Multimodal Narratives: Press Start
I am apart of the vast majority of people who find themselves aimlessly searching for something to do. I scroll through my news feeds for eye-catching articles, hitchhike from video to video on YouTube without knowing what I want to watch, and sit in the character customization menus of video games playing with every color combination under the sun. It’s a bad habit with human intentions, but once in a blue moon it opens up a door to possibility. You thought this was going to be about how multimedia ate up all of my free time, didn’t you?
About a year and a half ago I discovered that one of my favorite video games, the free-to-play, third-person shooter Warframe, held biweekly streams on the development process of the game. These devstreams gave viewers an hour-long inside look into things like production, art and sound design, planned and prototype content; nerdstuffs for some, entertainment for others. But for me, it was both.
My entire childhood was about video games. All my friends were legends in Mario Kart and Halo. My dream job growing up was to be a superhero in a video game. That last one was a tricky band-aid to rip off. Ultimately, I found that I could settle for making games (more specifically, writing the stories, settings and characters for games), and I began watching these devstreams to see what my future would have in store. This process has since led me to hone my creative craft through writing and research. It’s prompted me to submit short works to online magazines, take courses that practically apply my mind, and study coding and conlanging independently from my school life.
I’ve begun a journey to discover ways that my craft can speak to people, not just from a screen, but also from interaction. Interactive storytelling is a form of the video game medium that allows players to experience a story from both receiving visual and aural information as well as providing control through a gamepad or keyboard to interact with the narrative they’re experiencing. It’s such a cool way to deliver a story. Words don’t do it justice. But this might.
