Page 113 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

Cervantes’s novel into an interactive story. In the eld of non-digital games we have Aquelarre, Juego de Rol demoniáco-medieval (Ibáñez Ortí, 1990), whose world is inspired by medieval Spain; instead of resorting to the hackneyed stereotypes that usually borrow from Tolkien’s worlds, it draws on the legends of the Iberian peninsula such as the Castilian goblins and Galician water nymphs. A more recent video game, Maldita Castilla (2012), takes place in Old Castile and combines arcade games with medie- val paintings, illustrations of codices and the chivalric novel Amadís de Gaula (1508). These three examples show how it is possible to create successful commercial games without necessar- ily falling back on the commonplaces so often found in mainstream games, as we have a rich history and mythology that can be explored interactively.telling can start with a novel and be extended through lms, television shows, comics, video games and even toys and theme parks (Jenkins 2006: 95–96). The nature of transmedia stories is in keeping with the trend for participating in and exploring the media, cybertexts which requirea certain e ort to be read – an e ort which in this case means having to piece together the di erent parts of the story.Video games make it possible to participate, manipulate and experiment within the ctional world of a transmedia story.In the production of commercial media this phenomenon is usually referred to as media fran- chises whereby the main story becomes a brand that is licensed to producers in di erent media to develop their own stories. The di erence between franchises and transmedia storytelling lies in the fact that transmedia stories aim at keeping a coordinated narrative coherence so that each media incarnation provides a di erent viewpoint or plot line, but always within the same narrative world and contributing to the whole. Jenkins analysed The Matrix saga (1999) as an example of transmedia, in which the original lm has given rise not only to sequels but to a series of animated shorts, The Animatrix (2003), and three video games (Enter The Matrix (2003), The Matrix: Path of Neo (2005) and The Matrix Online (2005)). In each medium, the viewer / reader / player can follow a di erent part of the story, from the antecedents to the events ofthe original lm to playing the main character’s collaborators.Video games make it possible to participate, manipulate and experiment within the ctional world of a transmedia story, and are sometimes its origin, such as the Assassin’s Creed (2007) franchise, which enables players to visit detailed versions of various cities through the world. Valiant Hearts: The Great War (2014), another game by Ubisoft, takes place during the First World War and sets the ctitious story of various soldiers in various real theatres of the war,Windmill level in Maldita Castilla (2012).Let us now take a look at how games are helping bring about this change of attitude with respect to other already established cultural expressions such as theatre and cinema, and museum visits.Transmedia storytellingThe concept of transmedia storytelling has spread thanks to the work of Henry Jenkins. According to the de nition, transmedia storytell- ing is a story that unfolds across multiple media platforms, with each new text making a distinc- tive contribution to the whole. Transmedia story-AC/E DIGITAL CULTURE ANNUAL REPORT 2017113Smart culture. Analysis of digital trends