I have been crazy busy at work delivering the next big installment to the annual video game empire. I have not had much time to do any research let alone do any blogging.
I finally finished reading Chris Crawford’s On Interactive Storytelling, V2. It is dramatically different from the first version. In my humble opinion the second version is easier to read and overall less biased by Chris Crawford’s ego. The overall tone of the book is not necessarily one of optimism but of sobering reality. Crawford believes in the inevitable evolution of interactive storytelling. However, he warns of the present and future pitfalls. He also does a fair job of tearing down current attempts to create the new media form. I found this to be disappointing. I wanted to find directions and signposts that would help guide new interactive storytellers on the path of success. That is not to be found here. What you will find are descriptions of others’ attempts and why Crawford believes they failed. He outlines what he thinks to be a stable foundation for an interactive storytelling engine. But he himself can not guarantee success. To be fair, Crawford does a good job interpreting his own attempts and justifying their failures. In all I found this version to be an essential text describing the current state of the art in interactive storytelling. It explains the successes and failures of the evolution. Anyone who is thinking of pursuing interactive storytelling should read this to help guide their own development and be entertained as Crawford playfully rips apart everyone and himself.
