Avo, Bandersnatch, and the New Grammar of Television (and Games) — Part 4: A Golden Braid of Optimism

Part four of a four part series addressing how a new game about an avocado and a young inventor sketches out new ideas for both television and video games, and how Netflix’s Bandersnatch does not.

Part one looks at mobile interactions and lean-in, lean-out. Part two unpicks the broader context of platforms and formats. Part three explores the new grammar of television and games. This is part four, summarising an optimistic narrative for tech and format invention.

Ed. A few years after I wrote this, Apple hired Playdeo’s Jack Schulze and Timo Arnall (conflict alert: they’re good mates) to work on various projects, including their own augmented reality ambitions. That put an end to the Avo game discussed here, but continues their creatives lines of enquiry. I’ll fix up the links later.

An eternal golden braid of optimism

Finally, after all this talk of technique, the sense of optimism that suffuses Avo is not just in the tech, but also the narrative, mise en scène and characters: the story.