My Twine narrative relates to the last two websites I created. The setting is Berrybrook Burrow (the Quiet Year community). Instead of asking people for donations, the Queen (Gene Rerev Evergreen) now wants to throw a party to thank those who helped out: a Berrybrook Burrow Bash. The 40+ passages serve as an invitation to thank people for donating to the community, explain what will happen at the event, provide more information about the village, and allow anyone to RSVP. I used CSS to change the font, weight, spacing, and color of the text, as well as the color of the background.
I typed “queen” into the “who” category, which produced these results:
-queen is ready : In multiple passages, Gene says she is excited for the party
-queen is fond of comedy : There will be a comedy performance at the party
-queen is a vegetarian : Gene explains that she would go vegan if she could live off of leaves and berries
I typed “party” into the “what” category, which produced these results:
-party is may 15 : The date of the party is May 15th (first passage)
-party is not a party without piñatas : Gene made a giant piñata out of leaves for the party
-party is almost here : The last passage says “see you soon”
-party is playing with fire : The party includes a fire jumping ritual
I typed “soon” into the “when” category, which produced these results:
-soon is now? snake river conspiracy : In the “stories” passage, there is a scary story about “snake river”
-soon is now? ‘meat is murder’ : Gene says that “meat is murder” in the “animals” passage
-soon is too soon to introduce a new boyfriend to mom and dad : Gene explains that she wanted to introduce her boyfriend to her parents, but they died a few weeks before they met
I typed “forest” into the “where” category, which produced these results:
-forest is saved? : Gene thanks people for donating / saving the village
-forest is quite a story : Multiple passages contain stories about Berrybrook Burrow
-forest is the setting for many traditional : Gene explains that the forest (specifically the village square) is the perfect space for traditional dances, ceremonies, and rituals
I texted ten of my friends and asked them to send me a unique or uncommon name. The results became the names of the ten performers at the party: Rachella, Mari, Bastian, Anako, Hodge, Anita, Poppy, Jenaly, Zefara, and Boggol.
The cards I chose were “Accept advice,” “Don’t be afraid of things because they’re easy to do,” “What are the sections sections of? Imagine a caterpillar moving,” “Simply a matter of work” and “abandon normal instruments.” I turned some of these phrases into the final message/thank you (right before the RSVP passage). In an earlier passage, Gene mentioned that anything is possible with hard work. The drums in Berrybrook Burrow are made out of rocks and sticks, which is an abandonment of “normal instruments.”
I used Otter.ai to record a message that is meant to be from the former Queen’s daughter, Kalei. Because I was speaking randomly instead of reading from something, the result was repetitive and confusing. Here is the final message:
Kalei:
“Thank you everyone who helped, you're all amazing. We would love for you to join us at the party. It will be very cool. A good time. Fair fun time. Again, thank you very much. See you soon.”
Instead of recording a message for the former Queen’s other child as well, I typed his out. This was the original message from Alikè:
“Thank you all so much for donating to our community. We appreciate you and would love to see you at the party. It will be very fun. There will be music, dancing, and lots of food.”
I then entered this message into CharNG. After deleting a lot of the text from the result, I came up with this final message:
Alikè:
“Love to our community. We appreciate you. We appreciate you all so much for donating to our community. It will be very fun. There will be very fun. There will be music, dancing, and lots of food.”
I used the anagram generator to come up with a name for Gene’s fiancé. After typing “forest party” into the box, I was shown a lot of results. I chose “Faro Pert Sty” and turned that into “Faro Pertsty.”
In one passage, Gene’s fiancé, Faro Pertsty, thanked the people who donated to Berrybrook Burrow. Because his English is not too great, I used multiple generators to create a slightly confusing message. I shuffled through the predictive writer to come up with his first sentence:
“I hope that you can feel all the love my beings form for you folks.”
I used N+7 to create the rest of the sentences in Faro’s thank you message. Gene translated his words to be more understandable. I created the translated version first:
“The party is almost here. The Queen and I have already started preparing for it and would love for everyone to come. The citizens of Berrybrook Burrow are so thankful for your donations and other contributions. It would be great if we could thank you all in person.”
I then entered the message into N+7. This was the result:
“The parvenu is almost here. The Queer and I have already started preparing for it and would lover for everyone to come. The pepper of Berrybrook Bursar are so thankful for your donkeys and other contributors. It would be great if we could thank you all in persona.”
I originally wrote the final thank you message in English:
“For hundreds of years, progress in Berrybrook Burrow inched like a caterpillar. Now, it is flying like a butterfly. From you kind folks, the people of Berrybrook Burrow have learned to accept advice, welcome change, and occasionally take the easy way out. Thank you again for all of your help. We hope to see you at the party. Be prepared to have fun!”
I used the travesty generator to create the Taranian version of it (Tara is the native language of Berrybrook Burrow):
“Frf athed bur yile, pang ak Belk Businke ing ato e copereelksind. Nocce, ar ow sinke ato e oflingandve. Wed yow ing syee, ind atopake y Belk Businke anke icerrn te sind ourre, ioo keat, wee carro tttta at ked kela ouro. Fow yow ybrre fof ly yi prrs hedve. Nom pad te bu yow br ind itybu. Oks ass te it pin!”
In most of the classes I have taken at Pratt so far, I had to work individually on every assignment for the class to later critique. In this course, however, I was able to collaborate with other students on various projects. In groups, we played games like “The Quiet Year” and “The School Year,” where we exchanged ideas and worked together as a team to create cool worlds of our own. We came up with concepts for entirely new games as well. This was a valuable experience because, although working alone is important, I learned a lot from being exposed to different perspectives. As students of different majors and backgrounds, we all have unique skills and strengths, which we were able to apply to our assignments. The work done in this class did not feel like work at all. I learned how to code, create websites, incorporate word distortion into my pieces, play new games, and create games of my own. Even though class was online, students learned in multiple environments; we were able to meet in virtual reality a few times and go outside for a walk. Instead of sticking to mediums I was comfortable with, I was encouraged to combine and explore different mediums, and create art across different platforms. This course was interactive. Because of this, I never felt like I was alone or creating work that was separate/apart from the work of other students. I could always ask my professor of fellow classmates for help if I needed it because we often did things together, at the same time, and in class as opposed to by ourselves off of Zoom. This project in particular refreshed my memory about everything I have learned and allowed me to further challenge myself.