Charlie Brooker's BLACK MIRROR

I had to stop watching last night and wondered if it'd save all my choices when I restarted. apparently it does!

this was a semi-literary (half-literary, half-pulpy) attempt at a recent CYOA which was worth a read

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Be-Not-Chooseable-Path-Adventure/dp/0735212198/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1546098189&sr=8-3&keywords=ryan+north

he did "romeo and/or juliet" too
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Romeo-Juliet-Ryan-North/dp/0356508536/ref=pd_sbs_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0356508536&pd_rd_r=742609aa-0b80-11e9-8210-ed08ba772cb1&pd_rd_w=xjzYS&pd_rd_wg=oOt6c&pf_rd_p=18edf98b-139a-41ee-bb40-d725dd59d1d3&pf_rd_r=4N1MK93MDEH9ZV9QSS58&psc=1&refRID=4N1MK93MDEH9ZV9QSS58

There are a few other CYOA for adults. Alina Reyes' Behind Closed Doors and Life's Lottery by Kim Newman come to mind.

I think the reason why there aren't that many literary CYOA books is because the format is naturally ludic, which doesn't gel with a lot of literature. Even Oulipo's ludic qualities are more to do with creation than reception. Elements that make up CYOA are, however, pretty frequently used in literary & avant-garde fiction: non-linearity, metafic, hypertextuality, etc. There's some interesting stuff on Milorad Pavic and hyperfiction here, though the English is a little stilted.

Anyway, I thought this was a lot of fun. I don't really expect Black Mirror to be anything other than "entertaining dystopian sci-fi" and it still surprises me to see people criticise it for not being more than that. Like, no, Brooker's not even close to being a genius, but this is p fun, right????

in a real CYOA, you'd never hit a story-ender that fast.

Ha, I've definitely experienced 1-choice story-enders in modern IF takes on CYOA. So perhaps not period-appropriate but definitely *a thing*.

Yeah, one of the things I liked was that some choices ended quickly like I remember the books doing.

interesting, emil.y. will read that link.

I have not watched this but as someone who writes choose-your-own-adventure things, as someone who finds Black Mirror a bit too on-the-nose in general, and most importantly as someone who has seen the marvel of interactive cinema that is "I'm Your Man," I am a bit skeptical

(also there is plenty of literary fiction with interactive elements, and plenty of interactive games with literary elements, although not always CYOA as such, and a lot of it is lost to now-outdated technology. most recently, Kate Atkinson's Life After Life so very much wanted to be but wasn't quite there)

basically a lot of the Discourse is starting to strongly resemble old rec.arts.int-fiction arguments, and no one wants that

in a real CYOA, you'd never hit a story-ender that fast.

Dude I remember the "you are a ninja" one where early on in the book if you choose to train exclusively in the dark it ended almost immediately after someone blinds you with a bright light and kills you

lol

Finally got through all the Bandersnatch possibilities.

The "Netflix is controlling me" option was hilarious

first watch culminated in the 'dies on a train with mom' ending. after the acid trip / netflix deconstructions, returning to an ending where you were asked to have emotional investment in the 'character' felt pretty stale

then saw the ending where, after the Netflix/Program-And-Control themes that are ostensibly about your control over the character, the programmer turns around and tells his therapist that his solution to finish the game was to add lots of 'choices' which don't actually branch, increasing the illusion of free will while in fact maximizing the control over the player. then Colin's daughter shows up to design the Netflix game you've just been played by, and that's the only ending where you get a five star review. even with five branched endings, you're in a funnel: as meta-messages go for a TV show, I'm fine with that one

https://www.thewrap.com/black-mirror-bandersnatch-post-credits-scene-secret-ending-easter-egg-tuckersoft-spectrum-bus/

no masterpiece, but the gaming episodes of this show do a fair job of bridging the spectacular divide in popular culture between gamers / non-gamers, so that's my lens for these

as someone who writes choose-your-own-adventure things

I didn't know you did this! Are you a commercial author of such things or is there stuff to try out online?

The tape plays some…rather unpleasant sounds, and the scene ends. You can listen to it here. So that’s weird! For a minute nobody was sure what it meant, but then some enterprising individuals figured out that the sound is actually data, and the tape is for a ZX Spectrum computer — the computer that Stefan was making his game on.

'enterprising' or 'over 40 years old'. i got this 'bonus' first time around, and recognised the quintessential sound of my childhood, but i guess I'm not enterprising as i didn't think it might be real speccy code.

I think it may have tipped their inclusion of this particular Tomita album as well

http://www.isaotomita.net/recordings/bermuda.html

The computer encoded signals found on this album are in a format known as TARBEL. Using this system, messages may be encoded in a recording via audio signals. The TARBEL format was used as a way to save data onto an audio cassette recorder in the mid to late 1970s before the IBM PC and hard disk drives. The sound is familiar to anyone who has used an old tape interface (lots of 'piii's and 'gaaa's!) and can be decoded with a computer programmed to recognise the TARBEL system.

xp -- "commercial" in the sense that I've been paid for it but the specifically CYOA thing is not done/online yet

I went for Phaedra (my own soundtrack to being alone in my room at 17) but curious to see how different this might be in mood with the Tomita soundtrack choice, regardless of other paths.

went with tomita and stopped due to boredom

So typical of Brooker/this show to not just try to design a fun or engaging game/experience and instead make it A Statement about the form and Society, Maaaaan, and then also include dialogue lampshading the fact that it's not fun. fuck off

A Statement about the form

the netflix ending was the most fun.

and Society

did not get this impression at all.

no, for once it wasn't really about that. Just a good Sci fi that played with conventions

enh, I definitely picked up distinct notes of What Have We Become scorn from the "oh, you want entertainment, you rubes?!" but I grant that I may have been looking for it

the reaction from us was "lol people on LSD were ranting nonsense and lead character who suffered trauma and is medicating for it either had a break with reality or Colin was prescient" and nothing bigger than that.

it's cool black mirror guys are making fmv games now i thought they were due a comeback

rather play night trap

I was on the fence with this through most of it, but after plugging through a few times until “the end?” with (minor spoiler) that Laurie Anderson song, I came out of it actually thinking it was p. cool/interesting/touching. Though maybe no small part of that is me being totally moved by that fucking song in any context.

That was the first ending I got and the only one that was at all satisfying, though tbh it felt like a bit of a Donnie Darko retread

Yeah, that ending wasn’t super WOW Didn’t See That Comin! or anything, but after digging through multiple endings, it felt good n right. Might’ve felt differently if it was the very first one I hit.

Enjoyed this more after explaining away the weak points as a loving tribute to the limitations of trad CYOAs:

- Seemingly reasonable choice leads to early failure: anyone who ever played a Fighting Fantasy book will get a fuzzy nostalgic feeling when this happens

- Cycle of backtracking/trying a different choice in the hope it goes somewhere: see above

- If you can go back and change the past, why not make a change that actually fixes things: same reason you can't get drunk and do karaoke at the Star and Wizard Tavern

ok, i haven't watched "black mirror" because actual existence is sufficiently horrifying in ways i actively avoid thinking about, but the revival of the "mr. payback" approach to film has me interested.

"It is strange that no child of the '80s has attempted a literary take on CYOA. Unless they have and I missed it?

― Number None"

yeah, you missed it - jimmy maher (who is very knowledgable on ludic narrative) did a write-up on an example:

https://www.filfre.net/2017/02/the-eastgate-school-of-serious-hypertext/

i went on a sort of cyoa trawl a couple years back and a website by an aficionado of the genre opined that "life's lottery" by kim newman was the best book of that type, and the only one to hold up as genuine literature. impressed, i promptly bought a kindle copy. haven't touched it yet.

"The tape plays some…rather unpleasant sounds, and the scene ends. You can listen to it here. So that’s weird! For a minute nobody was sure what it meant, but then some enterprising individuals figured out that the sound is actually data, and the tape is for a ZX Spectrum computer — the computer that Stefan was making his game on.

'enterprising' or 'over 40 years old'. i got this 'bonus' first time around, and recognised the quintessential sound of my childhood, but i guess I'm not enterprising as i didn't think it might be real speccy code.

― large bananas pregnant (ledge)"

fyi, radiohead put a zx spectrum program on the bonus tape that came with the ok computer reissue last year

I was on the fence with this through most of it, but after plugging through a few times until “the end?” with (minor spoiler) that Laurie Anderson song, I came out of it actually thinking it was p. cool/interesting/touching. Though maybe no small part of that is me being totally moved by that fucking song in any context.

― circa1916, Monday, December 31, 2018 2:48 AM (ten hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah this was the best one

does everyone eventually end up at the laurie Anderson ending ?
I had a few 'false' endings, and was prompted to have another go, until I got to that laurie Anderson end at which point I had no more options.

does everyone eventually end up at the laurie Anderson ending ?
I had a few 'false' endings, and was prompted to have another go, until I got to that laurie Anderson end at which point I had no more options.

Didn't work that way for me, Laurie Anderson did the soft reset. Mine was

SPOILERS

Thinks Netflix is controllingbhim, has action sequence with psychiatrist, dragged off by dad into car
Laurie Anderson ending, dies on psychiatrist's chair
Is part of giant conspiracy, kills dad, dog digs up dad, goes to prison, game gets 2.5/5 because of the notoriety

I've assumed it just takes you through all the endings.
i didn't get to what happens if you find rabbit but still let your mum go to the later train without you?

I'd forgotten that other people didn't have a childhood soundtracked by spectrum loading noises!

"I'm defrosting mince"
i love that Dot Cotton guy

oh no wait, I'm dorky enough to re-run a bit of it from the start and if you don't follow Colin or talk about mother you get a couple of different options leading to a boring ending I hadn't seen before, but it prompted me to choose from key bits to go back to.

annoyingly it doesn't all hinge on if you choose Sugar Puffs like a psycho

when you watch the JFD video you do get an ad for whatever cereal you chose though

the O Superman bit was great, but it felt weirdly abrupt. maybe that's the nature of choose your own adventure. but if you're going to build a narrative where you can travel through time to be with your mother when she dies--a creepy and beautiful idea--there needs to be some groundwork.

it also felt against the mood of black mirror

if you refuse to follow colin twice, it eventually makes you.

It's pretty impressive how this is all put together, you don't get stuck on loops even though you can repeat the same choices twice and this is acknowledged without directly repeating the same footage ("I've told you this before", etc)

https://www.tuckersoft.net/ealing20541/nohzdyve/

bugger, was really hoping the download option was going to work and I could play the game.

I was wondering the same - i cant see how it would, as its just a "file". So I guess I'm not watching this.

you can upload and play the game here:

https://virtualconsoles.com/online-emulators/zx-spectrum/

I feel judged due to the fact I kept playing until I found a way to get the game rated 5/5 on the tv show, because... ratings are everything in the game industry, man

I kept being evasive with the shrink because she was played by Prevenge/Sightseers' Alice Lowe. that really slowed the narrative to a crawl.

lol me too. at first i tried to make choices that i thought the character would want to make (like he seemed reticent about sharing about his dead mom and the shrink seemed prying so i refused) but like you said that really stalled things. then i tried to take care of him to make sure he didn't hurt himself or kill anyone but the game really pushed hard to have him become a murderer too. i thought the train ending felt pretty butterfly effect'esque. the best ending was for sure the 5/5 rating ending and that also unlocked the contemporary game designer sequence.