Blog: sounding the depths of possibility

[benmiller314]

Throughout the semester, I will periodically ask you to develop proposals for a collaborative final project that will allow you to integrate – and extend – what you’ve learned about composing digital media. This is the first of those proposals, and the least formal.

What games or branching narratives come to mind as you listen to the class's soundscapes? (The default option for the collaborative unit is to work with Twine.) Or, to come at it from a different angle, what further possibilities of sound might you want to explore in connection with other people, and other media?

As always on the forum, replying directly to each other is optional but encouraged: just use the @ symbol to flag someone by username.

[tessasayers]

I didn't really come away with any ideas in particular, but as I was thinking about it, one thing that kept coming back to me was the Barbie or Sims games I would play on my computer when I was younger. One sound scape I listened to was a daily routine and the other one was the progression of life. In the games I played when I was younger you were in charge of a person and could dress them and plan their day and in Sims you are able to plan their life. While I don't know how realistic that is for a final project, that is what came to mind.

[jfrank1120]

In terms of branching narratives I think that a choose your own adventure story where the decisions you've made in the past will impact the ones you make later. I almost relate it to the Netflix special Bandersnatch that was created by Black Mirror where in which you follow along the story line of a kid who is creating a video game (Ironic I know). I don't think I'd want to create something that is the same as that but follows the same lines of decision making and the impact of previous decisions.

[benmiller314]

@jfrank1120 Bandersnatch is a great example – they actually used Twine to storyboard the script! From https://www.wired.com/story/black-mirror-bandersnatch-interactive-episode/ :

[christyh310]

the soundscapes I listened to had two commonalities: there were questions and responses. I realize that initial responses to a question are pretty telling about how that person will perceive that topic normally, so perhaps in our collaborative project, we could have different answers to a question as the initial starting/tipping point that would lead down a very specific storyline depending on the answer you choose. I'd have to think more about this when we listen to the whole variety of soundscapes on Tuesday.

[jlt118]

Most of the soundscapes I heard were a journey of some sort. Wether this was a day in the life or an action sequence of some sort, the commonality was a beginning and end destination. I think it could be cool to create a project where the user can choose different paths to create multiple endings.

[dashn98]

A lot of the soundscapes I listened to were daily routines. I think that this could be used to connect media or images from daily routines and the sounds and create something about a more specific portion of the day. One idea is a cooking game that includes sounds of chopping and turning on the oven etc. The game could be interactive and use recordings similar to the soundscape to make the player feel like they are experiencing what the character in the game is experiencing.

[tyllerbarner]

During the peer listen, a majority of the soundscapes that I listened to stated a question and had individuals respond to that question or went through a story. I feel like it may be interesting to incorporate a question that slowly progresses into some kind of narrative or story.

[esc37]

There were not any games or narratives that came to mind while listening to other's soundscapes on Tuesdays, but I think that doing a video or sound/text-based branching narrative could be pretty interesting! My friends and I used to "watch" these "choose-your-own" scary/creepy story branching narratives on YouTube, so I think that something similar would be fun.

[AnthonyCapretto]

I didn't exactly come away from this with any particular idea of the final project, but I'm looking forward to seeing the other units to get a better feel for what I'd be interested in doing. If I were to do something along the lines of a soundscape, I think I'd try to do something action packed. Some sort of short story either involving a race or maybe something else. It's too early to tell, but I'm interested in doing the twine project because I've played a few before and I think they have the potential to really captivate a player. I don't know I'll keep thinking.

[eaj34]

Even though I had a great time creating my sound narrative, I couldn't find any inspiration for the final project. If I had to come up with an idea for the final project, however, I think it would be cool to do an interactive tour at a museum. It would just be lots of pictures and narration, but some added sounds that you can't experience at the museum itself. Then the listener could choose from a list of actions to continue listening about a certain exhibit or move on. But the games also sound like a fun time!

[mpalko]

I think something cool would be to listen to sounds and guess what you're hearing. Based on what you guess, you get a different scenario. Even if you guessed wrong, you could somehow turn the sound into a different story than originally thought. It would be a unique twist on what you typically hear.

[ZAR17]

The soundscapes that I was able to listen to were pretty cool to me. Some were of basketball games, or just every day sounds you hear around the house, to what it's like to be in a hospital. Though these were all very different, I wasn't able to find inspiration for an idea to go towards the final project. Moving forward if something does occur to me I won't hesitate to speak up and make a suggestion. The bandsersnatch idea is cool to me but ultimately I feel as if there's too many possibilities and the game could get too in depth.

After listening to some people's soundscapes, it would be cool to create a game or narrative based on one of our soundscapes. I recently watched Bandersnatch on Netflix and I love the idea of a "choose your own" adventure, so trying out a project that has a branching narrative is also of interest to me. Another possible group project is making another soundscape and having other groups try guess where the setting is and what the activity is.