This multimedia narrative shortlisted for the 2010 New Media Writing Prize combines a variety of genres and forms to tell an engaging story. This murder mystery brings the protagonist back to a mansion and boarding school to investigate her father’s untimely demise. The narrative and graphic design of this linear hypertext borrows heavily from the detective board game Clue (aka Cluedo), yet its treatment of the material using videogame interfaces, e-poetic deployment of its language, and smartly integrated multimedia keeps it from seeming cliché.
As you read it, note how portions of its prose are delivered in a decidedly non-prosaic fashion, through scheduled and kinetic delivery, with links and hotspots that portion the text in ways analogous to how verse breaks prose into units that draw attention to its features. Most importantly, keep in mind how the graphical information and textual behaviors are meaningful in the way they shape language.
Allow yourself to be drawn into this beautifully produced and powerfully immersive work.
Featured in: New Media Writing Prize 2010
