During the beginning stages of this module, I admittedly struggled with creating a new original narrative that would be suitable to develop into a digital story. I explored using numerous pre-existing ideas of mine that I’ve personally developed to be used in potential projects, however, these ended up being way too broad in scope, and would not allow for a satisfying story that could be told within the 10-minute maximum timeframe for the video showcase upload.
The initial concept I was initially planning to use is very different to the current idea I have. It would still have been presented as an RPG, but thematically and design-wise it is very different.
This story would have followed a teen/young adult who lives in a dense forest town’s club resort. One day they are accidentally recruited into the town’s local Sheriff Station/Ranger Hut, and given nothing but an old Scout uniform and a torch, he is tasked with patrolling the town and forests as there have been strange happenings occurring around the area. Throughout the journey, he meets new friends and is transported to otherworldly dimensions filled with strange creatures and enigmatic landscapes, and eventually, they all begin to appreciate the world around them a bit more – their own world.
Inspirations for this narrative concept are drawn from my real-life experiences of staying at the countryside resort Slaley Hall in Saley (North England) throughout my childhood and teen years with my mother’s side of the family, as well as my love for the show ‘Twin Peaks’.
I actually would love to develop this idea much further and release it as a fully-fledged RPG, however the scope I’ve envisioned for it is just too grand for the restrictions of this module and its 10-minute coverage video submission limit. Because of this, I brainstormed ideas for a production I could use as an alternative that could offer a more condensed but rich narrative and playtime.
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As my previous idea is more heartfelt in terms of the narrative as a whole and setting, my next idea adopted silly and comedic theming to contrast the tone and seriousness of my Final Major Project’s numerous incorporated graphic novels that are more personal. I’ve forever loved humor and nonsensicalness since a child, so I also wanted to do this for the fun factor.
Titled ‘Punching Babies Inc.’, this story would have followed a man trying to bring down his brother’s new start-up company of the same name that seemingly exists to make profit out of simply punching real babies repeatedly in their faces. After an array of slapstic violence and puns, the hero brother almost manages to bring down his brother’s company, until the ending twist is revealed – the babies are actually future bad people like criminals, racists and radicals, so the company punches them in their faces to punish them in advance. This causes the protagonist brother to step away and give up his mission without realising the blatant paradox the company is actually manufacturing (they are the ones turning the babies into bad people).
This idea was born after watching prank/social-experiment videos on YouTube where content creators would go in public with a pram and punch a fake but real-looking baby, as the absurdity and implied atrocity was hilarious to me. Whilst I would have again loved to produce this concept as this assignment’s submission, there were some problems holding me back. Mainly, I found it difficult to have enough plot points to make it a satisfying and cohesive narrative, and I didn’t want to end up making something that is just lacking. I also thought that even though I and others may find this type of non-graphic slapstic violence and stupid overall plot to be humorous, I can definitely see how it could potentially offend others if they couldn’t catch on to the intention or view it with the correct context in mind (I don’t actually want to punch babies in the slightest).
My final idea ended up being the best option to develop for my submission: its plot wasn’t too broad a subject but had just enough details to make into something cohesive, has a coherent identity and explores clearer themes. You can view a deep-dive of it on blog post 3.