Image by Franck V.
Dear writers, readers and friends,
Our offering for the month of July is a games writing special. We were asked to participate in FXP Festival (https://fxpfestival.com/) , a coding event for young people taking place in Cambridge this month, and this got us thinking about digital narratives and the relationship between storytelling and technology. Narrative games are about the creation of an entire world, and often a non-linear one, so where does the storyteller’s job begin and end? With so much being dependent on the user and the interactions between users, can a narrative designer ever control the story they want to tell? Do they even want to tell a specific story, or are they motivated by facilitating others to create their own stories?
So as we ponder these questions, we could not resist this image. It intrigues us and creeps us out in equal measure. It comes to us from Frank V., a photographer currently living in Japan who, amazingly, uses only a smartphone to capture his images. In response, we invited a group of writers and artists who work in and around games.
Phil Harris, our lead this month, is currently working as a Narrative Designer, for Deep Silver Fishlabs in Hamburg, a games company working on numerous console titles. Previously, he’s worked on many games, and a couple of TV Projects, from different genres. As well as teaching about Narrative and Design at various locations across the UK, Phil is also one of the key members of the VR Writers Room, discussing the use of Virtual Reality across a number of different types of multi-media products. We have had the pleasure of sharing a stage with Phil and his discussion around narrative design kept us all enthralled.
Zoë Jellicoe (http://www.zoejellicoe.com/) is an editor, writer and occasional translator living between London and Berlin. She is the editor of Critical Hits, a Kickstarted (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/518947824/critical-hits-an-indie-gaming-anthology) collection of original essays from the finest independent video game journalists and developers. You can read more of her writing at zoejellicoe.com and via geneva__diva (https://twitter.com/geneva__diva?lang=en) .
Courtney Byrne (https://twitter.com/aCourtneyByrne) is a 22 year old Irish writer, currently working as a writing intern at games company Wooga (https://www.wooga.com/) , in Berlin. She is a contributor to Totally Dublin and Franc Magazine, writes short stories and poetry, and is currently editing her first novel, all while juggling her studies.
Frank Lassak lives and works in Berlin, where he runs his atelier Efacts Photography (http://www.efactsphoto.com/news.html) since 2009. His works focus on staged cinematic scenes, narrative photography and portraits of actors and actresses. Frank became internationally known with his body of works circling around the movies of David Lynch (Welcome to Twin Peaks, 2017, True Velvet, 2011), and his conceptual series Youborn (2014) and Mixotarians (2015). Frank came to our attention through his project Dream Control – Where Freedom Ends (http://www.efactsphoto.com/dreamcontrol.html#.XRpOTpMzbUI) that we recommend you check out.
Now, if that isn’t enough to keep you busy, we created a set of visual writing activities for the FXP Festival and while they are intended for students, they are also generally fun and provocative enough to bring new words out of you, too. Feel free to download from Curved House Kids (https://curvedhousekids.com/free-creative-writing-resources-for-teens/) (the education arm of our mothership).
So dear writers, get your game on. You’ve got until 15th July.
The image is the starting point, the text is up to you.
Kristen, Preti, Lucie and Luke
Connect:
@visual_verse (https://www.facebook.com/efactsphoto)
@ (https://twitter.com/craig_carry) geneva_diva (https://twitter.com/geneva__diva?lang=en)
@aCourtneyByrne (https://twitter.com/aCourtneyByrne)
@ (https://twitter.com/geneva__diva?lang=en) efactsphoto (https://twitter.com/geneva__diva?lang=en)
@FXPFestival (https://twitter.com/FXPfestival)
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