Hypertext Archives | Otaku No Culture

To play through a video game that is more hypertext driven than graphical can be a hard sell these days. Although the graphics are few and far between in S4U: Citypunk 2011 And Love Punch, thankfully there is some when the avatar decides to leave the computer. Just what U0U Games‘ latest product represents is quaint and a test of patience since reading all the dialogue is important.

Technically, you’re interacting in an environment reminiscent of ICQ and those older chat programs before the coming of Facebook. The world is circa 2010, but I don’t remember the graphical user interface that dated. While navigating that old operating system took getting used to, memories of dealing with Windows 98 were once a nightmare! Although the retro elements are rather heartwarming, is it enough to keep me going?

Continue reading “More Love Sim than S4U: Citypunk 2011 and Love Punch”

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

201699_10150171129933450_3208833_o MCM (Michael Milligan) is a prolific and progressive-thinking author, screenwriter, computer programmer making waves with his mobile app, Get Dirt. It redefines how a story can be told. Instead of reading a book, the tale is told through a different kind of “found footage.” Unlike the cinema approach which locks viewers to a sequentially edited product, all the information is at the user’s disposal and he or she has to shift through it to discover the tale. There’s also a comparison to a Victorian-age book, but more on that later.

Part of his approach comes from a condition he has. Aphantasia is a rare problem where folks are unable to mentally visualize images. “I can’t see things in my mind’s eye,” said MCM, “It’s actually a brilliant thing, I think, for script writing especially because a scene or any event is built out of key components that you need to focus on for its execution to make sense, and everything else is extraneous because I don’t know what it looks like.”

When writing for animation, especially at the preschool level, the formula is simple: educate the viewer. Often, the piece involves teaching a lesson the youth can take to apply in everyday life as they grow up. As with many programs developed in this television entertainment medium, they are done in a boardroom in a roundtable discussion. Ideas are pitched and in what’s developed, it’s made into a 23-minute show. This writer’s task is to develop a focused script that gets to the point. Continue reading “In Conversation with MCM, Redefining Storytelling with the multi-narrative “Dirt””