The 21 Steps

Summary:

The 21 Steps by Charles Cummings is based off the novel, The 39 Steps, by John Buchan. It follows the protagonist, Rick, who seems to be "the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time."  The reader follws him along an interactive map as he tries to find out why he is involved in this precarious situation that he is in.  Set in the modern day, Rick must travel around Europe to piece together the mystery that is unfolding around him.

Immersion and Interaction:

The fact that the screen and text appears on a map and follows the character’s steps makes the reader feel like they are there with the character in different spaces thus causing immersion in the story.  The quick blurbs of text also cause you, the reader, to create your own pace of the narrative by how fast you click and go through the story.  This interactivity is also brought about by the green bubbles that the reader can click to get extra information.

The Good:

1)     The map interface is immersive because it allows the reader to see where the character actually exists in space.

2)     The map interface is also interactive because the user was able to move the story forward at their pace by clicking on the page buttons and icons on the map.

3)     The simplicity of the narrative and the way it’s told in short bursts of text allow the user to be further engaged in this action packed story.

The Bad:

1)     The green arrows that were used to give more background to the story were not used enough. 

2)     The use of a 3D map or changing the speed the line moved might help immerse the player further.

3)     Background music or other uses of Audio would have helped make the story more immersive.

Whitney Carr

Idrees Rachaman

Richard Beeman

Jainan Sankalia