Programme Phase I/1997

The scriptwriter-teacher training programme sagas Writing Interactive Fiction took place in Munich in two modules (May 30 – June 5 1997 and October 17 – 23 1997). The working language was English.

The lectures, with integrated practical group sessions, were accompanied by the presentation of selected video-, CD- and World Wide Web productions demonstrating current developments in the interactive field.

Module 1

May 30 – June 5 1997

The first module dealt with the development from linear storytelling to narrative space. We began by analyzing the characteristics which distinguish linear print storytelling from the development of hypertextual narrative fiction. Hypertext was used as a visual form to explore the narrative space opened up by the new media. Multimedia technology, such as the World Wide Web, and tools incorporating sound and video, as well as 3-D graphics and virtual reality, were examined and demonstrated. This lead into a discussion of such vital issues as the changing use of point-of-view in the new media and the blurring distinction between fact and fiction in interactive works. We concluded by discussing the new dimensions thus opened up – substantiated by a survey of previous attempts at interactive cinema and entertainment.

Timetable of Module 1

Module 2

October 17 – 23 1997

The second module dealt with the development of interactivity. We began by demonstrating techniques for storyboarding interactive narratives. The special problem with interactive narrative is the necessity of working simultaneously on multiple story lines. Addressing this problem, we then introduced and employed software specifically designed for storyboarding multiple, contoured narratives. This was supplemented by a discussion of the new dimensions opened up by interactivity in multimedia. Unlike most computer games – where the construction of a story world is reduced to selections from a menu and inventory list embedded in the visual display – a true story world would invite the user to identify, develop, and explore proprioceptive and topological spaces created within the visual syntax.

Timetable of Module 2 | Results 1997