Week 06 06/04/16 Wednesday

I have left comics' history aside for now, and delved back in the theory and principals behind comics; its vocabulary, grammar and language, what it is that makes comics unique. Will Eisner's "Comics and Sequential Art", as well as Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art" were my first go-to resources to deepening my understanding of comics. I have read McCloud's book a year ago, and it is high-time that I did some revision. I have also skimmed through a bit of Eisner's writing, but now I am focusing on his interpretation on how comics works. I like both of those books because they are all supported by visual aids; as it is appropriate, because comics is essentially a visual medium. Eisner's book has many wonderful descriptions of the language and techniques that construct a comic, and how they assist in sequential art narrative, but since they are all based on his comic making experience, I must be conscientious about bias. There are also many features in this book that I can consider in employing to my own project. Furthermore, McCloud's book discusses further how comics function, and the interaction it creates with its reader. Though both materials involve the idea of reader participation, McCloud was able to pin-point this phenomena more effectively, a term which he calls "closure"; and this is part where I will make the most evaluation and judgments, as it is a crucial part of comics.

I have also begun to form a narrative for my project. I may have to do more research on Narrotology to further develop the framework to which I will apply to the practice.

Since my project is going to be an multi-ended interactive comic, it is imperative that I consider the multiple narrative structures I can employ to the project. The most common form of narrative may be the Hero's Journey; and I intend to utilize this for my own story. I am mindful that the story is aimed primarily towards children, and therefore it may be difficult for younger readers to comprehend more eccentric narrative structures; though I am not ruling out the possibility for them to understand complex narratives through the use of comics.

The initial story idea is revolved around a little girl, the main protagonist of the story, as she goes on an adventure/journey to find her lost toy/companion (the call to adventure). The girl lives on a rose farm (as drawn from own personal, and my younger sister's experience of living on a farm), and she ventures into one of the dilapidated greenhouses to search for her toy. There she discovers an entirely different, whimsical and creepy world, where she finds numerous curious creatures that either help or impede her on her journey (meeting the goddess). She eventually finds the great big monster who has kept her toy captive (meeting the monster, or the "big bad"). The girl courageously confronts the monster, rescues her toy, and finally returns home (return from the journey).

This story is extremely simple and straightforward, but I believe, if it is polished and presented well, it can appeal to a younger audience. I also need to consider other outcomes of the story, and the many interactions the protagonist has with the inhabitants of the other world. I will have to research more into game/comic narrative, and the multiple-ending type narratives to better my understanding of this concept. I intend to produce a final product that will provide various choices for the reader, that they have the freedom (albeit illusory) to shape the narrative. The number of endings is infinite, but I wish to create them in a way so that players/readers would be driven to replay/re-read the comic again to experience all the different endings.

Here is a simplified diagram of the mapping and structure the multi-ended project. Like some of the existing choice-based games, there will be a main ending, or "true" ending, as the final outcome of the narrative intended by the creator; the players, however, are allowed to deviate from this depending on their decisions made throughout the game.