INF533 – Assignment 2 Part A – 80 Days

80 days is an interactive narrative app (Jayanath, 2014) that reimages the classic literary novel Around the World in 80 days by Jules Verne (Verne, 2018). Released by Inkle Studios on IOS and Android in 2014 and for Mac and PC in 2015 (Jayanath, 2014). As an explicit criteria describing ‘what digital literature is’ is still evolving for the purpose of this review the app will be examined using the following areas as focuses; literary content, navigation, look and feel, functionality, and interactivity, as well as the overall effectiveness of all of these elements within a digital context.

80 days is an interactive, branching narrative app, which allows the reader to immerse themselves within the story. The reader becomes the player choosing and creating story paths and detours through interactions with people, places and situations. It utilises explicit affordances to move beyond the definition of an interactive eBook (Borowska, 2015) and move into the gaming arena.

Borowska (2015) describes an explicit affordance as an element that gives hints through language or physical appearance of the object. They abound throughout the 80 days app. Blue text appearing under the story text invites the player to choose an option for the next action/interaction.

Yellow text informs the player about the state of their relationship with Fogg and their own ever-changing character.

Labelled buttons allow the player to navigate the app with ease, choosing to explore, plan, depart, wait, converse, and/or visit the market or bank. This ability to interact and participate within the story is an element specific to digital literature (Skains, 2010).

Although the app is essentially an exquisitely rendered digital choose your own adventure book it does allow for a linear reading experience (Alexander, 2011). Participating players make thousands of decisions as Passeportart, branching into various new and unique story branches, but the ultimate direction of the literature is the same; circumnavigate the world in 80 days. The beauty of the App is the replay ability, the player can read and re-read the story multiple times, either on completion of the adventure or at any point in the story, allowing them to making multiple diversionary decisions that lead them through the story on a completely new and simultaneously engaging pathway(Jayanath, 2014).

The app’s intelligent design draws the player into Meg Jayanath’s steampunk 1800’s world. The simplistic rendering of the characters, cities visited and the world map using a 1920’s art deco design allow the player the construct their own understanding and meaning (Kitson, 2011). The beautiful graphics expertly support Jayanath’s extensive story arc’s and journey’s.

The strength of the app, like all good literature, remains the content. The branching and complex narratives allow the player unlimited control. The player takes on the character of Passeportart, Phineas Fogg’s valet. With each story junction, created by meeting a new character, entering a new place, exploring a new place or route the player is given multiple possible options to move forward. As mentioned above the App’s use of explicit affordances makes this navigation process both intuitive and easy to discover and use.

Jayanth, says she wants to try and tempt the player to make emotional, narrative decisions; rather than strategic ones. (“Don’t Be A Hero – 80 Days the Game – The Literary Platform”, 2018)

This simple statements underpins the strengths of this interactive, immerse digital literature. The reader becomes the player and the player becomes a part of the world. The pattern affordance of Fogg’s affection in the shape of a heart begins to take on ever increasing importance (Borowska, 2015). The player weighs their need for Fogg’s approval with their want to explore a new city or travel by a certain convenience. This level of participation and interaction is a pure delight and an example of the heights that digital literature can achieve (Kitson, 2011).

Jayanth and the Inkle team have created an app that sets a high bar for other branching narrative apps. The strength of the app remains the complex, well-written and executed story itself. At its core it is a piece of literature, players still need to read the text to participate in the story, like traditional print literature, but its application within the digital context has added layers of meaning, motivation and participation that allows the player to immerse themselves into the life of Passeportart and his journey around the world in 80 days.

References

 Alexander, B. (2011). Storytelling: A tale of two generations, Chapter 1. In The new digital storytelling: Creating narratives with new media. ABC-CLIO. Retrieved

Borowska, P. (2015). 6 types of digital affordance that impact your UX. UX Design. Retrieved from http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2015/04/6-types-of-digital-affordance-that-impact-your-ux/

Don’t Be A Hero – 80 Days the Game – The Literary Platform. (2018). Retrieved from http://theliteraryplatform.com/magazine/2014/07/dont-be-a-hero-80-days-the-game/

Jayanath, M. (2014). 80 days [Mobile application software]. Retrieved from https://play.google.com/store

Kitson, L. (2011). Reconceptualising understandings of texts, readers and contexts: One english teacher’s response to using multimodal texts and interactive whiteboards. English in Australia, 46(3).

Skains, R.L. (2010). The shifting author-reader dynamic: online novel communities as a bridge from print to digital literature. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 16(1), 95–111 DOI: 10.1177/1354856509347713. Retrieved from http://con.sagepub.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/content/16/1/95.full.pdf+html

Verne, J. (2018). Around The World in 80 Days. La Vergne: Dreamscape Media.