Production Work Report 1
For weeks four and five, I have spent the time researching current environmental issues plaguing our world to ensure the topics found in the interactive comic story are relevant. I have also begun bringing the story/plot and scripting to fruition. The plot of the story tackles issues regarding air pollution, water pollution, and recycling. Since the age demographic is primarily geared towards elementary school and middle school age children, the topics are rather straightforward, however, they are integrated into the story in a fun and engaging manner. I typed up the plot in a Photoshop document that outlines the story overall from beginning to end. This took a few hours of research and ideation.
As noted in the plot, the story is told in nonlinear format through a sequence of illustrations within comic book panels. However, instead of reading left to right in a standard book, the story is told from one comic panel to the next, sort of like a point-and-click game. Each panel is made interactive through the user clicking on various objects. The number of clickable objects increases the further the user progresses through the story. Clicking on a given object triggers the next panel. If the object the player chooses is incorrect, or, non-conducive to the environment in this case, the player/user will still progress, however, they will have to click back to the choices again. For example, if the user chooses the car ride, which could pollute the air via gasoline, it will proceed to a panel of the cat riding in the car, but maybe she gets a little car sick (done in a harmless, somewhat humorous way) making it clear to the user that they should choose the more environmentally friendly option, which would be going for a walk. This will effectively progress the player through the comic story. Once the cat is on a walk, she sees another opportunity to help the environment, so on and so forth.
Attached below is a rough draft script. This took about 6 hours of research, ideation, as well as figuring out plot development and number of scenes needed to tell the whole story. The concepts explored in the script are understandable and easy to follow for the younger age demographic it is intended for. While the correct choices are obvious, the incorrect choices are interactive to spark the player’s curiosity if they clicked on it. Thus, every interactive object in each panel is cause and effect. One thing leads to another. While some panels contain multiple clickable objects, most often there is solely one object for the user to select to progress to the next panel/scene in the story.
In addition to these, I am also working on a map that represents the interactions between different nodes in the story. I will have that updated and shared with this post sometime this week. Overall, production is coming along nicely now that I have a plot script to refer to for proceeding with the illustrative process. This includes character development/design as well as laying out panels. These panels will be drawn out by hand and then digitally inked and colored in the coming several weeks.
(Keep in mind the plot synopsis above was created before the story script, so the ending in the script itself has been slightly altered.)