Gaming - The Literary Take
Kate Pullinger, Ian Harper, Chris Joseph from The Bradfield Company are behind Inanimate Alice, the interactive story/game that's currently capturing the imagination of young and old alike. The first two episodes in a ten episode series are now available to download from the official website for free. Initially I wasn't too sure why the panel from The Bradfield Company were at a gaming festival and indeed their first three episodes have a very small gaming element to them, but their gaming plans for the future episodic content will increase with the stories becoming more interactive as Alice grows.
'Inanimate Alice' tells the story of Alice, growing up in the early years of the 21st century. Written and directed by writer Kate Pullinger and digital artist babel, this series of multimedia, interactive episodes uses a combination of text, sound, images, and games as Alice takes us on a journey through her life from the age of eight through to her twenties. Alice becomes a games animator; not just any animator, but a creator of characters for the most successful games company in the world. And one character stands out: Brad, Alice's only true friend in life. The ten episodes of 'Inanimate Alice' become increasingly interactive and game-like, reflecting Alice's own developing skills as a game designer and animator. 'Inanimate Alice' is a study of human/computer relations in a world where having friends means never having to meet them.
We watched the premiere of Episode 3 which is a dark tale revolving around Alice who is now 13 and living in Moscow. The haunting music, coupled with a fair amount of drum 'n' bass tunes adds to the beautifully artistic design and adds to the allure and mystery of the engrossing story. The story, which I won't spoil in this article, is the main focus, but there is a small element of gameplay also. The gameplay aspect involves Alice using a player, which appears on the screen as a enlarged mobile phone-type gadget which she uses to collect dolls. It's painstakingly simple and all you need to do is to catch the dolls that fall from the top of the screen. Catching these dolls does have a purpose though as you'll need to catch a certain amount in order to progress in the game.
[advert] The Bradfield Company plan to include an element of user created content on future episodes and more and more gameplay elements as the story progresses. At the moment it's interactive multimedia, an e-book so to speak, but with the promise of more gameplay it's worth keeping an eye on exactly where they'll go with the game.
Inanimate Alice is aimed at a broad age range and The Bradfield company's main aim is to emerge people into the interactivity. The game is actually being used as creative writing tool in US universities, but they hope to capture the imagination of the gaming audience,
How much does it cost? It's free, and well worth a look.
Download Episode One and Two from the official website.
