Big Final Proposal

Immersive narrative experiences have always intrigued me as communication tools.  In the past, I tended to deal in physical environments, which lent themselves particularly well to the concept.  Though specific narrative arcs were often fairly linear in nature, larger installations often allowed viewers to pursue them at their own discretion (in terms of pacing and organization).  Retrofitting this approach to be applied to a web-based project proved to be an interesting approach.  Given that the viewer is not capable of any type of physical encounter in this situation, the task became one of constructing a compelling environment that allowed for the same type of meandering investigation.

Choose-your-own-adventure literature has always occupied something of a soft spot in my memory.  Though they made for aggravating reading, the concept seems particularly well-suited for this type of project.  Using that basic premise, I would like to create a pseudo-evolutionary narrative activity based in several varieties of medieval paganism and late antique theology.  From a starting point, the viewer will be presented with a selection of runic/calligraphic characters with which to begin their journey.  Based on the symbolic and aesthetic associations of the character chosen, the viewer will be presented with a second set of choices (this time dealing with a set of creatures linked to the chosen character according to - mostly - indigenous new-world mythologies) with which to proceed.  According to this second choice, the viewer will be directed to a vague description of the significance and symbolism of the choices made presented in the form of a cladogram (a diagram expressing evolutionary relationships between organisms, based on shared characteristics).

The basic plan for this project is to keep the visuals to a minimum, and a fairly sparse minimum at that.  The majority of the images and text will be provided through transfers (either by scanning or training in Illustrator) of calligraphy and ink drawings (see below for an example of the aesthetic and a rough outline of the general layout).  Though I will be referencing the act of divination and prophecy I should note that, like those particular fields, I have no intention of making any clear predictions and will cloak most of the information I provide in vague mythological, and overly-specific biological terms.