Bandersnatch: What Went Untold

Artist Statement and Acknowledgements:

 A simple definition of a story used in this assignment is a narrative that unfolds. The creative choices that influenced this piece include Finite and Infinite Games, where we learn that in Infinite Games, players play until there is no more surprise. 1 This piece takes note of this and, after each of the three possible endings, asks players if they are satisfied (ceasing play) or if they want to play again. This piece also pulls from the class experience of playing Bandersnatch; as the wheel of chance decided how we would make choices and the game railroaded players, the definition of an interactive story became more nuanced. This piece uses artist mitigation and rail-roading to emphasize the complex role of control in interactive storytelling.2 Lastly, this piece pulls from the artist's Bandersnatch play reflection, where scenes of the game and players' interactions with them are compared to the 'Observer Effect' where observing a particle affects its behaviour. The different structures in Bandersnatch and this piece are like pictures spread out, floating over the story's time and space, and when we engage with them they begin to act as space-time events.3 The thematic arguments of co-creation are emphasized in this game and hopefully, readers will receive the experience as a possibility of what co-creation, collaboration, and shared control can look like in an interactive story. For example, in this piece, the story is between the players and the game as well as between the artist through artist mitigation, adding to our number of possible co-creators within interactive storytelling. This interactivity plays a role in the thematic arguments of co-creation, collaboration, and shared control as it shows how different forces (the game structure, artist, players) can act on each other - which is a core component of interactive storytelling. 

1. Carse, James P., “Finite and Infinite Games.” (1986) 

2. A.E. Oswort, “Play Lab: Bandersnatch”, CRWR 312: Interactive Storytelling (class lecture, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, September 28, 2023) 

3. N. Afsharpour, " Bandersnatch Play Reflection." (2023)