Narrative Atoms, Story and History

History banner Narrative Atoms Story and History

A revisit to an old set of thoughts I had on what Narrative is. My general thought is that narrative is real-time telling of a first person experience as it happens. A story is all of the narratives put together from the first “Narrative Atom” of the story until the last! History is the collection of all of the stories and all of the narratives up until now. Beyond that, you are looking at the future.

When I started to look at this concept again, I decided that it was easier to record a little video about it than it was to write! However, the basic idea is that you can imagine history as a lake. When our lives start it is like a pebble being dropped into the lake. Each ripple is a narrative atom in our story. These ripples move out from the centre, touching the stories of others, creating an interconnect web – a collective history. Anway, watch the video to get more of that. Read More ...

Zombies Run! 5K – Attempting to get fit

Well, the scales have shouted at me again and it is time to get in shape. I have let myself go over the last few years and my body is beginning to tell me off as well!

I used to run, but always hated it. For a while I was trying to use Zombies Run! from Six to Start, however there was an assumption that you were already fit enough to run in the first place. This time, I thought I would start slow and steady with the help of Zombies Run’s baby sibling – Zombies Run 5K.

It is an app that takes you through an 8 week program that should help you get from couch potato (me) to someone who can run 5 kilometres. Obviously there is nothing all that new about this idea. What Zombies Run! adds to the equation is a narrative that helps to keep you going through the exercises. Read More ...

Unleash your creativity with Story Cubes

If you follow me on Twitter, it is unlikely that you will have missed the fact that I love a toy called Rory’s Story Cubes.

For those who don’t know, Story Cubes are sets of dice with unique icons on each face. The basic idea is to roll a set of 9 dice (made up from the various core packs and expansion packs) and then use the sequence of icons to create a story. It can be played alone or as a group and to be honest it is absolutely wonderful!

I have used them as a tool for helping my own creativity, I have used them as part of workshops to loosen up a few minds and of course I have used them for fun and play. Read More ...

5 tips for good Gamification I learned from designing games.

Gamification often takes and claims inspiration from game design. One of my side hobbies is making the occasional game, as well as spending the last seven years reviewing games for my site yars.co.uk. I thought I would just put a few gamification ideas into context based around my personal knowledge of games and game design. I am y no means an expert, but I hope you will find it interesting.

Tl;TR?

First up, points. I have made games with point systems and I have made games without. Generally I use the points as a way to represent progression and skill – ie, the higher the score, the further your skills have progressed. This is intrinsic on its own, it is a way for the individual player to see how they are doing and if they are improving. This only works if the points reset each time, that way the player can easily see that if they score higher next time – they have improved. Cumulative points don’t allow you to do this, they just show how many points you have collected over time, which is a little less useful. You could consider a personal leaderboard, that just shows the player their scores over time for an exercise- thus easily showing them their improvement. Read More ...

Narrative, story and gamification

Whenever I speak to people in the circles within which I hang out, one of the things I keep hearing is story and narrative. “You have to tell your story”, “What is the narrative?”, what is the companies story”. To be honest it drives me a little nuts, but that’s by the by. The fact is, these are important things to consider. One of the things that has got me thinking, is what is the difference between story and narrative?

Story seems to have quite a few definitions. According to the Oxford dictionary it is: Read More ...

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