Appendix A:

Labeling Conventions for Cards and Letters

There is a general translation of terminology between the books and the CD-Rom. There are three books in the trilogy. Each has either 19 or 20 cards and letters. In the CD-Rom, an identical grouping is used (with one minor variance noted in Appendix I below and analyzed in the main text). However, the medium is different, and the terminology is not as clear. The break between the three books is much more definite than the break between the three sets of cards/letters in the CD-Rom. As one works through and successfully solves the puzzles, the completed cards/letters/puzzles become available for random access. The menu for selecting your random access uses the same groupings as the books, but calls the three sub-menus Falcon, Gryphon, and Sphinx respectively. In the paper I will refer to each of these sub-menus as �sections�. I use two methods to refer to a specific card or letter. The first is a shorthand notation scheme. The chart below shows the correlation between the book and the CD-Rom, and my shorthand notation for each of the six units:

Unit Identifying Notation Griffin and Sabine Trilogy

Books Ceremony of Innocence

Sections Griffin and Sabine - [GS] The Falcon - [F] Sabine�s Notebook - [SN] The Gryphon - [G] The Golden Mean - [GM] The Sphynx - [S]

I have expanded this notation to specifically identify each card or letter. The syntax is: [Unit Identifier - Card # - Protagonist]. The six unit identifiers are in the table above. The card number ranges between 19 or 20 depending on the number of cards in the unit. The three protagonists113 and their identifiers are: Griffin [G], Sabine [S], and Frolatti [F]. Thus in this scheme, the third card in the second book (�A Passing Shot�) was from Griffin, so it would be identified as [SN3G]. The corresponding puzzle card in the CD-Rom would be identified as [G3G]. The second method of referring to a card is to use its title. Griffin�s cards (and one of Sabine�s cards) have titles in the text. I have used these, and indicated by quotation marks that the title is Bantock�s creation. For example - card [G2G] is titled �Drinking like a fish�. Most of Sabine�s cards, both of Frolatti�s cards, and all of the letters are untitled. For these I have made up my own titles, which appear without the use of quotes.

Psge 97113 Or, more accurately, two protagonists and one antagonist.

Appendix B:

Ceremony of Innocence: Cards and Letters

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Appendix C:

Terminology

General terminology David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson formulate a useful definition of the term �narrative�: �a chain of events in cause-effect relationship�.114 The act of narration in linear narrative works differs from that of interactive narrative works with respect to authorial control over the presentation and reception of the narrative. However, both linear and interactive works share a similar set of narrative concerns such as plot, story, character, emotion, themes and arc. The term �story� is often used in a relatively loose manner as a stylistic substitute for narrative or narrative concerns. �Story� is also used in a more formal sense as �the plot as perceived and reconstructed by the reader�. This term is analogous to the formalist term fabula, in contradistinction to the terms �plot� or �syuzhet� (the events as presented to the reader). The terms �poetics� and �craft� are used somewhat interchangeably, although strictly speaking, poetics is the study of craft. Poetics can be seen as a body of theory that examines and analyzes practice within a given medium. Lev Manovich notes that �theoreticians in the 1960s defined poetics as the study of the specific properties of particular arts�.115 (italics his) A primary focus of this thesis is the explication the relationship between the details of craft, especially interactive craft, and the experience of interactive story. However, craft considerations are not solely confined to the poetics of interactive craft. They also include the poetics of the �component media� contained within an interactive work: text, graphics, layout, moving images, performance, music, sound effects, etc. All are used to shape the experience of interactive narrative. Specific terminology Many of the terms and conventions used here are more specific to this reading of these two particular works.

114 Bordwell and Thompson (Film Art; pg. 90)

Psge 101115 Lev Manovich; The Language of New Media; pg. 12

One set is the family of descriptors for the manifestations of the various cards and letters. In the Griffin and Sabine trilogy116, the picture side of the cards is referred to variously as the �face� or �picture side�. The side with the text is called the �text�, the �text side� or the �back�. This usage is continued in Ceremony of Innocence, with the additional optional descriptor of �puzzle� to refer to the picture or face side of the post card. Similar distinctions hold for the letters. The picture is referred to as the �envelope face� or simply �face�. In Ceremony it may be referred to as the �puzzle�. The text is referred to as the �text� or as the �letter�. The term �lexia� is used as a generic term to refer to any of the complete text units, whether post card or letter. The term �text� is also used in at least two other forms. Sometimes it is used to refer to the work as a work, either Griffin and Sabine or Ceremony of Innocence. Sometimes it refers to the words within the work, excluding the graphics, the sound, the motion, and the interactivity. My intention was to allow for some elegance and variety of word choice, but to still be clear in context. Gameplay terminology The analysis of the puzzle gameplay led to a consistent set of terms to describe the various phases of puzzle play. The sequence can be applied to the analysis of most puzzles in Ceremony of Innocence, and may have broader application to other puzzles and games. The components of the puzzle solution generally include:

•

•

•

•

•

•

Set up The set up phase presents the context and the initial conditions for the puzzle play. In most of the puzzles the look of the setup is taken from the faces of the cards and letters of the books.

Clues The puzzle play may present clues that guide the user towards the successful pre-triggers and triggers of the puzzle.

Miscues There may also be false or misleading clues that take the user�s attention away from the successful triggers.

Pre-trigger There are often several �pre-triggers� which must be solved before the final trigger is presented or enabled.

Trigger The event which solves the puzzle, and triggers the payoff and the transition to the lexia.

Payoff The animation or cut-sequence that appears at the successful conclusion of a puzzle. The payoff acts as a signal that the puzzle is over, a reward for successful solution, and a transition to the reading of the lexia.

Psge 102

116 The use of the phrase �Griffin and Sabine� itself is also a context-dependent usage. Sometimes this pharse refers to the first book specifically, and sometimes it refers to the entire trilogy.

It is interesting to note that this sequence has similarities to a classic dramatic arc: setup, complication, development, resolution.117 Later we will explore some of the potential relationships for these two processes.

Psge 103117 Kristin Thompson; Storytelling in the New Hollywood; pgs. 28-29

Appendix D:

Database of Gameplay Observations

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Appendix E:

Analysis Of G9g (Griffin) - The Letter

Time Picture Dialogue Music /

SFXs Comment

TRANSITION

Dirigible exits, card spins

Wind sound up Sound bridge - music

Dirigible motion to screen right is constant Sound bridge is constant

Dirigible enters envelope frame, opens envelope, exits � �

Envelope drops �Sound of envelope dropping

Sound bridge

LETTER Dirigible Sequence

0:00 F/I - sepia scene - landscape (skull on mid-right edge)

Piano chord - minor key - ominous

skull in landscape? middle right

super: Sabine - March 10

�Sabine�

music continues

0:15 dirigible (1) f/I over sepia �unnerving way of being a jump ahead of me��

dirigible (2) bigger �death wish you said�

dirigible (3) pivots screen left to face front

�it�s true - preoccupied with death - not my own� �aunt verike�s death hammer blow�

music continues all the way through to end

dirigible (4) facing head on �parent�s death� insignigicant - not

0:44 at

end

dirigible drifts off to right, exits (fade like move) - dirigible blur obscures skull, then reveals skull as it exits

�how can anyone let his parents go without some regret, some loss�

Egypt Sequence

super:: Egypt was the next obvious step for me to take

�Egypt was the next obvious step for me to take�

1:00 background changes from dark sepia to sand colored, to orange/blood-red

three thousand years worth of death here

super - black glyphs

Egyptian word for sculptor - he who keeps alive forever. This seemed to be the perfect place for me.

1:15 pulsing glow in mid-screen

long organ chord - minor key

Anubis/Samurai Sequence 1:25 1:30

glow becomes rectangle reveals Anubis silhouette artifact shop, relics

1:45 �Anubis�

Psge 122

Time Picture Dialogue Music / Comment SFXs

1:50

Anubis fades out, rectangle wipes out to cover screen - sand colored wash, egyptian sketch of two seated figures

1:54 Samurai fades in Samurai turns around to face camera (2:00)

�figure of a samurai�

he did not move - but his eyes watched me

2:20

background dissolve from Egyptian to Japanese glyphs / samurai does some type of fuzzy transition

�flash of recognition between us!�

gong punctuates moment

after transition, samurai looks, bows, and f/o on �guardian angel�

he was mine, for me, like a bodyguard or a guardian angel

back to glyphs on yellow wash - this time Japanese glyphs (plus others - see below)

2:45

background fades out - glyphs remain in sharper relief egyptian & japanese cler (plus others? - 4 columns)

2:50 letters appear over glyph array: an aura of absolute self belief letters then f/o

an aura of absolute self belief, and for some reason he is on my side (2:50)

2:57 new letters appear over array: you might ask why I am so please to have a vision that goes a long way to confirming my insanity

you might ask why I am so please to have a vision that goes a long way to confirming my insanity

3:00

letters f/o, pyramid sketches tumble in two more pyramids f/i three pyramid sketches over glyph array on textured screen

I have had little trust in my perception of reality, and accepting an impossibility comes as a relief

3:15

glyph array fades out, leaving 3 pyramid sketches on eggshell texture with hint of faint writing underneath

also, I�m chicken, and the idea of traveling with a samurai swordsman as a hidden companion gives me heart

3:20 I love you,

3:23 Sphinx head fades in Griffin melancholy string chord trails off

please notice, I�m choosing reassuring thoughts

Minnaloushe Sequence

3:31 cat and moon cross left to right under Sphinx image

Minnaloushe - he�s self sufficient, comes and goes with the moon

spare piano notes

3:40 hold image long f/o to silence

3:52 END

Psge 123

Appendix F:

Yeats� �The Cat And The Moon�

The cat went here and there And the moon spun round like a top, And the nearest kin of the moon, The creeping cat, looked up. Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon, For, wander and wail as he would, The pure cold light in the sky Troubled his animal blood. Minnaloushe runs in the grass Lifting his delicate feet. Do you dance, Minnaloushe, do you dance? When two close kindred meet, What better than call a dance? Maybe the moon may learn, Tired of that courtly fashion, A new dance turn. Minnaloushe creeps through the grass From moonlit place to place, The sacred moon overhead Has taken a new phase. Does Minnaloushe know that his pupils Will pass from change to change, And that from round to crescent, From crescent to round they range? Minnaloushe creeps through the grass Alone, important and wise, And lifts to the changing moon His changing eyes.

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Appendix G:

Yeats� �The Second Coming�

Two annotated versions of the poem appear below. In the first, red text highlights the phrases which Bantock has inserted in various places within the books and blue text highlights the phrases which are used as the titles for postcards (footnotes detail where they appear).

�The Second Coming� Turning and turning in the widening gyre118 The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence119 is drowned; The best lack all conviction120, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand; The Second Coming!121Hardly are those words out When122 a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi Troubles my sight123: somewhere in sands of the desert A shape with lion body and the head of a man, A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds. The darkness drops again; but now I know That twenty centuries of stony sleep Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, And what rough beast, its hour come round at last Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born124?

118This first line appears on the frontispiece in Griffin & Sabine 119 The phrase ..' ...the ceremony of innnocence' is the title for the final post card in Griffin & Sabine 120 This phrase appears on the frontispiece in Sabine�s Notebook 121 "The Second Coming" is the title of the penultimate card in Sabine's Notebook. 122 �Hardly are those words out when�� appear just before final card in Sabine�s Notebook 123 �A vast image...troubles my sight�� appears on frontispiece of The Golden Mean

Psge 125124 The phrase 'what rough beast...slouches �to be born' is the title of the final card in The Golden Mean

In the second version, red text indicates the lines of the poem which are read at the beginning of Section One of the CD (The Falcon). Blue text indicates the lines which are read between Section One and Section Two (The Gryphon). Green text indicates the lines which are read between Section Two and Section Three (The Sphinx). Purple text indicates the lines which are read at the end of Section Three.

�The Second Coming� Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand; The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert A shape with lion body and the head of a man, A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds. The darkness drops again; but now I know That twenty centuries of stony sleep Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, And what rough beast, its hour come round at last Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

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Appendix H:

Minnaloushe Variances: Books To Cd-Rom

Griffin and Sabine Ceremony of Innocence

G4 - Lexia Sabine asks about �the grey cat� identical text

G9 - Face Envelope: no cat Puzzle: Minnaloushe walks past Sphinx

G9 - Lexia identical text:

��that�s Minnaloushe�� ��self sufficient�

identical text: ��that�s Minnaloushe��

��self sufficient�

G10 - Face Card - no cat Puzzle: Minnaloushe walks past Horus, scares bird

G10 - Lexia

identical text: �Minnaloushe came into

the house today��

identical text: �Minnaloushe came into

the house today��

Plus: Minnaloushe image and actions embedded within text.

G12 - Face Card - no cat, picture of Zebra/Centaur

Puzzle: two modifications 1) The zebra warrior has

been replaced by am armored Samurai Cat

2) Minnaloushe herself emerges from the cat

G13 - Face picture of

half-cat/half person - no poem

Minnaloushe identified as the cat in the picture.

The payoff to the puzzle is a long animation of

Minnaloushe and the Moon, accompanied by a complete

reading of the Yeats Minnaloushe poem.

Psge 127

Appendix I: Specific Variances Between Books And Cd-Rom

This is a list of specific variances between the books and the CD-Rom. These specific changes are significant and purposeful, but only within very limited parameters. The remarkable overall conclusion is the lack of change between the two works when considered over the entire spread of fifty eight cards and letters. Opening Movie The first difference is the opening. The CD-Rom opens with a �cut� sequence - a pre-edited movie. Such sequences are typical of CD-Rom games, and reflect the influence of the cinematic form which currently dominates North American culture. The movie plays in a small screen on a black frame. The images are:

• fingers on a typewriter • a traveling shot of landscape, as if from a train • clouds, with a sun breaking through • lines of script appearing (only one is clearly readable: �I love you�) •

A violin plays in the background - insistent and up-tempo, with a slight melancholy tinge. The opening is meant to set the stage for what we will see as we continue the experience. What themes does this movie support? The act of writing (typing) is foregrounded. It also foreshadows Griffin�s letters - most of which are typed. (Sabine�s are all written by hand,) The moving landscape shot shows travel, which both the protagonists undertake. It also serves to reference the geographical distance between the two characters.125 The clouds and the sun are a hopeful sign (soon to be undercut by Kingsley�s reading from The Second Coming). The script writing also foregrounds the act of writing, and the single discernible phrase lets us know that this is a love story. The Second Coming The CD-Rom credits are next, followed by Ben Kingsley�s reading from The Second Coming. One of the significant variances from the book is the treatment of the poem. The difference starts here. The book uses the line �Turning and turning in��. The effect, as we have seen, is rather cryptic. The CD-Rom uses most of the full verse as a prologue for the story. The poem sets the tone for the interactive work. Kingsley�s voice is a marvelous instrument, his hypnotic words bespeak of destiny and of doom. Over the course of the Ceremony of Innocence, the entire poem is read.126 The effect of the CD-Rom�s wider quotation and vocal performance is significant. The poem has much more impact, and that impact is dark and gloomy. This pattern of

125 There is an analog to a small part of this in the book. The inside front (and back) cover shows alternating stripes pulled from maps of the London subway (Griffin) and the South Sea Islands (Sabine).

Psge 128126 See Appendix H: �The Second Coming�

amplification of quotation and effect is repeated consistently. The book contains short snippets: �Turning and turning in��127 ��The ceremony of innocence��128 �The best lack all conviction�129 �The Second Coming�130 �Hardly are these words out when��131 �A vast image�troubles my sight�132 �And what rough Beast�slouches�to be born.�133 The CD-Rom has Kingsley read the entire poem. It is broken into four parts, and each part is delivered at a critical transition point of the story flow:

• at the beginning of the first group of cards and letters (the equivalent to the first book, but collectively called �The Falcon� in the CD-Rom)

• at the end of the first group of cards and letters • at the end of the second group of cards and letters (the equivalent to the second

book, but collectively called �The Gryphon� in the CD-Rom) • at the end of the third and final group of cards and letters (the equivalent to the

third book, but collectively called �The Sphinx� in the CD-Rom) The impact of the longer selections in the CD-Rom is cumulative and significant - it adds a dark color to the entire experience. Minnaloushe Another set of changes from the book to the CD-Rom is the treatment of Minnaloushe the cat. We will cover this case in more detail under the close reading section below134, but a quick review is in order here. In the books, Minnaloushe is a minor character, almost a throwaway. The CD-Rom upgrades him considerably. Minnaloushe appears in three of the lexia (two cards and one letter) in the books. He does not appear in any of the graphics, although there is a cat-person picture on one of Griffin�s cards in Sabine�s Notebook [SN13G]. The CD-Rom includes each of these three text references, plus it has added Minnaloushe imagery into the heart of the puzzle play on the corresponding graphic. In another they have added a rare text-side mini-puzzle that includes Minnaloushe. Finally, they transformed the cat-person picture mentioned above into a long animation135, and used another of Yeats� poems as the background.136 The effect of all of this is to more deeply reflect and define Griffin�s character.

127 Frontispiece: Griffin and Sabine 128 Card title, last card of Griffin and Sabine [GS19S] 129 Frontispiece: Sabine�s Notebook 130 Card title, penultimate card of Sabine�s Notebook [SN19G] (NB. this is the last card of Section 2 of CD-Rom [G19G]) 131 Insert between cards [SN19G] and [SN20S] 132 Frontispiece: The Golden Mean 133 Card title, last card of The Golden Mean [GM19S] 134 Close Reading G9G Letter - Minnaloushe sequence (includes G9G, G10S, G12S, G13G)

Psge 129135 �Running to and fro the Moon� [G13G]

The Minnaloushe variances have several effects. They are fun, they create an interesting side character, and they inform our perception of Griffin�s character. However, their other effect is to buttress the Yeats connection. The increased use of �The Second Coming� already gives Yeats more weight in the CD-Rom than the book. Despite their whimsical tone, the Minnaloushe additions add to the poem�s dark and brooding authority in the interactive piece. There is one more significant effect of the Minnaloushe variance that directly addresses the central question of whether the interactivity in Ceremony of Innocence adds to the experience of story in this experience. The authors of the CD-Rom appear to have identified in Minnaloushe an opportunity to inject additional narrative expressivity within the interactive game play. The additions take the form of small narrative experiences, the nature of which we will review in more detail in the close reading and in the conclusions. Other variances A fourth variance is more particular and less systemic. The CD-Rom�s Self-Portrait card [F17S] is radically different from the equivalent in the book (GS17S). The book has a beautiful and mysterious painting, while the CD-Rom version is a flock of birds that form a female face. We see in the close reading section137 that the change serves a narrative function, although something is lost by the substitution for the original image. Finally, the last card of the second book, Sabine�s Notebook (Dark Angel [SN20S]) becomes the first card of the third movement of Ceremony (Dark Angel [S1S]). This makes sense in terms of the relationship of the media-specific attributes of the two works to their respective narrative arcs.

136 �The Cat and the Moon�

Psge 130137 In �Transformation and Gameplay�, p. 44