The Presentation Abhishek Tayal Premise Story of the

The Presentation Abhishek Tayal

Premise Story of the Greenbriar family: Katie returns home after a year in Europe to an empty house. Where is everyone? The game uses Katie’s desire for answers as a driver to delve into the lives of her sister Samantha, her parents Terry and Jan, and her great Uncle Oscar Masan. Each member of the family has a largely independent story. But they intersect at some key points.

Terry Greenbriar • A Failed Writer • Now Reviews Tech Products • A drunkard? • Abused by Oscar Masan as a child?

Jan Greenbrier • Not much is said about her • Having an affair with a colleague from work?

Oscar Masan • Sam and Katie’s great uncle • Was the original owner of Arbor Hill • Was the ‘psycho’ referred to • Abused Terry? • Committed suicide by Morphine OD? • His spirit haunts Arbor Hill?

Samantha Greenbrier • Main story arc of the game • Adjustment issues with new house & school • Meets and falls in love with a girl from school • Parents disapprove of relationship • Both of them run away together • Most hopeful storyline in the game

Traditional Vs. Exploratory Narrative • Tends to incorporate both • The main story: Sam & Lonnie’s love story tends to be largely traditional through the journal entries. • Every other subplot is largely exploratory. From each of the other character arcs, to other non-essential details about Sam & Lonnie, we must put stories together based on items we find around the house.

Narrativity Vs. Interactivity • Always believed to be inversely proportional • Gone Home seems to fly in the face of that belief • Highly Interactive • Excellent, Powerful Narrative • How is this possible. . ?

• The entire story has already taken place • No story progression during duration of game • We are simply investigating what already happened • As a result, in spite of near total freedom, we aren’t influencing the narrative. • Except for in one way. . .

Level of Detail • Amount of narrative uncovered depends on time spent exploring • It is possible to finish the game in 5 minutes • One can spend 10 -15 hours if one really wants to learn all the stories • This is in contrast to most games. • The level of detail in the house is astounding.

How I Felt • Far more invested than in most games – Excellent Narrative – Highly Interactive • Far more immersed than in most games – Great solution to Problem Of Amnesia – Highly Interactive • Qualms: – Switching on the light everywhere – Kind of anticlimactic

Questions?