• Journal of Korea Game Society
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.29-37
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• 2011

As a field in Digital Arts, interactive video introduced the mirror metaphor to the foundation of media, given its characteristic as a medium that extracts an audience image in a particular perspective. The interactive video work introduced in this paper addresses conceptual topics in the extension of Zhuangzi's Butterfly Dream and illustrates the technological approaches that employ an intensity-based computer vision processing in order to obtain the silhouette of audience for multiple graphical butterflies to draw an audience image. Users generate narratives in the interaction with the projected image. Sound is used in order for the system to provide augmented perception in the space and to add more rooms for narratives. The computer vision and the graphics methods introduced in this paper are suggested as tools for interactive video.

• Journal of Korea Game Society
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.87-104
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• 2021

Ludo-narrative dissonance is a prevalent problem among open-world genre video games. However, Ghost of Tsushima (2020) alleviates this issue by designing its characters and narrative structure influenced by Akira Kurosawa's samurai films. The game's protagonist represents "Bushido," a samurai code, and the structure exudes similarity to Joseph Campbell's "Hero's Journey," which heavily influenced Kurosawa's films. The developers also designed the gameplay mechanics such as level-up system, map design, and side quests based on these narrative traits, ultimately making the goal of the narrative and the gameplay mechanics cohesive.

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.48
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• pp.249-269
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• 2017

Promotion and marketing, which are essential to lower the investment risk and maximize commercial profit in the video game market. Game developers and publishers set up public relations strategies to encourage potential consumers' needs. Considering characteristics of video game, the trailer, which is the animated image advertisement material, could occupy a key position in its promotion and marketing plan. Cinematic spectacles and attractive narratives are essential ingredients for game trailers, which are usually produced in 3D animation. Dead Island is an open world first person shooters (FPS) game released in 2011. When launched, it grabbed a great attention with a trailer, awarded the Golden Lion Prize for the best internet film at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The game was a commercial success and several spin-offs were producted. In 2014, its publisher, Deep Silver showed the official trailer of Dead Island 2 at Electronic Entertainment Expo, the world's largest game show. Dead Island 2 was scheduled to be released in 2016, but has been now delayed until 2018. This study compares and analyzes two trailers of Dead Island 1 and Dead Island 2. We examine the narrative structure of the trailer for the sequel promotion of a successful game. The differences between the two could be useful for building a promotion strategy of other game series.

• Journal of Popular Narrative
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.87-122
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• 2020

This study explores the method of representation of traumatic history in 2D horror game Detention developed by Taiwan game production company Red Candle through an analysis of its method of storytelling. Unlike conventional public media, video/digital games are based on interactivity, in which game players engage in the narratives. Thus, the relationship between players and the history in the game world may also change. This research investigates how the players build their way of remembering and recognizing the past in a different relationship. Detention, which was well received, not only in Taiwan but also around the world upon its launch in 2017, is set in a middle school during the martial law era in Taiwan in the 1960s. In the game, the main character encounters her lost memories in the process of following clues and game rules, and finally realizes she is implicated in the 1960s' event. Detention was cinematized after the success of the game. The film achieved enormous popularity both in terms of box office success and criticism. In this paper, the strategy of the game's storytelling is introduced in comparison to the film's approach in the representation of historical events. In particular, the paper explores elements such as the interactivity of the game medium, narrative fragmentation, quests, hints and cues, and the horror genre, that asks users to understand history beyond the game world differently from the point of view of other media. Though this study, it can be considered that the digital game is a medium exploring history in a serious manner. In particular, Detention invokes the matter of game-mnemonics as well as cine-mnemonics. Compared to plentiful research in cine-mnemonics, game-mnemonics has not been extensively studied to date. Therefore, through the analysis of Detention, this paper explores the relationship between digital games, history and memory.