THE MECHANICS OF INTERACTIVE STORYTELLING A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TELLTALE’S THE WALKING DEAD AND BANDERSNATCH Word count: 25,926 Janis Vanschamelhout Student number: 01507445 Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Marco Caracciolo A dissertation submitted to Ghent University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Linguistics and Literature (Dutch – English) Academic year: 2018 - 2019 MAKING CHOICES: THE MECHANICS OF INTERACTIVE STORYTELLING A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TELLTALE’S THE WALKING DEAD AND BANDERSNATCH Word Count: 25,926 Janis Vanschamelhout Student number: 01507445 Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Marco Caracciolo A dissertation submitted to Ghent University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Linguistics and Literature (Dutch – English) Academic year: 2018 - 2019 Acknowledgements I would like to thank a number of people who have helped and motivated me to finish this thesis. First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor, prof. dr. Marco Caracciolo, for his quick and elaborate feedback, helpful insights and thought-provoking suggestions. I would like to specifically thank him for guiding me through this project while also allowing me the freedom to approach it in the manner that suited me best. Secondly, I would like to thank my family for their continuous support, not only during the writing of this thesis, but also during my four years of study at Ghent University. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude towards Ghent University for allowing me to develop academically over the course of these four years. 1 Making Choices: The Mechanics of Interactive Storytelling A comparative study of Telltale’s The Walking Dead and Bandersnatch ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................. 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 4 1 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ................................................................................................. 9 1.1 VIDEO GAME STUDIES: LUDOLOGISTS VS. NARRATIVISTS ..................................................... 9 1.2 INTERACTIVE NARRATIVES ....................................................................................................... 13 1.2.1 INTERACTIVITY ......................................................................................................................... 13 1.2.2 INTERACTIVE NARRATIVES ...................................................................................................... 15 1.2.3 PAST ATTEMPTS AT INTERACTIVE STORYTELLING .................................................................. 16 2 CORPUS ........................................................................................................................................ 19 2.1 TELLTALE’S THE WALKING DEAD ............................................................................................. 19 2.1.1 BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................................... 19 2.1.2 PLOT .......................................................................................................................................... 20 2.1.3 GAMEPLAY ................................................................................................................................ 23 2.2 BLACK MIRROR: BANDERSNATCH ............................................................................................. 25 2.2.1 BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................................... 25 2.2.2 PLOT .......................................................................................................................................... 26 2.2.3 GAMEPLAY ................................................................................................................................ 28 3 ANALYSIS .................................................................................................................................... 30 3.1 MACRO-INVOLVEMENT / TRANSMEDIALITY ........................................................................... 31 3.1.1 THE WALKING DEAD ............................................................................................................... 32 3.1.2 BANDERSNATCH ....................................................................................................................... 35 2 3.2 NARRATIVE INVOLVEMENT / AGENCY ..................................................................................... 39 3.2.1 THE WALKING DEAD ............................................................................................................... 40 3.2.1.1 Plot-based agency ............................................................................................................................................. 40 3.2.1.2 Character-based agency .................................................................................................................................... 43 3.2.2 BANDERSNATCH ....................................................................................................................... 48 3.2.2.1 Narrative agency and its limits ........................................................................................................................ 48 3.2.2.2 Formal support of themes ................................................................................................................................. 52 3.3 AFFECTIVE INVOLVEMENT / EMOTIONAL ENGAGEMENT ...................................................... 57 3.3.1 THE WALKING DEAD ............................................................................................................... 59 3.3.1.1 Choice design .................................................................................................................................................... 59 3.3.1.2 “Clementine will remember that” .................................................................................................................... 63 3.3.1.3 Reminders ......................................................................................................................................................... 66 3.3.1.4 Kinesthetic involvement ................................................................................................................................... 67 3.3.2 BANDERSNATCH ....................................................................................................................... 70 3.3.2.1 Choice design .................................................................................................................................................... 70 3.3.2.2 “Who’s doing this to me?” ............................................................................................................................... 74 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................... 77 WORKS CITED .................................................................................................................................. 80 ANNEXES ............................................................................................................................................ 86 ANNEX A ............................................................................................................................................... 86 ANNEX B ............................................................................................................................................... 86 ANNEX C ............................................................................................................................................... 87 ANNEX D ............................................................................................................................................... 91 ANNEX E ................................................................................................................................................ 92 3 IntrodUction Even though digital games have been around for only a few decades, they are taking over the entertainment industry by storm. By now, the game industry even surpasses the movie and music industry in terms of profitability. With computer game graphics becoming increasingly realistic over the years, video games have moved from a focus on gameplay to a stronger focus on story. The relationship between game and story has long been a hot topic in video game studies. Meanwhile, titles such as Telltale’s The Walking Dead (2012), The Last of Us (2013), Gone Home (2013) and many more have proven that games are able to tell complex and emotionally gripping stories. Now, researchers are no longer wondering whether video games can tell stories, but whether they should, and whether those stories are not better told through a different medium. Ian Bogost (2017) is one of these researchers. He claims that there is no reason these stories need to be told interactively and that we should abandon the dream of interactive storytelling. With this thesis, I hope to invalidate Bogost’s claim. I would like to demonstrate that interactivity can be more than just a gimmick and that it can add something to the experience of the story. I hope to show that the medium of interactive storytelling,