16/09/2015 Game Proposal

Narrative Element:
Character

Concept:
Mechanics used:
Cutscene introduction:
A small cutscene before the title screen giving a small hint of an event that happened before the story.Would be able to skip after first viewing.
(Similar to Ocarina of Time's intro with an almost silhouetted Link riding Epona across the land of Hyrule)
Interactive cut scenes:
-Finding shards of her old town bell,activating a scene of her past in which the player can walk through,showing a specific event of her childhood or even the rock golem's life through Bronze's memories' perspective.
Micro narrative through appearance:
Bronze's appearance gives off a lot of subtle information about her backstory,personality,and current situation.
A breakdown of Bronze's appearance and the meanings behind them:
  -Orange and brown colours show her nature of earth and her desert home now.
(Orange and brown colours fit in with each other creating a natural analogue colour scheme.These colours are associated with rocks, copper/minerals,rust,sand etc)
  -The trapezium shape motif in the clothing and hair show that although she is strong physically she is unstable,unbalanced,and uneven or disproportioned.
(The trapezium is wide based and bottom heavy.It is quite an un-natural strong shape like the square but looks like it is collapsing in on itself)
   -Dark brown clothing shows how ragged and poor she was when she was just a half elf child.
(Through many texts we define brown clothing as more active,working class,or even a fighter through the colour of leather,whereas blue or more dyed clothing is seem as more refined and higher class)
  -Brown messy hair shows how little she cares for her appearance now and gives subtle evidence she is a half elf.Her messy hair shows she is an outcast,and that she doesn't take her of herself.
(Brown is common human hair colour.The messy hair and lesser focus on appearance can be a sign of not being in touch with society)
  -Orange copper bands symbolize the place she once lived in,which had a giant copper bell in the town.This is a sign of Bronze's past.
(The copper mineral is known as an ingredient in creating the alloy Bronze)
  -Orange glow of one of Bronze's eyes shows how unstable she is and is a warning to others.It also shows she is two beings,or is being controlled.
(We associate orange with warnings of danger or power because of road signs and fire.Often in texts the ideas of curses,possesion,sentience, and the soul are shown through the eyes in some form or another)
  -Bandages show that she is a fighter, is in pain,and that being a host has taken a toll on her body.
(Bandages are associated with injury in medical fields and with fighting in sporting fields in prevention of injury)
  -The brown colour overall emphasizes the natural yet unnatural connection between Bronze and the rock golem,while the orange show the danger and instability of their connection as well as the raw power.
Artificial Intelligence:
Aside from believability,giving NPC's actions and behaviours that give you insight into their character,objectives etc.
To help Bronze learn more about herself.
Avatar:
Bronze is the avatar for the game,which also includes the rock golem to some extent.
Although the player controls Bronze,there is some separation as she has objectives and goals narrative wise that differ from the player's but can often line up with the player's more ludic goals/Golem's goals.
The player has agency with Bronze and the rock hand.The golem may take over at times for his own reasons,so possibly not allowing you to use the hand or even fully taking over as a small in game cutscene if things don't go in his best interests.
Sidekick/Mentor:
Although a much more active role than the usual sidekick as the golem is now a part of her.The rock golem hand of Bronze has its own motivations and objectives and past that compliment the player character's (Bronze's) story as they are deeply intertwined in each others backstory as well as current situation.
As a mentor the rock golem would teach Bronze how to efficiently use his power to reach his goals.

Justification:
The introductory cutscene would give a hint of the story,but leaving parts up to interpretation as it would be unknown whether it is past,present or future tense.
The interactive cutscenes allow the player to have agency through an important story event,going through at their own pace .
The micronarrative parts of appearance only give hints as to what the story is about so the player has room to comtemplate their own ideas of what has happened.
Having Bronze as the avatar makes sense as the story is about her developing as a character.Having the rock golem as a mentor makes  sense  as  his goals  drive the plot and needs  the avatar to cooperate,teaching them would be in his best interests and teach the player through the story diegetically.
I feel as though the story is much more engaging if the player has to work for it or piece it together and has room for their own interpretations and ideas.
Everything in the narrative and gameplay goes through Bronze as a connection point,what she sees is what we see.Our movement is her movement.

Source Narrative:
Relationship to whole narrative:
The mechanics for character relate to the rest of the video game and whole narrative because it is a heroes journey.The micro narrative mechanic in her appearance would support her story,character archetype and theme through signs and symbols the player/audience can relate to.The avatar is the hero (Bronze) and the mentor/sidekick (Rock Golem Hand).It makes sense for Bronze to be the avatar as the story revolves around her.The mentor/sidekick mechanic would inform and teach Bronze in the story as well as teach the player game play mechanics as well as being a game play mechanic.The trials the hero faces is the puzzle platforming game play. CharacterCharacter is the core of my story and every other element would support this main element.
This element stretches throughout the text as character development is the focus of the story as it is a heroes journey.
Relationship to other elements yet to develop:
Intertextuality:
Intertextuality is important as it relates back to familiar ideas and concepts the player/audience can relate to.Many ideas about the Golem race and Elfen relates back to many different myths and cultures which have established ideas behind them already and could be used to build on my story as a whole.This relates back to character as it would strengthen the knowledge/familiarity of Bronze's situation making it more relateable.
Diegesis:
The diegesis of the environment's subject matter and atmosphere would reflect Bronze as a character much like the micro narrative of her appearance,especially in the first desert levels (Dangerous,broken down,unstable).Other levels would give insight into the personality of other characters she faces.This element has already guided me in deciding the overall feel and look for the environments of the game world.
Immersion:
Immersion is important as the player needs to be engaged in Bronze's story and relate to her as a character to fully experience the story.This element has already helped me decide on things such as interface and controls as I wanted them to strengthen immersion by being limited in interface and control similarily to Bronzes movements through use of different hands for mouse and keyboard.

Source Narrative:
Strengths and aspects or assets to retain:
The types of characters in the source narrative like mentor,hero,and sidekick showed me how much of the story relied on the characters,especially Bronze's heros journey.
Interactive cutscene levels suit the memory recollection of bronze from the source narrative rather well.
Weaknesses and aspects or assets to develop:
The way in which the characters converse or how Bronze shows her development may need close attention as I would need to establish a way in which Bronze and the golem communicate that is not confusing for the player or breaks immersion.Whether or not my protagonist can talk and what she would say could effect the story greatly whereas the rock golem's position as a mentor seems more straight forward in dialogue.Bronze may need to show her character through actions rather than words,much like her gameplay.