This document summarizes a class on building storyworlds taught by Lance Weiler at Columbia University in fall 2012. It discusses concepts like considering audience and purpose, establishing design filters, making stories socially participatory and fun. Examples are provided from Weiler's work on the Hope is Missing storyworld app that allowed users to collaboratively create spaces and explore a post-apocalyptic world. The document emphasizes designing for participation, experimentation and emergent narratives in interactive storyworlds.
Hugh Hefner, Sherlock Holmes & Indiana Jones: Making the Case for Mobile Inte...
Building Storyworlds: New Media Producing
1. BUILDING
STORYWORLDS
New Media Producing
Building Storyworlds: the art, craft & biz of storytelling in 21c
Class 3 9.26.12
Columbia University - Fall 2012
Taught by Lance Weiler
Visit www.buildingstoryworlds.com
Released under a Non-Commercial ShareAlike Creative Commons License
lance@lanceweiler.com
@lanceweiler
2. ASK YOURSELF
1. What is the story about?
2. What does the story mean to you?
3. Why does the story need to be told?
4. Where is the story best told?
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
4. Like a bullet hole in glass start with your core idea and let
it ripple out. Leave room for the audience to test & break it.
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
5. Consider who you’re hoping to reach. Attempt to step into their shoes.
5 WHYS
Why should I pay attention?
Why should I care?
Why should I share?
Why should I take the time?
Why should I return?
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
6. Establish design filters that you return to throughout the
development, production and distribution process.
What gives your storyworld
VALUE
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
7. How can the stories you tell be more than entertainment? Can they help
people discover things, learn, or connect with others? Value is what brings
people back and fuels the spreadibility .
STORY
AS UTILITY
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
8. What is it that makes someone
CARE
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
16. Collaborative Layers
Much of the design makes use of collaborative layering. It helps provide guidance, improves
qualityof creative submissions and gives participants a sense of accomplishment.
CORE
FILTERED
SHARED
OPEN
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
17. The
STORY
LAYER
It is now possible to lay a story overtop of the real world.
http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/news/2012/01/listen-as-your-story-talks-to-the-internet/
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
18. The Story Layer enables stories to become
Social
Connected
Personalized
Pervasive
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
19. Want to build immersive storytelling experiences?
Start by considering behavior.
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
22. Information foraging theory
is based on the analogy of an animal
deciding what to eat, where it can be
found, the best way to obtain it and how
much “energy” the meal will provide.
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
23. Applying Foraging Theory to
how human’s search improves
discovery and the usability of
various user interfaces.
“Information Theory” by Peter Pirolli & Stuart Card 1999
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
24. People following a path are constantly
asking themselves 2 questions.
1. What can I expect to gain following
this path?
2. What is the likely cost to reach my
destination?
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
25. Chart by XCKD
Storyworlds can have linear and horizontal timelines.
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
27. Don't hold tight to your characters.
When constructing a storyworld
the themes that drive the story
are often stronger. #sw21c
From “Building Storyworlds the art, craft & biz of storytelling in 21c”
http://buildingstoryworlds.com/book
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
28. Example of a series bible for Battlestar Galactica by Ronald D. Moore
http://leethomson.myzen.co.uk/Battlestar_Galactica/Battlestar_Galactica_Series_Bible.pdf
29. WHAT’S IN A
STORYWORLD BIBLE
CHARACTER GAME
-Motivations -Game Types RPG, Social
-Arcs Games, Puzzle based, ARG,
-Backstory Narrative based
-Relationships -Collaborative / Competive
-Notes -Reward / Conflicts
-Dialogue -Win / Loose Conditions
-Experiences -Continuous Play?
-Live or Scripted Characters
CHARTING -What will players do?
-Script Annotation -Why is that fun?
-Flow Docs -Replayability
-Mindmaps
-Points of Entry
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
30. Materials from the storyworld of Hope is Missing (HiM)
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
31. DIALOGUE SETTING
PROPS EVENTS
THEMES MOTIF
CHARACTERS LOCATIONS
STORY
Elements of a storyworld use common building blocks
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
32. PROPS
THEMES
MOTIF
SETTING
The following example from Hope is Missing builds from these core elements.
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
33. During a closed beta we tested elements of the Hope is Missing (HiM) storyworld.
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
34. Participants step into the shoes of the protagonist by using a special mobile app.
Find other survivors, scavenge for supplies and find shelter before night fall.
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
35. Entry gameplay by dropping into an infected area.
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
36. Participants create their own spaces and shelters using the camera on their mobile device
Shoot in a 360 and we stitched it together on the backend to form a panoramic image.
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
37. Players navigate by moving the phone or swiping with a finger. Augmented elements lead
to key story assets such as video, audio, text and a red “X” lead to another user created space.
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
38. Snap shot of the usage of the app over a limited period of time.
Each marker represents a new user crated space
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
39. Over 50,000 downloads
CONTEXTUAL
STORYTELLING 2000+ spaces created
Data collected
MEDIA SOCIAL GRAPH
- GPS data
STORYWORLD GATEWAY
- Make and model of handset
STORY DETECTION
- OS of the handset
MOBILE APPS
- Email address
BROWSER PLUGINS
- Phone number
- Amount of usage
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
40. Chart by Mike Dicks @ BleedinEdge @lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
41. MEDIA DIET
Wired Magazine
Consider consumption
habits and entry points.
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
42. 6 TIPS FOR BUILDING A
STORYWORLD
1. Take time to evaluate the story you want to tell.
2. Ask yourself the hard questions – why will anyone care? Is this
the best way to tell the story?
3. Let go of a single POV.
4. Consider how you can show not tell.
5. Make it easy for your audience to become collaborators.
6. Don’t let the world get in the way of the stor.y
@lanceweiler www.lanceweiler.com
43. THANK YOU
Contact:
@lanceweiler
www.lanceweiler.com
SUGGESTED READING:
Treating Story as Software
http://www.slideshare.net/lanceweiler/storyas-software-weiler
The Art of Immersion
http://www.slideshare.net/lanceweiler/buo
“Learn Do Share” – storytelling, collaboration and social innovation in 21c
http://learndoshare.net
Building Storyworlds: the art, craft & biz of storytelling in 21c
http://buildingstoryworlds.com/book
Hinweis der Redaktion
Key lines of dialogue,important settings ie: timeprops – totems