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Neurons! An interactive animation.
🕑 Added 2015-08-31 21:49:06 +0000 UTC You know how Parable of the Polygons was basically a half-game half-blog-post? I've been thinking about what other mediums we could inject interactivity into. One in particular, I think might be a great candidate: edu-videos, like CGP Grey, Minute Physics, or Vi Hart!This is my prototype of just that, an interactive animation about neurons:
http://ncase.me/neuron-prototype/
It's basically a sandbox, but with a Bastion-like narrator that guides you through it. And by Bastion-like, I mean it just responds to your actions, because my voice is not soothing at all. What do you think? Was it effective? Or was the voice and/or constantly-available sandbox too distracting?
I'm just trying this approach out, because after my last few rounds of playtests of I'd Like To Be A Machine, it was becoming more and more obvious it just wasn't working, even after several iterations, and I needed to switch strategies. So, I'm exploring this new "interactive animation" format, see if that's a good fit.
[Here was the last iteration of I'd Like To Be A Machine, in case you're curious.]
Thank you again so much for supporting me! Those of you who responded to the backer survey are credited in the above prototype, and you'll be credited again once the actual thing is out. ;) (if you missed the survey, last chance, here it is!)
<3
~ Nicky Case
// Let's see how Patreon's post-creator messes up the HTML this time...
Comments
Delrian
Not sure why you thought the interactive blog post wasn't working, the iteration here looks good to me. The prototype felt a bit like a game, which is good, but one of the advantages of the blog post format is that you could revisit the earlier sections just by scrolling up. Could add forward/back buttons or a scroll bar like a normal video.
David Rysdam
Am I supposed to have a plugin or something? The "LOADING" image just sits there. FF 40 on Linux.....Ah, works in Chromium.
Nicky Case
Thanks Jason! Absolutely, going to add context (maybe a minimal bit of personal backstory) to it. I'm keeping my options open for now, but I'm thinking a good topic would be anxiety (how it's created/how it's treated), since that was -- still is -- a big part of my life.
Jason Bakker
I really liked this! I feel like (from a learning perspective) maybe some kind of context would really help me understand and cement in what's going on; eg. what this brain that I'm playing around with is thinking about, and how strengthening/weakening certain pathways is affecting specific thought patterns or memories. That's a whole huge addition, but it'd be fun to play around with, and hopefully thought-provoking (oops).
