Google Cardboard launched
Google Cardboard let people see simple 360-degree experiences by slipping their smartphones into a cardboard frame.
The player takes the role of a Police officer ruffling through fictional police footage to resolve right from wrong. A British woman is interviewed multiple times and it is up to the player to decide what happened and to string together the story.
Widely praised for its storytelling, Her Story showed the power of using real-life actors in a video game, blending the two together to make players feel like an investigator looking through VHS footage.
Sam Barlow, Creator of Her Story
The user interface adds to the immersion by convincing the player that they are sitting at an older PC in a police station through artificial screen glare from the strip lights within the room to brief glimpses of the character’s face in the monitor.
Related reading
Interactive storytelling allows for the audience to develop a narrative based on their own choices. Shaping the way a story unfolds and offering an almost wholly unique experience to each user. For more information on the topic, have a look at: ‘Introduction to Interactive Storytelling‘ by Marc Cavazza and R. Michael Young.