Green Hearts: An Environmental Interactive Dating Story

Green Hearts: An Environmental Interactive Dating Story

May 5, 2015

Christy Mendiola

Summary

The format of this project is an interactive novel through the program offered at Inklewriter. Readers interactive with this novel like a normal novel, by reading, except there are occasional options about where the story will go and “if” conditions alter the option available to the reader depending on whether they pass certain story point or not. The story is based on the game genre, called a dating simulator, and this translates in my project as the reader getting to choose which boy to pursue romantically and what topic of the environment they learn about. The story synopsis is that a teenage girl enters her freshman year of high school at “Enviro High School” meeting 4 boys, Basil, Forest, Ray, and Cliff, and she goes through her first four days of school. There are different ending depending on the reader’s choices, so every other part of the story is variable.

Results and Reflection

Follow the link to read the full story: http://writer.inklestudios.com/stories/hvgx

The process of writing was much longer and harder than I anticipated. Unlike traditional writing, the time of connecting, adding conditions, and making different versions of a scene, must be added into account. Since I was trying to be educational, research and incorporating information must be added too. Also I didn’t predict the amount of filler words, and how extreme ratio of education writing to story writing would be. I would say less than a third would be considered educational content, which only pushing me to make it longer so that I could try and add more information. While I struggled to finish and had to cut some planned ideas, I think it was a great learning experience and offered some ideas that could be built on in later creative projects.

As for whether my story was successfully education and entertaining, all I have to go on is my presentation in class since writing took longer than expected. I think it was definitely entertain since people understood the humor and wanted to know more by the end of my presentation. However, I have little basis to claim it was successful educationally. It has information and tangential learning opportunities, but the humor might make people take the information less seriously. I think it might help some people learn a little, but hardly more than an average reading or playing experience.

If I could do it again, I would limit the choice from four main story lines to two, so that I could focus on a deeper educational emersion. Plus do more research beforehand so that I felt more comfortable with character with this knowledge and better integrate information into the story. However, overall I thought it was a successfully learning experience for me that creating a great experience for readers who might take a little piece of information out of it.

Appendix

Bergman, David. “Eco-design: What and Why.” Sustainable Design : A Critical Guide for Architects and Interior, Lighting, and Environmental Designers. New York, NY, USA: Princeton Architectural Press, 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 17 February 2015.

D’Souza, Clare, Andrew J. Gilmore, Patrick Hartmann, Vanessa Apaolaza Ibáñez, and Gillian Sullivan-Mort. “Male eco-fashion: a market reality.” International Journal of Consumer Studies (2014): 35-42. John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Web. 16 February 2015.

Extra Credits. “Extra Credits – Tangential Learning – How Games Can Teach Us While We Play.” Online Video Clip. Youtube. Youtube, 10 May 2012. Web. 16 February 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlQrTHrwyxQ

“How Solar Engery Works.” Union of Concerned Scientist. n.p. n.d. Web. 1 May 15. http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/renewable-energy/how-solar-energy-works.html#.VUqTxflVikp

“Inklewriter.” InkleStudios. n.p. n.d. Web. 16 February 2015. https://writer.inklestudios.com/

Salazar, Francisco Lepe, Tatsuo Nakajima, and Todorka Alexandrova. “Visual Novels: An Methodology Guideline for Pervasive Educational Games That Favors Discernment.” Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg (2013): 234-43. Springer. Web. 16 Feb. 2015.