And Those We Love Alive Analysis

With Those We Love Alive is an interactive story created using Twine, a software for making interactive fiction. The author, Porpentine, describes this story as a “weirdfem dark fantasy where you design artifacts for a skull empress”. In this particular story, you get to choices for your designs and you draw them on your physical body, this makes this story unique because not only is it an interactive digital story, it is also interactive physically in the real world. In the author’s statement about this story they state that this story is inspired by “mob violence, trash struggle, C-PTSD, and child abuse.”

So, the material in this story can be triggering for some individuals as it makes the theme dark. This story and game is a perfect example for what new media is compared to old media and is important besides its classification as new media. This story is important because not only are you choosing your path, you are creating your own story through your drawings on yourself. The choices and things you write are all very personal and even the author said can be triggering for those who have experienced many struggles. This story is important because it can be cathartic and a whole new experience for someone that isn’t just fun but eye opening for themselves.

In this interactive twine game and story, there are two different colors for certain words. The pink words are what take you throughout your journey and stay the same, you click on these to navigate through the story. The purple words are what change and what you get to choose, for example you get to choose your element and eye color so you would click on the purple text until it changed to the word you’re looking for. You begin your journey by picking your birth month, element, and eye color; this then generates your new name. Each time you pick a different birth month, eye color and so on the game changes a bit. You name could change, some of the places might change but the overall story stays the same. To see examples, you can also watch the video of the story.

Next, after choosing and finding out your new name you go on to the story where you meet the skull empress after she notices you for being an “artificer”. She emerges from a black lake and the story describes her in detail, such as her skin like a pale as carcass and other somewhat gross features about her. Her aide is the one to tell you to go to your chambers and that the empress will tell you when she has need for you. Instead of going straight to your chambers, you are given choice where to go in the palace courtyard. You get the choice to go to the balcony, your chambers, the garden, your workshop, or the city. This is where you see more of the pink words, to move place to place you choose one and keeping choosing to walk around the whole place.

Once you choose a place you have many other places to choose where to go from there as well as things to see, look away from, or do while you’re there. Some examples would be you can “sleep” in your chambers and meditate at the lake. In each place, there are connections to go other places and there are also the times where you are to draw your sigils. These sigils you create throughout the story while going to these places are to represent new beginnings, burial, thought loop, what you feel, shame, relationship with the chasm, insight, influencing the outcome, and pain. Such as said in the beginning of the story “nothing you can do is wrong” so these sigils can be as big, small, detailed, and not detailed as you want them to be. They are a very personal part of the game and can be shared or not. These are connected with the purple choices, where you get to click through what you want to choose for something. Here are some that have been shared on the Porpentine Tumblr.

This interactive story and game is a great example for new media because of the format of the game, it being interactive, the inclusion of writing on yourself and even the emotional elements that go along with creating the symbols. Using Brian Neese’s blog post “What is New Media?”, one can definitely use his definitions to describe this story as “new media”. This story is a combination of new data and old data. This would qualify as Neese’s fourth definition “new media as the mix between existing cultural conventions and the conventions of software.” This is described as that mix of old data and new data. The old data in this story being the reliance on visual reality and human reality, which would be the drawing of the sigils onto your body and the emotional reactions that go along with what those sigils represent for yourself. The new data would be the reliance on the digital data, which is the use of the interactive Twine software to make the story.

There is more than this one definition that can define With Those We Love Alive as new media from Brian Neese’s blog. Such as his second and third definitions that defines new media as “new media as using computer technology as a distribution platform” and “new media as digital data controlled by software.” Obviously, this story, With Those We Love Alive, aligns with these definitions because it is distributed using computer technology because of its use of Twine the software to make it interactive. The use of Twine makes it possible to be defined by these definitions because it is only possible to use on the computer to distribute and control it. Lastly, this interactive story can be defined as new media through Brain Neese’s eighth definition “new media as articulation of similar ideas in post-WWII art and modern computing.” This is describing media as that that “includes active participation of the audience, artwork as a temporal process rather than a fixed object and artwork as an open system” and “illustrates that algorithms, which are an essential part of new media, do not depend on technology but can be performed by humans.” With Those We Love Alive definitely adheres to this definition. The algorithm used is a big part of why this story is considered new media but it is also the experience and the actions the user takes that is the important part. The choices they make, and the sigils they decide to draw to represent those nine experiences. This is the part this isn’t dependent on the technology but the one using it, the drawing aspect is the art on the physical person.

Lastly, the part of the story that makes it unique compared to other digitally interactive games and stories is the sigils you get to draw on your physical person. This is an important aspect that makes the story completely different from many other interactive stories. You are to interact in two different ways and do whatever you like. The sigils you create are supposed to enhance the game play and create a more emotional and powerful experience for each user. The theme dark theme of the game makes this a more emotional experience. This is what makes And Those We Love Alive more than just reading and clicking through a game, the emotional aspect tied to the physical act of drawing the sigils is what makes the experience. Drawing the sigils can be described as cathartic, meditating, and emotional experience; this makes this story and game different because it uses digital media, physical reality, and emotional aspects. It makes it important because it is fun but it can also be moving emotionally for the player. Using the Porpentine’s Tumbler page it’s easy to see how moving it was for each participant.