This thesis is focusing on the emotion of fear in conjunction with an interactive narrative experience. It analyses the emotional scope fear entails as well as discusses different narrative formats and interactivity in terms of agency. Through extensive research on the topic at hand, multiple prototypes is developed focusing on expressing different variations of fear while experimenting with the narrative structure and interactive elements available through the software Twine. Based on this, conclusions were made on the complexity of designing for an emotion and the difficulty in reaching more intense feelings of fear. There was also a struggle of balancing interactivity with narrative while also designing for a frightening experience. Lastly, final conclusions were made on the prototypes abilities to produce frightening responses, which ultimately showed signs towards lesser feelings of fear, such as nervousness, anxiety and trepidation.

This thesis consists of a preface and three original short stories. The preface explores the idea that narrative designthe shape or structureof a story may become a literary motif in its own right. The three stories included are creative nonfiction and each employs a distinct modular design. The themes of the stories revolve around personal identity and values; families and marriage; and creative empowerment.

This project started with the Taiwanese�s Cultural & Creative Industries Policy, which demands that all new products include local cultural content. However, little is known about Taiwanese cultures. This research looked specifically at one of the cultures, the Paiwanese Tribe. This thesis reports on the research journey; identifying what the Paiwanese knew about their culture and why they were unable to produce traditional products. It argues that the displacement of the tribe has made it materially impossible to continue traditional practices. This research then identified ways of capturing spirit of traditional culture using modern technology. A successful model of working with crafts people workshops in discussed. A case is made for the use of narrative enquiry and oral history to record Paiwanese understanding. These understandings were translated into a design outcome using a design method called narrative design. The success of this research suggests that such an approach is one model that can be used in design using new technologies and materials from the re-establishment method of traditional products. The understanding generated for regaining traditional craft knowledge is extended with the design of a tea set that draws on this traditional knowledge, narrative and culture. The tea set represents this knowledge for a global market. It is argued that the design process used can guide design that transforms the culture message and delivers it for a wide audience. This design concept process is a model that can be used to develop cultural products.

The research aims to investigate how the 2D slot game “Lucky Hero”, created for this research, could convey the story of Beowulf. The result of this study could provide experience and strategy for improving narrative design in casual games with similar mechanics. Also, this study is valuable to developers/designers who want to explore the potential of using casual games, especially slot games, as a storytelling tool. To answer the research question “How could the 2D slot game Lucky Hero convey the story of Beowulf”, a “research for design” qualitative study was conducted. The researchers examined theories related to narrative design, design in slot machine games, and folk mythology to develop the game. Playtests followed by interviews and adapted stimulation recall were used as data collection methods, and thematic analysis was used as the data analysis technique. The findings revealed that the existing design of "Lucky Hero" was not capable of effectively conveying the story of Beowulf to players. However, the study identified key elements that influenced players' understanding, such as graphics and game mechanics. The future narrative design of “Lucky Hero” should focus on improving immersion, character representation, and the connection between game mechanics and the story.

In Between: A Journey of Cultural Integration is a multimedia art installation that tells the story of a Korean girl’s cultural integration journey. The story was inspired from my personal experience of moving from South Korea to the U.S. In the 12’ x 14’ room, the narrative was delivered by media. The story was introduced by the projected text of a diary on a book in the middle of the room. The images that were projected on all four walls enhanced the narrative. The each viewer was forced to experience the installation alone and experience the loneliness of the journey. The successful collaboration between scenic and media was important for creating a cohesive design for this project. I worked with several projection designers to create the narrative development. Throughout the process, the boundary between scenic design and media design became blurry and I and my collaborators became a creative team as a whole. This project was intended to share my personal story of cultural integration with a broader audience by inviting them to have a different perspective view towards the immigration community in America. It also became my personal challenge to create a space that could tell a story without an actor. / text

[pt] A narrativa é um elemento essencial para o ser humano. Narrar eventos e registrar fatos é uma forma de garantir sentido à existência do indivíduo. O jogo eletrônico, por sua vez, é uma mídia que tem causado ampla repercussão nos últimos anos. O panorama dos jogos demonstra que a partir de seus feitos econômicos, essa modalidade de obra digital gradualmente se consolidou como um elemento de expressão e cultura contemporânea. Em razão de seus gêneros, os jogos assumem diferentes formas e proporcionam variadas mecânicas de interação para engajar seus jogadores. Uma destas formas ocorre por meio da história do jogo. Por este motivo, ao longo do tempo, determinados jogos se tornaram marcos em razão de suas narrativas. Surge, portanto, a indagação: O que exatamente é a narrativa de um jogo? Como é criada e transmitida? Por que é elogiada por jogadores? Por fim, como potencializar a experiência de uso nos jogos eletrônicos a partir de sua narrativa? Para investigar estas questões, a pesquisa adotou como objetivo analisar a relação entre narrativa (em sua concepção geral) e a mídia do jogo. Para tanto, com base principalmente nos conceitos de Bomfim, Salen e Zimmerman, Bakhtin e Ricoeur, define-se o que é Design, Jogo, Gênero e Narrativa com vistas à conexão entre estes temas no âmbito do design de jogos eletrônicos. Em seguida, são apresentados os resultados de uma pesquisa de campo realizada com jogadores e analisados aqueles destacados pelos entrevistados por conta de suas narrativas. Ao final, é promovida uma reflexão acerca da relação design de jogos e design de narrativa. Conclui-se que a narrativa abrange uma definição particular dentro da mídia dos jogos e que é possível potencializar a experiência de uso nos jogos eletrônicos por meio do encadeamento entre a história e as mecânicas de participação do jogo. / [en] Narrative is an essential element of human life. Narrating events and recording facts are ways of ensuring meaning to the existence of any individual. Electronic games, in turn, are a medium that has caused widespread repercussion in recent years. The gaming landscape became widely known due to its economic achievements, but gradually, games established themselves as a digital representation of expression and contemporary culture. Because of their genres, games take different forms and provide varied interaction mechanics that engage their players. One of these possibilities is through the game’s story. Therefore, throughout the years, some of them became landmarks because of their narratives. In light of this scenario, certain questions arise: What exactly is a game’s narrative? How is it created and transmitted? Why is it praised by players? Finally, how is it possible to leverage the experience of electronic games from a narrative perspective? To investigate these issues, this research chose to analyze the relationship between narrative (in its overall definition) and the game medium. Based primarily on the studies of Bomfim, Salen and Zimmerman, Bakhtin, and Ricoeur, the theoretical foundation of this work proposes definitions for Design, Game, Genre, and Narrative, as well as their connections to the topic of game design. In sequence, the results of a research conducted with players reveals their views regarding narrative and which games stand out. Lastly, in order to connect all concepts discussed, the work reflects on the relationship between game design and narrative design. The conclusion is that narrative dons a unique definition within the game medium and the interweaving of game mechanics and game story is especially apt at enhancing the player experience.

With nineteen years of democracy behind us, South Africa has experienced uncountable changes within its borders and on various playing fields. One of the most memorable changes, in my opinion, was in education. This motivated me to embark on a study about the responses of Heads of Departments (HoDs) to curriculum changes. I especially wanted to focus on the management of those changes. The focus on HoDs arose from the devolution of responsibility from the principal to the HoD with regard to curriculum change. This uninterrupted cycle of curriculum change that South Africa is experiencing occupies the HoDs to a large extent. They have to ensure that the changes take place as smoothly as possible with as little resistance as possible. In order to accomplish this, one would think that the HoD would be trained in managing a department and curriculum changes. This is unfortunately not the case, and they are following their own guidelines that they have constructed through trial and error. This study was conducted through a narrative design within a qualitative framework, allowing me to give a voice to those who have none. It required me to have focus group interviews, which laid the foundation for my semi-structured interview. The use of documents assisted with the crystallisation of the data. This research was conducted in the Lady Frere district of the Eastern Cape. There were two sets of HoDs from different schools, and one participant willing to participate in a semi-structured interview. The purpose of this study was to find out what guidelines HoDs had constructed by looking at HoDs’ responses to, and management of curriculum changes since 2005. It became very clear that there is some confusion about what is expected of the HoD during the change process and the HoDs in this study felt it better to follow traditional methods of teaching, as this was all they knew. However, the focus on producing quality education was very important to them. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

This study set out to explore how Official Development Assistance was practised in South Africa. An exploratory narrative design was followed to uncover the ‘strategy in the skin’ of strategy practitioners in the unit of analysis and to respond, therefore, to the research questions. This study has contributed to the body of knowledge in that it has brought together an alternative confluence of three theoretical perspectives of strategy as practice; complex adaptive systems and organisational hypocrisy and has explored the impact of the practice lens on these standpoints. While there has been extensive research on each of the theoretical perspectives, there has not yet been a study that has drawn together the three perspectives in relation to an empirical unit of analysis such as Official Development Assistance practices and practitioners. The study responded to a knowledge gap in relation to how public sector organisations, such as government units and the strategy practitioners of such units, practice strategy beyond the reified, formalised conceptions of strategy and in relation to their inhabiting complex, political organisational systems. The study arrived at two central theoretical findings. Firstly, that strategising represents a calibration of strategic practices towards strategic outcomes through the activities of complex adaptive practitioners v within the more politically inclined organisation. Secondly, that beyond the text of strategy, there is sub-text that is equally part of the micro strategy towards strategic outcomes.The skilful and sometimes delicate balancing act, that strategists perform to legitimise the calibrated combinations of action and politics in organisational strategy, equally needs nuanced, subtle and more complex forms of organisational communication. The study, therefore, makes the claim that complex adaptive systems and the characteristics of political organisations (as not being geared to action) are inherently broadened through the multiple dimensions of the practice turn and strategy as sub-text. The research confirmed that strategy as practice is a useful lens to understand strategy beyond the formally documented scripts and espoused pronouncements of strategy within organisational studies / Business Management / D.B.L.

Creative Project Abstract: The creative project of this thesis is a script prototype for Underland, a crime drama video game and digital playable story that demonstrates writing and design methods for negotiating narrative and player agency. The story is set in October 2006 and players are investigative psychologists given access to a secure police server and tasked with analysing evidence related to two linked murders that have resulted in the arrest of journalist Silvi Moore. The aim is to uncover what happened and why by analysing Silvi’s flat, calendar of events, emails, texts, photos, voicemail, call log, 999 call, a map of the city of Plymouth and a crime scene. It is a combination of story exploration game and digital epistolary fiction that is structured via an authored fabula and dynamic syuzhet and uses the Internal-Exploratory and Internal-Ontological interactive modes to negotiate narrative and player agency. Its use of this structure and these modes shows how playable stories are uniquely positioned to deliver self-directed and empathetic emotional immersion simultaneously. The story is told in a mixture of enacted, embedded, evoked, environmental and epistolary narrative, the combination of which contributes new knowledge on how writers can use mystery, suspense and dramatic irony in playable stories. The interactive script prototype is accessible at underlandgame.com and is a means to represent how the final game is intended to be experienced by players. Thesis Abstract: This thesis considers writing and design methods for playable stories that negotiate narrative and player agency. By approaching the topic through the lens of creative writing practice, it seeks to fill a gap in the literature related to the execution of interactive and narrative devices as a practitioner. Chapter 1 defines the key terms for understanding the field and surveys the academic and theoretical debate to identify the challenges and opportunities for writers and creators. In this it departs from the dominant vision of the future of digital playable stories as the ‘holodeck,’ a simulated reality players can enter and manipulate and that shapes around them as story protagonists. Building on narratological theory it contributes a new term—the dynamic syuzhet—to express an alternate negotiation of narrative and player agency within current technological realities. Three further terms—the authored fabula, fixed syuzhet and improvised fabula—are also contributed as means to compare and contrast the narrative structures and affordances available to writers of live, digital and live-digital hybrid work. Chapter 2 conducts a qualitative analysis of digital, live and live-digital playable stories, released 2010–2016, and combines this with insights gained from primary interviews with their writers and creators to identify the techniques at work and their implications for narrative and player agency. This analysis contributes new knowledge to writing and design approaches in four interactive modes—Internal-Ontological, Internal-Exploratory, External-Ontological and External-Exploratory—that impact on where players are positioned in the work and how the experiential narrative unfolds. Chapter 3 shows how the knowledge developed through academic research informed the creation of a new playable story, Underland; as well as how the creative practice informed the academic research. Underland provides a means to demonstrate how making players protagonists of the experience, rather than of the story, enables the coupling of self-directed and empathetic emotional immersion in a way uniquely available to digital playable stories. It further shows how this negotiation of narrative and player agency can use a combination of enacted, embedded, evoked, environmental and epistolary narrative to employ dramatic irony in a new way. These findings demonstrate ways playable stories can be written and designed to deliver the ‘traditional’ pleasure of narrative and the ‘newer’ pleasure of player agency without sacrificing either.