NxvC4PUxgHJsA3JtxhlOLI26m-Awxm2xOtbJjV4eA8EVdj_2Q5H6z20mwrY_GstSjyVU3dDUao1jTQ6oiGGfDetCIEkUXiKW0wufgtKdz/s320/screenshot.8.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444499433317144146" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnbAdDSG4SKso_31J6-bL4SQ9yPaTkRY0Y2QYwADMXdtJShm1ZBHXswfzz3OprZai6PMzfR0iVS-zrVmz9fWNwCDRm33gLbpV3ejU8NG0sOeGZC6hbd5_xU0FHRXY_RbPP81m1YsDHT88K/s1600-h/screenshot.9.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 251px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnbAdDSG4SKso_31J6-bL4SQ9yPaTkRY0Y2QYwADMXdtJShm1ZBHXswfzz3OprZai6PMzfR0iVS-zrVmz9fWNwCDRm33gLbpV3ejU8NG0sOeGZC6hbd5_xU0FHRXY_RbPP81m1YsDHT88K/s320/screenshot.9.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444499443275505682" /></a><br />This shows the movements that the different images took when the poem is animated.<br /><br /><br />“Ribbons” seemed like my best choice to use in this medium because of the way the poem flows and the imagery that is used in the poem was easy to recreate in the Power Point. Here is the title screen of the poem:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgHDrXy-wyLgL-TK-dnFKP8KzPxGn9IpDXsbDYgzkbSvBVQeWkca6eGb3gzYbOQV2CDz-jk6DPdqbqgpK3XiPENPznpXC52HKbhaIGP2APudq2KA1K_XNd1BXiWoLjM4ykHzy0w9HW3QzT/s1600-h/screenshot.10.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 148px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgHDrXy-wyLgL-TK-dnFKP8KzPxGn9IpDXsbDYgzkbSvBVQeWkca6eGb3gzYbOQV2CDz-jk6DPdqbqgpK3XiPENPznpXC52HKbhaIGP2APudq2KA1K_XNd1BXiWoLjM4ykHzy0w9HW3QzT/s200/screenshot.10.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444500218693943122" /></a><br />The background, though I change a few of the color lengths, is called horizon on Power Point, and gives the understanding to the poem that I hoped for; it portrayed earth which I though was suiting for the poem because of the various images that are present in the poem.<br /><br /> The next slide of the poem, which shows the first stanza of the poem, <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2-QDeZxWtTMkOch_90fiwPT1EQJklo9Cruj1kJ7z1wTKzROA_IYW0AJlVvN2TScI5p66RlpzaQfBknSLoskVruz3qwPHXmcDracLEO3bTYoD6_4zZgZBQLSCNS4e87Rew3wReZwdyVrVX/s1600-h/screenshot.11.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 238px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2-QDeZxWtTMkOch_90fiwPT1EQJklo9Cruj1kJ7z1wTKzROA_IYW0AJlVvN2TScI5p66RlpzaQfBknSLoskVruz3qwPHXmcDracLEO3bTYoD6_4zZgZBQLSCNS4e87Rew3wReZwdyVrVX/s320/screenshot.11.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444503572469509954" /></a><br />which when animated, the words float onto the page like ribbons that are floating effortlessly in the breeze and then are slowly swept off the page, after staying a small amount of time for the reader to read the lines. I hoped the reader would find the imagery of the words moving slowly and peacefully across the page as help to understanding what the stanza is trying to saying about the white ribbon. I used the background to help the reader understand the air imagery in the stanza and how a clear blue sky often denotes good, clean, innocence things, like watching the clouds change shape when the reader was a child (or to this day). Also the slowness of the movements and simplistic colors (white) would give the reader thoughts of times that were easier and still being innocence to the world.<br /> <br /> The next slide/part of the flash poem is a bit faster past then the pervious slide, just because of the imagery of the stanza. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1u4uCVbEI2gJgwyAT_uJR_7sP7tC3A9fMHN2_2rNx6cp96yaFUZ4-9wmhcpAQmaQMEjkXqKyoibwBevdF5UlXokdKGhSPO3P_7wvnJWhDUiBlmQTgyzAvvHGn1zRd7utt0Uy1E-HN_rYL/s1600-h/screenshot.12.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 235px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1u4uCVbEI2gJgwyAT_uJR_7sP7tC3A9fMHN2_2rNx6cp96yaFUZ4-9wmhcpAQmaQMEjkXqKyoibwBevdF5UlXokdKGhSPO3P_7wvnJWhDUiBlmQTgyzAvvHGn1zRd7utt0Uy1E-HN_rYL/s320/screenshot.12.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444506945807905762" /></a><br />The faster pace of the poem and lines, which enter the page in similar fashion, but move more like swimming in water, denotes to the reader that there is a sense of urgency to the stanza. The blue background gives the reader the representation of water and the pink text on the screen shows that text has stepped away from the innocence that was shown in the pervious stanza. This time the reader understands that the poem is narrating the speaker’s search for something, but they do not know what exactly they are searching for among the ever changing waves/moments of life. <br /><br /> The third stanza, when animated, comes in fast because the lines are representing fire imagery, as is shown by the words themselves and the background.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7tkOwVYAhGhenFAcejjNLAjOm2w0o-F-tmql5f9hufPILf-o_Rc6fwQ_tMFcJ2-iFtR-S3eJy8mEWbwQPFh7C8Gv-wfWXV1TvbCpwjQyPtmyYgpGyBUtJKFWEleugXNdlzuMYXuUXc6NT/s1600-h/screenshot.13.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 238px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7tkOwVYAhGhenFAcejjNLAjOm2w0o-F-tmql5f9hufPILf-o_Rc6fwQ_tMFcJ2-iFtR-S3eJy8mEWbwQPFh7C8Gv-wfWXV1TvbCpwjQyPtmyYgpGyBUtJKFWEleugXNdlzuMYXuUXc6NT/s320/screenshot.13.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444530234511367026" /></a> Through the lines the speaker is trying to show the passion that they are feeling, the all consuming fire that comes from finding the answer to the pervious stanza. The lines come in fast because when one experiences something that takes hold of their full conscience, whether it be a class, paper, an event, or just something happening in a person’s life, things seem to either fall in place or are chaotic - those thoughts are foremost in a person’s mind and everything else seems to slip by and not matter as much as it once did. The lines come in rotating, standing for the flames of fire and the chaotic feelings that is going through the speaker’s mind during this part of the poem. When the lines leave the page, they leave the top of the page, symbolizing smoke and getting the reader ready for the next stanza of the poem.<br /><br /> The last stanza of the flash poem is quite different from the rest of the slides in the way that it is dark in coloring.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzhJTpVEqqYEv9O1aX7MuWnwve9u7_1i5-D6FMP8y0WVyziGSR1TSNSejJD-af9QNVq5f3TY2iJj75PuUy9AMxEUXp7CT8qWlyQGAcX0_1JCN4NSKq86lSYko892HnIst7UIFydFVMH7pT/s1600-h/screenshot.14.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 242px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzhJTpVEqqYEv9O1aX7MuWnwve9u7_1i5-D6FMP8y0WVyziGSR1TSNSejJD-af9QNVq5f3TY2iJj75PuUy9AMxEUXp7CT8qWlyQGAcX0_1JCN4NSKq86lSYko892HnIst7UIFydFVMH7pT/s320/screenshot.14.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444534246920954066" /></a> The dark coloring of the background and text symbolize the delving of the black ribbon into the dirt. When the lines come onto the screen, they come in fast, as if they are trying to get through the thick, dark earth, but stop abruptly on the screen, and then continue to move slowly down, revolving as they go down to symbolize the death and end of the ribbon.<br /><br /> There are many different meanings that the ribbon(s) could symbolize, but when I was writing the poem, I saw the ribbon as a physical item to represent love. The white ribbon stands for innocence, the innocence that one has before they ever know the love of a boyfriend/girlfriend. The pink ribbon stands for the slight lost of innocence that one loses just by knowing that the love they have might not be as true as they think and also it stands for the searching of what true love it, since to find true love, normally, one is hurt. The red ribbon is the passion that takes place in a relationship, non-sexually. The passion is finding the true love, or what one thinks to be true love, and being happy in the relationship. The black ribbon is the death of the relationship. One just wants to get away from all of the innocence of the sky/water and the passion of the fire, and be in a place that nothing can reach them. This is what I hope the lines and the animation describe in the poem, “Ribbons.”<br /><br /> There are many different meanings that the ribbon(s) could symbolize, but when I was writing the poem, I saw the ribbon as a physical item to represent love. The white ribbon stands for innocence, the innocence that one has before they ever know the love of a boyfriend/girlfriend. The pink ribbon stands for the slight lost of innocence that one loses just by knowing that the love they have might not be as true as they think and also it stands for the searching of what true love it, since to find true love, normally, one is hurt. The red ribbon is the passion that takes place in a relationship, non-sexually. The passion is finding the true love, or what one thinks to be true love, and being happy in the relationship. The black ribbon is the death of the relationship. One just wants to get away from all of the innocence of the sky/water and the passion of the fire, and be in a place that nothing can reach them. This is what I hope the lines and the animation describe in the poem.<br /><br /> The software, once I played around with it a little and had help from Dr. Liu and Shauna, who was sitting next to me, I found using Power Point was fun, though stressful at times when things would not want to work the way I thought they should. Using Power Point and adding in details to the poem that would not have been possible on paper, I believe, will help readers understand the poem better. It will be interesting later in the semester, after I finalize the animation of the flash poem, since I am hoping to add music that my friend is going to help create just for “Ribbons.” It should be interesting to see if my Power Point experience will change… Overall creating my own flash poem has really opened my eyes to the amount of work that creators of other flash poetry must have gone through to get their poems to the finished stages that are perfect. It brings a whole new level of understanding and awe to this new genre of literature.Aprilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11067929135876403912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2842378131991918202.post-47525221734387201192010-02-24T14:16:00.000-08:002010-02-24T14:32:36.696-08:00Rhinoceri and Faith<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAPLuV1-s3Y4SX69h3jtuJgDNaSvGlDF3OYzD_qbOeZft_kroG2WHCcA3zjnHB5Iwl4W226XJjVnm7Rs2KCX6b__qX-_IwYUFbWxbT4aMFRIfnKDaj5rRqKEs6iKuRRqjFWRKewiWGWmqz/s1600-h/screenshot.1.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 243px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAPLuV1-s3Y4SX69h3jtuJgDNaSvGlDF3OYzD_qbOeZft_kroG2WHCcA3zjnHB5Iwl4W226XJjVnm7Rs2KCX6b__qX-_IwYUFbWxbT4aMFRIfnKDaj5rRqKEs6iKuRRqjFWRKewiWGWmqz/s320/screenshot.1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5441938585341825362" /></a><br /><div align="left"> When a user first opens “The Dancing Rhinoceri of Bangladesh,” what they see is not that impressive (see screen shot at right), since all there is a picture of a rhinoceros, the title, author - Millie Niss, and start. After clicking ‘start,’ a new window pops up and traditional Indian music starts to play. Written in pink letters is: “this is the title of the poem” (Niss). As there are no instructions for this poem, the user most likely will wave the mouse around on the page and hear a whole lot of noise. The noises that the user hears are voice recordings of many different sentences. Through all of the noise the user might hear: “by moving the mouse slowly you’ll get more out of it” (Niss), which the sentence that you would hear if the user of the poem placed the cursor over the word ‘by.’ There are other similar words to ‘by,’ that when the cursor is placed over them, they will revel a spoken message. The words are: ‘are,’ ‘is,’ ‘the,’ ‘they,’ ‘it,’ ‘a,’ ‘this,’ ‘you,’ ‘isn’t,’ ‘in,’ ‘an,’ ‘aren’t,’ ‘of,’ and ‘to.’<br /> Another thing that the e-poem does that takes a little time to figure out is that when the cursor goes over different words in the poem, like ‘frogs,’ the user will see other words turn pink, and turn it into a poem. ‘Frogs’ would read: “frogs <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE1RMXctBN9kcFCj6kj4q21W-RwgeW0ZmLB5nUV2dDkJjbjJ2OIZYCu4SGwSva1Cr0qKhAjSwlwbO_SuAnsnan9ztq4-IYSNgqHTHJZgf-UwqqLTGsQti3KvvOXQ9_5lQCtFvDzHf6mOeO/s1600-h/screenshot.3.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 282px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE1RMXctBN9kcFCj6kj4q21W-RwgeW0ZmLB5nUV2dDkJjbjJ2OIZYCu4SGwSva1Cr0qKhAjSwlwbO_SuAnsnan9ztq4-IYSNgqHTHJZgf-UwqqLTGsQti3KvvOXQ9_5lQCtFvDzHf6mOeO/s320/screenshot.3.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5441938920886862514" /></a>legs in butter sauce annoy activists” (Niss), which the user would change ‘frogs’ to frog’s within there mind to show the possession of the legs to the frogs. Different examples of these word choices are shown in the screen shots. Each different word adds a little more to the interactive poem, since the user can create their own poem <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaKE1LLc_OTiHEKE70V_myMefe0ModCTYj4jsoA20_dLb7sRIea0MaVbOXylhAOW1YGShTxWsKowINgZ0TZLSFDyj1Xe3sglE00GnxOoyfBChaU4pP1vDIdbapF5yMJVpM7-MirT6Qlvaq/s1600-h/screenshot.6.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaKE1LLc_OTiHEKE70V_myMefe0ModCTYj4jsoA20_dLb7sRIea0MaVbOXylhAOW1YGShTxWsKowINgZ0TZLSFDyj1Xe3sglE00GnxOoyfBChaU4pP1vDIdbapF5yMJVpM7-MirT6Qlvaq/s320/screenshot.6.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5441939339928591394" /></a>using the poem created my Niss, just by changing around the order of the way they read the words/sentences or hear them being played.<br /> “The Dancing Rhinoceri of Bangladesh” is a hard poem to read from start to finish because of the many different ways that someone might reader the poem. The poem seems to be a lot of nonsense sentences, but yet what one of the words, ‘it’ says, makes sense in the poem, “it sounds like newspaper headlines” (Niss). It is almost as if the speaker of the poem read headlines one day and the poem is the path that their thought process led her to explore. Each of the lines in the poem, whether written or spoken, have a certain music to them that makes the reader want to keep reading, even though it might seem a little abstract. The poem is interesting to the reader in that you never really have to read the same poem twice, because of the changing lines that make up the poem’s identity.<br /> “The Dancing Rhinoceri of Bangladesh” is one poem that is a good example of what N. Katherine Hayles says in her essay, “Electronic Literature: What is It?,” “Electronic literature tests the boundaries of the literary and challenges us to re-think our assumptions of what literature can do and be” (Hayles 2). “The Dancing Rhinoceri of Bangladesh” is a good example because it is not a poem that was written first then put into an electronic setting, it was a first generation e-poem and it challenges its readers to really look deep into its words and meanings and see the “hopeful monster” (Hayles) that is waiting to be found and shared with others. Also it is just waiting for the right time to become a normal, accepted type of literature.<br /> <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp8rHh2ZxLRZOOW_CHoshxpZ5UzIPFkvK3gEAGnrxPcOW8ZRUmaG6BWT_0SSlC-IK4mPfwDDh148x730Pa8PvjIkFrtZ_If_0XQGrjM638vCMm_3_MoK5vxxOpFuhG1HCbD3TXh95pH-fd/s1600-h/screenshot.2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 318px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp8rHh2ZxLRZOOW_CHoshxpZ5UzIPFkvK3gEAGnrxPcOW8ZRUmaG6BWT_0SSlC-IK4mPfwDDh148x730Pa8PvjIkFrtZ_If_0XQGrjM638vCMm_3_MoK5vxxOpFuhG1HCbD3TXh95pH-fd/s320/screenshot.2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5441939680945872274" /></a> “Faith,” by Robert Kendall, from its opening page (see screen shot at left) is interesting to the reader. It gives the authors description of the poem and how to interact with it, which is very helpful to the reader well experiencing electronic poetry, especially for the first time. Also the opening page has a screen shot from the poem itself, which intrigues the reader to want to know more about the poem. Once the reader clicks ‘begin,’ it brings the reader to the poem’s title page, and after clicking ‘Faith,’ a new window opens with the picture that was on the opening page of the poem. On this new page, the reader can choose to experience the poem with or without music. After clicking one or the other and begin, the poem opens before them.<br />The poem opens with xylophone notes being played as the word ‘logic’ hits Faith and bounces off of the word/title. The poem, once the words that are in a yellow-orange color fly into the screen, reads: “logic can’t bend this” (Kendall) and at the bottom of the screen (see screen shot at left)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYb-8GH8_nf7SdHnbeCc-7T7vZVFmuxuFut311NBKHZ8H5Bu7KZvhffF0xtwf4TSG7QzlEWR_p0fHlwvtEwMGfr-TD-ChyphenhyphenG76cvd2HfUIQzPFSKY9-UTkwiCYonxEP1I44RtkmxF6rByAM/s1600-h/screenshot.3.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 198px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYb-8GH8_nf7SdHnbeCc-7T7vZVFmuxuFut311NBKHZ8H5Bu7KZvhffF0xtwf4TSG7QzlEWR_p0fHlwvtEwMGfr-TD-ChyphenhyphenG76cvd2HfUIQzPFSKY9-UTkwiCYonxEP1I44RtkmxF6rByAM/s320/screenshot.3.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5441939861322610498" /></a> is the word “So…” (Kendall), which bring the reader to the next screen. The red-orange words are flown in with accompaniment from a harp to add to the pervious part of the poem: “I edge logic out. Can’t the mind press on around the bend to consummate this vision of the deep ‘or’?” (Kendall).<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7GBkj0e5PL_G4lOBy5bBbI_CJZgZJfmqQbVxkfdST8xR-XpXCbFRBOXU9W0t8xB5yCzLMAbF34WREWi3SXC8MT7INFR5-ofKtoLWnntEl1LNi6tzm4sCIBy_3ga4DmpIdwo8ZU2koi5Ha/s1600-h/screenshot.4.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 310px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7GBkj0e5PL_G4lOBy5bBbI_CJZgZJfmqQbVxkfdST8xR-XpXCbFRBOXU9W0t8xB5yCzLMAbF34WREWi3SXC8MT7INFR5-ofKtoLWnntEl1LNi6tzm4sCIBy_3ga4DmpIdwo8ZU2koi5Ha/s320/screenshot.4.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5441940035864166994" /></a> At the bottom of the page says, “Maybe. But…” (Kendall), which leads to the next page where a mixture of violin and horn, music, along with the clicking of a button and something sliding against a rough surface, herald the brownish-red words on to the screen. These words push out some of the other letters and words from the pervious two screens to be able to fit themselves into the poem, as is shown in the screen shot at left.<br /> The next screen has the words appear in black to finish the rest of the five stanza poem. The words come in with a score of sounds from the pervious words coming into the poem: xylophone, harp, violin, and horn. During this addition of words, when some of words that denote leaving like, “walking out,” “leave taking,” “forgoing-going-gone,” and “stride out” (Kendall), the words depart, leaving a faded color of themselves behind. The last word of the poem, as it would be at this point of the poem (screen shot at left)<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihIo0xMgbEmxNi00r0x9v98GtudoQ1n3yhSHLONiP6BdGxCJkVgfRtiv0xuLM-owt7G-gNEVVO38nW8Vqa_RquoguOkhmYMQzst4P36ESr988sHs8xRtK749YatMhduAKv_y89TVQa-S7z/s1600-h/screenshot.6.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 284px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihIo0xMgbEmxNi00r0x9v98GtudoQ1n3yhSHLONiP6BdGxCJkVgfRtiv0xuLM-owt7G-gNEVVO38nW8Vqa_RquoguOkhmYMQzst4P36ESr988sHs8xRtK749YatMhduAKv_y89TVQa-S7z/s320/screenshot.6.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5441940229500311058" /></a> is ‘Leap,’ which almost literally leaps off of the screen by growing bigger and bigger as it leaves the screen. The final screen is that of most of the words that were on the screen, falling down to the bottom of the screen with xylophone notes flowing them down and having Faith fall gently down on the words at the bottom. The words that are left visible at the end of the poem are: “just to sum up: Faith” (Kendall).<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3tLydbylVQvq9xJKyRtKzUlKc-Ra1gKQKsbG5drhqo4iNdm00MJTbyL6t9DwenAX7ED2iCQ_B_1ZwlGInLgJ0EhTbKDpEBWUuGHkRXeySshecmZv4JUS61UkQyrWagzRxdZ4Kb5OX3B_q/s1600-h/screenshot.9.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 287px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3tLydbylVQvq9xJKyRtKzUlKc-Ra1gKQKsbG5drhqo4iNdm00MJTbyL6t9DwenAX7ED2iCQ_B_1ZwlGInLgJ0EhTbKDpEBWUuGHkRXeySshecmZv4JUS61UkQyrWagzRxdZ4Kb5OX3B_q/s320/screenshot.9.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5441940488169753522" /></a><br /> “Faith” is an easier poem to be able to look at, compared to “The Dancing Rhinoceri of Bangladesh,” because of the text and even though it changes, it moves in such a way that the reader is able to understand, make sense, and follow the poem from beginning to end. The language of the poem, especially the first few words, “logic can’t bend this” (Kendall), hold such power in them. The poem basically is saying that the speaker of the poem can not make sense anymore of the thing events that are taking place around, so they are going to step blindly out of their comfort zone and into the unknown, which holds the things that the speaker is wondering about in their life, why everything happens. This is shown through the lines, “I’ll simply stride out of my mind, press my foot firmly / into the black, all-but-bottomless chasm beyond the brink, / around the bend, off the rocker (yippe!), to leave behind / only this consummate poem, this visionary, incorruptible / transcript of the deeper world’s One True Word: / Leap” (Kendall). The lines tell the reader that the speaker leaps into the chasm, but as the next screen depicts, Faith lands gently on top of the other words that were talking about logic; Faith wins the speaker’s thoughts and heart over logic. This is also shown in the very beginning of the poem, where logic is bouncing off of Faith because logic and faith usually do not coincide with one other when using logic in the scientific meaning.<br /> I feel that the two poems almost have to be in the e-poem format for them to be able to make sense to the reader. “Faith” would be able to be written down and read on a flat piece of paper, but then the reader looses the experience of the words when they are flying about the screen, pushing other letters out of the way, and the sounds that make the poem cute. All of the little ‘extras’ would be lost if it was just written on paper. “The Dancing Rhinoceri of Bangladesh” has to be shown through the medium of e-poetry because of the interactive nature of the poem and the sound that is present in the poem. Without the interactive nature of the poem, “The Dancing Rhinoceri of Bangladesh” would just be a bunch of words that do not make that much sense when read together. Also with having it be interactive, the poem keeps going allowing the reader to find new word choices with each mouse movement. The reader of these two poems is better off reading them electronically than on a simple, flat, white page of paper.<br /><br />Works Cited </div><div align="left"><br />Hayles, N. Katherine. “Electronic Literature: What is It?” The Electronic Literature Organization, 2 Jan. 2007. Web. 1 October 2009. </div><div align="left"><br />Kendall, Robert. “Faith.” “Electronic Literature Collection.” ed. N. Katherine Hayles, et. al. October 2006. Web. 24 February 2010. </div><div align="left"><br />Niss, Millie. “The Dancing Rhinoceri of Bangladesh.” “Word Circuits.” ed. Robert Kendall. September 2002. Web. 24 February 2010. </div>Aprilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11067929135876403912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2842378131991918202.post-57960798425276664922010-02-03T13:43:00.000-08:002010-02-03T13:49:40.646-08:00Initial Reactions<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeRS3vJCaQq8C2cSivfIsx0MlFNRIDo9a7AspzOe5imf17-r4xxCiZJE1XKAIGpm9pU6mh75h1Gu3-odah6LuYYIucTjjoTDDxTfUt12yXGdnUqa_wxRjGykMotq1Z8NixlHAwp9Mi4Y6f/s1600-h/screenshot.9.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 216px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeRS3vJCaQq8C2cSivfIsx0MlFNRIDo9a7AspzOe5imf17-r4xxCiZJE1XKAIGpm9pU6mh75h1Gu3-odah6LuYYIucTjjoTDDxTfUt12yXGdnUqa_wxRjGykMotq1Z8NixlHAwp9Mi4Y6f/s320/screenshot.9.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434137049372736994" /></a><br /> My initial response to e-poetry based on the pieces assigned so far is that this field is intriguing, but might take a little while to get use to working with. The poems that were apart of the first assignment gave me a good idea of the basics of electronic poetry and how it is going to differ from reading poetry in a book. The first main difference is that electronic poetry is interactive and grabs the reader’s attention more quickly than a page of text would. Electronic poetry has movement, pictures, color, backgrounds, and sound, which allows the reader to gather a different understanding of the poem than if they had just read it on a page. Also having ‘extras’ in the poem, like pictures and sound, gives the reader an idea of what the creator of the e-poem, who is not necessarily the poet, is trying to depict about their particular understanding of the poem. E-poetry allows for two different people to use the same poem, but create two completely different e-poetry readings, just by the different uses of color, pictures, sound, and type of interaction. <br /> The poems that were used in the first assignment were: “The Best Cigarette” by Billy Collins, “Nine: puzzling through several lives” by Jason E. Lewis, and “A Man Young and Old: III. The Mermaid” by William Butler Yeats. “The Best Cigarette,” I felt, gave the poem an extra edge to it because it was being read to its audience, which allows for a certain understanding of the poem just because of way that certain words were spoken and/or stressed, giving the poem’s listeners’ a look into the way the reader understood the poem. Also in this poem, the pictures of cigarettes, wine glasses, and the typewriter pretending to be a train in the background added to the poem and did not take away from the speaker. In “Nine,” I liked the way it used the form of a sliding puzzle to hide the words of the poem, which gave it a deeper meaning in the way that poem was about understanding lives and you have to figure out the sliding puzzle to finish the poem and understand life. Also I liked that when you held down the left mouse button on a puzzle piece, the picture would change. “The Mermaid” was just the poem’s title on a magenta background, with nine copies of the poem around it, going in different directions. I did not care for this e-poem as well as the others since it did not add anything to the poem, it was just mainly interactive. <br /><br />I believe with time, I will really like electronic poetry and just not appreciate it. <br /><br />The picture was taken from the e-poem of Billy Collins's "The Best Cigarette" and shows the typewriter pretending to be a train that is meantioned in the second paragraph.Aprilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11067929135876403912noreply@blogger.com1