About
“Navigating a Database Narrative” is the result of a two semester long investigation into Sam Barlow’s Telling Lies (2019). The core question motivating our research is “Can Database Narrative games develop into their own genre?” Using Barlow’s game as a case study, we played the game as users and investigated the program files controlling the experience. Cataloging our findings, we created this rough draft visualization to show a representation of our playthrough versus the narrative we found within the game’s database. Our research revealed some intriguing implications about database narratives as a standalone genre that we are exploring in a currently developing article. Some of the topics in this article include narrative gates, the issues present when emulating UX/UI without their traditional complexity, and a comparison between our gameplay narrative experience and a traditional 5-act narrative structure.
Faculty Advisor: Janet Murray
