Contextual Studies 2

game books and its influences.

gamebooks is not a new concept, but its has influenced games and books alike; the whole idea of a gamebook is that the reader or player is the main character or is the narrator and has power over this branching-plot novel to make the choices in the story. one of the most popular game books is the 'choose your own adventure' series which is targeted at children and teenagers, their first published novel was in 1979 with over 300 books which covered a variety of topics or themes such a 'Disney' stories, Indiana Jones, aliens and much more. The idea of the player being in control of their own fate seemed to of have influenced role-playing games like dungeons and dragons as their is still a narrator with rules and regulation to keep the story tangible but the player makes their own choices and then the dice they role determine if it is a god or bad choice. In the present day video games want to immerse the player into the stories more so by giving them choice to make through the game like in the 'Telltales Games' 'The Walking Dead' where the game is split into five episode so the developers have time to make the players choices important to the next episode.

Sources:
http://www.blackcrownproject.com/ 
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamebook
http://outspaced.fightingfantasy.org/Hosted/Anders_-_The_Rise_and_Fall_of_the_Gamebook.pdf

Telltale Games(2012) The Walking Dead

when I looked into interactive books on tablets it seems like a variety to choose from 'Touchpress' which is more of an educational book brought to life to go more in-depth about that certain subject and it also uses different media like audio, video, 3D sculptures as well as written text. One of the best examples in their collection of books is 'War Horse' not only can the reader just read or listen to it being read but their are many videos and 3D sculptures to give the reader insight into the history around the time the novel is set. 
On the other hand the company 'Crowded Fiction' has taken a different path with this new technology by doing interactive fiction. Like in gamebooks the reader can still make the decisions in the characters story but with the use of the tablet it can track the readers eyes so the words appear at the pace they read so there's no spoilers, using the swipe and tilt the player can be driving the car like the character and following their actions. At the end of the novel the reader then can share their story and also see how other people played it. All this leads to children and young adults being able to interested in books both learning and reading for pleasure as the tablet wants the readers to be involved in what they are reading.
Sources:
http://www.touchpress.com/
http://crowdedfiction.com/how-it-works/#how-it-works-a

In a completely different direction new technology like the tablet has also allowed more touch-base and more unique games from indie companies to be seen and played by players. Type:rider is a game for both Apple and Android the makes the physical text the obstacle and you play the punctuation mark trying to get to the end of the sentence. I liked the idea for this concept as it is a very different way of looking at the relation of books and games.   

Source:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bulkypix.typerider&hl=en_GB